A Peach Farm in Nagano,Japan

Ever wonder how a peach farm looks like?

I'm feeling a bit sentimental, and this picture of quaint Nagano made me recall poignant memories of Japan. I remember the moment when I took this shot. If I close my eyes, I can hear the wind's slight breeze; there is also a flavorful aroma, with just a hint of sweetness in the air. I remember seeing this couple, who took the time out to enjoy each other in the midst of nature. This was taken May 8, at summer time, during the one week Natsuyasumi (summer holiday). I took the bullet train (shinkansen) from Tokyo station, paying Y7000 for my 2-way ticket, (around P3500). As I wait for my train, I buy an o-bento box from a kiosk under the belly of the grand Tokyo station. I took the wrong train apparently because while the shinkansen was zooming its way out of the city, I heard a different destination being announced. I let out a cry of relief when I realized it will make another stop at Ueno station before taking a different path to Nagano. You see, that's why Lost in Translation is the central theme of my life.

I went to Nagano, the site of the 1998 winter olympics, to see old friends, I had been away from Japan since 1996 and this was my second time to visit Nagano, after 5 long years. God granted my wish to visit this wonderful place again. Cielo and I had the chance to rekindle our relationship with our adopted mother (okaa-san), who exclaimed my Nihongo has gotten so much better when I called from Tokyo to tell her I was visiting her. I was getting lonely in Tokyo with my routine of home-office-convenience store-videoshop-apatoo (apartment), sometimes uttering only one word, "ashita" (Japanese word for tomorrow) for the day, telling the videoshop clerk I was returning the tape the following day. In Nagano I met the kindest people, and it seems a complete irony that these are the people who could kill and die savagely. But I kind of see it now; their "motherland" is a haven. This is the only land they know, they have protected this from foreign rule for over 300 years, and they would do anything- kill, die, for their motherland. Their land is of beauty, and their culture, even more so. To me this is closest to paradise.

I'm feeling sentimental, and this photo is just the right way to express it.