We recently teamed up with LOJEL to create a fun project focused on creatives’ journeys and we spent a month sharing meaningful travel experiences submitted by our community! We were hoping to see some inspiring images and read some insightful words and, well, you can see the kinda stuff people submitted here, here, here and here. Everyone who had their story featured got hooked up with luggage from LOJEL’s Voja luggage collection and some received a bag from LOJEL’s Urbo 2 bag collection too.

For the second phase of this project we commissioned four participants to take their submissions one step further and add a layer of artwork over top of their travel photos. Last week we shared Abhishek and Hanna Lee Joshi’s story and this week we have one from Fernando Bittar, an illustrator from Brazil currently based in Los Angeles! Enjoy!

FERNANDO BITTAR

@bittar

Going to Japan was always a dream of a trip for me and my wife. The Japanese culture is really big in São Paulo and the cultural influence when I was growing up certainly contributed to my artistic development. Crazy conversion rates, 25+ hours of flight, not speaking the language and not knowing anyone there certainly didn’t hold us back. We got there with high expectations and with open hearts and minds to take in as much as we could.

Coming from a Latin American country like Brazil is really a shock to see how things run so smoothly. We were in Kyoto one day and saw these students walking around in a big line. Maybe on a field trip. Wearing their yellow hats and backpacks. They were so polite and organized it kind of baffled us.

The train ride from Kyoto to Nara was really interesting. It felt like we were going back in time. The crazy big train station gives place to calm and silent landscapes, with beautiful houses that sit alongside the train tracks. We got there and I was able to snap this pretty cool moment of my wife hugging a deer. She put down a cup of coffee to take the photo and we accidentally forgot about it. To this day I jokingly shame her for littering in Japan.

The old contrasting with the new is something we saw everywhere and couldn’t get enough of. We’ve been to many castles and temples but Todaiji had something special about it. You can’t help but feel inspired to create something when you look at the main statues, the temple or even the massive gate leading to it.

At the bigger cities, you get hit with lights, neon, arcades and the crazy pace. We walk around Osaka and Tokyo for a few days, trying to see as much as we can.

Going back home was really hard after having such an amazing experience. We’ve been to other places after this but I think this trip had a profound impact on us. Creatively I felt inspired like never before but also completely overwhelmed. Just hoping to go back soon.