Sentimental feelings in the big city of Tokyo

Super nice flight

Today (or actually yesterday, because there is quite a big time difference between Japan and Western Europe), I went to Japan by plane. My dad brought me to the airport and I got on the biggest plane I have ever been on: the KLM jumbo jet (747-400). Another time when I went to Japan, the airplane shook and trembled in the sky the whole time. Not this time. This airplane was so big and I sat next to the left wing, that luckily I hardly even noticed any turbulence. You can see a picture of my view from the plane when you scroll all the way down this blog ^^.
In Tokyo, my friend Azusa came to pick me up at Narita airport, Tokyo. I hadn’t seen her in quite a while irl, although we regularly speak on Skype. We had a lot of catching up to do! We took the train and the metro to Tokyo to our hostel Japan Palace.

City Hall

After that I thought I wasn’t tired. But I slep and I slept and then Azusa said: we have to go to the Sky Tree! She was right. So off, we went. We ate lovely soba near the Sky Tree (Azusa treated me on it, lucky me!). And then we walked towards the Sky Tree.
The Sky Tree is the biggest building in Japan. I will put pictures of it on this blog as soon as I get home (Because I took them on a camera and therefore I can’t put them on my laptop just yet). It was a impressive sight. Later on, we went to the City Hall in Shinjuku where we looked out over Tokyo. For free (going into the Sky Tree is very expensive).

Later on, we went back to the hostel. We came across a super market where we bought breakfast for the following day. I saw Nijntje (I’m not going to call her “Miffy”, cause that’s not her real name) everywhere! It was nice to see something Dutch being so popular here.

After that, we went back to the hostel, where I gave Azusa a presents from me and my mother. She was happy with the presents and that made me happy :).

Memory at the Sky Tree

However, the most important thing that I saw today was this little porch in front of the Sky Tree. It was also in front of a simple apartment complex and next to a vending machine. A while ago, I sat there with my friend Bas and my then boyfriend in the evening on a hot summer day. We were watching the Sky Tree that was under construction back then. Suddenly, a light behind us went on. I looked back and I thought we were going to get scolded by the owners of the condos. However, a young Japanese guy came out the door opening. He said: “Come!”

We followed him. We went to a vending machine and he bought us all ice cream. After that, we ate it at the porch while we were watching the Sky Tree. He told me that he was a construction worker and he worked at the Sky Tree Project. Then he went inside. We looked at eachother and thought: “What a nice guy.”  He came back and he wouldn’t stop spoiling us. He gave us fireworks and he gave us a bottle of his best sake (we knew this sake was great, because later on we went into a supermarket and the shop owner was impressed by the sake). This was an absolute “flow experience” as Bas would call it.

Sweet N’ Bitter Tears

I saw the same spot as where I happily sat with my friends at that time. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Everything around the Sky Tree had changed. But that was still the same. We had to cross a park and a bridge to get there. But there it was, that porch and that vending machine with ice cream for sale (Azusa made some pictures of me, sitting at that exact same spot). That’s why I knew it had been that exact same spot. I felt natsukashii (sentimental/ feelings of missing something dearly). It was one of my best experiences in Japan ever. We swore that we would go back there when the Sky Tree would be completed. This never happened. Some things are not meant to be, no matter how hard you try. That’s how life goes. Life is beautiful, but it’s also full of sweet n’ bitter tears.