I just came back from Japan a couple of weeks ago. When the year started I actually didn’t even know I would be in Japan so soon — especially after just coming back from Taiwan and Thailand.
But a number of things seemed to fall into place. With one of my best friends (J M A) finding himself (or love) in Taipei, and some of us going to visit, and the fact that Kim’s brother’s birthday was coming up (I had never met him), and the desire to fulfill what I missed in October 2014 with Jeff Lu , Brian Leung, Kimberly Okazaki, J M A, and Justin Ma— the tickets were bought on a whim.
Before leaving — in a slightly altered state of mind — I was talking to Justin Ma, wondering what creative path we would pursue in another life. Whatever it was — the end goal was to write & make a movie during my Japan trip.
That didn’t happen.
What did happen was after my first day in Japan I decided to save my snapchat story. In that moment I decided I would try to make something only out of snapchat videos.
What also happened was Japan brought an unexpected amount of reflection. Faced with questions that demanded to be addressed. Emotions that needed to be acknowledged.
This is the result (thanks Justin Ma for the inspiration). Yes, it’s a vacation video — yes, it’s completely made of snapchat videos — but more than that I just wanted to express a feeling (shout out to Hidden Shapes Society). A moment in time. Realizations in foreign places. Japan was a surprise for me — the things that came up, the way they changed me.
This is what I found in Japan.
(full screen: https://vimeo.com/170340873)