Now let's talk about the trip itself!
Yea, yea, the main goal was to watch Formula 1, but of course I wouldn't miss the opportunity to explore Japan and go straight back home after the chequered flag, eh?
So yea I did take the opportunity to improve my Japan glossary. Visiting new places I didn't go before -Nagoya, Asakusa and Sumida, Daikanyama, Shimokitazawa, Kawasaki, Yokohama, Hitachi, Izu, dang, I made the most of this trip! Experiencing some new cultures -JapanGP, mud onsen, seafood izakaya, sunakku, karaoke. Doing some amazing childish stuff -Fujiko F. Fujio Museum, Pokemon Cafe, hopping on and off every toy and cartoon stores and game arcades.
Lots, eh? I know. But if I could only pick one highlight that I really, REALLY enjoy from this trip, and made it as the title of the whole journey, I could easily say that the theme of this one would be
The Social Trip
Should I explain more on this?
Well, okay I think I should.
In each of my trip, my SOLO trip, since I'd be having no one to talk to, I'd be somewhat 'forced' to make friends with people. To talk, at least. And he or she could come knocking into my life from anywhere! Be it during my long haul bus or train rides, or even flights, or my room mates, or people I ask help taking my photos, people who gang up with me on a visit to some attractions, people whom I meet at the hostel's common room, people who participate on the same tour service with me, ANYONE!
This trip specifically, I meet lots of people from so many layers of my trip. And since it's Japan, where I have lots of histories behind me, I have some people I already know whom spared their time to meet me again during this visit, making it even more qualified as that "SOCIAL"! For the F1 itself, unfortunately, since it was super high paced, I didn't meet anyone. Well, I was so busy too, jumping from one place to another thanks to my curiosity to operate my new camera.
But when I reached Tokyo, the amazing touch of this Social Trip began, amazing people from all walks of life starting to appear, forming myself another trip I will forever reckon as "Amazing".
The True Japanese Pal
Whenever I'm doing a trip, I will always work my ass off to meet at least one TRUE local, not an expat who's been living long there, or a pure-blood who's been overseas for some time and making their way back home for some time—no. A true, local, who's living their whole life in that city, who doesn't even speak English on a daily basis. God created Naoyuki for my trip this time.
And I couldn't even ask for a better companion. He introduced me to this traditional Japanese breakfast restaurant, then spared his time to accompany me to Yokohama, in which I never visited before, and he showed me around from the daylight to nighttime, seeing this and that, riding trains and boats, eating more and more, showing me some sides of Japan I never knew should I never met him.
The Local Duo
I know a friend who had a Japanese friend. And this Japanese friend had another Japanese friend. And so whenever I think of Japan, I always think of this Local Duo. Their names are Nana and Maya. I've known them since 2015, on my very first visit to Japan. I even met Maya for some more times as she traveled quiet a lot, including to Indonesia. So coming back to Japan without catching up with them would be a total sin, I guess.
We only met once during this trip, but it was amazing for real. They took me to this traditional izakaya where I discovered yet a new Japanese menu I never tried before: sea urchin, and half tuna which needs clam to peel and eat it! The journey wasn't just finished there. Just when I thought our meeting was over, Nana got this super brilliant idea to bring me to yet another Japanese local gem. A traditional snack bar named sunakku, where we can DO FUCKING KARAOKE! AND HELL YEA OF COURSE I SANG! Digimon's "Butterfly", my all time favorite anime anthem, sang right in the heart of Japan, in front of some locals -excluding my friends, of course, and got applauded too, I swear this was the best traditional thing I ever done not only in Japan, but in my entire traveling history.
The 'Local' Duo
Remember my ex-colleague from Ogilvy who quitted her job to move to Japan whom I labelled as the "Swag-chan"? Yes I met her for this trip, along with her husband who's even more swag I think she learned how to be swag from him. Her name is Ratu, anyway, and her man is Aril. We met at this local band gig -and by 'local' I meant Indonesian, with Indonesian organizer and of course Indonesian crowd, and now you know why I put apostrophe in word 'local' eh?- and had some dinner together. A bit random, because I didn't expect to feel so much like at home while I was in the heart of Tokyo, but then it's something new I never experienced!
The Colleagues
Nope, not from Ogilvy. These are my other colleagues, who were actually based in Tokyo. I think I've told you this before that I have a part time role in this travel website called JapanTravel, and it's the one who actually brought me to Japan for the first time, with its internship program—so yeah, of course I made plans to meet them this time!
I went to their office—well, OUR, office. The building was not the same with the one I visited in 2015, so it was my first time there. Meeting all the colleagues I met 4 years ago, meeting some more that I've only been able to chat online, meeting the CEO I never actually had the chance to have a face-to-face talk, and all were so excited to welcome me! I thought that was it, but then I was told to wait for the lunch break because they were planning to take me to some katsu place nearby -wanna hear something sucks? I just had that breakfast with Nao before coming to the office...
Now, wanna hear something amazing? It wasn't just with one, or two of them, but the whole team of six came to have lunch with me! I felt like I was a star for the whole noon but of course that's not the highlight. To hear their stories about how works at the office done was the thing I really enjoyed from the lunch because hey, working in Japan has always been my dream, remember?
The Roommates
Okay meeting locals, and people I actually have known, are things that could be considered, well, piece of cake. The real deal is to get myself acquainted with people I never known before, that had the same goal with me: fellow travelers. And where else to find them but at the place where I stayed at? Good God I made friends from my dorm room with not only one, but two people! They were my neighboring bunk mates, coming from the US and Norway.
I forgot the name of the US guy, because he was there for freaking work, and so we could only catch up at night after he'd be done with his workshop thingy. The Norwegian guy's name was Jacob and since he was in Tokyo for traveling, I got to talk to him more. The highlight for all three of us was when we were accidentally all home at the same time, and the US guy had this amazing sparkling sake drink -which tasted like Moscato- and he invited us all to come down to the traditional tatami dining room to sit together and just have a chat, getting to know each other much better -though still I couldn't remember the American guy name ha ha. Some simple gestures that really add up to my amazing Social Trip :)
The 'Soulmate'
Lol that's a pretty strong word to pick, but I'm afraid I couldn't find any better word that suits this guy. Meet Ramtin, a German-Iranian traveler who shared quiet a lot of common interests with me. He wasn't a member of my room, but we were regulars of the hotel's main living room so yea that's where we met. There were actually other people hanging out with us too back then, but somehow I just clicked more with Ramtin. And so we decided to extend this friendship to the following day.
We made an appointment to meet at Shinjuku the next day -an area I never cease to love, that he hadn't visited yet because this was his first time in Japan- to explore around, talk about our traveling stories, future trips, interests, jobs -which he didn't yet have because he was still freaking 22 FOR GOD'S SAKES! take photos of the amazing skylines and its buildings, as well as Shinjuku Godzilla too, eat off the streets -we did some random super tiny yakitori stall in Omoide Yokocho! and, here's what I liked the most, did some arcade games in which I never tried before!
Oyea, this is that "a lot of common interests" I was talking about. The guy was also trapped in childhood. We played Mario Kart and some zombie survival game, went to a freaking Crayon Shinchan store, and saw the real Mario Kart parade strolling around the streets—ALL IN WHERE THEY ALL COME FROM THAT IS TOKYO! I really enjoyed his companion because hey, we didn't only do the tourist stuff. We did what Japanese do!
The Fight Club
So Ramtin and I actually started from here. One night, after returning from Pokemon Cafe -fuck HOW CAN I NOT LOVE THIS TRIP!?- I crashed by the hotel's living room. There were two guys playing PlayStation, and guess what the game was: Tekken -LIKE, SERIOUSLY, COULDN'T THIS TRIP GET ANY BETTER? It was Ramtin and some blonde guy which later I discovered was from Germany, who were on the console.
Tekken is like, totally my game. So I was just sitting there, looking at these two amateurs fighting like noobs, waiting for one of them to start feeling insecure for being stared at by me. And it worked. The blonde guy offered me to play, and of course being an Asian I refused at first, but after some pushes I gave in, and the joystick was all mine. And so was the game, because Ramtin sucked at it. The blonde guy replaced him, and he sucked too. I was like the master of the night, and we all laughed and started getting to know each other and bonded and stuff, and they began being frustrated they started questioning me how I did those amazing capoeira shit with my Christie Monteiro and Eddie Gordo.
Our loud asses invited more people to the TV area. Two more white guys joined the game, one of which claimed he played good. Well, we'll see? We then had a tag team tournament instead of just one-on-one fight, and hell yeah that was so cracking entertaining. Of course the newcomer lost in the end—he gave quiet a fight though, but no one can tame my Brazilian moves. The tournament happened for a fair long time we switched characters and even partners for several times. The fight, the moves, the moment some of us realized we picked the wrong fighter, the laughter, the curiosity of how to hit and kick, for the love of God, we had so much fun. At some point we even laughed our hearts off the staff of the hotel shush us to shut the fuck up LOL HOW CAN I BOND WITH THESE PEOPLE SO FAST JUST OVER A GAME!? I fucking love this game night with these strangers 2 hours ago I didn't even know existed!
The Midnight Howl Pack
Well, of course the game session would have to end somehow. However even after the console was shut down, we didn't have the will to break the club. Yet. So we just chilled by the sofa, me, Ramtin, the not-so-bad-at-Tekken white guy, his Canadian friend John who had been playing guitar while watching us fight the whole night, and this newly joined hippie long-haired guy named Samuel from Lisbon, Portugal. Ramtin's German friend bid us farewell already because he had an early flight to catch.
At first I was only talking with John and Samuel, about, uhmm, cracks and marijuana -now you know why I labeled Samuel 'hippie' eh?- being legalized in Canada, and easy to find in Portugal. Then others joined the talk, and the talk grew to more topics, and then when we got tired of talking, only John's lazy guitar tune left to be heard.
And so it began...
One of the most memorable nights in my entire traveling life.
John started strumming something familiar. You know, songs with iconic guitar tunes which only by hearing the chords, we knew what it was. I forgot where he started, but I think it was John Mayer's "Stop This Train". Because of course.
We were just sitting there, me resting my side on the sofa and Ramtin in front of me -or does it count as next to me? John sitting on a high chair behind the sofa so he was technically adjacent from us, and the rest of us were like either next to John or behind me, letting the tunes swayed us away. It was so smooth, flawless and really hypnotizing, maybe because it was already late and we were all so tired from the day exploration -and of course, drained from the Tekken fights- or maybe because John was as much as good as John Mayer himself.
He finished. We sighed, so deep. Then I had the idea and ask him to add vocals, just so we can have a better, deeper moment. And he picked "Who Says", again by John Mayer. Good choice as it was so easy to listen to. And fucking relaxing oh God I just can't...
I knew all the lyrics of the song by heart, but I took 'em for granted this time because hell was I blown away by the tunes! So it really surprised me when John reached the end of the song, and the lyric I've always known so much, hit us directly to our heart.
Oh I guess you know which one :)
Oh I guess you know which one :)
Though if you don't, just please bear in mind that the words were so powerful and... spot on. Ramtin and I looked at each other when that verse was sang, our lazy heads lifted from the sofa and our eyes wide open when they met, our jaws dropped in excitement and our hearts filled with pride of achievements. I'm sure everyone else by the sofa felt the fucking same thing, because the timing couldn't just be more precise.
John finished, we sighed again, even deeper this time, plus some tears clinging at the very end of both my eyes. I couldn't describe more of what I felt that night. It was really beautiful, yet spontaneous I bet not even a single one of us did see this coming. We then decided to call it a day—well, night. It was such a pleasant closure and I really didn't want to spoil it so I'd just bring it straight to bed. We bid farewell one another, and for most of us, it was the last time we ever seen each other.
Fuck.
It's crazy how I could meet and engage with so many people, old friends and new ones, in just a simple 6-day visit to Tokyo.
It's even crazier to think that the connection I made with the new ones, who started from strangers staying under the same roof, could be that meaningful and deep though it only lasted for several hours—and after that, we'd be strangers again.
I swear this city, FUCK, it's not only beautiful on its tourism level—it now has this amazing charm for me to get connected to people from all walks of life, which now made me look Japan in a whole new perspective.
Who says I can’t get stoned?
Plan a trip to Japan alone
Doesn’t matter if I even go
Who says I can’t get stoned?
Well it is true what John Mayer said:
I really can, and I really did, get stoned.
Only this kind of stoned is the stoned by
Such beautiful people I met during the trip,
To Japan Alone
