About Peter

I’m a fool on the internet who’s been going on long walks since 2015. You probably know me as the guy who walked nine thousand kilometers around Japan. I’m the same guy who wrote The Wilds of Shikoku, a short book about another, much shorter walk, also in Japan. You can buy a copy in my shop.

If you knew about me before 2015, you might remember me as that guy who wrote about cars in English and Hungarian but didn’t know how to drive. It was the same guy but a very long time ago. Good times, though.

I grew up in Hungary and the US, the latter courtesy of my parents, who are research scientists. My brother is also a research scientist (his website has the coolest URL). I went to university for a few years (nothing to do with research) and have been fooling around on the internet since.

I’ve lived in southern Estonia since 2021, in the university town of Tartu. People, both Estonians and foreigners, are invariably puzzled why one moves to Estonia. It’s a good question, and one that can only be properly answered by moving here. The other place I think of as home is Japan. I’ve been going there since 2013 and have travelled all around it, mostly on foot. Sometimes I dream of having a house there, but the truth is I want to go everywhere and a house is an infinitesimally small part of everywhere.

Some people think I’m really good with languages but nothing could be further from the truth. I only speak English and my tribal language (Hungarian), and some very poor Japanese. But I collect words like gemstones. Bird names are the best. Also: cornflower is wheatflower in Hungarian and ryeflower in Estonian. (In Japanese, alas, it isn’t riceflower but arrow wheel chrysanthemum 矢車菊.)

I often enjoy taking photographs despite being no good at it. Most of the photos on this website are mine, except where noted. I wish there was a better way to show photos online than reverse chronological photo streams. With or without engagement algorithms, they make me feel like I’m flushing my pictures down the toilet, which is no fun.

My family name, Orosz, is pronounced O-ros — just ignore the z and you’re good to go in English. In Hungarian, it means “Russian”, which I’m definitely not. It’s a funny name to have in Estonia, where the memory of Russian occupation is rather more vivid and haunting than in my native Hungary.

If you want to hear from me every once in a while, sign up to In Between, my low-frequency announcements list:

Feel free to write me any time, especially if you find yourself in Estonia or Japan and wishing for a coffee:

peter@ilovewasting.ink

Credits

Almost everything on this website is free to use in any way you see fit. I’ll appreciate it if you credit me and link back here but it won’t bother me if you don’t.

The only exceptions are:

• The I 💜 Wasting Ink octopus stamp, which is © Bertjan Pot
• Some of the photos in the Shikoku Field Diary, which are © Gyula Simonyi
• The photo of me on this page, which is © Kyoko Nishimoto / BUAISOU

Tech specs

• Typeface: Signifier by Klim Type Foundry
• Mailing list: Buttondown
• Shop: Gumroad
• Hosting: Blot

Last update: March 22, 2025