A few words from short time in Tokyo

I’ve been back in the canyon almost a week now, and I’m slowly getting acclimated to the hot/dry summer heat as well as classic LA traffic on 101.

The last few days in Japan were spent in Tokyo, mostly sharing time with the BK partners. I found a very convenient, petite room to book while I was in Tokyo (with free laundry and the feeling of a dorm rather than a hotel) while being there in March, so that’s where I ended up staying for a few nights again this time.

Interesting how repetition can create a sense of familiarity, making time on the road feel less like “travel” but instead a “return”. From last time, I knew exactly where I wanted to go for an early morning breakfast on foot to grab a good cup of coffee, a quiet at-home energy, and a sturdy breakfast. So off I went and sat down at a communal table set out in a garage-like environment at Mag_Coffee Point. Maybe because we always had “creative garage” as a part of our home and used our garage to make and create things, I have a fondness for this garage-atmosphere cafe…

This was breakfast from last time I visited in March!

Anyway, as I settled down on the couch while waiting for the food and drink to come out, I opened my notebook to start journaling, thinking that when I open a notebook, it feels like I’m inviting the connection between my inner world and the outer world. Sure enough, a few minutes later, a lady who was sitting next to me casually asked me, “Do you mind if I ask what you are writing?” So I started chatting with Merry and David of Okinawa Americana, who were visiting Tokyo for their performance. We had such a lively conversation about having teenage kids, how we feel about technology, and having multicultural backgrounds… with words and sentences in both English and Japanese intermingling seamlessly.

That’s the kind of magic of analogue tools, isn’t it? I don’t think we would have started sharing our stories if we were occupied with our individual phones and screens. I left breakfast feeling that my worldview got a little richer and wider through the dialogue I had with Merry and David, all thanks to my notebook that opened up the conversation.

I filled many pages of my notebook during the trip. Some with a few sentences, inspiring quotes from the book I’m reading, a quick sketch from a hike, and impressions of the moments I experienced. It’s candid, loose, casual, and messy - probably just the way I am within. In so many ways, these pages are the tangible evidence of my personal life lived and loved, and they are meaningful to me.

These pieces of paper, bundled up… matter.