400 Days Away is a photo album covering a year of travel across 15 countries.

In the end of 2025, I decided to take a year away from usual life to do a slow lap around the planet.

Photograph from above of urban shoreline in Japan with a bridge crossing over to an island.

Mount Fuji at night with its reflection in a lake, bright lights at its foot and dimmer stars in the sky.

Densely packed decrepit buildings falling apart.

日本; 한국; Indonesia; Australia; Ελλάδα; България; Magyarország; Österreich; Slovensko; Česko; Polska; Deutschland; Nederland; Belgique; France.

Japan; Korea; Indonesia; Australia; Greece; Bulgaria; Hungary; Austria; Slovakia; Czechia; Poland; Germany; Netherlands; Belgium; France.

Orange cat sitting besides a tree in the woods.

Lone lighthouse at the edge of a pier, surrounded by water and sky.

I spent half a year in Japan, where I had already lived for a year as an exchange student, explored in the older, cringier album Loveletter To Japan.

Loveletter To Japan is a collection of night photos from my final evenings in Tokyo.

photography

Dense and staggered layout of a few buildings and utility boxes in an alley's end.

Mount Fuji during sunset with its reflection in a lake and a family of ducks swimming by.

The moon during the day with utility wires and birds intersecting the sky, surrounded by a tight alley and trees.

Group of boats parked near a concrete pier, a mountain and bridge far in the background peek above the water.

Many of my old friends there made this lifestyle change easier. I was also lucky to make many new friends, especially during my time in a rural town teaching English, playing volleyball, and for some odd reason learning to make mochi in a garage.

Small round bird sitting on a branch looking down.

Two wooden forest trails zigzagging between trees, surrounded by a floor of densely packed plants.

View of a valley from its bottom, water at its base and tall mountains on its sides.

View of a valley from its bottom, rocks at its base with a person standing on them and a suspension bridge in the distance.

City landscape nestled between two hills in the foreground.

I went back and forth nonstop for those six months. Tokyo, Nikko, Kagawa, Hiroshima, Osaka, back to Tokyo, then back down south to Nagasaki and Fukuoka. Japan hadn't changed much, I felt. But I did. It felt good seeing it again without a yearning to go back. Like I had moved on.

Old man in formal clothes walking up a staircase.

Foggy view from above of the sea and a lone island in the distance.

Two fishermen on a rock, one whipping their fishing rod forward.

Korea was a fresh change of pace. I loved the liveliness. People seemed straightforward. That also meant you saw when they were bored, or pissed, or tired. But I liked that, it's honest, it's transparent.

Packed small buildings on the water's shore with larger apartment buildings standing right behind them.

Foggy industrial dock with tall mountains in the background fading into the clouds.

Snowy mountaintop view of a winter forest with another mountain in the distant fog.

Indonesia was more of a challenge to my world view. I felt so odd being the (relatively) rich tourist. This year-long trip was motivated in part by my growing interest in how capitalism and economics at large affected our lives.

The example that Indonesia's tourism-heavy economy presented really clarified, for me, the processes of gentrification in various forms, the zero-sum games we play in our economies (and relatedly race-to-the-bottom style business), and how economical classes are formed both nationally and around the globe. Everyone I met there was amazing, and I wish the world was different.

Hawk and raven pecking at a dead fish on the edge of a beach during sunset.

Docked military ship with houses stacked on the mountain behind it.

Zoomed view of two hawks at their nest in a ruined concrete building window.

Array of large orange cranes on an industrial dock.

Rubble surrounded by lush growth of plants.

Australia was far more familiar to Canada, excluding the wildlife. I went snorkling and could barely see through the tears in my mask because of the blinding beauty. Oceans are amazing and terrifying, just like space. If they had documentaries about deep space creatures I would be considering a career change.

Groggy looking kangaroo who just finished yawning.

A month of my time in Australia was spent in a campervan, which I loved everything about, except for the campervan. Scouting for a cold shower every few days can be a bit exhausting. It also made me realize how much of my life revolved around my computer, which I had limited access to. I learned how much I took for granted. To those who live in cars or boats, you are strong.

Ibis with red spots on the back of its neck carefully walking through muddy land.

Densely packed group of orange trees sticking out of and reflectd in swampy water.

Kangaroo leaning down and eating grass, with a family of kangaroos behind it laying down.

Then the final 3 months in Europe went by quickly. Like the shrines in Japan, there's only so many cathedrals you can visit before they all start to look the same. I'd trash talk the tourists if it didn't make me a hypocrite. There are so many good places, places sometimes better than what's currently popular, that just don't have the same marketing hype. It's really worth exploring for yourself and getting a local opinion.

Calm swampy waters with small growing shoots framed by larger thin twisted trees.

After a year abroad, can I even summarize all the lessons I learned? The answer is yes.

People are the same, no matter where you go.

A huge part of my life is centered around computers, and that's super weird and kinda scary.

Everyone is a slave to whoever's money or attention they desire. I'd like to fight for a world where we need less of both.

There's still loads of places to visit on my list, maybe even more now that I've grown interested in the less mainstream spots.

It feels good to be home :)

Long urban shoreline fading into the foggy distance with mountains barely visible in the background.

Photos in this album are exclusively from Japan and Australia, despite discussing many other places.