Our final weeks in Tokyo turned out to be so different than I imagined.
After four years, I got ready to say goodbye to the city I never fully understood.
Tokyo never showed me more than just a glimpse of what is hiding behind the blind walls, the silent backstreets, the delicate beauty, the million small restaurants where they sell I still don’t know what.
After four years, I got ready to say goodbye to the city I never fully understood.
Tokyo never showed me more than just a glimpse of what is hiding behind the blind walls, the silent backstreets, the delicate beauty, the million small restaurants where they sell I still don’t know what.
I never really understood Tokyo as we could not communicate. I don't manage to read Tokyo as I used to read the cities I lived in before.
Yet I loved living here.
And as a patient soul Tokyo continued to invite me to discover and rediscover her.
But then, COVID-19 came around.
Yet I loved living here.
And as a patient soul Tokyo continued to invite me to discover and rediscover her.
But then, COVID-19 came around.
It started far away but traveled with the incredible speed that illustrated just how madly we all have been conquering the world. Schools closed, restaurants
became takeaways, the whole world started buying toilet paper
and using face masks.
became takeaways, the whole world started buying toilet paper
and using face masks.
Borders we had forgotten about were re-established.
And then they closed.
Travel(ling home) became a happy thought for some time soon, maybe.
And then they closed.
Travel(ling home) became a happy thought for some time soon, maybe.
Our boys started e-learning from home. Rooms turned into home-offices.
Computers became our windows to the outside.
More than ever before, we live online.
Computers became our windows to the outside.
More than ever before, we live online.
Online we look, shop, learn, read, work, play, chat, laugh, share, challenge, write, create, delete, cry, we welcome babies and we bury our beloved, we mourn, socialize, comfort, meet, work out, discuss, encourage, we remember
and we look forward.
Online we live.
and we look forward.
Online we live.
Tokyo has shrunk to the size of our apartment. The screens are dragging the entire world into my living-room but there is not always enough space for it all…
These were our last weeks in Tokyo.
This was our online life during those weird weeks in March 2020.
This was our online life during those weird weeks in March 2020.
This is also how it would soon become all over the world
and for far too long.
This is to everybody who's stuck somewhere we never thought we'd be stuck for so long...
and for far too long.
This is to everybody who's stuck somewhere we never thought we'd be stuck for so long...
