Japan has long been a place of deep fascination for me — its culture, its rituals, its gentle delicacy — and this trip was the chance to finally experience it firsthand. I spent time volunteering at "The Colouring House", a summer camp in Isahaya, before travelling south through Fukuoka, Nagasaki, Osaka, and Kyoto.
Nagasaki held a particular significance. As a Portuguese person, there is something quietly moving about finding traces of our language and traditions still woven into Japanese culture centuries later — in words, in food, in the old trading streets. But the city also carries a much heavier memory: I was there for the 80th anniversary commemorations of the atomic bomb, a deeply solemn moment, and by chance also experienced the Obon festival — Japan's ancient celebration of the dead — filling the streets with lanterns, dance, and a beauty that felt both joyful and mournful at once.