The SMS Book
(Pachinko Road: Walk With Me)
Craig Mod
About the book
Pachinko Road was produced over 25 days while walking the Nakasendō in Japan — starting in Kamakura, up to Tokyo, and then all the way to Kyoto through Nagano and Gifu prefectures.
An "SMS publishing system" was built. Readers could "subscribe" to the system by texting a number. Each day along the walk I wrote a short update and sent a photo via the SMS to the subscribers. I didn't know how many people had subscribed or if the messages were even properly arriving. Responses to my SMSes were captured on a server and this book was generated from those responses. I didn't see the final object until it arrived at my home a month after the walk was completed. Only one copy was produced.
Verso pages contain the photograph (or sometimes photographs) for the day. Recto pages contain my daily message and any responses from
Related essays:
Related video:
Craig Mod is a writer and photographer based in Japan. He's the author of the books Things Become Other Things and Kissa by Kissa and is a MacDowell, Ragdale, and VCCA writing fellow. His essays and articles have appeared in The New York Times, Eater, The Atlantic, California Sunday Magazine, Wired, Aeon, New Scientist, Virginia Quarterly Review, The New Yorker, The Morning News, Codex: Journal of Typography, and elsewhere.
He writes newsletters, oh yes, newsletters: Roden & Ridgeline.
The work on this site is supported 100% by paid memberships and book & print sales.
Whatever you do, don't follow @craigmod on Threads or Instagram.