The thing with visiting other places is that you can never truly alienate yourself from the people around you. Travel is a means of escape from what you already know into something more exciting, new. But the truth is that being around people who you know are always the same is much more comforting than anything else out there. That is why I would love to make Tokyo my home.
Europe, on the whole, is quite monotonous- there are different cultures and different food, but there are no differences (or very little ones) when it comes to the mentality and the thinking. In Tokyo, I could see these visible differences everywhere and it was the best feeling ever. Apart from the amazing food, the fact I could drink good green tea at every meal and that the culture and surrounding art and fashion was actually beautiful, I could see that people from Tokyo (and most probably, all of Japan) are much kinder, more polite to each other than in Europe. There seems to be a general awareness when it comes to looking out for others, whether it is in the trains going to Shibuya or in the streets where no one seems to knock into each other, yet the rush is far bigger than something that would be seen in London or elsewhere.
The fact that I miss this daily life from Japan, not its touristy attractions, shows me that there are places you only think about in dreams, and that those dreams can become reality. There is nothing stopping anyone exploring the world, and for some, discovering new places to settle down. I miss the meat buns from across the Shinagawa Aquarium, where I can imagine taking future kids to (hopefully) and the rush of the streets. The smallest things, like the wrapped up manga books in convenience stores made me smile and truly forget about the dreary times when I have to pop into the shops down the road.
Is this something I should be looking out for when I come to Japan? I do not know. I spent my time enjoying the best of what there is to see in Tokyo- visiting Shibuya at night, the Sensoji temple and the fabulous street leading up to it where I bought the most beautiful silk robe I could imagine, eating sushi at the two Michelin star Kanesaka, staying at the Park Hyatt where “Lost in Translation” was filmed and drinking Bellini‘s at the New York Bar… The whole experience was out of this world. I could not have imagined, or even dreamed of the kind of trip I would have there.
I would like to thank my boyfriend for letting me experience something I never had before in a country I had never been to- a feeling of coming back home. And also for the never ending packets of sembei that he let me buy during the trip!
STYLION 