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# The Floating World of One Woman's Camera Diary
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/yowayowa-camera-woman-diary-natsumi-hayashi/
- Published: 2012-01-25T16:31:06.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:36:56.000Z
- Description: Floating around Twitter and Sina Weibo as of late has been my new favorite blog, Yowayowa Camera Woman Diary. Lifted to the web by Tokyo-based photographer Natsumi Hayashi, the diary features a series of "daily levitations," as Hayashi drifts through the hustle and bustle of her city.
- Author: AX Mina
- Tags: Opinion, Photography, Tokyo, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 06:51 (2012, 2013, part 1)

![For her May 30 levitation, "Yowayowa Camera Woman" Natsumi Hayashi demonstrates a perfectly reasonable solution to avoiding subway seat grime. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2012/01/todayslevitation.jpg)

For her May 30 levitation, "Yowayowa Camera Woman" Natsumi Hayashi demonstrates a perfectly reasonable solution to avoiding subway seat grime.

Floating around Twitter and Sina Weibo as of late has been my new favorite blog, [Yowayowa Camera Woman Diary](http://yowayowacamera.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com). Lifted to the web by Tokyo-based photographer Natsumi Hayashi, the diary features a series of “daily levitations,” as Hayashi drifts through the hustle and bustle of her city.

[![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2012/01/yowayowacamera-home.jpg)](http://yowayowacamera.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com)

The levitations, of course, are ever so carefully staged, but in a very low-tech way. [In a series of clear instructions posted on her site](http://www.yowayowacamera.com/pineapple1/?ref=hyperallergic.com), she describes the meticulous steps she follows. Having experimented with photo self-portraiture myself, I can attest to the difficulty of capturing that perfect moment \[emphasis mine\]:

> First, I get a composition and a focus manually. Then I press the shutter release, run to the right position for a levitation as checking the camera’s blinking red LED counts down 10 seconds and jump by my intuition. **In this manner, I need to jump over and over to get the right shot.**

[![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2012/01/daily-levitation-home.jpg "daily-levitation-HOME")](http://yowayowacamera.com/banana/20110601234825.html?ref=hyperallergic.com)

As Hayashi describes, “*yowayowa*” means “weak” or “feeble” in Japanese, and the works reflect a childlike whimsy as she floats out of the mundanities of life, from [drinking fountain water](http://yowayowacamera.com/banana/20110506024403.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) to [vacuuming the house](http://yowayowacamera.com/banana/20110505003426.html?ref=hyperallergic.com). They remind me of the primary way of navigating through Second Life and, naturally, [Dwight Schrute’s addiction in *The Office*](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3d%5FfqDcN1s&ref=hyperallergic.com). =The blog has been a hit online, as she hosts nearly 10,000 followers and rising across [Twitter](https://twitter.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com#!/yowayowacamera) and [Sina Weibo](http://www.weibo.com/yowayowacamera?ref=hyperallergic.com).