Things Become Other Things - by Craig Mod (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Photographer and essayist Craig Mod is a veteran of long solo walks. But in 2021, during the pandemic shutdown of Japan's borders, one particular walk around the Kumano Kodåo routes--the ancient pilgrimage paths of Japan's southern Kii Peninsula--took on an unexpectedly personal new significance. Mod found himself reflecting on his own childhood in a post-industrial American town, his experiences as an adoptee, his unlikely relocation to Japan at nineteen, and his relationship with one lost friend, whose life was tragically cut short after their paths diverged. For Mod, the walk became a tool to bear witness to a quiet grace visible only when 'you're bored out of your skull and the miles left are long.' Tracing a 300-mile-long journey, Things Become Other Things folds together history, literature, poetry, Shinto and Buddhist spirituality, and contemporary rural life in Japan via dozens of conversations with aging fishermen, multi-generational inn owners, farmers, and kissaten cafe 'mamas'"--

Book Synopsis

A transformative 300-mile walk along Japan's ancient pilgrimage routes and through depopulating villages inspires a heartrending remembrance of a long-lost friend, documented in poignant, imaginative prose and remarkable photography.

"An epic, exquisitely detailed journey, on foot, through a rural Japan few of us are likely to experience. Uniquely unforgettable."--William Gibson, New York Times bestselling author of Neuromancer

Photographer and essayist Craig Mod is a veteran of long solo walks. But in 2021, during the pandemic shutdown of Japan's borders, one particular walk around the Kumano Kodō routes--the ancient pilgrimage paths of Japan's southern Kii Peninsula--took on an unexpectedly personal new significance. Mod found himself reflecting on his own childhood in a post-industrial American town, his experiences as an adoptee, his unlikely relocation to Japan at nineteen, and his relationship with one lost friend, whose life was tragically cut short after their paths diverged. For Mod, the walk became a tool to bear witness to a quiet grace visible only when "you're bored out of your skull and the miles left are long."

Tracing a 300-mile-long journey, Things Become Other Things folds together history, literature, poetry, Shinto and Buddhist spirituality, and contemporary rural life in Japan via dozens of conversations with aging fishermen, multi-generational inn owners, farmers, and kissaten cafe "mamas." Along the way, Mod communes with mountain fauna, marvels over evidence of bears and boars, and hopscotches around leeches. He encounters whispering priests and foul-mouthed little kids who ask him, "Just what the heck are you, anyway?" Through sharp prose and his curious archive of photographs, he records evidence of floods and tsunamis, the disappearance of village life on the peninsula, and the capricious fecundity of nature.

Things Become Other Things blends memoir and travel writing at their best, transporting readers to an otherwise inaccessible Japan, one made visible only through Mod's unique bicultural lens.

Review Quotes

"Mod takes the reader along on an epic, exquisitely detailed journey, on foot, through a rural Japan few of us are likely to experience. Uniquely unforgettable."--William Gibson, New York Times-bestselling author of Neuromancer

"While reading his engrossing memoir, I felt like I was in Craig Mod's head as he ambled around Japan. Along with giving me comfort, his calm and honest voice imparted wisdom. Reading Things Before Other Things made me want to go for a long walk and learn to listen to my own inner voice."--Alec Soth, photographer and author of Advice for Young Artists

"Luminous, poignant, unflinching and kind, Things Become Other Things reads like a future classic of its genre."--David Mitchell, New York Times bestselling author of Cloud Atlas

"From its first pages, this book vibrates with energy--a calm charisma. The steady pad of feet on pavement (and wet dirt, and old stones) becomes a backbeat for histories personal and global, observations tiny and profound. Craig Mod's memoir is the quiet road, set one back from the busy artery, that calls to you--maybe there's something interesting that way? Oh boy is there. You'll be glad you took this path."--Robin Sloan, New York Times bestselling author of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

"Mod's highly readable chronicle of a secular pilgrimage through Japan's vanishing rural towns breathes new life into the travelogue while shining a light on the dire need for solace among all who have suffered through the trauma of American violence and social fracture."--W. David Marx, author of Ametora and Status and Culture

"Mod points his viewfinder at rural Japan, but what develops is a snapshot of the slow, faceless violence that produced so many of us."--Dexter Thomas, journalist and documentary filmmaker

"Things Become Other Things is powered by Craig Mod's curiosity and thoughtfulness and takes you on a transportive journey through the depths of a rural Japan few of us shall ever see. It's also an achingly real portrait of friendship in small-town America that will ring true to many. It is nature, memory, heartbreak, and at its core an ode to the beauty and wonder contained in everything--and the patience to find it."--Aziz Ansari, author of Modern Romance

"Gorgeous . . . Punctuated with stunning black and white photographs of the villages and landscapes Mod encountered, this tender exploration of fragile ecosystems and vanishing ways of life will encourage readers to look more closely at their own surroundings. It's a nourishing trek."--Publishers Weekly, starred review

"A meditative travelogue through a part of Japan few outsiders ever see . . . [Mod's] account reaches far beyond private reminiscence to become an exemplary travel narrative, instructive and entertaining. Elegant and inspired: just the thing to read along with Basho and other pilgrims into Japan's back country."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review

About the Author

Craig Mod is a writer, photographer, and walker living in Tokyo, Japan. He is the author of four books, including Things Become Other Things and Kissa by Kissa. He is also the author of the newsletters Roden and Ridgeline and has contributed to The New York Times, The Atlantic, Wired, and other publications.