Author Archives: Yasuharu Nagura

About Yasuharu Nagura

Born in '89, a multi-talented freelancer in Japan: writer, photographer, musician & educator.

Photography at Okayama Castle, Japan (2022)

p.s. The photograph was taken on December 30, 2022.

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Poetry「Family Portrait」(2022)

One day, when my father skipped work and went to play pachinko, my mother was working at home. She was sewing bags with a sewing machine. Sewing bags for Sesame Street. That day, Dad’s boss at work called the house.

When the boss asked, “Do you have a husband at home?” Mom answered, “No.” Mom thought that was strange and went to a nearby pachinko parlor to look for him.

Dad was playing pachinko there.

Mom found him and sat down next to him. She picked up a pachinko ball from his pachinko stand and began to play with it.

“Stop it, please stop it,” I think he thought.

Dad kept his mouth shut.

The quietness that comes to a busy pachinko parlor.

Afterward, he got angry with Mom, “Why did you tell my boss at work about this?”

“I don’t know,” she said.

I think she is right.

July. I’m sitting in my father’s study, listening to the sound of heavy rain, reminiscing about the events of those days, more than twenty-five years ago.

I’m sure the Sesame Street bag will remind me of those days. Of those days. And I will realize that my parents have helped me grow up to be a somewhat decent adult.

I often think about this bag. I am often reminded of or encouraged by it.

Maybe I should put that bag on the wall of my room.

If I can find the bag from those days.

Photo from 「Self Portrait」 (taken on December 27, 1996)

Reference

Japanese https://note.com/yasuharunagura/n/n2db051ffd151

Poetry「Gujo Onsen」(2022)

A day when it stopped raining quietly
I stand up in the sauna　
Sit down, arms crossed
White smoke billows up　　

Putting aside a wet hand towel　
I look around with a wandering glance　
And pulls his head back into the bathtub
The red face though he doesn’t drink　
　　
Small, round, beautiful　
I look at the beautiful bubbles　
I vaguely remember　
The open-air bath with shimmering willows　　

A boy bathes without a word
Soaking in the bath with his father
His son’s hair glistened wetly
And a smile on his face

Photo from 『Gujo June 27, 2018』

Photography in Imizu City, Toyama, Japan (2022)

Every time I close my eye, I think of the harbor of Imizu City. And the waves.

I look at the word “NAVIO” (ship) in Portuguese, then look up the dictionary again.

As I take notes, I realize that I don’t know the word for bridge is “PONTE.”

I had never looked it up before.

I thought about it for a while and then went to work.

Reference

Japanese https://note.com/yasuharunagura/n/ncef35a4cb45b

Photography at the Fugan Canal, Toyama, Japan (2022)

The camera was an old digital camera.

It was small and black.

I had a felt strap around my neck, and it was securely attached to my chest.

I stood on the Tenmon Bridge in the Fugan Canal Kansui Park,

captured the ship in my viewfinder, and pressed the shutter with one hand.

Then I check the picture.

I watched it from the window for a long time.

What do you think? Did you like it?

I think I did a good job.

But, well, to be honest, it’s not that difficult to take landscape photos.

It’s a different story when the weather is terrible, but I don’t go outside then.

I do what I can inside my house.

You know, things like making coffee.

Reference

Japanese https://note.com/yasuharunagura/n/nf9510309f646

Photography in Toyama Bay, Japan (2022)

It was the morning of August 17. When I arrived at Toyama Bay, it was raining.

I was holding the umbrella tightly with one hand. But I love shooting on rainy days.

That’s much I can say.

There is a roadside station called “Amaharashi.”

You guys haven’t been there yet, have you?

It looks like a roadside station. It’s not like that.

There is a terrace outside the restaurant from which you can see Toyama Bay.

You can wander around there and take as many pictures as you like.

I like “Roadside Station Amaharashi.”

If I could live my life over again, I would visit a roadside station more.

I think this will be the last time I see Toyama Bay in this world.

Reference

Japanese https://note.com/yasuharunagura/n/n8e3f6684b063

Photography in Seto City, Aichi, Japan (2022)

Taking videos and taking pictures is not productive. However, I feel that a wave of commercialism has somehow arrived somewhere along the way. At the very least, I would like to take photos and videos for pleasure without profit or loss.

And I want to look again through a lens of cameras at what I can see with my own eyes because I want to see what I have seen again. Perhaps it is simple curiosity. Or I have a faint hope that I might be able to see something else in the photograph than what I saw with my own eyes.

Reference

Japanese https://note.com/yasuharunagura/n/n678f46f2e6e1