JAPAN – from Tohoku to Kansai” exhibition

From Tohoku to Kansai JAPAN - Women and men together - Catherine SZCZURKO and Daniel ARRIETA

As we prepared for our trip, we sensed that the less-visited, lesser-known north of Japan was more in line with our desires as travel photographers, and with our imaginations born of Japanese films seen in the cinema.
By train, bus or on foot, with gestures or drawings, sometimes with the telephone's translator, especially to find my jacket that I had lost at the Nikko temple the day before, and that the monks had put aside, always with a smile, we discovered a way of life and people in love with and respectful of nature, frequenting temples and buying lots of good luck charms and amulets, whatever their age. But could it be any different in a country where the sea and land can rise and thunder at any moment, and where you fall asleep with a survival bag next to you?
Although we loved Kyoto, and of course Takayama, with its timeless mountain villages, it was in Nikko and Tohoku that we were able to stroll in complete serenity, away from the crowds and noise.
We were often the only Europeans there in April 2024, and we were always greeted with a smile.
The charm of Nikko, the serenity of Matsushima Bay, the flower-filled countryside of Hiraizumi with its old wooden temples, the onsen in the snow-capped mountains around Morioka, and all the rest...
This nonchalant trip was nothing but bliss.

Free admission: 10 - 12 Wednesday and Saturday
2 - 6pm Monday Tuesday Wednesday Friday
Opening on Saturday 7 March at 10.30 am.

• Free for all