June Kitahara and Kana Motojima
May, 2025
May, 2025
Hi Kana chan,
How are you?
I spent the month spending my time softly. The New York air tastes incredibly bitter, and people look at each other without a glimmer of a smile. I retreated to finding some answers in books and writings.
Hi June,
Japan was always a place that gave me this immediate feeling of peace. I don’t know why exactly but I’m assuming it’s because it is a place far away from where my usual routine is but it is also another home.
A place where I grew up in the summers, a place my mom and dad grew up, a place where I met my close friends that I now call family. But this trip I didn’t have that immediate relief that I’m used to.
The last trip in Japan was a moment for me to detach and run away from my problems. At least that's what it felt like it was after the fact. I came home immediately with the guilt that I was there. I still think about that. Why was I in Japan instead of being present and being with my Dad.
There was a lot of moments that brought me joy as well. My close friends who all live in different countries including myself are in the same place for the first time in a long time.
In Hokkaido I saw the last cherry blossoms of the year. It reminded me of my trip last year.
I went to the Izakaya that I went to with my Dad last year.
I went with his Highschool friends instead.