I’m going to start the post series on Japan with a few shots from Tokyo. There are so many things that stuck with me, but what surprised me the most was the cleanliness, order and greenery everywhere. This being our first trip to Japan I think we were in a sort of culture shock for most of the trip. Everything was new, different, we didn’t understand the language.

Everything was smaller than I’d imagined. You see photos (and countless vlogs) set in Tokyo, everything seems so vast, claustrophobic, buildings towering over you, but in reality everything is smaller. The streets are narrow, the cars are tiny, the dishes are small, hotel rooms are minuscule. And yet it’s not overwhelming at all, you don’t feel the sensory overload as acutely as you’d think. It was all very strange.

These “urban vacations” can sometimes leave you more tired when they’re over, but oddly Tokyo left me in a very zen place, mentally.

“(I wish) to one day know who I am and to be able to feel happiness whatever and wherever it may be. Living in Japan?…”

“I wish to return to Japan, I wish to learn Japanese, I wish to do a postdoc in Tokyo”.