My Beat

Today is the 3rd week mark of my stay here in Japan and it has been a great adventure so far. With much to explore in Tokyo, it can be a bit overwhelming to try and plan everything. I have found that the best way to do it is to simply wander. I have spent the past couple days doing quite a bit of that. It really is something else when you can just let yourself go and be free from a schedule or from the pressures of deadlines and always looking and checking that thing we call time. I've wandered the streets of my neighborhood which has proven to be one of the slightly calmer areas of Tokyo...it's nice. The streets of Ginza on a Saturday can be quite chaotic as they shut them down to make way for those who have graciously come to spend their money at all of their high-end brand name clothing stores. You may see anything from beautiful flute performances, to protesting parades, to fashion shows, all the way to random kitten photo shoots? I never knew how much attention two cats could get if you just plopped them down on a sign. For me, it wasn't the kittens that got my attention, it was the HUGE crowd surrounding them that was quite fascinating. It is true, "kawaii" (cute) truly sells here in Japan. Personally, I think it was a strategic plot to draw people to Soft Bank which for those of you that don't know, is a mobile service provider...NOT a bank. Confusing. They seem to use cute cuddly animals as their marketing focal point...just look at their Soft Bank Billboard above their store...yeah, a cute cuddly dog.

As far as Yoyogi Park goes, it's beautiful, huge and full of an eclectic group of performers. Again, it brings back memories of walking on the boardwalk in Venice beach. People selling hand-made crafted items, jugglers, performers, magicians, commercials and I saw all of this on a calm day. I've heard that on a Sunday afternoon it is full of theatrical chaos...

Some of the areas I visited I don't even know how I came about arriving to but that's the beauty of it right? To let it all play out and go with the flow. Today I was told something so great that I don't want to try and explain it in my own words because the way it was said is perfectly on point so I will quote it, "At the beginning traveling feels like a vacation, and when it doesn’t there is a tendency to become frustrated and sometimes even depressed. Traveling is different, there is very little luxury and it moves to a different beat. Your beat; you control everything because you’ve chosen to cut yourself from the umbilical cord of your own life. The time of discovery is at the moments when you want the answer to come from someone, or something else. But that’s the essence of what any journey of discovery is all about, it’s when you discover things about you and your values that you didn’t know." I couldn't put that in any other way, the truth lies in that statement. So with that said, MY beat is one that is ready to put Tokyo on pause for a few days and take a trip to the place I have been dying to go to...the beat sounds something like K-Y-O-T-O. I think I'll board that bus tonight!