TOM SAWYER & EMI SAZA
For my birthday, my bestie, Jess, gave me a lovely surprise.
She got me books by a man I really admire, Ayumu Takahashi, author, photographer, entrepreneur, free spirit, and bohemian traveler. The real surprise came when I opened the cover, and saw that it was signed: “To Emi, Love & Free Ayumu Takahashi”
The words he wrote above his signature, “Love and Free”, come from his previous book, Freedom, in which he explained that life should never be about choosing between one or the other, “Love OR Free,” but rather, falling in love with the ONE should set you free.
Freedom was a gift from my mom a few years back when she came to visit me from Japan. My life was never BAD (I always had air in my lungs, shelter, enough money and food, family-can’t complain) but at that point, on a non-survival scale, it wasn’t the best time. I was just out of college, out of a career, and living life as a run down intern by day, and server/bartender by night in NYC. A post grad cliché, stuck in a rut. Now, I have to be honest- my mother is one of those people who pressure their children until they cave in, (Jorge, if you ever read this- I know you’re laughing right about now) but at the same time, there’s nobody in this world who knows me and understands me like my mother.
And as she gave me the copy of Freedom she said:
I saw this and I instantly thought of you- because on the inside I know that you wish to live life by the words in this book.
As I flipped though the pages, everything resonated. Countless pictures with little Japanese captions that were filled with so much life. There they were- messages and wisdom by Ayumu Takashi, telling me to be free and to always be as I am- to remember to talk to the Tom Sawyer inside of me, and be excited about my adventures and dreams.
I’ve shared that copy of Freedom with almost everybody- including Jess. Fast forward to present day- Just before leaving for my long overdue vacation back to Japan, Jess called me to invite me to NYC for my birthday weekend. “Ayumu Takahashi is going to be in Bohemian (her restaurant); you have to come!” I was bummed out because I had to fly away before that night, but, Jess, being the lovely girl that she is, remembered my obsession with Takahashi san and his magical words, and got me this lovely gift.
As I flipped through the pages, a familiar feeling and a smile swept over on me. In his latest book Love & Free, Takahashi san documents his trip with his wife Sayaka, through poetry and amazing pictures; from Australia to South East Asia, Eurasia, Europe, Africa, South and North America and finally back to Japan, his raw emotions, feelings, and words come to life with the turn of every page.
His poetry speaks to you in such a straight forward way, that even a person who is forgetting her Japanese, like me, can understand not only with my mind but also with my heart.
For the past few years, I’ve begun wondering about my life and those big questions in life we have to ask ourselves “Where am I going?”, “What am I doing?”, “What is my purpose?” Most of the time, I am optimistic enough to answer those questions with a smile and enough courage to say, “Somehow, everything is going to be just fine.” Other times, I am not as strong, and not in as good a mood, and my inability to answer my own questions frustrates me to no end. Sometimes the sky is so clear that you get strength from believing that the answers are all right there. Sometimes the clouds of uncertainty tend to linger longer than you want. The truth is, I still don’t have the answers, but I feel like I’m taking a step forward. Just like my mom believed in me, and told me I would eventually find my own path, at my own pace, and just like Takahashi san reminds me with his words, I now realize that I might be merely wandering, but I am not lost (a little Tolkien there for you). There’s a poem in Love and Free that really touched me:
To get to know yourself
Speak to your self
To speak to yourself
First, ask yourself questions
Slowly, slowly
all the answers, definitely, are inside of you
I just turned 25, and I know it sounds funny, but I’m scared. Most of my life I’ve coasted by, telling myself that “I’m still young- ” but I feel like the number 25 comes with its own label that says “adult” on it, and I’m not exactly ready to rock that label just yet. So for now, as a compromise, I’m going to live my way, smile, and remind myself of what I have learned in my 25 years. I have figured out that at the end of the day, the race is still long, but it is only with myself. (Just like Baz Luhrmann always said it would be)
No matter where I end up in this world, I want to keep traveling and slowly grow into the skin of the person that I’m supposed to be in this life.
高橋さん，”夢と冒険を心に持て”という大切な事を教えてくれてありがとうございます。私も高橋さんみたいにいつまでも旅人でありたいです。
Mom, thank you for seeing the Tom Sawyer inside of me. I lost touch with him for a long time- but now I see you were better at knowing me than I knew myself!
She got me books by a man I really admire, Ayumu Takahashi, author, photographer, entrepreneur, free spirit, and bohemian traveler. The real surprise came when I opened the cover, and saw that it was signed: “To Emi, Love & Free Ayumu Takahashi”
The words he wrote above his signature, “Love and Free”, come from his previous book, Freedom, in which he explained that life should never be about choosing between one or the other, “Love OR Free,” but rather, falling in love with the ONE should set you free.
Freedom was a gift from my mom a few years back when she came to visit me from Japan. My life was never BAD (I always had air in my lungs, shelter, enough money and food, family-can’t complain) but at that point, on a non-survival scale, it wasn’t the best time. I was just out of college, out of a career, and living life as a run down intern by day, and server/bartender by night in NYC. A post grad cliché, stuck in a rut. Now, I have to be honest- my mother is one of those people who pressure their children until they cave in, (Jorge, if you ever read this- I know you’re laughing right about now) but at the same time, there’s nobody in this world who knows me and understands me like my mother.
And as she gave me the copy of Freedom she said:
I saw this and I instantly thought of you- because on the inside I know that you wish to live life by the words in this book.
As I flipped though the pages, everything resonated. Countless pictures with little Japanese captions that were filled with so much life. There they were- messages and wisdom by Ayumu Takashi, telling me to be free and to always be as I am- to remember to talk to the Tom Sawyer inside of me, and be excited about my adventures and dreams.
I’ve shared that copy of Freedom with almost everybody- including Jess. Fast forward to present day- Just before leaving for my long overdue vacation back to Japan, Jess called me to invite me to NYC for my birthday weekend. “Ayumu Takahashi is going to be in Bohemian (her restaurant); you have to come!” I was bummed out because I had to fly away before that night, but, Jess, being the lovely girl that she is, remembered my obsession with Takahashi san and his magical words, and got me this lovely gift.
As I flipped through the pages, a familiar feeling and a smile swept over on me. In his latest book Love & Free, Takahashi san documents his trip with his wife Sayaka, through poetry and amazing pictures; from Australia to South East Asia, Eurasia, Europe, Africa, South and North America and finally back to Japan, his raw emotions, feelings, and words come to life with the turn of every page.
His poetry speaks to you in such a straight forward way, that even a person who is forgetting her Japanese, like me, can understand not only with my mind but also with my heart.
For the past few years, I’ve begun wondering about my life and those big questions in life we have to ask ourselves “Where am I going?”, “What am I doing?”, “What is my purpose?” Most of the time, I am optimistic enough to answer those questions with a smile and enough courage to say, “Somehow, everything is going to be just fine.” Other times, I am not as strong, and not in as good a mood, and my inability to answer my own questions frustrates me to no end. Sometimes the sky is so clear that you get strength from believing that the answers are all right there. Sometimes the clouds of uncertainty tend to linger longer than you want. The truth is, I still don’t have the answers, but I feel like I’m taking a step forward. Just like my mom believed in me, and told me I would eventually find my own path, at my own pace, and just like Takahashi san reminds me with his words, I now realize that I might be merely wandering, but I am not lost (a little Tolkien there for you). There’s a poem in Love and Free that really touched me:
To get to know yourself
Speak to your self
To speak to yourself
First, ask yourself questions
Slowly, slowly
all the answers, definitely, are inside of you
I just turned 25, and I know it sounds funny, but I’m scared. Most of my life I’ve coasted by, telling myself that “I’m still young- ” but I feel like the number 25 comes with its own label that says “adult” on it, and I’m not exactly ready to rock that label just yet. So for now, as a compromise, I’m going to live my way, smile, and remind myself of what I have learned in my 25 years. I have figured out that at the end of the day, the race is still long, but it is only with myself. (Just like Baz Luhrmann always said it would be)
No matter where I end up in this world, I want to keep traveling and slowly grow into the skin of the person that I’m supposed to be in this life.
高橋さん，”夢と冒険を心に持て”という大切な事を教えてくれてありがとうございます。私も高橋さんみたいにいつまでも旅人でありたいです。
Mom, thank you for seeing the Tom Sawyer inside of me. I lost touch with him for a long time- but now I see you were better at knowing me than I knew myself!
