Thunderstorm: Nostalgia in Kyoto


The last week has brought rain, thunder and lightning to the quiet of Kyoto, and in the rumble, there is a chord struck for the past, a reminder of similar days in my childhood.

For the last few days, the rumble of coming storms has been heard throughout Kyoto, but today, the sky finally cracked open, and from the rolling grey came strikes of white lightning and moans of thunder. I sat with the window open for a couple of hours, just listening to the sound of the rain, rain that I had been caught in the night before for nearly forty minutes on my ride home, rain that had drenched Nicky and I to the bone twice in as many days, and I began to feel nostalgia for the bygone days of lazy springs in my childhood.

It’s never been so much that I desire to return to the past, or even to return to the place where those days happened, but it was a comforting feeling all the same, the rumbles of thunder like whispers in my ear, allowing me to pause and remember some of the most beautiful yet simplistic beauty that nature can create.

At one point, I had my camera on, to record the sound of the rain and maybe catch a flash of light in the clouds, but I lucked out and was actually able to film a lightning bolt. You can view the video below: