4 minute read
Jeepney Press March-April 2023
A Travelogue of the Heart (in Japan)
Japan’s charm is effortless. You can go around the country anytime within the year and would still get the most Instagrammable photos. I am not new to Japan having been in grad school here and later, coming back to become a full-fledged OFW. Yet every time I go out, even from just a few steps off my place, I see profound beauty that equates poetry. I love taking travel photos. And while I don’t have the expensive gadgets, I am quite satisfied shooting with my phone, capturing moments everywhere I go.
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Just recently, while I was trying to free space and move les to the cloud, I started this seemingly arduous (and emotional) task of going over tons of pictures. I didn’t know that I have taken tens of thousands of photos within four years after coming back to Japan. Also, I didn’t expect that this task would indeed force me to go over each of my albums, in fact, each picture, and make me reflect about life. At that moment, I realized that it was not just a collection of photos but a journey of emotions, a travelogue of my own heart.
I am not an extensive traveler, but I definitely love the outdoors. Whether they are planned or spur-of-the-moment travels, I have learned to value each place, each moment because they were not just destinations, but they are precious life events with so many different people, most of them I carry deeply in my heart.
When I returned to Japan to leave my life in the Philippines, there were mixed feelings of excitement and fear: excitement for the new adventure but fear of the uncertain. I was clinically diagnosed with panic disorder, and I had to battle it out for a year. With the help of family and friends, I was able to overcome it. Within that period, I traveled a lot with my sister and her amazing family. And up until now, they have been my best travel buds, bringing me to every breathtaking location one would dream of.
I also travel with colleagues and friends to catch up and to take a break from work. These are the times that I get extra crazy but would still be successful capturing both the funny and the heavenly. The photos give me a different mood, maybe, more of the silly side.
And then, I traveled with the person I loved so dearly. These were the pictures that gave me the strongest feelings especially now that they have left. Going over our photos seemed to have brought me back to those very moments, as if I was transported back in time, letting me reminisce each second, and making me feel both the joy and the pain. It’s a bittersweet experience, reliving the seasons past, wishing that the happiest of them never ended.
Looking at every photo made me realize that my travels truly represent my heart’s journey in this country, with each place carrying stories with the people I am or have been with – whether they are family, friend, or lover. Swiping and scrolling on each the albums, I fathomed deep that the memories I have captured carry the emotions so clear as if they were an elaborate montage of memoirs and a detailed journal of my life lessons.
Just like the sceneries captured by my phone’s camera, this travelogue of mine carries both the vibrant and the dark hues in my heart: the good (and the not so good) memories of my life. I am grateful that it carries not just the blissful days but even the times when I needed to cry, to take a break from everything, and to just be with myself and breathe. Because they make me whole and they complete my story, my journey so far. Indeed, it was a grueling task, but it was all worth it. And while I deleted some pictures (mostly selfies), I decided to preserve most and to move them to the cloud. I know that one day, I would be happy to look back and browse them again. For now, I am excited to capture more and make new memories.
How about you? Are you running low on your phone’s memory? Have you opened your phone’s albums recently? Why not try to do a little journey back in time? Start from the oldest picture, reflect about the people and the places, and make your own travelogue of the heart. #
By RD Aquino / Jeepney Press