little `zilla , big world .

Nothing stops the lunch rush.
(Outside of JR田町駅 三田口, May 2012.)

A photo of my photo,
A moment in time.

I have this little picture hanging on a cork board in my apartment in Tokyo. It’s really nothing special, photo-wise, but it means a lot to me. When I took this picture over four years ago, with my tiny new Minox camera, I did little more than raise my arm in the air and press the button. When I returned to the US, though, and set about the process of developing over thirty rolls of film from that trip, a few images stood out like beams of light. This was my favorite.

In a single glance, I am instantly reminded of those days spent in and around Tokyo, wandering until my feet could take no more, realizing that it really wouldn’t be that hard to live in Japan after all…even with my cripplingly bad Japanese language skills. It was down the street from where this photograph was taken that I ate amazing pizza and bought this miniature camera; it was only a few blocks away where I pressed my head against the window of the hotel where I stayed, and stared down at the empty streets of Tokyo’s business districts during Golden Week. It was here that I realized that I was my only roadblock. It was here that I made the decision to return home to Oregon, to go back to school, and to ultimately move to Japan.

This photograph means the world to me. It is the representation of a dream come true. My dream come true. I sometimes catch a glimpse of this picture when I’m frustrated or sad or angry, and I try to pause for a moment, to remind myself what it symbolizes, and breathe in what it means to me: hope. 

ヨドバシカメラ 新宿西口本店 マルチメディア館