One year ago today, I started blogging. It’s been an interesting journey, to say the least. My conclusion though, after a whole year of observation, is that most people in Tokyo have lost the ability to love. And I believe the reason is that nobody trusts anybody anymore. Trust is such a rare commodity here.
So everywhere in this city of 8.7 million people, you see restless souls roaming about in their own shadows, furtively looking for something they don’t even know. The only thing they know is never to trust another soul.
Many western friends have told me that the gaijins here in Tokyo are a completely different breed from the people they know back home. They’ve become corrupted during their struggle to survive here in this jungle.
Why do we all feel we should work hard and play harder? Ok, you might blame it on your star sign, but nobody I know can just sit still for more than an hour now. Everybody has to go out every night to feel they still exist.
In this Age of Uncertainty, we feel obliged to live the life to the fullest. Who knows when the next big earthquake will strike Tokyo? Who knows if you will lose your job next month? Who knows if your partner will be diagnosed with cancer tomorrow, or worse, caught red-handed cheating on you?
How many truly happy people do you know here? Some people are good at masking their despair, but deep down nobody knows what to believe and who to trust anymore. We don’t want to be disappointed or hurt, so we have stopped expecting anything from anyone long ago.
People nowadays are a miserable lonely bunch. Everybody insists that he is his own best friend. It’s just sad. Tokyo is a really sad city.
But look, we have to start believing again, because that’s when dreams start to become true.
Allow yourself to dream again!
