A Love Letter To Tokyo
I remember the first time I arrived in Tokyo.
I remember how I felt each time I stepped out of my hotel. The fresh air would hit my face, along with the sounds of the bustling streets with the mad dash of salary men in black suits and the women in kimonos moving at breakneck speed.
I remember how challenging it felt to navigate my way around. I walked for hours, aimlessly, and I’m not sure I could tell you exactly where I went. I didn’t really know what waited for me around the next corner, until I was already there.
I remember being mesmerized by how unique everything I saw was, even down to the most mundane things. The food, the people, the fashion, the way they interact with each other, and even the way they do simple things like filling out paperwork and taking tickets at a counter. Everything was so different, but so equally beautiful.
In hindsight, it’s funny how little I knew about the place that would play such a massive role in shaping me as a person.
Tokyo, I love your labyrinth of backstreets, the ones that always lead to something new, something different, something exciting. Your alleys that smell like ramen and fried doughnuts, where vending machines that sell everything from gummy bears to umbrellas and cigarettes are lined up like old friends. Your convenience stores that never fail to deliver, even in the middle of the night.
I love your perfectly crafted subway stations full of people rushing to get to their next destination, and how the pace of life yet seems slow. I love your certain silent energy about life, how you even in the most crowded areas or during the busiest rush hour maintain an eerie calm and quiet.
I love that you are a bubble of potential, where creativity flourishes in every corner of the city and every day feels like a celebration of possibility. It’s as if you were built by a movie director, to be used as a backdrop for some grand Hollywood set piece. A place where superheroes could soar above the city landscape, fighting evil-doers while everyone watches from below. A place where you can be anything you want to be.
I love your hazy skyline as the sun sets, seen from the towering scrapers of Shinjuku. Your neon lights as they paint the darkness of night with a thousand different colors; adrenaline reds, bright yellows, and electric blues.
I love your heavy humid air that has a hint of salt from the ocean.
Tokyo, I love the fact that you are always changing but never seem to lose all of the things that make you truly you. You are the kind of city that feels like it’s constantly changing shape, and if you blink you might miss something special. It is as if you are a living thing, breathing and changing with the seasons. And yet, you remain the same.
I love the way that you make me feel as if I belong, even though I know I never will.
So, I’ve wandered your streets, climbed your stairs and explored your alleys. I’ve wandered around your parks, shopping districts, hidden soba shops and even got lost on a bullet train.
I’ve celebrated the chiming for a new year in the big crossing, spent evenings with friends at tiny izakayas, sung my heart out in karaoke rooms and spent countless mornings waking up with nothing to do but wander the streets until the sun goes down and it’s time for dinner.
What you have taught me is to how to enjoy whiskey on ice and how to be brave when it comes to trying new food. To admire the beauty of cherry blossom trees blooming in sync, forming a sea of pink and white petals.
You have showed me how to communicate with strangers by letting gestures talk when out of words. I have found that we are more alike than we could have ever imagined, that amongst the differences there is a thread of similarities.
You have taught me the value of being a little bit lost and that sometimes taking a wrong turn is the right way to get where I need to be.
But as you have shared your wisdom and I have gotten to know you, I have learnt that I will never fully understand you.
Tokyo, you are chaotic, frustrating, heartbreaking, exciting, and beautiful. You are gritty and glossy.
You’re nostalgic yet modern; a city of the future that stubbornly clings to the past. A blend of high tech and low tech, where shops are housed in turn-of-the-century buildings and modern convenience stores are kitty-corner to 100-year-old bars.
You are calming and overwhelming all at once; orderly and yet also chaotic. And while every part of you is in complete chaos, it somehow all comes together and makes sense.
Tokyo is everything I imagined and everything I had never imagined. In some ways, it is exactly like what I’ve always heard it to be, but in many other ways, it isn’t. These two truths balance each other out, creating a whole that is wholly unique to me.
Like any great love story, it’s the combination of the contradictions that makes you so fascinating. You are perfectly dysfunctional and deliciously confusing.
And for that, I want to thank you. You have stolen my heart and helped it grow into something so much bigger than what it used to be.
This post was originally published on viewbound.com. Viewbound is a travel app for explorers and travelers capturing and sharing the world’s most stunning places. It’s the best way to find your next adventure.
