I catalog the pictures. It amazes me how many memories and emotions they trigger: people, places, times, all in the past, but still with me. All the pictures on this blog are taken with one digital camera, my first actually. Point, press and save: I deeply appreciate its guidance. This is one of the first pictures it took.
Today I remove the picture that inspired the subtitle of this blog from the header and give it an honorary entry.
I saw this shoe hanging from its string in a side street of Shibuya on my second day ever in Japan. I have no idea why it was there, who put it there and what became of it. All I know is that its design closely resembles the design of a pair of shoes I walked into oblivion, until it could not be repaired another time.
I write this entry in memory of this pair of shoes and all the other ones that brought me faithfully to the places I wanted to go.
I do not know a word that means “all the shoes a person owns” but I would suggest “my fleet of shoes”.
The area of Tokyo I live in is famous for its natural display of autumn colors. Some of them seem determined to make it through winter.
At New Years Eve people queued for hours to toll the bell at my local temple. I was one of them.
When my turn came I tolled it with a friend. We had a sweet sake afterwards, close to a cozy gas heater.
Happy New Year, wherever you are.
This is the sun, struggling through cold November fog on the Eleventh day of the Eleventh month … in Cologne.
I cross what was once one of the deadliest borders in the world. I leave “The West” behind and enter “The East”. Both terms from the cold war are still in use. The station seems deserted.
At the western banks of the Elbe River a network of small rural communities forms a county. I enter a town that looks like this.
The Third Planet 