[manifold|reality]

There’s a statue out­side of Shibuya sta­tion ded­i­cated to Hachiko, the leg­endary Akita who faith­fully waited for her owner every night, even long after he passed away.

I didn’t think much about it until my flight in April from SFO to NRT was in the air, but I spent almost ever other sum­mer in Japan when I was grow­ing up. After 8 years away (far too long in ret­ro­spect), would it still feel the same? Had the long eco­nomic malaise sapped the coun­try of its vitality?

I was happy to see that while much of the urban land­scape of Tokyo had changed—in par­tic­u­lar, mega-projects like Rop­pongi Hills, Tokyo Mid­town, and Omote­sando Hills were all new to me—the essen­tial char­ac­ter of place hadn’t. The dynamic energy, fre­netic pace, and fan­tas­tic food were still there, just enhanced by the con­tin­ued organic evo­lu­tion of the city.

And that’s what I like most about the place, the jar­ring dis­con­ti­nu­ity—no doubt a legacy of the urban plan­ning done by war­lords from cen­turies past. Unlike other cities, Tokyo jux­ta­poses new and old, with seem­ingly lit­tle con­cern for con­ti­nu­ity. Per­haps it’s wabi-sabi writ large. Regard­less, I’m look­ing for­ward to going back in June—and much more in the future. Like Hachiko, Japan waits patiently for me to return.

One Response to “Tokyo, it’s been too long”

1. jenny says:

   13 June 2008 at 13:33

   yay! it was SO much fun!! i think i will always dream about that restau­rant your uncle took us to…an ode to per­fect food!