Joe Hisaishi, “The Legend of Ashitaka”

I just thought I’d share a little bit of what I’m listening to while I’m here. This is song is part of a symphonic suite used in the movie Princess Mononoke, a famous film by Hayao Miyazaki, a prominent Japanese filmmaker.

The song takes me back to Hakone, with its mountains and lakes and greenery. I listened to it a lot when I was wandering the Japanese countryside. The film the song is from tells a story about the relationship between humans and nature, and I suppose the song inspires a sort of reverence for Japan’s natural beauty in me.