I Decided to Move from Tokyo

I decided to move from Tokyo next month. Little time is left, haha.

I was thinking of moving from Tokyo for a while, but only the time was passing by. The end of the year 2015 is now in front of me.

When I decided to where to live, I wanted a house which satisfies several requirements like (1) I can see the sunset and the sunrise from nearby, (2) being close from station but located in a quiet residential area in Tokyo, (3) wide but cheap, (4) more than one stove, (5) easy to meet with my friends, and (6) easy to go to work. My current house was one of the rare houses which satisfied all of these.

Of course, it was easy to live here. I was not dissatisfied with with the life to get up in the morning, eat breakfast, going to work, going back home, eat dinner and going to bed.

But to tell the truth, I changed my mind since I visited Tanagura Town this spring. I started to feel that something was wrong if I kept living in the "land which I cannot feel attached to", or the "land only for staying".

Why on earth did Tanagura Town make me think of such a thing?

Tanagura Town is a small town located in the southern part of Fukushima Prefecture, adjacent to the border with Tochigi Prefecture. Although they see some population aging, this town is not a marginal village but an average rural town. It has some convenience stores, bookstores, and electronic shops. It has some factories of big enterprises. And it has some nature at every corner of the town.

What I have to mention is that the nature which is harmonized with people's lives, or the landscapes in which people's care is hidden.

Here's the Weeping Sakura tree of Hanazono, Tanagura Town. It was a bit earlier than the sunrise, when the sunshine through the foliage spread among the mist.

The tree is located in the center of a group of the paddy fields and the farms. The residents take care of the tree well, and quite a few people visit the tree in spring. This is the symbol of Tanagura Town which every resident knows. I think this tree, the huge old tree which suddenly appears in your eyesight when driving, is also the symbol of the nature which is harmonized with people's lives.

Here're the paddy fields of Yashirogawa District, Tanagura Town. The contrast of the blue sky and the green paddy fields are fresh and beautiful.

Tanagura Town is famous for its Koshihikari, and Yashirogawa District has open paddy fields spreading like this. The figure of the cared and arranged paddy fields must be the landscape from which the Japanese feel the beauty of nature the most.

Here're the autumn colors at the Site of Tanagura Castle, Tanagura Town. The red color shining in the morning mist is mysterious and exceptional.

Because Tanagura Town is a town of basin, it often has mist in the morning when the temperature goes down. I called Tanagura Town the "Town of Morning Mist" because of this phenomenon, and especially the Site of Tanagura Castle with the morning mist shows even the godliness. But this view is maintained thanks to the care by the residents.

I managed to take these photos thanks to the cooperation of the residents including the members of Tanagura Town Local Revitalization Cooperation Group. I found the efforts of the residents behind these landscapes. These landscapes are created by the harmony with the years of their efforts and the nature. Only the residents are not enough. Only the nature is not enough. Both the residents and the nature are necessary to create these landscapes. I feel the power of the land connected to residents.

I started to think that living in a town which we feel attached to is one of the few great values which we can select by ourselves. Then, I couldn't keep selecting the choice of living in Tokyo.

Let me show you another photo.

I calculated everything and decided how to shoot - including shooting position, shooting angle, focal length, aperture, shatter speed, ISO value, and white balance. Reflecting back on that day, I now think that this photo is the beginning of logical photography. This is also the photo which has my highest score on 500px.

Indeed, I took this photo at my hometown Tsurumi. At that moment, I doubted how I could take such an amazing photo at the corner of Sojiji Temple. This is how I found out the hidden attractiveness of Tsurumi through photography, but this is after moving from Tsurumi to Tokyo. I didn't think like this during my life in Tsurumi for 23 years. I think that the world through photography must look quite different from the world I saw without photography in the past. This must be my growth.

This made me think that I would return to my hometown Tsurumi again to find out the hidden attractiveness of Tsurumi. I dear to say that I will spend one year challenging this. Thus, I decided to move from Tokyo to Tsurumi. This movement is not that big in distance, but it means a lot to return to my hometown Tsurumi to me.

I'm going to move at the beginning of next January.

I would like to plan and conduct several activities rooted to the town. Let's enjoy ourselves together!