Things Become Other Things

A Walking Memoir

By: Craig Mod

Narrated by: Craig Mod

A transformative 300-mile walk along Japan’s ancient pilgrimage routes and through depopulating villages inspires a heartrending remembrance of a long-lost friend, documented in poignant, imaginative prose and remarkable photography.

“An epic, exquisitely detailed journey, on foot, through a rural Japan few of us are likely to experience. Uniquely unforgettable.”—William Gibson, New York Times bestselling author of Neuromancer

Photographer and essayist Craig Mod is a veteran of long solo walks. But in 2021, during the pandemic shutdown of Japan’s borders, one particular walk around the Kumano Kodō routes—the ancient pilgrimage paths of Japan’s southern Kii Peninsula—took on an unexpectedly personal new significance. Mod found himself reflecting on his own childhood in a post-industrial American town, his experiences as an adoptee, his unlikely relocation to Japan at nineteen, and his relationship with one lost friend, whose life was tragically cut short after their paths diverged. For Mod, the walk became a tool to bear witness to a quiet grace visible only when “you’re bored out of your skull and the miles left are long.”

Tracing a 300-mile-long journey, Things Become Other Things folds together history, literature, poetry, Shinto and Buddhist spirituality, and contemporary rural life in Japan via dozens of conversations with aging fishermen, multi-generational inn owners, farmers, and kissaten cafe “mamas.” Along the way, Mod communes with mountain fauna, marvels over evidence of bears and boars, and hopscotches around leeches. He encounters whispering priests and foul-mouthed little kids who ask him, “Just what the heck are you, anyway?” Through sharp prose and his curious archive of photographs, he records evidence of floods and tsunamis, the disappearance of village life on the peninsula, and the capricious fecundity of nature.

Things Become Other Things blends memoir and travel writing at their best, transporting listeners to an otherwise inaccessible Japan, one made visible only through Mod’s unique bicultural lens.

* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF containing photographs by the author.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2025 Craig Mod (P)2025 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“While reading his engrossing memoir, I felt like I was in Craig Mod’s head as he ambled around Japan. Along with giving me comfort, his calm and honest voice imparted wisdom. Reading Things Before Other Things made me want to go for a long walk and learn to listen to my own inner voice.”—Alec Soth, photographer and author of Advice for Young Artists

“Luminous, poignant, unflinching and kind, Things Become Other Things reads like a future classic of its genre.”—David Mitchell, New York Times bestselling author of Cloud Atlas

“From its first pages, this book vibrates with energy—a calm charisma. The steady pad of feet on pavement (and wet dirt, and old stones) becomes a backbeat for histories personal and global, observations tiny and profound. Craig Mod’s memoir is the quiet road, set one back from the busy artery, that calls to you—maybe there’s something interesting that way? Oh boy is there. You’ll be glad you took this path.”—Robin Sloan, New York Times bestselling author of Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore

Craig's Narration Is Amazing

This is a lovely memoir that mashes together a travelog, Japanese history, American youth, celebration of another's culture, and the trials of a long walk.

I too am a walker and this hits all the right notes. Craig's writing is beautiful and he captures the characters he meets along the way with joy and respect. I am glad I listened to the audio to hear the pronunciation and intonation Craig brings to this reading. I also bought the book to have as a reference, but so glad I listened to the audio to hear the appropriate emphasis.

I knew the walk would end and so would the story. I didn't want the end to arrive. But I have Craig's generous account of a boyhood friend, a new appreciation for all things Japan, and something that never would have occurred to me when buying this book, a desire to see the world more abundant.