as we drove, we exchanged the veil of Tokyo for the veil of an open night. the further we travelled, the light pollution faded and the moon could illuminate more of the earth and we could see the vastness of the fields around us. when we awoke in the morning, the difference between the previous days surroundings and where we were now could have been a shock all of its own, if the emotional magnitude and the anticipation of what was to come did not outweigh anything else on the mind.

for the couple decades of my life so far, there has been a magnet far from where my physical existence has taken place that has been pulling me towards it ever since. I have sought it out anywhere close to me that I could, and I have never found anything close to it, not in the authenticity, not in the artfulness, not in the humanity of it. I have attempted to avoid the painful regret of how long it has taken me to get close to these magnets, how much has changed in the time it took me, how much it’s been changed by outsiders and false pretenders to its detriment…and to replace all regret with hope for the real to outlive all else.

Tsukuba Circuit in Ibaraki, Japan is one of those magnets, and there, the real has outlived all else.

entering the circuit grounds, it felt like a lightning storm in the area around me. i hesitated and paced around before finally going through the gates – knowing I’d never experience this for the first time ever again. once I did I feared I may never leave.