From our trip in March.
I took this picture without stopping to frame or to look for a better angle. After a morning in Asakusa, we were walking through Taito City on our way to the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno Park. Though the picture looks like travel B-roll, I love it because I loved this in-between moment.
The neighborhood we walked through was residential, with many apartment buildings. There weren’t many people in the street but you could pick up signs that people were home. Bikes parked outside of doors. Potted plants clustered into sidewalk gardens. Noren blowing in the breeze, open windows, drawn shades.
About a block or so after this moment, we'd come upon a playground filled with kids and grandparents. All felt quiet and peaceful and safe. On the right side of the picture you can just make out a group of elderly crossing guards. They were in training, practicing the motions with their orange wands and making my heart burst.
The magnolia tree in full bloom blazing in the sunlight was what first caught my eye. The colors of those bikes make a lovely palette, too. That shadow, cast by a nearby building, cutting such a straight line across this cozy scene and threatening to swallow that tree was also visually interesting to me.
On this walk I saw what an ordinary afternoon looked like in this neighborhood. You could say it was unremarkable but I'm writing a whole post on it now, aren't I? This sweet, quietly beautiful scene stuck with me. I'm glad to have seen it.