The Foursquare Mayor
Every time one of these travel videos drops, the same thing happens. You click it because the thumbnail looks nice, the music starts, and suddenly you’re on Google Flights pricing tickets to Tokyo without thinking about rent or whether you’d have to sell your grandmother to make it happen. Which I haven’t done yet, but give it time.
This one’s by Pau Garcia Laita, a Spanish photographer who spent two weeks in Japan. He shot it himself, naturally, and the result is exactly the kind of thing that makes you forget you have responsibilities. He talks about how travel energy catches you up, how he tried to capture that feeling—the constant collision between old and new, tradition and modernity, whatever that means when you’re wandering around.
The video probably works the way all of these do. Pretty shots, slowed-down moments, some synth-heavy soundtrack. Japan plays well on screen: the contrast writes itself. You don’t even have to try. A few temples, a few neon signs, some crowds, some silence, and people are already checking their bank accounts.
I remember being there for a while, actually. Shibuya in particular, that crosswalk where everyone moves at once. I was somehow the Foursquare mayor of that intersection—I still bring it up, which is embarrassing and stupid, but I do anyway. It wasn’t even a real accomplishment; I’d just checked in more than anyone else that week. But standing there at night, watching thousands of people move through that space, it felt like you’d cracked some code you didn’t even know existed.
That’s what the video probably does. Makes you remember a place you’ve never been as if you’ve already lost it.