If You Are In Japan

What Shibuya is to Tokyo, Shimokitazawa is to Setagaya-Ku. Setagaya-Ku or Setagaya Special ward is one of the 23 special wards (Ku in Japanese) of central Tokyo area. Shibuya is often referred as the throbbing place of younger generation of Tokyo. In that sense, Shimokitazawa is a relatively very small market area within Setagaya-Ku but has a similar fondness among younger lots. Located on interchange point b/w Odakyu Odawara line and Keio Inokashira line, it is the third station from Shibuya on Keio Inokashira line. From Karaoke bars to Dance clubs, from shops of artefacts to souvenirs, From McDonald to mouthwatering Sushi cafes to smoking bakeries you can find everything here. Be it any time of the day, the shops are busy serving the customers of all age group. The buildings are not competing against other to touch the sky and thus the sky space is clear and visually appealing, unlike Shibuya. Significantly cheaper and a laid-back market with no hustle and hurry it is a pl...

  An artist sketching the Shibuya crossing. Image by the author  “Everyone may be ordinary, but they are not normal”, Haruki Murakimi   If you ask one word which can be ascribed to Japanese way of life, then it is not  Ikigai . It is not  Omiyari  either. For me it is 'Rhythm'.  Rhythm, according to Cambridge dictionary is " a  strong   pattern  of  sounds , words, or  musical   notes  that is used in  music ,  poetry , and  dancing "  Rhythm in more crude form is a pattern. If two objects or people while in an action, follow the same pattern then we say that both are in rhythm to each other. So far, I have visited five major cities of Japan and everywhere I found an unseen river of rhythm flowing below the alleys of human lives. Be it the busiest pedestrian crossing of the world-Shibuya, be it the ever-bustling Dotombori market of Osaka or be it the somber and pristine locales of Kyoto...

  Learning Japanese is not learning a language, rather it is about falling in love. The kind of love you experience at the sight of a beautiful girl on a Keio or Ginza line. (The brimming crowd of JR lines does not let you see yourself, so watching a girl is out of question there). So, I was talking about the love at first sight on a metro line in Tokyo. Behold, if you keep moving your sight to every travelling ‘Onnanohito’ and feel that your love is blossoming everywhere. That you may justify as the loss of love in your life, rather it is loss of character in your life. Check that! If your love is pristine, true and one hearted as mine then have patience. I see learning Japanese language is about interacting with a well natured girl and her family and how far you like to go to seek your true love. By this theory, say you fell in love with a Japanese girl called Hiragana. Hiragana is beautiful, decently curved, soft stroke, Geisha like white skin, dark eyes. Hiragana's simplicity...