It’s 3:30pm on 5/30 and I’m sipping on rooibos tea at a coworking space in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. I’m happy to be sharing the table with a couple Norwegian friends I met over the weekend at a board game Meetup. There’s gentle elevatorish music and the quiet chatter of a Japanese guy being as polite as possible on the phone. If I was working more normal hours here, I’d be more tempted to work exclusively from coworking spaces – unfortunately having late night working hours means that coworking spaces are pretty much all closed.
May 11th, 2023 | Exploring and Tuna Dinner
Keen for some exercise, I started the day with a nice run around Todai and around Ueno Park. I felt a bit more comfortable than my prior run; it’s nice to feel a bit speedy. After a quick typical breakfast of yogurt, fruit and soft boiled egg, I went off to Shibuya to check out a share house. The idea of sharing a large house with ~25 people seemed better to me until I actually saw the space. That said, the ~250 mbps download speeds from my potential bedroom did have me seriously considering living there. I had no concrete plans the rest of the day and ended up meandering over to Yoyogi Park. On the way, I ran into a couple large groups of preschoolers all in the cutest matching colored hats holding hands as they were escorted to wherever they were going. I picked up some curry fried bread (omg SO good) to picnic on in the park. I took the train back from Harajuku, making sure to stop at the grocery store for dinner ingredients on the way back. I took a break in the middle of work to make tuna pesto melts – a staple for me back in Boulder – for Miyoko and me. I also included tekka maki (tuna sushi rolls). She loved the two very different tuna dishes and just how different a tuna pesto melt is from typical Japanese food. I was happy with dinner but surprised that Cheddar cheese was unavailable in the kinda fancy Queen Isetan supermarket I had gone to. I know cheese isn’t very common in Japan but I think of Cheddar as the most common cheese. What do you think is the most common cheese?
May 12th, 2023 | Tokyo Disc Golf
Upon waking up, I immediately checked the weather forecast. Seeing good weather for today and sketchy rainy weather the next few days, I knew I had to get out and play some disc golf! From central Tokyo it took about 90 minutes on a few different trains to get to the one decent course in Tokyo out west in Tachikawa. As soon as I made it out to the course and started playing, I felt comfortable. It’s not that I had felt uncomfortable the last couple weeks in Japan but it’s true that being in a place where I can only sort of read things and sort of understand announcements is tough. In the last few years, I’ve spent a lot of time throwing discs and this is something I’m confident in. I played a solo round and felt locked in. I was throwing the disc where I wanted, hitting long putts and ended up shooting a great round. It turns out that it feels great to be good at something – especially after feeling less able in everyday life. Afterwards, I summoned the courage to approach a random Japanese guy who looked somewhat serious about disc golf to ask him about the local scene and tournaments. I found out that there is a monthly local tournament on the first Sunday of the month at 10am – yay for having enough Japanese to have that kind of simple conversation. He introduced me to another local who spoke English and that’s where I met Moro san who has been part of the local scene for the last 30 years since the course first went in the ground. He invited me to play a round with some other locals. It was very encouraging to feel included and connect with new people over a shared activity we all love. I don’t know exactly how old everyone was but they seemed to be in their 50s and 60s, out on a beautiful Friday, spending the day at the course. Well played. We mostly spoke in Japanese and I spoke some English with Moro san. It was fun connecting the dots about the fact that truly disc golfers from around the world follow the US pro tour and love Simon Lizotte’s videos. Halfway through, Chadwick – another American – joined our group. I was shocked at different of an experience this was. I could talk as fast as I wanted, use whatever slang and be totally sure I would be understood and could understand whatever he said. It was really nice. I found out that he’s into trail running, we exchanged numbers and I realized that I had made my first friend in Japan! At this point, I had stayed longer than intended and knew that every minute was eating into my critical afternoon nap. I made my way home, enjoyed a 30 minute power nap, worked and enjoyed a nice dinner with Miyoko.
May 13th, 2023 | Productive Planning
As I woke up on a Saturday morning, I felt the lovely weekend freedom tempting me to get out into the world and do things. Even more powerful though was the urge to figure out some travel planning. I spent the day mostly finding plane tickets back to CA for July, thinking about what travel plans would make sense for me and coordinating with friends and family in CA. Miyoko had also given me the heads up that there was a beginner friendly kabuki show in Tokyo in June with limited tickets that would be available on the 13th. I texted my new friend Chadwick and he was up for going with me so I bought us tickets for that as well. In the afternoon, I got in my nap and then headed to the grocery store as I was on the hook for dinner. While out, I saw my first Tesla in Japan – a blue Model 3. I also thought about all the yellow bumpy paths on sidewalks and in train stations that assist blind people. There are a ton of these in Tokyo and I’m not used to seeing them, it seems like the US has some work to do to catch up on blind person accessibility. Or maybe the US is fine and I haven’t been paying attention. In any case, I’m curious to do some research and learn more about these dynamics. After getting home, I made Nathan-style quesadillas (cheese, rice, beans, onions, bell peppers, maybe other things) as well as some guacamole. Miyoko and I enjoyed them along with a couple IPAs for dinner.
May 14th, 2023 | Sharehouse Shenanigans
I started the day off with another run to Todai and Ueno Park. While I had a nice planned route in mind, I ended up improvising my way through Todai as there was a huge festival with loads of vendors and relaxed people strolling all around. Next, I headed over to another sharehouse. Instead of a very large “house” managed by a big company that had a website, I found this much smaller one on a Facebook group with housing for expats. There were just four bedrooms and messaging with the host – he seemed super casual and even invited me to come to a rooftop DJ hangout in Koenji after I saw the house. I saw the house and truly could see myself living there. That said, the bedroom was a little small to be spending so much time there and I had also just started messaging with someone who was looking for someone to rent out her studio with nice natural light and only a four minute walk from Ebisu Station. I told my new friend Yuichi that I would think about it and then we walked over to Koenji (cool capital of punk) stopping to grab a beer at a konbini on the way. The roommates were all at the hangout and it was cool getting to know them. There was an Indian architect, a French DJ, a Czech guy studying Japanese super intensely so that he would qualify for a UI/UX program (after passing JLPT N2) and a traveling couple from England/Argentina. Everyone was friendly and the vibes were good despite a consistent rain – yes there was a tarp so we weren’t drenched! I headed home in the evening, stopping at a curry place in Shinjuku station on the way home. I felt fortunate for meeting new people and having another solid Tokyo adventure day.
May 15th, 2023 | Reconnecting
The highlight of the day was spending lunch with Hiro in Omotesando. He’s a friend from UCLA who has become passionate about wellness and mindfulness. A couple years ago, we videochatted and he’s the reason I started journaling around then. We had fun catching up on life as well as enjoying the yummy vegan Japanese food. A couple practical takeaways I appreciated from our conversation were the value in pausing to breathe and asking yourself “what is my intention?”. Neither of these will singlehandedly solve my problems, but I believe I can use them to have a better life. Miyoko spoiled me for dinner by making some delicious oyakodon.
May 16th, 2023 | Soba is Wonderful
I enjoyed a nice morning family Zoom with Dad, Frannie and Grandma Vicky. For lunch, Miyoko and I went to a nicer local soba restaurant. I loved receiving a Japanese lesson on parsing through the initially extremely intimidating menu. I think that I now will remember the kanji for anago (穴子) AKA salt water eel, so that’s a win. For dinner Miyoko made delicious yakisoba. Beyond the yakisoba and sauce, apparently the key ingredients are pork and cabbage. Whenever I’ve made it in the past, I’ve thrown in many different vegetables and usually tofu or chicken. I liked Miyoko’s more than the ones I’ve made so I want to try making it simpler and then branch out from there.
May 17th, 2023 | Off To Hino
Miyoko had left some traditional Japanese breakfast foods so I got to have tamagoyaki, miso soup and natto over rice. I was keen on having natto because it’s been something like 15 years since I’ve had it and I remember really disliking it. Unsurprisingly, my reaction was bit more mild. I thought it was fine. Not great but okay. With some soy sauce, it was not bad. I put in a couple hours of work on the blog and got in a quick power nap. Afterwards, I met Miyoko at the bank where she helped me get set up with a Japanese bank account. While there was a ton of paper work and the process took over an hour, with her bilingual help, it wasn’t too bad getting it done. Next, I headed back, packed up and moved to an Airbnb at Hino out in western Tokyo where I’d be spending the next week. I bought some konbini oyakodon, microwaved it, watched some Jonesboro disc golf and then had my workday. Fortunately the wifi was solid and I slept well in a new spot.
Thank you Miyoko so much for hosting me and spoiling me with your wonderful cooking!
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