Gaijin no Toshi captures, in photographs, the year I resided in Tokyo, Japan, as an exchange student at the University of Tokyo. While it was a happy year, full of friendship and wonder, it was also a year of awakenings and renewed perspectives. As the title suggests, while I very much grew to nurture my love for the country, it was also a year in which my sense of home – of furusato – ironically necessitated a return back to my own hometown in Singapore, a decision that altered the way I observed and pondered all things Japanese.
If anything, I have learnt that the photographs can’t capture everything, not even my fondest memory of that year. A group of us had decided to go on a jog one evening, on one of those final Friday evenings we had together that summer, taking the usual route from Shinkawa-dori to Jindai-ji; the aim was to take a dip at the onsen I’d discovered in the spring. I still remember the moment when we stopped in our tracks, amazed by the sudden sight of a neighbourhood matsuri opposite a 7-Eleven, gawking at the ring of people clapping and playing drums around a tower of fire, built before a shrine we were convinced was abandoned. I remember turning to my friends at that moment, their faces limned by the brilliance of the dancing flames. Their mouths were agape with an awe I’d never see again.
