Shinya Fujiwara’s book on his last wandering of 400 days

There is a woman who receives rebate in proportion to the number of dishes that patrons order from their tables at a restaurant in the Turkish city of Ankara. The way she makes living is unique, but the expressions that sound rough yet inviting are breathtakingly impressive and exciting. The writings are direct and blunt, but are sensational and make the readers realize they are alive and breathing.

The book is the last of his three stories about wandering journey by the author, a Japanese photographer and essayist who wrote “India Wandering” and “Tibet Wandering.” The book is an account on his 400 plus-day journey from Istanbul in Turkey to Syria, India, Hong Kong, Korea and to Japan. The writer received the 23rd Mainichi art award with this book in 1982.

The travelogue, which seemingly goes beyond the realm of life, is almost like a novel that focuses on the author’s emotion, thoughts and sound within his inner world. “Once again, human beings have become extremely interesting,” the author said as he made new friends when he got bored and lost interest in people due to a long journey that lasted for over 10 years. This sounds almost like words of a wise man, who has deeply thought about and explored life for a long time.


Yeun-Kyung Cho yunique@donga.com