Today's book. For the third installment, it's "Yoshiharu Tsuge's Hot Springs" by manga artist Yoshiharu Tsuge.
I discovered this book when I saw my beloved YouTuber, Teru-san of Teru-san TV, reading it during a car camping trip in Oku-Tama.
From the cover, it looks like a paperback novel, but when you open it, about half of the book is like a photo collection of hot spring towns taken between the late 1960s and 1970s, located in remote corners of the Japanese archipelago where tourists would likely never go. All the photos are black and white, taken around the mid-Showa 40s (1965-1974), and it's strange to think that the scenery might still be the same today in the Reiwa era.
There are locals enjoying the hot springs, and from them, I can sense the scent of "enjoying doing nothing" from an era before the internet or smartphones.
Nowadays, when you ride the train, most people just stare at their smartphones until their destination, often without any particular reason. I don't necessarily think that's bad, but it does make me think.
Why not try looking at this small book on your next commute?
