I’m in Seoul, South Korea. It's only a two-hour flight from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, which is faster than traveling to Okinawa.

Food prices are almost the same as in Japan. A Starbucks latte costs about ¥550. A can of cola at the store is about ¥200, but if you buy one, you get another one for free.

Thankfully, taxis are cheaper than in Japan. The 26-kilometer ride from the airport to the hotel cost a little over ¥2,000.

A three-night, four-day stay at a hotel with a casino, including airfare, cost less than 100,000 yen. Overall, prices seem reasonable.

Today’s temperature in Seoul is -9°C. It’s cold. It's so cold that it gives me a headache. It’s so cold that it makes my teeth hurt.

I’ve visited many cold regions for photo shoots before and have built up some seal-like fat reserves, so I’m not particularly sensitive to the cold. But Seoul's winter hits my Tokyo-spoiled body really hard.

I brought fingerless gloves to shoot in, but the cold eliminates any chance of exposing my fingers. The right choice would have been to layer thin fleece gloves that allow camera operation under the fingerless gloves.

I’m wearing a merino wool base layer, a light down jacket, and a Gore-Tex jacket.

This might have been fine for walking around town, but it’s so cold that I don’t even feel like walking.

Many people in Korea wear long down jackets with hoods pulled tightly over their heads. It makes shooting difficult, but I should have brought a down jacket.

I'm here for meetings and to scout locations for our photo content, so I don’t need to force myself to shoot. Still, I brought my full-frame mirrorless camera and my GR.

I gave in to the cold and left the mirrorless camera at the hotel. I’m walking around town with the GR in my pocket, scouting locations.

Just as the heat of midsummer can kill my desire to shoot, the cold of midwinter does the same. Once again, I'm reminded of my lack of grit.

I gave up shooting. I ate some spicy Korean food, and now my butt hurts, and I regret it. Today, I’m going to shoot a pistol at the Myeongdong shooting range. Tomorrow, I’ll play at the hotel casino.

　
　

Hiroshi Hatano
’Bokutachi ga erabenakatta koto o erabi naosu tameni (To Choose Again What We Could Not Choose)'
'Shashinshu (Photos)'
'Boku ga kodomo no koro hoshikatta oya ni naru (Being the Parent I Wanted When I Was a Child)'
'Nan de boku ni kikun daro (Why Do They Ask Me?)'
'Tanin no nayamigoto wa hitogoto, jibun no nayamigoto wa ogoto (Other People's Problems are Trivial, My Problems are Serious)
'Love letter'
'Daitai ningenkankeide nayamasareru #'Nan de boku ni kikun daro'（often troubled by relationships）
https://note.com/hatanohiroshi/