Christopher McCandless

Quote from the movie "Into the Wild" 

Photo by Junko Kobayashi 

「死にゆく妻との旅路」

やっぱり実話に基づいた映画や本が好き。

「死にゆく妻との旅路」もそう。

これは、結局人はみな孤独なのだ、と気づかされた映画。

これから年を重ねるごとに、孤独と向き合うことになる。

一気に、大人になるのが怖くなった。

現実を描いた映画は、すっきりとしないエンディングでもやもや感を残す。

No Impact Man

My first movie of the year was the American documentary, "No Impact Man"(2009).

The documentary is about a family living in NYC trying to live without harming the environment for a year. No disposable products, no chemicals, no transportation including elevators, no trash, no electricity,..so forth. 

Collin, who started this project, wanted to go extreme so that he would know what's actually possible and what's not after trying himself. 

(His Blog:No Impact Man)

Getting food locally and no getting food thats been transported by vehicles turned out to be great. They now know who actually grow what they eat. They've visited the farm and they've spend time with the cows that give milk which they drink everyday. 

Also no laundry machine brought a fun time to the family. They put water, natural detergent, and the dirty clothes in the tub and the family all walked on them! The daughter seemed to be having such fun!

I think No TV and having their own plot was a great idea for their daughter too. The parents started having much better time with their daughter by taking her out to the plot, letting her play with the dirt and learn how things grow. 

I was moved by his comment he made after having his own plot for a year. He said something like this. 

"Now we are back to eating the same thing we ate when the project started, like root vegetables and squash. It's not like turning the calender and know a year has past. Before, we were disconnected in the city from the natural rhythm. And I didn't know how much it feels good to be connected."

Of course, there are things thats very hard to keep doing like no electricity.Food get spoiled with no fridge in summer, it gets freezing in NY in the winter, living only with candle lights looked very inconvenient. 

But they tried all these for a while and they have learned what they really need and what they can live without. I think thats what's very inspiring and cool about them. 

And it's not just for the environment but it's for themselves. Like Collin has lost I think 20 pounds without going to the gym once and his wife is no longer at risk of becoming diabetic. 

I've read an article in a Japanese magazine about what it is to live "organic" and I really liked this comment.

To live organic is to live with the "originals" - things that are not processed, things that are as they are. 

I totally agree. "Organic" isn't anything new or trend, or a cool thing. It's just how humans have lived for many many centuries - not adding artificial stuff to everything. 

Soon in the future when I start living on my own there are many things I'd like to change in my current life style. It's hard when I'm not in charge of the house right now.. 

Anyway that was a good movie. I have many things to learn from them!

"America's Heart and Soul"

This is one of the movies that I want to show to my kids!

It is very inspiring. It shows many individuals all over America who have been pursuing their dreams and most of them make a living out of what they want to do in their lives. Although they say they are not making a lot of money, they all are so proud of how they live and know what is valuable other than money.

It made me realize again that a life is not just for making money to feed the family. Of course, we have to meet the basic needs of our family. We can not let our family starve to death by being selfishly pursuing our dreams. However, there is nothing more important than being proud of the way we live regardless how much money we make. In the movie, a rag weaver woman in Kentucky said, "I've been broke many times, but I've never been poor". I think what she meant was she was feeling blessed as long as she and her husband had something that they could turn their passion into.

It is always inspiring to hear something from people who have been doing one thing for many many years. It's so hard to keep doing one thing and it's so easy to quit, especially for someone like me- who has so many interests and curiosity in almost everything on the earth.

This movie reminded me of my father. He has published a book with the pictures of only scarecrows taken all over Japan for 7 years. Apparently, he had no intention to make money out of it when he started taking pictures of scarecrows. But he somehow just fell in love and found a beauty in them. The 7 years of pictures have come out to be a book, and fortunately some TV, newspaper and magazines have featured with his work.

I think when someone continues doing one thing with passion for a longer period than others, there will definitely be someone who would react to it. Even if you think it's not worth keep doing (like taking picture of scarecrows), if you put your love and passion into it until people will find, you are going to get a credit or honor or something. Most importantly, you are living your life. You are satisfying your soul by doing what you truly want to do.

I am proud of my father and he gets my greatest respect. I'm glad that he is not one of the corporation's working dogs. He is doing what his heart and soul tell him to do, not what the society tells him to do. My mom has always told me that "If there is no existing profession that you want to go for, then be the first to create one for yourself."

I think I'm very influenced by how they think about professions. My interests are still everywhere so i'll keep exploring the world until I find a right answer that will satisfy my heart and soul. If not, I guess I have to create one. :P


This is my father's book.



I tried to put the link to Amazon.com (the Japanese one) but it didn't work.. but anyways he has published some picture books of cherry blossoms too. Please check them out!

"Into the wild"

All photos by me

"Into the Wild"

The first time I watched this movie in a theatre, I did not have a word in my mind. The impression that the movie had given me was not describable with my vocabulary. It was astonishing.

The movie is based on a real story. "After graduating from Emory University, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandons his possessions, gives his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way, Christopher encounters a series of characters that shape his life." -from The Internet Movie database

Obviously, he had the potential to success and get whatever he wanted. His grades were good enough for going to Harvard Law school, which many people are dying to get inHowever, what he wanted to attain in his life was not the social status, fame, or money but the truth.

"I'm going to paraphrase Thoreau here... rather than love, than money, than faith, than fame, than fairness... give me truth. "

He was tired of living in the world where common values were all around. He wanted to find the truth by himself. Common values.... are the values which majority of the population have consensus for. In capitalism, everything is based on money. In religion, love and faith are always emphasized. Fairness is what is all about in democracy. We usually take these values for granted. However, Chris McCandless did not. He did not want to take these values without questioning and experimenting by him self. For him to find what is the truth of life, he had to abandon all the labels and materials which the society had given him and be free from the "readymade" values. And he started feeling the world purely by him self.

(The pictures on this post were taken in Salvation Mt in Niland, CA, which was one of the places where Chris had visited on his way to find the truth. )


It was a thought provoking movie for me and for a lot of my friends too. It's a movie that I know I'm going to watch and discuss about again with my friends when we grow up and have families.