TOKYU FEEL, October 2016.
I’d tried it a few times before, walking alone in a foreign city. I’d stayed with friends in California and gone exploring on my own. I’d done it in London, Brighton and New York. But I’d never been alone all by myself in a foreign city, let alone a foreign country for more than eight hours at a time. Not until I went to Tokyo. I had four days until my dad would arrive.
I must admit, I was a little bit utterly terrified when I had to find out how to into the city. Fortunately, there was a nice lady that helped me find a Taxi (holy shit that was expensive, the Taxi ride I mean). I was nervous and I wasn’t sure if I could check in at the hotel yet. When I finally arrived after the Taxi driver failed to find my actual hotel twice, I was ready to check in. Get my feet up, put on shorts and rest for just a second. I couldn’t check in yet. I left my luggage at the front desk, went to the bathroom, changed to shorts and starting walking. That was the first of many during those four short days.
Walking around exploring a foreign city on your own is the most magical thing in the world. There is no one there to tell you where to go, you just go where it feels right and hopefully don’t end up getting robbed. If you want to spend 30 minutes staring at a pigeon trying loose a piece of gum stuck to the ground that’s totally up to you. There is no one there to tell you to hurry up or tell you that you’re weird. Although, if something tells you that you’re weird, you should thank them, it’s a great compliment.
I spent most of my time wandering aimlessly and thus finding interesting spaces I wouldn’t have noticed if I wasn’t walking alone. The second picture, the one with the trees, is actually a toilet building in Yoyogi park. I noticed it when I was walking around, my camera around my neck and with a wandering eye.
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