It’s late at night once again, and instead of writing, I again find myself contemplating pictures of the Sakura. I even searched for traditional Japanese music to complement the images. I have never wished more to make a career out of traveling the world and writing about it. Particularly writing about Japan as I explore its many treasures.

I sometimes think that writing is a dying art, mainly when it involves traveling. The vast majority of people today prefer the convenience of watching a video and being able to skip ahead and jump from one video to the next. Photos are particularly well suited to today’s attention-deficient society. In half a second, people choose to double-tap or like before scrolling to the following picture. So how can writing compete with that? Unlike a photo or a video, beautiful and interesting writing does not happen by chance or luck. Both writing and reading require a conscious choice to invest time.

I think writing is taking its seat next to classical music and fine art in a world where a minority invests the time to learn and appreciate the artforms. I may never become a prolific writer, but the practice alone has already made me appreciate others’ writing far more. Oh, how I would love to sit beneath the Sakura’s in Japan for inspiration and jot some notes down in my notebook to later craft into a beautiful piece of writing worthy of these trees.