This week I want to go back ten years or so. I was living with my family in the Philippines, and we took a short trip to Japan in August. We decided to travel only to central Japan. We only had a little time. It is always better to stay in a region rather than trying to ver a whole country in ten days. Our first stop was Osaka.

This week I am posting photos I took at the Castle of Osaka. The images are a bit grainy. The resolution is different from what you can get today with the newer cameras and lenses. I like that, it is a look back in time.

I remember my excitement at being in Japan for the first time. Then, finally, I was there. Finally, I saw with my own eyes what I had read in the books I had read in my youth: Mishima, Kawabata, Murakami, etc.

It was hot. Humid. Summer thunderstorm clouds in the sky. It felt like summer in my hometown back in Italy.

I was alone with my two young daughters for the first part of the trip to Japan. That seemed quite unusual to some people we met on the tube. They asked me how come I was travelling alone with them. How old they were. It was remarkable for them to see a father alone travelling with two young daughters. People were curious. So was I about their country.