“A part of what was nice about Japan was that as quickly as I landed, I felt a number of issues. One was society was taking good care of individuals. I used to be strolling previous so many individuals day-after-day on the street who have been so significantly better taken care of than the place I got here from.”
— Craig Mod
Craig Mod is a author, photographer, and walker dwelling in Tokyo and Kamakura, Japan. He’s the writer of Issues Change into Different Issues and Kissa by Kissa. He additionally writes the newsletters Roden and Ridgeline and has contributed to The New York Instances, The Atlantic, Wired, and extra.
He’s walked hundreds of miles throughout Japan, and since 2016, he has been co-running “Stroll and Talks” with Kevin Kelly in numerous locations around the globe: the Cotswolds, Northern Thailand, strolling throughout Bali, Southern China, Japan, Spain (Portuguese and French Caminos), and extra. He’s a MacDowell fellow, Virginia Middle for Inventive Arts fellow, and Ragdale fellow.
In 2023 he wrote an impassioned advice of Morioka, Japan, to The New York Instances, prompting the paper to rank the town quantity two (behind London) for “Locations to Go to in 2023,” turning Mod right into a minor movie star. He sat for interviews with some forty or fifty newspapers and TV reveals, making an attempt to elucidate the goodness of a metropolis like Morioka to individuals for whom the goodness is so self-evident that it has change into invisible. This entire media dance culminated in his happening a two-day stroll round Morioka with considered one of Japan’s greatest TV stars: the seventy-nine-year-old, sunglasses-sporting Tamori -san, who was beautiful (and really tiny!). The response—a complete heartfelt reverence for the avuncular Tamori—from individuals on the road (“Good morning, Tamori -san!,” yelled building staff from atop their scaffolding) made Mod really feel like he was strolling with John Lennon. Mod’s second of movie star was mercifully short-lived. No one acknowledges him anymore when he walks round city.
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Craig Mod — The Actual Japan, Low-cost Flats in Tokyo, Productive Aspect Quests, Inventive Retreats, Shopping for Future Freedom, and Being Possessed by Spirits
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What was your favourite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know within the feedback.
SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE
Web site | Bluesky | Instagram | Roden (Month-to-month Publication) | Ridgeline (Weekly Publication)
Books and Written Works
Individuals
Films and TV Reveals
Establishments, Organizations, and Corporations
Ideas and Applied sciences
Locations
Related Assets
SHOW NOTES
- [00:00:00] Begin.
- [00:06:49] What would make this a worthwhile dialog?
- [00:09:14] How Craig and I first met.
- [00:11:06] Rising up in a post-industrial Connecticut city.
- [00:13:10] The kindness of a tech-savvy stranger.
- [00:14:02] IRC, ANSI artwork scene, and making connections within the Web’s early days.
- [00:15:48] From adoption to exploring hometown escape choices.
- [00:18:28] Driving cross-country to a Silicon Valley internship.
- [00:20:05] Pursuing the need to reside overseas.
- [00:22:14] Attending Waseda College in Japan at age 19.
- [00:23:34] Seduced by the Ivy League: A momentary return to the States for a UPenn schooling.
- [00:24:52] Craig’s recommendation for adults who wish to decide up the Japanese language.
- [00:29:04] Weird homestay experiences.
- [00:41:04] How Craig wound up again in Japan to work in publishing.
- [00:42:55] Growing design sensibilities at UPenn with Sharka Hyland and Joshua Mosley.
- [00:47:30] Craig’s colour blindness and its affect on his design aesthetic.
- [00:49:54] And not using a time machine, Craig lives vicariously by way of his daughter’s alternatives.
- [00:51:36] Scuffling with spirits of sauce and the supernatural .
- [00:56:02] A Tibetan dream reader and misplaced love.
- [00:59:53] Craig’s journey to self-worth: Operating, charging extra for work, and constructing confidence.
- [01:01:51] The transformative expertise of climbing to Annapurna Base Camp in Nepal.
- [01:04:40] Writing a digital camera evaluation that went viral and paid hire for 2 years.
- [01:10:33] The article that modified Craig’s life.
- [01:16:39] The enduring energy of bodily books within the digital age.
- [01:21:06] How being adopted ready Craig for all times as an outsider irrespective of the place he hangs his hat.
- [01:25:25] Craig’s time at Flipboard.
- [01:29:24] Writing in lodge rooms on weekends.
- [01:30:14] Assembly Kevin Kelly and touchdown a MacDowell writing residency.
- [01:32:51] Bridges burned and discoveries made at MacDowell.
- [01:40:16] Justifying a spherical two.
- [01:41:17] Craig’s recommendation for aspiring creatives.
- [01:45:12] Books Craig has reread a number of instances.
- [01:49:43] The story behind Craig’s new guide, Issues Change into Different Issues.
- [02:01:47] Craig’s Particular Tasks membership program.
- [02:04:08] In reward of sudden corners.
- [02:06:25] Classes discovered from the Sally Mann documentary.
- [02:07:34] Parting ideas and a preview of spherical two (coming later this week).
MORE CRAIG MOD QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW
“As an adopted particular person, I feel my complete life is outlined by that flailing. You simply don’t really feel such as you belong anyplace.”
— Craig Mod
“Typically, language studying is simpler you probably have a musical background. And I grew up all by way of my teenagers obsessively enjoying drums, simply drumming, drumming, drumming, enjoying jazz, enjoying classical, enjoying in massive band orchestras, enjoying every thing.”
— Craig Mod
“A part of what was nice about Japan was that as quickly as I landed, I felt a number of issues. One was society was taking good care of individuals. I used to be strolling previous so many individuals day-after-day on the street who have been so significantly better taken care of than the place I got here from.”
— Craig Mod
“The quantity of shortage I felt as an grownup in my twenties is simply surprising. It was this fathomless sense of shortage, like the cash’s not going to be there, the love isn’t going to be there, the assist isn’t going to be there. After which after I misplaced her, I used to be like, I’m by no means going to have anybody who will ever love me like this particular person beloved me, and I’m by no means going to have the ability to create like I created with this particular person. And I needed to begin proving to myself that that wasn’t true.”
— Craig Mod
“There’s an enormous security of being in a spot that may by no means throw you away since you’re by no means going to be a part of the factor.”
— Craig Mod
“It’s simply plain {that a} fullness of life that I discover is discovered by way of the writing and who that connects me with and the adventures it brings me on.”
— Craig Mod
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