I made a spontaneous trip to Tokyo over Thanksgiving, and I’d like to pen down my thoughts and observations. It was an amazing 3-day trip.
Passion for life
We met up with some local friends for dinner at a place in Shibuya, and had some deep conversations. One of the last dishes we had was white rice. Simple, fluffy, pearly white rice cooked in an Earthen pot (土鍋). Often times we encounter Japanese release an expressive “oishii” (美味しい) in media, but to experience this first hand was surreal. It was an intense passion for life, that even the simplest mouthful of white rice brings a tremendous amount of satisfaction.
Old, but well maintained
The Tokyo Metro was formed in 1941, and here we are nearly 80 years later with a super efficient, sprawling network of subway system. Singapore’s MRT system, for comparison, was only established in 1986, nearly 30 years ago. Many of the facilities around the train station looks visibly aged, not nearly as modern as what MRT stations in Singapore look like. But as I looked around into every corner of the station floor – it was really clean. Come to think of it: that should be the ultimate goal of what public transportation should be. Not shiny, not new, but not unpleasant.
Side-note: sometimes I think of software being the same – well-maintained legacy code that’s not written with the shiniest, latest technology should still be celebrated.
Love for books
Every Starbucks or Tsutaya bookstore we encounter was filled with people of all ages either reading, or browsing some long-form text content on their devices. It made me realize that I’ve been gradually consuming fewer text content over the years. Podcasts on Spotify, or video content on Instagram and YouTube dominates most of how I consume information. Felt a little bit guilty, to say the least.
This led me to set one of my goals before 2023 ended: to finish a few books that I’ve started. I’d say I did pretty well – finished 3 books. Hopefully we can wrap up a few more in January ’24.
Simple yet fashionable
I think Japanese streetwear makes sense. The simplistic, muted, earthy tones combined with oversized fit is comfortable not only for the wearer, but also easy on the human eye. This is different from the typical tech world’s “I wear a t-shirt to minimize decision fatigue in the morning” vibes. They still look presentable, almost as if some thought and effort was put in to create the muted tones.
Love it all of what I’ve seen, but fashion’s not my strong suit. I’ll try to dress better, no promises.
3 days was definitely too short of a trip for an amazing place like Japan. I hope to return soon to explore more of what this country has to offer. I’ll end this post with a few snaps that I took.
P.S. The Japan trip also reignited some interest in taking photos. Japan had a lot of photogenic spots, maybe the next trip should be centered around photography instead! 📷
Bili Xu 