travel

NON FICTION: The Japanese Sojourn (Part I)

/ Stuart Danker / 6 Comments
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One of my first views in Japan

Foreword: Apologies for the lack of posts. Got a lil’ worded-out and had to take a step back from storytelling. Writing is a surprisingly unconducive day-job for writers. But hey, here’s a story of my time in Japan!

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I went through every possible scenario of my first steps in Japan while on my flight from Kuala Lumpur to Hokkaido. Home to a mix of innovation, tradition, and tentacle porn, Japan had always held a special place in my heart. Were my first experiences going to be about pachinko and panty vending machines? Or would I not even get past the sci-fi toilets? There was so much I wanted to find out.

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NON FICTION: The Artist’s Doubts

/ Stuart Danker / 14 Comments

Typewriter

This piece began in the trash, and there it stayed till I met Myint Soe, a Myanmarese artist. He sat across me in a longyi, chin resting on his hand, as if he was smoking an invisible cigarette.

“If we look at this table, we’d both see the same thing. But if we were to put it in painting, we’d end up with different depictions of it. You see, artists are like drugs. We offer perspectives that people would never have experienced otherwise, and in essence, we become part of them forever.”

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was how I found the ending to this story—a story I began with a question.

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NON FICTION: Opportunity Costs

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stu-climbing

One of my prouder moments.

I never really talk to strangers. That’s besides the fact that I can’t hold small talk for nuts. But my conversation with Eileen was as effortless as reciting the alphabet, and the return flight from Siem Reap was over in an instant.

As she gathered her little backpack, I asked her if that was all she had throughout her couple of years in Southeast Asia.

“Yeah,” she said, a smile in the corners of her mouth. “It’s little I know, but many people live with less, and this here is all I really need.”

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