teamLab Tokyo and Why Is Tokyo So Beautiful

Each time I go to Tokyo, I admire it more and more.  There’s always something new to be discovered, the cleanliness of the city and the politeness of the locals are impeccable, the Christmas decorations suggest it to be more than just a capitalist city but a cultural landmark and one that embraces liveliness and atmosphere, the list goes on and on.  Sometimes I dream about living here.

When I talk to my friends who have lived or are living in Japan though, they see things that we tourists don’t get to see.  The rigid office hierarchy, the formality that you have to adopt when talking to others (and you are not exempt from it even if you are an expat as long as you are Asian looking), the difficulty of making new friends, and of course the challenge of learning Japanese.  Then there is lack of public transportation during the night, and taxis are expensive not only during the day, but more so during the night.  I’ve seen videos from Youtube talking about how it’s different living in Japan than going there to visit.  Usually there’s a few months of honeymoon phase, then a few years of depression and detest towards the culture of actually living in Japan, then after the acceptance phase.

If you’re looking for my recommendations on places to eat, you can read my blog post Recommended Places to Eat in Tokyo.

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Tokyo Is Like A Bento Box

You read that right, Tokyo is like a bento box.  A perfect metaphor as I sat watching my friend struggle to think of a way to eat his bento box… without a spoon.  You’d expect a bento box bought in Family Mart to come with a spoon somewhere in the packaging, but actually you would need to get the spoon individually.  I guess he didn’t double check as we were rushing to take the train to Shinjuku from the airport… trains in Japan are never early, never late, always punctual, and so we wanted to be at least 2 minutes early to the platform. Continue reading Tokyo Is Like A Bento Box