a Postcard from the year's end in Tokyo
Hello friend,
I’m at a hair salon in Tokyo, where my stylist is giving me instructions on how to blow dry my hair. He’s not a fan of how I’ve been doing it, and gently repeats himself, twice.
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I arrived last night, catching the red eye out of Charles de Gaulle. With Japan’s border entry protocols lifted after a long two years, flights are full.
Searching for an empty seat near the gate, I’d followed the sound of a familiar melody and was stunned to realize it was Ito, by Nakajima Miyuki. A young lady was playing the piano.
Ito (“thread”) is a song in slow awe of the destiny we weave, with me as the horizontal thread and you as the vertical thread.
It was an enchanting couple of minutes, feeling the stillness of my fellow Japanese travellers listening to a song that no one will have heard in a while, as we start the long trip home for the New Year holidays. When she finished, someone clapped.
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My Tokyo wallet is three times the size of my Paris card clip. Here, I have cash and lots of cards.
One of them is the loyalty point card for the coffee bean shop in my parent’s neighborhood. Carefully tucked next to it, I found the receipt from my last purchase. It had a note-to-self by the owner that I’d forgotten my card and they should stamp it the next time I bring it in. I do, a year later.
I'm on track to score a free cup of coffee in two years, maybe three. That'd be pretty nice.
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What’s special for you about this time of the year? What’s on your mind as you wind down (if you do)?
I’m looking forward to two weeks of reflection and re-connection, and being out in the cold under sunny, blue skies. It’s been a good year.
Thank you as always, for reading. Be well, and catch you in the new year!
Tomomi
This coffee bean shop manages to look like a dry cleaner's from the outside. It's not, and is actually quite the neighborhood hot spot.