Japanese Cities - We Can Make This Relationship Work

Well it’s finally Golden Week. This weekend I go to Osaka. Next weekend I go to Tokyo. Maybe these trips show a lack of imagination but I’m really looking forward to getting to know these cities better. Tokyo still feels uncomfortably alienating for me. I just don’t know it well enough to feel at home there. It has that London feeling where there’s so much to do and see that it’s actually overwhelming. In many ways, Tokyo was the reason I came to Japan. Before coming, I had a very child-like view of the Japanese nation. My desire to come originated in being 11 years old and really into video games. At that time, Tokyo just seemed like a giant video games playground. The neon and the electronics were so attractive to my 11 year old self. I remember watching an episode of Bad Influence where Violet visited Tokyo. More than anything else, that episode probably instilled my desire to come here.

Now my view of Japan has changed considerably. I still love Tokyo for all the Bad Influence reasons. There are also grown up reasons for enjoying the big city experience. But I never realized what a beautiful country Japan is. The countryside here is amazing. The most striking thing in Okayama is how green everything is. The hills with mist rising off them, the rice paddies, the amazing range of birds and wildlife that I see every day. Tokyo aside, I perhaps haven’t warmed to Japanese cities as much as I thought I would. If it’s night-time and raining they look beautiful, but they’re generally pretty ugly. Okayama City is great but most cities in Japan feel very similar. Tokyo, on the other hand is still exotic and different enough to make me misty eyed and super-excited at the prospect of a visit. Hurrah.

Osaka, on the other hand. Oh-we don’t get on. We have issues, Osaka and I. I want to resolve this. I want to work it out. I want to get my first ever proper night’s sleep there and think of a sightseeing activity that isn’t just going to the aquarium.  I believe it can happen. I have to believe that. I do love the aquarium though.