SB23 #7

The seventh in a series of photo editions minted in 2023. I made this photo shortly after moving to Tokyo in 2017, still getting into the routine and figuring out my daily practices. I was hyper aware of how different my life was than most people around me, something that had always been the case but was even more apparent now. I had never thought much about how I was choosing my own path, it was just the only thing I knew how to do. In Tokyo, you are always surrounded by people following a path laid out for them, often one that they've never considered diviating from. The ever-present and stereotypical "salaryman" a blatant example of this. I'd sit next to them every day on trains, and in evenings when I was riding to the dojo to train they would be heading home to sleep, or more often sleeping along the way. Being a professional people watcher has a way making you feel separate from everyone. Or maybe it's the other way around.