[Last month I asked your advice about the frequency of the newsletter and the resounding response was to keep it monthly. So here is your August roundup! Thank you for your feedback!]
How is summer treating you? Did you get much of a break? We saw our 7th case of coronavirus on Iki Island, the first case in months. It didn’t take long for authorities to track down over 300 possible contacts and test them (all negative, with a couple under observation).
We weren’t around for the whole contact-tracing investigation. We spent almost 2 weeks in Kyoto during our 3 week break (more details in the posts below). It was nice visit to the city, but the weather (low 40s celsius and high 70s for humidity) meant we had to limit our time outside. I wasn’t able to walk the old capitals streets, and visit as many temples and shrines as I would normally.
During that trip I started reading The Meaning of Travel: Philosophers Abroad by Emily Thomas. So far it is pretty enjoyable, and has me pondering all the different reasons humans (myself included) engage in travel. The introspection has been valuable as I consider my larger project of writing a travelogue in a time when people are not supposed to travel. It also has me imagining possible futures for travel as we know it: Will we return to an age when the only way a normal person could “travel” was to rely on the travel writing of others? Emily Thomas discusses the age of popular travel, the Grand Tour and the invention of package tours by Thomas Cook in the 19th century. Before then, natural philosophers, hungry for “observations” of the earth and all her bounty, depended on the travel writings of explorers and missionaries (and hucksters and disinformationists). Imagine if regular people had the internet back then? Will people rely on “virtual travel” in the future?
I will be pondering this as I return to Kyoto in a few weeks. I will be going on my own this time, and intend to spend about 10 days in writing retreat, working on some chapters.
Until next time,
/ck
🖋 From the Blog
Japan on the Record: Japan and BlacknessCelebrating one of my fav podcasts, and their contribution to the movement.
When the Japanese became “yellow”
Points if your answer was “after Western race theory arrived.”
Remote island logistics: getting on and off Iki
Planes, ferries, and jetfoils!
75th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki
Visiting Ground Zero in 2020.
The statues of Koganemaru Ikuhisa
Saw some art. Sharing it!
Summer Break
I learned a lesson on productivity.
🧭 Elsewhere
RZA made a banging track for ice cream trucks. #wutang4eva Link →I planned to go to Malaysia next year, but am relegated to continue reading travel pieces. A short journey through Johor: Link →
Uber is the worst, part infinity. Link →
This Jedi mind trick totally works on me. What do you hear? Link →