Bright Lights, Big City

It was the Christmas season;
there should have been sounds of never ending reindeer songs and bad looking Santa dolls in the town.
However, I was in Esfahan, Iran,
the jewel of ancient Persia and one of the finest cities in the Islamic world.


When I entered the dorm at Amir Kabir Hotel, he was still sleeping on the hard mattress bed.
Settle down stuffs and thinking about extending Visa lying on the bed, his eyes opened and looked at me.
- Are you Japanese?
- Yes. And you?
- Netherlands, I lived in Kanagawa before. Do you know Matsushita Seikei Juku?
- No.

It is our first conversation. We became a travel company then.


The exquisite blue mosaic tiles of Islamic buildings amused our eyes while getting lost in the bazaar.
We drank a cup of tea and had chat in the teahouses at the end of the day.
We were together only for a few days, however shared many things between us.
But still I thought we wouldn’t meet again like many other else when he left Esfahan.


The time went by…


A couple days ago I got a mail from him and it said he is coming to Kyoto and would love to stay J-Hoppers guesthouse.
When he showed up the lobby, the sweet memories came back to my mind.
Now he is working for a Newspaper of Netherlands and writes the articles about Japanese politics, cultures and of course, that huge earthquake in Tohoku.


in esfahan

in kyoto
Have we changed?


It is maybe one of the best things for traveling to reunion somewhere in the world.





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