It Feels Different
Hello! I’m Chris and I walk in Craig Mod’s footsteps — by eating pizza toast, walking for hours, and taking photos on my trip around small cities in Japan.
A word of warning. My writing is rusty (last time I wrote something longform-ish for the people on the internet to read was almost a year ago). My photography skills — I’m not too confident in. But hey, at least I’m trying.
Day 1
Hong Kong, Tokyo, 16,703 steps, 13.58 kilometers
Tokyo. The same city and the same hotel we stayed at in February 2020. But everything feels different this time around.
Last time my wife and I visited Japan it was just at the beginning of COVID. So much uncertainty in the air. News reports from China were making everyone uneasy. But we were still telling ourselves it will all blow over in a few months, half a year tops.
Just one week after we left Japan back then, the country closed its doors to the foreigners. It took almost three years to fully reopen the border for tourists — and the moment it opened again, I booked my flights and hotels.
Now, the fear of COVID seems all but gone, though mask compliance remains nearly-universal and hand sanitizer dispensers are everywhere (both of which I don’t mind). Tokyo-ni-zero-ni-zero billboards, mascots, videos — ever-present and unavoidable in early 2020... and now the Tokyo Olympics is a distant memory. If anyone remembers it at all.
Weather is just right. Japanese Yen is record cheap. Swarms of tourists are not here yet. It’s the perfect time to visit.
And I’d like to think I’m visiting Japan now at the end of COVID. Like a bookend.
Big city energy, but different.
I’m amazed by how friendly the people here are. I mean — you just walk around, point your camera and random stuff, and a lady at a shop across the street just starts posing for you. I wasn’t sure how Craig Mod does it, but I start to get it now. People are nice here and approaching them feels less scary — even for an introvert.
Speaking of Craig, the pizza place he featured on Eater — Pizza Studio Tamaki — kind of off the beaten path, but so so good. Just as advertised. What got me was the Okinawa salt massaged into the underside of the pie. That + the smokiness it got from the Japanese wood (oak, cherry blossom, and beech) burned in the oven — trust me, it’s not your usual pizza. I was sold after the first bite. What a delicious treat after a long trip. Definitely a highlight of the day.
Next stop: Shinjuku. Got a bit lost while looking for the famous Golden Gai — and I paused and cherished that feeling. Getting lost, trying to get my bearings while GPS/Google Maps acted all confused among the tall buildings. Exploring on my own, following my gut without smartphone’s help for a change.
A peculiar vibe over there. A small grid of narrow streets — well, not even streets but paths. All of them filled to the brim with the tiniest bars and pubs and shops I’ve ever seen. Some of them looked like they can’t fit more than two or three patrons at the same time. Just imagine — in a city of fourteen million.
I return to my hotel room exhausted. Not bad for a first day of my first ever (/in a very long time?) solo trip. My first ever one-bag-travel sort of trip. My first trip with a new camera. Everything’s different this time.
More to come. Tokyo was just a brief stop. The real thing starts tomorrow.
— Chris
