Suspended 15 meters above the ground from a launch point just below the 482-meter summit of Mount Jyubuichi in Yamagata Prefecture, I am standing huddled in a basket beneath the bright geometric patterns of a hot air balloon.
Small towns, rice fields and the last vestiges of autumn foliage blanket the Earth below. Even on an overcast and chilly morning such as this, it’s a refreshing sight. With little melded metal and glass jutting out into the sky, I’ll admit this is not the scenery I’ve come to associate with Japan. Despite having lived in Ibaraki Prefecture for six years before moving to Tokyo, the longer I live in the latter, the more it begins to feel like the center of the world (don’t tell any New Yorkers that).
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