A little bit of Japan and a lot more of my feelings

hello world,

I don't aim for this to be a discouraging post but I feel like it's necessary for the truth. 

I first should apologize for the absence in my "diligent writing". It seems like every single post tends to be a "I promise to write more" post but at least I am trying. See, for a while, I became discouraged living in Seoul. I understand not everyplace is easy to live in everyday, but for me, I found myself bored and somewhat defeated. See, in the past month or so I've been feeling quite eager to leave and go someplace else. There hasn't really been much to do here, and my ambivalence in being hungover has been outweighed with my want to drink something so I wouldn't have to deal with the incessant hammering from any foreign teacher or any foreign person on why they think seoul is really great. I am not saying I'm a alcoholic. 

Not yet

That goal is for the future when I live a loveless marriage while having an affair with the cabana boy that cleans my pool.

fingers crossed

But really I have been struggling at being inspired. I've been battling this struggle by reading, but that too seemed to have gone away. I've been in this haze of boredom, and this blog was the thing that got affected due to my slight depression. 

However I am going to try again cause if there is anything I learned about growing up is that we must try, try, and try again. But then again, isn't there a contrary proverb for every proverb?

ahh crap now I have no idea what to do

I think I got my sudden jolt of excitement from Japan, which has become the launch of my fantastic travel adventure. I know I went to china, but Japan has made me excited again. I was so enthralled in being in a new country and I finally felt the adventure I wanted oh so badly was starting.

So last weekend I went to Japan. I went to Harajuku, saw the band Ego Wrappin' preform live at Hibiya outdoor theater, and I generally became lost in translation. I found Japan to be so much more different than South Korea, and overall I felt a sense of peace and happiness throughout the trip. Japan breathed life into my veins, and now I see the world in a more excited and energized way.

I arrived in Japan around one in the morning. The hostel I stayed in was Ace Inn Hostel in Shinjuku. The hostel is comprised of a series of small cubbies as beds. While this might seem like a horror, it actually wasn't too bad. I could easily sit up in the bed, there was a shelf, and there was plenty of room to move around. 

the hostel front

my locker

the beds

my bed

The hostel wasn't amazing but it wasn't shit either. The beds were roomy but the people that stayed there were loud. I guess the volume of the place needed to be a given due to the fact that it was a hostel, but I like my sleep. The hostel was in a great location and it was comfortably air conditioned. The design of the hostel was for the traveler, and it really did what it was designed to do. 

I also managed to make it to Harajuku, and that became the start of my love for Japan. Japan has a sense of wonder and spirituality that South Korea murdered long ago. Japan displays a sense of serenity in the hustle and bustle of the everyday, while South Korea reconstructs a fabricated sense of modernity. South Korea's need to change its identity into a country of modernity has led to to become a city of plastic. Japan, however has continued to have a beautiful and fantastic image.

The other shots I took around Japan were things of nothing, yet for me, were things about everything. It might not seem interesting to you, however it all spoke worlds to me.

I don't have a lot of stories to tell since I was in Japan for basically a day. However I seemed to have collected a series of small snippets to declare to fun of my trip. 

One of the snippets was this small shrine that I found while I was lost. It wasn't very noticeable, and it wasn't very big. I did not even know it was a shrine until a saw a small man slowly walk up to it. He was plainly dressed with a white shirt and black pants, and he carried with him a small dark brown briefcase. He walked up to the shrine and put the briefcase under his right arm. He donated a small coin or so into the offering pate; he clapped his hands, bowed, and walked away.

While this might seem nothing to you, I loved it. I devoured it. It was everything I wanted to see and more. I have never found so much humility and serenity in one small moment. I have never been religious, but I have always wanted to see religious moments like those. 

Life is so quick and so boring having a moment like that stops it all and lets the world zoom in on that single instant. Have you ever taken time out of your day and thanked something, ANYTHING, for what you got? I have always seemed to show my thanks around Thanksgiving, but not every day. Yes I might not have a deity in my life, but man I still respect those that do just because they show their thanks for what they have.

Another moment was when I went to the concert for Ego Wrappin'. While I think I was the ONLY white person there, I wasn't treated as such. Everyone that sat around me was super friendly, and even at the end of the concert, people were slapping me fives. By the way Ego Wrappin' live is fantastic! I highly recommend seeing them live. They demonstrate all the energy and life of Japan, and they play amazingly.

I am going to go again in September. Even though I haven't said much, I feel like I have finally FINALLY got some wind on this trip. I am finally inspired, and I don't feel like this is a waste.

As for the veganism, throughout the trip I remained true to my beliefs  For breakfast and for dinner on saturday I had a bag of nuts, and for lunch as well as breakfast on sunday I had a daikon radish onigri. It was quite hot throughout the trip so I lost my appetite a lot. 

the next two weeks I'll be a bit silent because I am planning my trip to Cambodia. I leave July 27th and come back August 4th.

<3