Overcome those intrusive thoughts: Exhibit your nature journal in Japan

I came across this intriguing post on Instagram by @erikokobayashi_naturejournal.

Eriko Kobayashi founded the Japan Nature Journal Club. On further investigation I found that she and the Japan Nature Journal Club invite nature journalers from around the world to participate in Japan's first-ever nature journaling exhibition. I was excited to see the exhibition venue is a nature centre in a nature park that has an exhibition facility: Hyonosen Nature Experience Center "Hibiki no Mori".

My very first thought when seeing this delightful call to action was

“that looks fun, I’d love to take part.”

And then a whole bunch of intrusive and unwanted thoughts came piling into my head, fast and furious, dampening my enthusiasm and making me want to give up before I had even started.

I took a little time to pay attention to the loud voices in my head telling me to give up, and I wrote down what they were saying. The process was pretty interesting to me, and I think it will be helpful to others too. I found that not only could I answer every single question, but that once I had answered them then the disruptive thoughts went away. I fully embraced Eriko’s call to action and got a tremendous amount of joy in doing so. I hope you do too. 

This post may be interesting to you if you can identify with any of the following:

• You like nature

• You like journaling

• You’ve had intrusive thoughts about not being good enough

• You would like to take part in Eriko Kobayashi’s nature journal exhibition in Japan but don’t know how

• You long to connect with the international nature journaling community and be part of this worldwide transformation of human consciousness 

Intrusive thought number one: "My work isn’t good enough"

This is the pesky intrusive thought which I battle with the most! But guess what - in nature journaling there is no such thing as ‘not good enough’. Nature journaling is an expression of our interaction with nature. And just as there are so many different types of flowers in the world, so too are there all types of nature journalers and nature journaling in the world. The essence of being a nature journaler lies in the act of nature journaling, and not in the merits of a completed journal page. You don’t have to judge yourself, press yourself or stress yourself. Your nature journaling is 100% good enough every time, I promise. But as they say in the classics, don’t just take my word for it. Hear it from Eriko herself. This is what she has to say:  

“Most visitors to the museum will be new to Nature Journal. It does not have to be a beautiful, pretty journal. If you are a beginner, just started to learn nature journaling, never participated in an exhibition, and children, anyone’s nature journal is welcome to this exhibition.”

Okay so that settles that: my work, and your work, is one hundred percent certifiably guaranteed to be good enough. 

“Nobody in Japan is going to be interested in my study of garden lawn weeds”

Actually, it turns out that Eriko is interested in every theme imaginable. In her brilliance she has modelled her theme on the Wild Wonder Foundation’s zine Quick Start Guide to Nature Journaling zine. which has been adopted around the world as a great starting point for nature journaling. Let’s look at the outline of the themes and then delve a little further into each one. The following themes are open for submissions:

1. The basic (3 languages and 3 prompts)  

2. Comparison

3. Questioning of question

4. Children's Nature Journal

5. Other (free theme)

The first theme ‘The Basic” refers to using words, pictures and numbers to complete the prompts:

• I notice …. (Be specific. What do you see? Hear? Feel? Observe?)

• I wonder….. (Get curious and write down questions: who, what, where, when, how, why?

• It reminds me of ….. (Connect your observations to things you already know)

The second theme “Comparison” …

find two similar objects and journal about the similarities and the differences.

This is my personal favourite as it really helps me focus on what I am journaling.

I remember thinking that “a sage is a sage is a sage” and then when I got down to comparing the lipstick salvia to the scarlet salvia (common names obviously) I was intrigued by the differences.

Suddenly I was seeing each plant in a new way. 

The third theme is “Questioning Questions”. In the WildWonder zine this is explained as “Find an interesting subject and record as many questions as you can: who, what, where, when, how, and why. For “why” questions, create multiple possible explanations of what might be going on. 

The last themes of “Children’s Natural Journal” and “Other” are so wonderfully inclusive that I find them to celebrate everything that is wonderful about the nature journaling community. 

"I will never be able to afford the courier fees."

Well, actually there are no courier fees. You take a photo and email them for submission. 

There is some advice on this link so that the recipients can print out the entries on an A4 page and still see the page clearly.  

A personal note on South African Wi-Fi access: I find that most municipal libraries and also a fair number of shops have free Wi-Fi. If you are near a Spar for instance, find a safe space to stand near the entrance and access their Wi-Fi. In the case of Spar, you will need to watch a few adverts first but then they give you a little free Wi-Fi and it is usually enough to send a photograph. Again, the key here is to remain safe at all times. Once you’ve loaded the photo you can carry on with your chore and errands, knowing that your journal entry is now being opened in Japan!

"I’m probably too late anyway."

Sorry nasty intrusive thoughts, you lose again. We are absolutely still in time.

The deadline is 31 August 2024, with the exhibition running

5 October (Saturday) - 1 December (Sun) 2024.

There is a plea from Eriko on one of her posts which reads:

“I have received some journal entries from all over the world for the exhibition - Thank you so much to everyone who has submitted already💚We have a month to go to the deadline, August 31st, still have a plenty of time left, so I don't mean to rush you- But if you are going to submit your journal to the first nature journal exhibition in Japan, earlier entries helps me a lot. We are going to exhibit caption boards of your explanations for your journals with the panelled images. I have to translate all of your captions into Japanese, so I am little afraid of receiving so many images at once at the last minutes.If you have some journal entries already, you can submit that. It doesn't have to be pretty one. Can't wait to see your journals!”

"It can’t be as simple as that surely."

Well yes, it pretty much is. There is a submission form to complete, with one more pertinent question. The question/prompt is: “A brief story of your journal (what did you focus on, episodes related to your journal entry, etc). And there is a biographical and geographical prompt with a space for questions or messages. The submission form can be found here

Concluding thoughts

And that’s really all there is to it. Once the intrusive thoughts are broken down and dealt with, nothing remains except the joy of possibilities. I encourage you to join me in sending entries to Japan. I know I’m glad I did. 

Message to Eriko Kobayashi

Eriko on behalf of all of us here at Nature Journaling South Africa,

we thank you for this opportunity to exhibit in Japan. We wish you all the best for a successful exhibition (in whichever way you define this). It is such an honour and a privilege to exhibit in your beautiful country. Happy journaling Eriko.