…come to an end.
So sang Nelly Furtado a few years back, and I was listening to that song while reading Un altro giro di giostra, the last book written by Tiziano Terzani which also talks about endings. More precisely, about the end of Terzani’s life, his search for a cure and the way he made peace with his fate.
My personal case refers to something way smaller and less important, it’s just the end of this short journey to the land of the rising sun. Tomorrow I’ll be going back to Italy and I’m already worried about the flight: will I be able to sleep a little this time, or will I be again more like a zombie than a living being when I set foot in Rome? Well, to that only time can give an answer, but I’d bet my money on the zombie if I were you anyway, just to be sure.
What I came to realize in these two weeks is that the Japan I loved was made of slow paced days, walks around the city where time was not an issue at all, visits to places that could be postponed and meetings that were easy to organize. This time has felt like a marathon, with us walking for hours to see as much as possible.
Of course I understand the urge of my travel mates, being their first trip to the capital of the east (the literal meaning of the word Tōkyō), but for someone who already knew the city it was not so pleasant at times (well, the chilly wind takes most of the blame anyway). I took my time to take pictures, as you may have noticed (around 9-10 Gbs, but of course I only uploaded where those worth seeing), but I missed the quiet enjoyment of someone who can decide at the moment what to see and what to do and is not restricted by a schedule of sorts.
Tokyo is a city that should not be defined by questions like “what is there to see?”.
After all, if you come from a country like Italy, Japan is as different as Mars.
My heartfelt suggestion to whoever is planning a trip to Japan is quite simple: visit less, but see more.
Meaning you shouldn’t try to hop from one place to another, but take your time and really enjoy the ones you pick.
It’s actually the opposite of what japanese people tend to do when they are on vacation, but that’s mostly because they do have a very limited amount of time. When Miki came to Italy we spent 1 day and a half in Venice, two days in Rome and then she was back to Paris for her flight back. What the heck?
Tempus fugit, but since it will anyway, we may wanna relax sometimes.
Kamakura and Enoshima
Yokohama
