The weather has settled down here towards autumn and it has become pleasant, especially at night for walks. The temperature is almost perfect. The other day I took a night walk, then wrote this when I got back:
the sky opens
above me
Japan is a small country and the liveable land is even smaller, making cities tight and cramped. As a result, everything is smaller. Houses are smaller, roads and cares and parking spaces — all smaller. Pretty much everything is just smaller. Think New York City. Without the overwhelming number of people there (well, outside major cities like Tokyo anyway) but with the lack of space.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. You get used to it, and the smaller scale of everything makes it more comfortable than not. But it is an undeniable fact, at least in most of the country. Hokkaido being a big exception.
But sometimes, when walking, when the night sky opens up and the stars come out, everything feels larger under that infinite sky. The cramped streets fall away. The stars push everything outward. For a moment the country that usually feels compressed becomes impossibly wide. That was something of how I felt as I was walking the other night. The above haiku hints at my awe a little more in the Japanese version than in the English one, with the kireji kana, which is something like a sigh of wonder or an exhale of awe.
❦
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David is an American teacher and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Bluesky. |
And you are really learning their language faster 😀. Cheers my friend! Happy Sunday.
I was here 11/16/2025
It's a matter of perspective. Been in the city always gives me this impression that the world isn't large now but visiting the beach, with the vast ocean ahead and the sky above changes this impression towards believing the world is much bigger than I can ever tell. Sometimes, both can be true, too.