tokyo 東京, kantō.

I very often see people on twitter said that once you visited Japan, the only place you would want to travel to again is Japan, the place you plan to travel to next is Japan. Now that I've been to Japan I don't think I share the sentiment although I understand it to a certain degree. I guess it's true especially for people who like convenient. Japan is convenient. It's clean, it's organized, it's safe, it's friendly, it's quirky, it's aesthetically pleasing, it's fun, it's familiar, it's culturally rich. Also maybe because my visit in Tokyo was very short and I only visited famous commercial areas that feel similar to each other, shopping places, that it didn't really seeps into me. Compared to Nepal, for example, which still is a dear place to me because I felt so involved in the local experience although logistically it's not the most convenient place. Sure I would love to explore another places in Japan, even also in Tokyo or Osaka again, but I still have many other places in the world I would like to see and experience.

That said, Tokyo is indeed something. For the massive amount of people I see every second in every places, somehow it didn't feel suffocating. I remember living in Paris and felt so sick of the crowd, I was so relieved when I went to Sweden and got to feel the space with so much less people. Maybe because of the cleanliness, and again the organized Japanese, like how they would leave spaces when queueing for the subway, compared to the chaos of being in Châtelet station in Paris, for example.

Another thing I noted was how all the LED signs that crowded the city didn't actually look bad. I just mentioned not so long ago how the LED signs that replaced the neon signs in Hong Kong were all so ugly and unpleasant to look at. In Tokyo, and Osaka, they all look just normal. Like it's there and didn't bothered me as much. I really don't understand why. But also I was so happy finding a lot of places that still do use neon signs they all mostly use real neon, not the fake LED "neon-flex" which looks cheap and ugly.

There are many more small things I can say about Tokyo and Japan. Like how I love the intimate setting of their very small restaurants and bars. How everything is operated by machines. But all in all I was just happy being there. I remember the last time I went to Milan I felt like being in the city made me feel like I can do things, like there were a lot of possibilities of how life could go. But in Japan I was just be. I didn't think much, I wasn't stressed or being optimistic or anything, I was just happy to be.

meeting tadao ando

I became aware that there would be a Tadao Ando exhibition in Osaka a couple of days before the trip. It was a part of Osaka Art and Design 2025. Based on what was on the event program, I thought it was going to be a single installation by the architect. I didn't expect to come to a big exhibition of his entire body of works. I certainly did not expect the man himself to suddenly showed up at the venue right at the time we were there. We were just finished going around the exhibition and was looking around the gift shop and he was suddenly there to sign his newly launched books. He also gave a short and intimate talk session.

Years ago there were protests against his work in Venice. I was at the Venice Biennale and around his exhibition people put stickers and protest leaflets. I can't remember what exactly the protest is, I would have to google it, but I know I agreed with the protest. And then there was this big model of a part of Venice that was made beautifully and very detailed by the young people who worked or interned at his office. There were photos of these young kids working day in and day out on the model. Seeing this evoked a certain disdain towards the architect. Because in my opinion to convey his ideas about the projects all the miniscule details on the models were not really necessary. This and knowing how working in architecture in Japan usually was, it felt like a form of exploitation. Although he gave plenty of credit to them it still felt rather distasteful to me.

So I wasn't particularly super excited about the exhibition, as I said I thought it was just a single installation. And also he's one of the biggest name in architecture, so I did want to see his works when I could. But then entering the exhibition, I read his note on the wall (third picture), and I was so moved by his writing I thought I lost whatever disdain I previously had. I was so used to architects and designers not giving proper credit and seeing how he put so much credit to the people around him, those who work for him and with him, collaborators, and even strangers, means so much to me. Architecture is often such an elite world full of people with ego and I really appreciate seeing someone big wrote a note full of humility and awareness. His whole tone of note I guess spoke to me to my current situation at the right time like I needed to read it. I only wished there was a translation for his talk so I could get an even better understanding of his thought and point of views.

osaka expo 2025

The Expo 2025 in Osaka was a lot different than the one in Milan ten years ago. We booked entry at 11.00 in the morning and we stayed there until closing hour at 22.00 and the total number of pavilion we got in to was five. Five pavilions and one common building (where countries who didn't have big pavilion had their own small stands). Compared to Milan where I got in to most of the pavilions. Most of the time we were there was spent queueing. To get in to one pavilion took about an hour or more in queue. In Milan I remember only queueing for some bigger and popular pavilions, such as Japan, and it didn't took like an hour just to get in.

My theory was that there were too few pavilions and too many people, because a lot of my favorite pavilions back then in Milan doesn't even have their own pavilions in Osaka, such as Chile and Vietnam. There were only a handful of big pavilions and a lot more smaller common pavilions. And in those big pavilions there were long interactive digital experience which took a long time, whereas before the designed experience was simpler.

The arena itself I felt was somewhat bigger. To get to another part of the Expo took a long time. And it being in Japan, the arena was very well designed. The famous ring designed by Sou Fujimoto provided shade, sitting area, and a beautiful upper level area. The overall landscape and amenities buildings were also well thought of. Even though it was very crowded it didn't feel suffocating, it flowed very well. And the thing I admired the most was at the end of the closing day, where ten if not hundred of thousands of people were going at the same time to the one and only metro station to get back home, there were no chaos. They kept us walking round and round for a long time and by the time we arrived at the station, we got in to the train and head back home. Tiring but no chaos, no uncertainty. Just truly astonishing Japanese organization.

osaka 大阪, kansai.

So I finally went to Japan. Everyone's ultimate travel destination. And I guess it was as expected. Public transportation was excellent, they have latin words written along so it's easy to navigate. The air was so clean, coming from where I'm from I felt like I see things a lot clearer. Everything else were also clean. The locals were friendly to foreigners, or at least weren't as unfriendly as some other places. But the first thing I instantly noticed walking the streets of Osaka was how neat the building contruction is. Even for simple houses the installation was neat, clean, and precise. I'm deeply envious of how the thing we have to work hard for is just common practice here.

We went to Osaka first so we could get to the World Expo on weekday. Because our flights were delayed for couple of hours and the visit to the Expo took a whole day, we practically only had half day and another half day in Osaka. But I wasn't complaining. I didn't plan any itinerary for the trip, I only looked up basic information and several places, mostly eating places, and marked them on google maps. I was happy just to finally be in and experience Japan. We ended up only around Namba and Dotonbori area on our first half day and spent our last half day in Tadao Ando exhibition. It was short but there will alway be another time.

sài gòn, vietnam.

I haven't been to all South East Asian countries but when I'm being negative I like to wonder why my grandparents had to ride the boat all the way to Sumatra and didn't just stop earlier. Every country I went to is a lot better than the one I've been trapped in. This time I was back in Saigon, again for a short transit to go somewhere else. Only stayed a couple of hours in district 1 but I enjoyed it. The streets were walkable, I felt a lot safer than I was in my hometown. People were out sitting on public benches with their dogs. I still see kids in public playground even after dark. And I still very much enjoy seeing people sitting on small chairs by the streets enjoying their evenings with others. It's nice being in a functional and sociable city. The only thing that bothered me were probably the humidity although I didn't think it's as bad as when I was in the northern bay area. And also I was trapped for hours in the airport which unbelievably didn't provide power outlet in their international terminal!

tana toraja, sulawesi selatan.

I went to Tana Toraja in one highly impulsive trip. I had always wanted to go there since a long time ago but the opportunity never arrived. It was far and felt quote remote like it required a lot of effort and it's expensive. Last November when I suddenly had to go to Makassar for a work project, I checked the map and found out that it's actually the closest big city to Tana Toraja. I honestly know Italian cities and regions geographically better than Indonesian ones because the infrastructure here is so bad and expensive, so inaccessible that it's hard to get them embedded in our mind. 

Other than public transportation, another thing that makes it easy to travel alone, especially as female, around Italy but not Indonesia is of course safety. Particularly now that I was travelling to another island I had never been to. I needed to take some extra measure. My plan was to find some kind of tour, to be on a group, or maybe a private tour. But I couldn't find one that fit. I found instead an instagram page where local university students offer to make custom itineraries for tourists. Every information was actually easily available with some google search, but this service provided me with a local contact, female, in case something went wrong. 

Even with things sorted out, I still asked a friend who is from the island of Sulawesi, and she strongly suggested me not to go. She told me although the area is predominantly Christian, hence should be safer, it's better not go alone as female. I really didn't know what possessed me around this time but I guess when I'm determined to do something and I want it, I would do whatever mind game necessary to get to it. For two or three days before the trip I was filled with anxiety. Excitement mixed with anxiety. I questioned whether I would make it out alive and unscathed. It really felt like a big uncertainty. 

The plan was to go from Makassar to Toraja by plane and came back by night bus. But one day before the trip the flight was cancelled. This meant I had to go by night bus. Nine hours on the road in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere. At this point my anxiety doubled. I arrived to an extremely crowded bus terminal because people were going back to Toraja for regional election. But no one bothered me and no one paid me a single attention although I clearly looked different. Something that would probably not be the case if I was in Java. And to my relieve what I found was a very clean and organized bus. Probably the best kind of long haul bus I have ever ride. Even better than the fancy ones in Turkey. 

Along the road in the this middle of nowhere in this middle of the night it suddenly dawned on me that I was really completely alone. The voices in my head said, 'What the fuck were you thinking?!'. I simultaneously felt like the bravest, the craziest and the stupidest version of myself. I had always been alone most of my life, it wasn't a new feeling, but this was the first time that I was completely alone, physically. Like if something happened to me right here right now, no one person I know was in my vicinity. No one would know. I would just disappear. 

But all feelings and situations were temporary really. I didn't disappear. I made it out alive and well. The trip was actually very safe, the people were very nice and friendly. The place was really unique although it wasn't exactly as I imagined. It wasn't as traditional as what I thought the community would be and certain places looked a lot better in photos than in reality. But I was glad my impulsive self made this crazy trip happened.

hong kong, hksar.

Without all the glorious neon lights that were once synonymous with the city, Hong Kong felt a little similar to Singapore at first glance. I was kind of sad seeing how everything were replaced by LED signs which were not attractive and also certainly emitting excessive blue light. The art is certainly lost. 

But I was definitely impressed and curious by the density of the city. Walking on the streets, when the ground floor and sometimes a few floors more function as commercial area, all the rest of the floors going up have windows facing the street directly on the facade. Because of the land use and also because of the proportion between the streets width and the height of the buildings, it felt very dense. I couldn't help but keep looking up. I wondered about the lives behind all those windows. I wanted to go inside. I wanted to know what the floor plans like. I wondered how it felt living above with all the bustling activities below in such cramped area. 

Another thing I couldn't help noticing was hygiene. For days I was in Hong Kong my eczema didn't flare up which probably meant they use softer kind of hand soap. And then there's no hand dryer in their toilets. Also there's often always a sign inside the cubicle reminding people to close the toilet lid before flushing. This shouldn't be a big deal but I guess living currently in a big city where people don't understand basic hygiene I noticed these things glaringly, sadly. 

This trip was a company trip therefore I didn't have the usual freedom of traveling. I didn't go to a lot of places. Didn't even have dim sum once, unbelievably. But it wasn't a bad trip at all. Spending time laughing out loud until three in the morning in a hotel bedroom with colleagues was fun.