Maps, Letters and Love Songs: A letter from my travels

I'm not sure how many people remember, but back in 2007 when 30 Minutes Night Flight was released, Maaya released 'Chizu to tegami to koi no uta' (Maps, Letters and Love Songs) which was a collection of song lyrics, photos and two small pieces of writing. It was a really nice collection, beautiful photos, drawings by Maaya, and, of course, the lyrics themselves.

This is the ending of the book. After 'Poketto wo kara ni shite' (Empty the Pocket) which as we know, is a song about heading off on a journey. It's also the song Maaya ends her concerts with. It's a nice little letter from Finland, which is where they shot the photos for 30 Minutes Night Flight. Really sweet.

Enjoy!!

Maps, Letters and Love Songs: A letter from my travels
Published 2007.

It’s around an eight hour flight to get from Japan to the capital of Finland, Helsinki. It’s surprisingly close.

Even though it’s October, every day is hot and humid thanks to the strange weather we’ve been having; in one step I left the lingering summer heat of Tokyo for a Europe of falling autumnal leaves. The avenue of Gingko trees in front of the hotel is full of the scent of gingko nuts.
The four days I stayed here were packed with photo shoots. Blessed with perfect weather they all went according to plan; I’m sure we took a lot of great photos.

In forests, by lakes, inside elementary schools, railway stations, on top of a hill with a red barn, sitting in cafes and sailing on boats – we took photos in a lot of different places, but the spot I liked best on this trip was Helsinki Cathedral.

A white building which soars above the centre of town, when you start to climb the stairs, you realise that it’s actually on a slope and that it's a lot bigger than it looks from below. When I finally reached the top and turned around, I couldn’t believe the scenery that was stretching out before my eyes. All of the rooftops lined up beneath me and beyond lay the harbour, the marketplace and the ferries that travel off to foreign lands. Then there were the cute green trams running up and down the streets. As I turned to survey the land below, the sun suddenly shone down, after being hidden within thick clouds all day.

Sitting down on the steps and watching the sun until it set completely wasn’t a bit boring. The wind was freezing so it was quite cold, but I think I could have sat there for hours and hours. The locals said, “You should see the cathedral once, but it’s not that interesting.” But if I lived in this place, I would sit here and watch the sky and the town every morning, noon and night. I wonder if they don’t realise how wonderful it is because they’re used to living here. There’s a chance that perhaps that I am also overlooking some wonderful place in the town I live, thinking it’s simply commonplace.

As for food in Finland, the local delicacy is reindeer. Yesterday I ate dinner in a traditional Finnish restaurant, it was there that I encountered reindeer meat. It seems like it’s a really popular restaurant, and you need to have a reservation to go there. I was kind of surprised that reindeer has a pretty characteristic smell, but it was tenderer than I thought it was going to be. Apart from reindeer, there’s Lapland Cheese, which tastes a lot like tofu, and really meaty salmon, make up the local menu.

By the by, apparently Finland has the largest number of coffee drinkers in the world. You’re surprised, right? Now, this is just between you and me, but no matter which shop I went to, all the coffee I drank was strangely weak in flavour. But in order to be the biggest coffee drinking country in the world, just how many cups a day are these people drinking? Anyway, when this self-confessed coffee addict gets back to Japan, the first thing she wants to do is to drink a strong cup of coffee.

Something really surprising happened today: I found my own CD displayed in a shop window here in Helsinki!

There, in some shop on a street I was casually walking down, was ‘Hotchpotch’ selling for 18.90 Euros. To think that my songs have crossed the sea to this place, before I’ve even set foot on this land! That people with a language so unlike Japanese, living with scenery so completely different, eating food tasting nothing like that in Japan, are listening to my music. I felt overcome with emotion, happy, when I thought that we must have something in common. I had no idea that the last day of my trip would hold this kind of emotion for me.

Tomorrow afternoon I will be flying back to Japan.

Whether it’s for work or pleasure, I love travelling. This trip to Finland also turned out to be a great success.

But it’s really weird, on the morning of my departure I always feel nervous before travelling, and this time it was the same. I feel like I’ve forgotten something, like I don’t want to go on the trip anymore. No matter how much I’ve been looking forward to setting off beforehand, I always get like this.

I think about the faces of my family and friends; deciding in my heart that as soon as I return home I will meet up with them, and we’ll take our time over a delicious meal. I’ll buy them a souvenir, I’ll send them a post card. I begin to miss those people who I had always thought of as those I could meet ‘anytime I like’.

As I fasten my seatbelt, there’s no going back from this road I have chosen to walk down. It is when we take off, that moment when I must entrust myself to that repulsion of gravity, that I understand the reason why I am going on this trip: it is because I have somewhere to return to that a journey is truly a journey. It is because I have people waiting for me that I return.

It is to you, the one who is waiting for me, that I send this letter to from a faraway country.

From Maaya Sakamoto. Helsinki.