KOENJI Sunday

We had an election today in Japan.

Woot…I got to go into my old junior high.

BUT….

the aging of the school building made me realize

how much time had passed since the days I was still

a student there.

Well, I will just stop thinking about it

and instead, I will talk about happier things.

Today, I got to hang out with Yuko, who is my former co-worker at UW.

The last time we saw each other was last summer

so it’s been about a year.

Something that I have been experiencing lately is that,

I don’t really have a sense of ‘time’ anymore

(compared to when I was in school.)

It just passes so quickly that I stopped trying to measure how much

time is passing or has passed.

It just passes and every single time I peek into my calendar,

I go

WOW…it is moving.

So, when I saw her at the station

I felt nothing besides

‘yay, Yuko is here!!’

I neither felt

‘oh geeez, it has been so long’

or

‘oh geeez, I feel like I saw you yesterday.’

So we met in Koenji and went to

Yonchome Cafe

to grab some lunch first….

I am going to go back to this place,

I really loved the atmosphere and the food was delicious ❤

I just realized they even have a HAPPY HOUR.

Oh boy, somebody?? Come with me???

I took more photos with my other camera

but I still need to take a few more till I get to develop.

I hope it’s sunny tomorrow so that I could go out and take more.

Oh wait, no…I think I need to work all day long tomorrow. Nuts.

Koenji is a lovely place.

A place that new-s and old-s blend in beautifully.

I am starting to realize,

that is my favorite thing about Japan.

How new things and old things have their territories

and they create unique space all together.

Sure, many old things are being torn down but,

I don’t think ‘nostalgia’ would ever get kicked out from this country.

At least, that is my hope.

Thanks to Yuko for the great time!

Where would be the next place for us to go?