School Routes in a Small Town

On a morning trip in Toyama, Japan, I saw students in uniforms and white helmets quietly riding their bicycles to school along a small road beside the rice fields. This school route stretches from the fields into the city and connects everything in the town: the waves of green rice, the crossroads glowing green, the kindergarten children hurrying across the street, and the distant city that belongs to adults. As a stranger in this place, I could only watch from the side, yet I was deeply drawn to this gentle and orderly everyday scene. So I followed the direction they were heading and pressed the shutter, recording the children’s figures and backs on the road as the heartbeat of this small town.