Our story

Me standing by a pond in a garden, with a pavilion among the trees behind me

Hello,

I’m Anita, the founder of Nokoru.

In 2024 my boyfriend and I went to Japan. Our trip was full of amazing experiences, but my favourite moment was when we arrived in Magome, a small post town in the mountains that has managed to keep its original character. We walked through the town and climbed up to a vantage point to get a good look at the view.

The mountains at dusk from the top of Magome, the post town’s roofs catching the last of the light

As we reached the top of the hill the sun was setting, and a beautiful melody played across the valley. It was truly magical; it felt like we were in the right place at the right moment. I was lucky enough to take a video of it so I could relive the moment later, only to realise that my favourite moment of our trip was never going to make it into a photo album.

My niece toddling down a leafy forest path beside a small white dog

Not long after, my niece was born and we were flooded with the cutest videos ever. It saddened me that we couldn’t put them in an album to look back on years down the line. We take thousands of videos, but months later it’s almost impossible to find our favourites in the camera roll, like looking for a needle in a haystack. Even if you’re lucky enough to record your children’s first steps or first words, how do you put them in the family album?

Milo as a fluffy puppy on a wooden floor, with my dad leaning down to play with him

When I started building Nokoru, the first books were of my dog, Milo. I have hundreds of videos of him, and re-watching my favourite moments from his puppyhood let me relive them.

Going through them one by one, I found one where my dad was playing with Milo while, in the background, my mum was talking to my grandma, who has since passed away. It’s a very everyday conversation, but hearing her laugh once again makes it absolutely priceless. That’s when I realised the true value of what I was making: it helps you relive moments you might never be able to get back otherwise.

Nokoru means what remains in Japanese, and it’s a tribute to that beautiful sunset in Magome. From our most treasured moments, what remains are the photos and videos we look back on, carrying a little piece of those memories with them.

We’re doing our best to help you relive the moment again, by letting you put photos with their videos behind them in your albums. When you hold your phone over those photos with the app, we hope you get transported back to those treasured moments.

Anita

If there’s a moment you’d like to keep, you can join the waiting list here.