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I was afforded a great opportunity in September last year (2019) to visit Kyoto, Japan. I was traveling alone, which I love doing. Throughout my trips, I like to run each morning where possible. This not only gives me great photo opportunities, but I generally get a sense of the place that I am in and the people that inhabit it. The mornings are especially beautiful. It is quiet, the sun has just risen and life begins for the day. I love it! After my run I usually always get a coffee either hot or cold depending on the climate I am in. It was summer in Japan, so needless to say I drank a lot of iced coffee. One humid sticky morning after my run through the pristine streets of Kyoto I stumbled upon a particular coffee shop that has now been etched in my mind forever. In this coffee shop, I met a local man and made a beautiful and memorable connection. The coffee shop reminded me of an old 60's men's coffee house, where you could catch up with the guys, read the paper, have a cigarette, watch some TV and have your morning coffee and cake. There was an order about the place, however, it was so relaxed and fluid that it was simply mesmerizing almost ephemeral, fleeting as if it were a magical moment in time I was able to witness. I stood out like bright pink paint on a white wall, but the humble Japanese owner embraced me as if I was one of the regular men he considered friends that he had known for years. Each day after my run around the cobbled streets of Kyoto I would stop in for an iced latte. He would always accompany my iced latte with something like a slice of butter cake or a piece of the sweetest orange I have ever tasted. This showed pride, respect and the unwritten joy of the Japanese culture. They are meticulously proud of everything they do. Each day the man would also give me a photograph that he himself had taken throughout the seasons of the year in Japan. He gave me one taken in the winter at the Golden Pavilion, one in the spring where the cherry blossoms flourished, one of the streams in Summer, and finally, birds perched in trees in the Springtime. We embraced each other and our love of photography and travel. It was one of the most special travel moments I've experienced to date. It also holds a very profound lesson of embracing all people and things with the love and generosity you would toward someone you've known forever. Image: Available a moment on my instagram page @slcollidge Here is the link: https://www.instagram.com/p/B2-59mlAHET/