Megumi Shauna Arai is a half Japanese and Jewish Artist who grew up between the Pacific Northwest and Tokyo.  Her work explores biracial identity, intimacy, imperfection and freedom. She recently flew to Japan and then to NYC for personal and job related trips. We asked her to send us some images she captured along the way and to share a bit of her journey outside of the region.

My grandfather in Japan passed. I flew  back in a matter of two days to be with my father and his side of the family. It had been seven years since I was last in Japan.   I sat in airplanes, trains and buses for a majority of the time, but there was a vast amount of movement in the landscape both outside the window and inside me.

I woke up at dawn, alone in my father’s little bachelor pad in Tokyo, after flying in the night before.  The light was soft and warm, the city was still quiet.

The Sea between, inside and around.

My father grew up in the country side of Nagano Prefecture.  It was another 6 hours of trains and buses to reach his hometown where the family was holding the funeral.  Though it was April it snowed.

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