2024 Photo Wrap-up

Well, well… I know I’m late, two months late to be exact. I should have posted this two months ago, but better late than never.

I realized that it would be a cool idea if I selected one photo per month from my camera roll from last year. These photos have some meaning, so in the long run, I will be able to look back after years and see how these years went.

This is because, upon re-reading my year review post, I realized that I talked more about the process of moving to Japan than my actual 2024 wrap-up post. So, I think this will be more meaningful on a personal level.

Without further ado, here’s what I selected:

January

This was taken in the North of Spain when I went on a rock climbing day trip with some friends before I moved to Japan. It was a good way of saying goodbye to my homeland.

February

After arriving in this country, I visited several rock climbing gyms in Tokyo. During one of these visits, I came to the Takanobaba area during the golden hour (for my non-photographer readers, this is during sunset, which is known as the best time for taking photos, as it’s the time when shadows are the longest). I came across this wall painting and the office workers going home.

March

In this month, along with some colleagues from work, I visited my first matsuri at the famous Sensoji Temple (the red temple in Tokyo with the big red paper lanterns) in Asakusa. There was a lot of food and fun. An interesting thing I noticed during this event is that, coming from a Catholic country where we have somber Easter church processions, it was very shocking to see how different it is here. In Spain, these processions are ominous and silent, whereas here, there is noise, people laughing, and shouting.

April

This photo was taken during a day trip to Hakone, which is on my to-post list (travel day trip itinerary post). Specifically, this photo was taken at the Open Air Museum, which is a must-visit. It’s a very interesting idea for a museum where you can walk in a garden with sculptures. As a Spanish guy who likes art, I found it very interesting that, for whatever reason, they had a large and interesting gallery of Pablo Picasso’s work with a timeline explanation of his life.

May

In this month, during the Golden Week holidays, I visited Hiroshima (also on my to-post list), where I had been before with some friends on a pre-COVID trip—the good old days. During this trip, I stayed for two nights and tried the typical food from here, Okonomiyaki in the Hiroshima style.

June

In June, there weren’t a lot of trips going on, but it’s the month when I started to seriously work on my N4 exam, which I managed to pass. This photo was taken during one of my study sessions with my girlfriend at a Starbucks.

July

This was my last trip of the year, where I visited Nikko for a weekend escape with my girlfriend (also on the to-post list). During this trip, we stayed in a small ryokan, a traditional Japanese hotel, where they offered a private, free onsen (I don’t know exactly how to define onsen, probably a spa-like pool where you go for a bath/shower and need to follow some codes/traditions).

August

I don’t know exactly when I took this photo, but I think it was during my family’s visit when I brought them to see the Golden Gai, a famous narrow street with very tiny bars.

September

So, this was the reason I couldn’t go on more trips. I moved apartments, and between fees and payments, the budget got tight. Here I am, without a table, eating on the floor with my girlfriend.

October

One thing that I wanted to try this year was to visit the Starbucks Roastery, basically a fancier Starbucks. It’s okay, but I prefer other cafes in Tokyo. I now realize that I should do a post about cafe hopping in Tokyo. Call me a hipster if you dare, but I think that in this country, they are special. What I mean is that they take care of the atmosphere, decoration, and coffee quality in a way that I haven’t seen in Spain, Switzerland, or Ireland.

November

It’s my birthday time! Nothing more to say.

December

One famous and weird tradition in Japan is how they celebrate Christmas. Here, they don’t celebrate it the same way as in the West. Instead, they eat KFC. The only reason for this is what we could call ‘brainwashing’ by KFC, which saw, was that long long time ago, there was an open market for christmas to-do stuff/tradition in Japan, so KFC sold the image that this is what we do in the West. Plot twist: we don’t.