A wild Zack spotted on the outskirts of Tokyo

The past week has been pretty full of activities. It’s been a while since I’ve been this busy and active with a rich social life.

I feel like I am almost at my limit. My weekend is packed with plans, I think I’m gonna have to take it easy next week.

Actually I’m not THAT busy. Most people I know in Tokyo are way busier than me, I mean i only worked 3 days this week. It’s just a lot for ME, at least all things considered. I actually cancelled plans to go to this farmers bar on the outskirts of the city, and plans to walk around the countryside.

Saturday – Work all morning then…

I went to a chai cafe near my house and talked to two strangers. It’s been years since I’ve done this. This is actually what I used to love about Tokyo, original shops with a community, that didn’t feel much like a city at all. Gentrification and the way people interact with the city and their cell phones have made it harder to find these kind of shops. They still exist though.

It just so happened that one of the strangers I met is a well-known artist that I respect. I knew he used to use that space for something, but its been a while so I was surprised to see him there. Cool guy.

Sunday – a friend from the UK came to visit and so I showed him and his friend around my neighborhood. We got some Okinawa food and went to the same café. Then we went to a friends bar where all of us could speak English Japanese and Mandarin. This is always fun but makes me dizzy. And the white people speaking Asian langusges always shocks people for some reason. Still KIND OF rare, though not really.

Monday - work all day.

Tuesday – work all day.

Wednesday – my partner and I went to the park about 20 minutes away from where we live. Nobody talks about this park so neither of us realized how big it was and how comfortable. We got off at the next station and walked quite a ways through traditional gardens and country-like roads. Even Tokyo can feel like the countryside if you go out to the outskirts. I brought my guitar and play some music and we went birdwatching.

Thursday – work all morning

Plan to go to a farmers bar further out than I had been the day before, but I was exhausted so i rested all day.

At night I stopped by a newly opened cafe/music space that asked me to play there. Just too a pic of the cafe side

Friday - today I was planning on checking out the house that I would like to buy if I had the money. I don’t have the money right now but I thought it would be cool to check it out and just see what the surrounding area was like to get a better idea about what is out there.

It was raining and the place is about an hour and 20 minutes away, so on the way there I decided to cancel and go back to the area I had gone to two days earlier. Searched Google maps and found a bunch of shops that looked interesting to me. I was pleasantly surprised. There was way more than I was expecting. Probably because the area attracts a lot of people who are tired of the city center.

I first went to a experimental soba restaruant, one where western ingredients and flavors are used in japanese soba noodle dishes. Vinnegarette and Italian dressing on chicken and soba? Ok! I talked to the owner for an hour and sang a song for me and told me about his motrocycle trips throighoit Japan.

I found a so-called “healing book store and cafe”. The book store was run by the father and the cafe the son and his wife. Very cozy. A woman sitting next to me was using a tarot deck and I asked her about it, so she offered to give me a free reading. I’ll talk about that some more tomorrow because damn was it accurate.

I walked in the rain for about 20 minutes to the next station, looking for a cool looking café I had found on Google. I got there and someone said “Zack! “It was this really bad ass experimental mama with her 1 year old baby. Shes a performance artist and pop-folk singer that I met a year ago, very very cool person.

She was having a meeting about an event but we talked after that and I check out the exhibition. The building was sooooo cool, an old arcade from the 60’s totally dilapidated but with a few creative shops inside and a few really old ones. The pic doesnt do justice.

I got home and had dinner with my partner and a mutual friend. Indian food.

This weekend I have class AND I’m supposed to meet with that friend again, go to another friends pop-up bar and and go to a handmade crafts convention.

I sure am pushing my limit but I think itll be ok.

I will crash Sunday night to monday afternoon since I start late on Monday.

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