Epiphany! It's my favourite word! And a little landmark as the year begins its journey... Hope you had a Happy Epiphany! And if you were packing away the decorations, I hope they all behaved themselves as they went back in their boxes...
Armchair travel-wise, I spent the time around New Year in Japan (my second home!). I can't resist the beautiful Japanese melancholy and bittersweetness - it crops up everywhere in Japanese culture, literature, film, anime etc etc.
I stumbled upon an anime series called Samurai Champloo, and managed to watch 16 episodes (c20 minutes each) before it vanished from Prime on 31st Dec. The closing theme is sooooo beautiful!
Then there was the becoming-a-tradition viewing of Tokyo Story on Christmas Day...
And memories of Tokyo Diner, the Netflix series that I enjoyed so much earlier in the year (again with a gorgeous bittersweet theme song)
Finally a snowy and atmospheric video from blogger Kuga - I'd been to this place in the summer when it was hot and humid, seeing it in the snow is quite nostalgic and memorable...
Enjoy your travels, armchair or otherwise, this year!
And do join us for more livestream adventures, beginning on Jan 16th, on the theme of Elements - Earth, Air, Fire and Rain!
:)
The train journey in the snow made me shiver with awe and delight!!
thank you Phil!
Our armchair travels have been Write Around the World with Richard E Grant....lovely series on BBC ....we enjoyed Spain, fruit falling into the hand....with the ex Genesis drummer.....
see you on Sunday xxxxx
Billy, you've accidentally made two,too many cocktails! Who ever is going to be able to drink those?...
Billy, your cocktail looks delicious. Leftovers done right. My house bartender will still be around for the livestream on Sunday (Sunday!), so we might just have The Remaining Elements :)
Ive just enjoyed a journey in First class on a lovely green coloured bullet train , travelling from Tokyo. Free drinks,lunch,snacks and more drinks!! ;) Then a snowy journey to Kyoto in standard class on another bullet train. Alas no snacks! :))
You’ve chosen excellent videos to support your thesis of melancholy and bittersweetness permeating Japanese culture. Luckily I seem to have built up a tolerance for the rainy Omoide video and it no longer causes extreme yearning. The first song, oy, it had me singing Last Leaf (the OK Go one). Tokyo Story is still on my watch list—obvious universals there, as it brought up mother-daughter situations I remember witnessing on a couple different continents. I recognize the temperature in the last video as having risen just above freezing and then having dropped back below. It’s in the sound of the crunch of his footsteps in the re-frozen slush, size of the flakes and how they stick to the branches. It’s…