THE WORLD IS YOUR PLAYGROUND.

Who ever said growing up meant that you had to stop playing?

There is this notion that growing up means to become an adult and to act more sensibly and maturely; while that certainly is so, sensibility and having fun are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Age is relative: to a fully-working adult, I am young and energetic with a whole life ahead of me; to a child, I could even be considered 'auntie'. In a different lifetime, I could already be a wife, or even a mother. Yet, walking around the concrete jungle with flashing lights and blurring crowds, I felt like a child again -- a lost child simply wondering through the streets, wide-eyed and full of wonder.

And it made me think about how this child-like wonder and curiosity disappeared. Here I was in a place that was comparable to my homeland, and yet, it felt like I had many more authentic experiences on the streets.

These two photographs perhaps encapsulated the essence of spontaneity and youth: while trying to capture Japan's hustle and bustle on the streets, the boy in the photograph jumped in and posed for the photo.

spontaneity
spontaneity

These pictures remind me of this essence of 'youth' we tend to forget we have -- after all, I'd like to think that youth isn't necessarily wasted on the young;
it's wasted on those who fail to keep it alive.

couple playing pinball
zoom zoom
youth having fun