Suddenly Tokyo
Friday, March 7, 2025
It had been years since I had been to Shinjuku, at least, around the JR Station. It was a lot dirtier than I remember, but more than 25 years had past. It was a whirlwind trip this time to Japan, all for an important meeting for a client that asked me to come and help out. Except for taking my client to Ginza by taxi for some shopping, I stayed put in Shinjuku. The weather didn’t help with it dropping below freezing after a gorgeous 20ºC day. In a cool little coffee shop where the barista was doing multiple pourovers while flipping an old vinyl record playing on a tinny sounding wooden speaker, I chatted with some Australians from up north who were delighted at seeing snow for the first time. All I could think about is how warm and sunny it was back home in Canada.
The day after I landed I walked around the area to scout out where we would be having our meeting. I was getting a little worried when I saw a ton of police blocking off the streets. Turns out it was Tokyo Marathon Day! So there were loads of foreigners in fancy shoes and funny costumes jogging around trying to find the correct starting line (there are multiple… the Tokyo Marathon is a big production!). Other than that, I mostly worked, took a few jaunts out to buy loads of furikake and BL anime merch for my kids, and drank some very nice coffees while reading.
Luckily I was able to meet a few people. One, a developer for a cool outfit that I have been in contact with for a while, took me to a smokey kissaten. We sat for five (5!) hours talking about all the problems of the world. It was amazing, except my clothing reeked of cigarette smoke (which meant soon my room did, and then my luggage). The other meeting I had was with an old Fissioneer who has been living in Japan for the last 9 months, enjoying the country. It was nice to catch up.
Then, after a long deserved reflexology session, I was back in a taxi bound for the airport. The trip was so fast I didn’t even take my camera. I only visited one temple and one shrine! 😢 Thus, only a few photos to share:
