Experiences – Life – Inspiration 🇨🇭🇯🇵

Yesterday, my wife and I drove to the Michi no Eki in Mino for no particular reason.

We just wanted to get out of the house, see some snow, see some mountains, and feel a bit of winter. Living where we do, close to the Aichi border, the landscape is mostly flat and familiar. But once you start driving deeper into Gifu Prefecture, something interesting happens.

You pass through a few tunnels, and it feels like you are crossing into another world.

The scenery changes almost immediately. The land becomes more rugged. The mountains close in. The air feels different. Even the light feels different. Mino always gives me that feeling. Like stepping into a quieter, older, more spacious version of Japan.

At the Michi no Eki, my wife went off to look at local produce and regional products. I did what I often do. I wandered.

Not far from there flows the Nagara River. The banks were covered in snow, the mountains in the distance were dusted in white, and everything felt calm and still. One of those winter days where sound seems to be absorbed by the landscape.

Then I noticed the bridge.

A beautiful red bridge crossing the river — the Mino Bridge. I had seen it in pictures before, but never really from this angle, never in this atmosphere, never as part of a quiet snowy afternoon. Only later did I learn that it is the oldest existing modern suspension bridge in Japan.

Since I had my drone with me, I decided to fly a little. Just ten minutes. Nothing ambitious. Just a few calm passes over the river and around the bridge.

And then I noticed something else.

Up on a rocky hill nearby stood a building that I had passed by many times by car over the years. From the road, it always looked a bit strange. Like some kind of observatory. Or maybe a restaurant. Or one of those tourist buildings you never really question.

This time, from the air, it looked different.

It looked intentional.

It looked like a castle.

Only later did I realize that it is Ogurayama Castle. Or rather, a reconstruction of it. A place with history. A place I had been driving past for years without ever really seeing it.

How many times have we passed places like this?

How many times have we driven by something with a story, with depth, with history, and filed it away in our mind as just “some building”?

It is strange how perspective changes everything.

From the ground, it was just a silhouette on a hill. From the air, it suddenly made sense. The relationship between the river, the bridge, the hill, and the town came into view.

Flying a drone has taught me this again and again. It is not just about getting cool shots. It is about seeing context. Seeing connections. Seeing how things belong together.

Yesterday was not a special trip. We did not plan anything. We did not chase any destination.

We just went out to see some snow.

I went out for nothing.

And found something unexpected.