JAPAN! Thanks for letting me pet your dogs
June 26, 2018 — July 10, 2018
“You’ve been waiting for this…. Suit up, sit down, engines on. You’ll cruise the neon dream of Tokyo a few inches off the pavement, head level with the wheels of passing trucks… Probably you’ve wanted to do this for a long time, maybe without knowing — to bash through this city, indestructible, invincible, even a little kawaii. To dye your hair blue, green or purple, do battle with a tentacled demon and finish your run with beers and a bowl of ramen. How much of your imagination do you owe to Tokyo, anyway? How many games, movies, monsters and heroes rolled out of Japan’s cramped studios and into your childhood? Giant robots, Hello Kittys, Power Rangers, dragon balls. You learn a lot about a person based on the mecha they remember — Gai-King, Gundam, Voltron, the Evas. Or the way their afternoons vanished into Sailor Moon or Super Mario Bros., Naruto, Pokemon, Tetris* on a Game Boy. This country’s culture flows deep and swift through our memories, and its roar — the bleeps and burps, one-ups and game-overs — has become our background noise, like apps we never closed, like TVs left on till dawn. In the stories we saw Tokyo fall and burn a thousand times and each morning rise again from the ashes, resetting the stage. So when you arrive here it will be a kind of homecoming. Signs and symbols may seem foreign at first but relax, get in the car. You’ll know what to do. You’ve been training for years and years.”
— Neil Shea
Japan, to me, is freedom. Freedom to eat as much sushi, ramen, udon, gyoza, onigiri, and sweets as your heart desires, or at least until your stomach hurts. Freedom to be a kid again by taking kawaii photos, winning stuffed animals at Taito Game Center, or getting sucked into rhythm games regardless of how silly you look. Freedom to touch all the Japanese dogs!!!!!!!!! (Just kidding, I always asked.*) And most importantly, freedom to just be yourself and have fun!
*If you’re curious, the phrase for “Can I touch your dog?/Is your dog friendly?” is (phonetically) “Inu sawatte mo īdesu ka?”. Thanks Lian for the pro tip! 👌
There were so many funny memories in Japan. Like drinking beer in an alleyway at Shibuya while we watched Japan’s World Cup qualifiers game against Poland. And then running and cheering in the streets with the mob after they qualified, even though they lost the game.
Or the time Kirk, Yoichi, and I accidentally got crunk at Dōtonbori in Osaka all thanks to Strong Zero, which is basically La Croix with an alcohol content of 9%. Whoops.
Let’s not forget the time Kirk and I did not understand how the bus worked in Hiroshima and continuously kept breaking down our money into change in the change machine, because we thought it was the fare machine, until finally the bus driver informed us in panicked English, “Pay later! Pay later!”
And when Kirk and I couldn’t decide whether we wanted to go to the Borderless teamLab exhibit or Tokyo DisneySea, so we made a mission to do both on the same day… And then upon trying to leave the Borderless exhibit kept finding more rooms rather than an exit, which got us more and more lost in the museum.
Visiting Japan has always been a childhood dream of mine. As the year unfolds, I become more and more appreciative of the life I was born into. It hit especially hard after visiting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. Seeing the atrocities that humans are capable of… And then leaving Hiroshima just a few days shy of the flooding and the collapse of the rail.
I am so lucky, but a part of me feels responsible. Of course, I was born way, way after World War II, and all I can really do to prevent another atomic bombing is to follow the news and make sure to vote, but I feel like the crazy heat and the torrential rains can be managed. After facing crazy weather in Japan for two weeks and experiencing how well they sort trash and recycle plastics, I am much more cognizant of climate change and how little actions can impact the earth in a big way. I can’t help but wonder how to implement a similar system in the U.S… I am grateful I have this time off to explore the world, but the earth can’t sustain itself any longer, and the Hiroshima flooding (and of course, many other things) is evidence of that. I can go on and on about this, but if you’ve read this far and know how I can go about producing actionable change, please comment below.
Japan, it’s been a pleasure and a dream. A special thanks goes out to Yoichi for letting me fly as his enrolled friend, and to Kirk for being so down all the time.
ありがとうございます!
