Hello. I'm Kuniko and live in Tokyo, Japan.
Tokyo has some parks, but it has a little nature compared to my hometown. I used to feel sad about the lack of nature but I enjoy my life lately more than before, that is because I am starting to love this place. I have noticed that there are many special places around me.
I grew up in the countryside surrounded by mountains. When I was a child, I would go to a beach once a year and thought about how big the world was. I believed my world could be spread like the ocean and the sky. I was always searching for a place where I belong. I used to work at a ranch in Nagano and a Japanese inn in Okinawa, but I couldn't find my place in the world.
Last year, I joined The Japan Nature Journal Club. Since then, I have started nature journaling and my mind has changed in positive ways. So far, I have encountered special moments like these.
Small insects making good soil.
Finding out the criminal who digging holes at the flower-bed.
Observing the cicada having beautiful yet complicated wiry structural wings.
How to tell apart butterflies and moths by seeing their antennas
Being mesmerized by Indian fritillary male and female coupling dance.
Seeing a musical chair of black-headed gulls.
These beauties had always been here around me since the beginning, but I didn't realize them. I wasted my important time absorbing in busy daily life, being frustrated, and listing to gossip. If you can appreciate your current environment and your surroundings, you may not need a nature journal. But If you are feeling like I used to be, I want you to try to go out with a pen and a sketchbook!
I promise you can find a lot of joy! By drawing my nature journal, I have learned how to love myself and know where I should be.
Find more of Kuniko’s work on instagram @kumonko0813 and on her YouTube channel