Japan – Through the screen
Crossing the border means stepping through the screen.
We arrive carrying images. Mount Fuji, cherry blossoms, Kyoto alleyways, Shibuya neon — frames already floating in memory before the first step. Japan exists first as a kind of imagined film.
The mistake would be to look behind. To hunt for authenticity beneath the scenery. Here, the scenery is not a mask — it’s an invitation. These landscapes were composed to be entered.
So I let myself be drawn in. I looked at what was made to be looked at. I sat inside the image as one sits in a darkened theater.
The rising sun warmed my skin. It is no less warm for having been watched.
