Day 10

19 July 2023 Wednesday
Rainy
Top of  26

Intan left early in the morning from the Togatta Onsen bus stop for Sendai. She said that she was going to Aomori, then Morioka, then to Tokyo, where she was exhibiting her work, then to the Kansai region before returning to Jakarta.

Togatta Onsen bus stop. Photo by Mayu Kanamori

Martin and I stayed in our studio working until lunch time when Chris from Bring came. We walked to Enso to have lunch together. Chris said that although he had studied and enjoyed reading literature when growing up, he had never understood poetry because he could not feel the poem. However recently, as part of his learning to read Japanese kanji characters, he has been studying its origins and its references through readings of old Chinese poems and found that these poems resonated with him.

Klaus Christian (Chris) at bakery Bring. Photo by Mayu Kanamori

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It is 4:35 pm on 19th of July 2023.

I am ending my diary today, and now. Although we are in Togatta for another four days, I must now put the diary writing aside and use the rest of the time to translate poems, choose photographs and tie up other loose ends of this project.

• M.K.