Home Away from Home

Song to accompany: After the Rain by Adhitya Sofyan

It was not long ago where I sat with my friends in a bar sipping a glass of Soho with soda, then one of them asked: if you were to choose a city you could live in for the rest of your life, what would that be?

I immediately said Tokyo without having to ponder. It was in 2008 I went there for a music festival with a group o friends and in during the week of Valentine's Day 2012. Though I only spent a week on both of my visits, I have loved the place ever since.

I always get this impression of "you know this city is perfect for you because it just feels right." I am not particularly fond of the whole Japanese culture but the Tokyo vibe in its entirety feels amazing. This persuasion was obviously made after I have compared my stays in other Japanese cities and townships.

It is the kind of place that you are willing to ramble for hours on just to get your listeners feel the same emotion when you were there.

It might be because of the people, or the food, or the pace, or even the chaos but rest assured: everything is in the right proportion.

We seek comfort. We seek love. We seek tranquility. We seek solitude. We seek ego. We find them all not there, not anywhere, but here.

I fancy neither mountains nor seas. Just where bright things are and where all spaces are well-utilized. That sensibleness.

After all is said and done, home is that place, that person, that verb; home is what you eventually long for. Tokyo does it justice. It is that other home, away from home.