[JAPAN 2012] The home of my heart

I think it's amazing how you can find some place, far away and so very different from where you were born, and still breathe in the air there and feel like you're somewhere you belong.

That's really how I feel with Tokyo. 

One of the places I stayed at were on 9th floor and in the evening - or rather, in the night - when stepping onto the veranda of my room, I would be faced with this breathtaking view of tall buildings of all shapes, stacked close up next to each other, all with windows lit randomly on the floors, all with people living their lives behind those windows.

It's not the same kind of beauty as a blue ocean or a mighty forest, but to me, it's just as beautiful. Just as awe-striking.

I could spend half a night on that veranda, looking at the houses, listening to the cars on the streets below and the occasional couples or old men walking home after another late night at work.

I know I will always be Danish and no matter for how long I'll live abroad, even if I get a foreign citizenship, I will always have a home in Denmark.


Even if I tell everyone my country is boring and nothing special, Denmark will always be where I'm from.


But just as much as Denmark is my home, I think Tokyo is as well


- at least the home of my heart.

 

Watching the city from that small veranda,
I really cried.
I really felt how I love this place.

Its people and its customs, the constant, slightly annoying but yet welcomed "Your Japanese is so good!".
The petite people rushing through their daily lives to catch the next train.
The old, hunchbacked women who are so eternally grateful when you offer them a seat in the train, even of they don't accept it.
The office workers in their tight suits taking a well-earned nap in the train.
The nasal shopkeepers telling you what amazing offers their shop has.
The heat that makes you smell like a pig.
The weird but so delicious foods available at every corner.
The convenience stores that for once actually are convenient...

I know there's a lot of shitty things about Japan.

But knowing of them, I also know how to accept them and I know how to reason them out. I know how to not let the weird TV shows and perverted cartoons swallow up the wonders of this country.

Standing on this veranda, I want to give it my all to return back as soon as possible.

I want to stand on this veranda again. I want to remind myself why I spent so much time working, why I didn't buy all the stuff everyone else did, why I missed out on so much.

I want to see the friendly faces of the people here, I want to meet so many more, I want to become a part of this forever evolving town, this ancient country.

I really wish for others to try experiencing not only Tokyo, but this feeling of really loving a place.

I don't need sightseeing, fancy sushi or five-star hotels. I just need to be there.

I'm sure there's others out there who feel the same way, and even more who would - who will - feel like this if or when they one day set foot there. It's hard to love something so far away from your everyday life, but it's an important feeling. It feels good that even though I don't know what I want to do with my life, I know where to find out, where to spend a great deal of it.





It feels good to love Japan.