she is the tale-trader

Here we were, coursing through the mists of Mountain Province...long drives put me on a unique, entranced state. It's actually unsettling to travel through the mountains on a jeepney although they're often used for this sort of drives. It just feels too much of a creature of the city because my city is swarmed by them. Nonetheless, I felt a comfortable distance from my city's chaos - from any city, for that matter. It was freedom from so many things and so many entanglements.  Inside was a sleeping crowd of college students and there I was trying to learn what mist tastes like.

It's always good to be back in Tokyo. There is a hum in the city that most probably comes from bodies swiftly whirling past each other and from minds simultaneously humming their own hums of where to go next, what to do next. Tokyo City is sensory overload city and for me, Tokyo City is Acceptance city. I've been going to Japan since I was a little girl (perks of having a ground stewardess mother - holla). I've built a long irreplaceable memory chain of impeccable Disneyland days with my younger siblings, met the many beautiful humans my mom and dad shared their college days with there, made many more new friends, and maybe had more than enough of my fair share of Japanese food. What happens, though, every time I'm there is that a looming feeling of Otherness creeps in. Being there seems like it requires preciseness and haste and conformity at a level that are all foreign to me. This is my experience and may be different than yours, but this was me: awkwardly pretending to keep up with the pace. I remember bringing along Murakami's After Dark during a Tokyo trip a couple of years ago. I read most of it during the shinkansen ride from Narita. I will never forget that moment of re-connection. There I was - a Manila girl on her way to Tokyo, holding a book set in that city that was written by a Japanese, translated to English, and bought from a book peddler in Padre Faura Street in Manila. I am who I am and I belong where I was then. I was struck with the thought that I was actually approaching the place where the characters I was reading were imagined. Once in one man's mind, they existed there and dove into the great mysteries of the night. But that time, the story and the characters belonged to my mind as well, and the countless minds that read or heard it. And the way that the story of one peculiar night in Tokyo belonged to many; then so too does Tokyo cradle many people, including the peculiar ones that felt out of place. I walked out of the train station with an entirely different set of thoughts. I slowed down my walk and breathed more deeply and let myself feel whatever surrounded me embrace me with a great intensity. And that sense of belongingness strengthened as I went to Kyoto and Osaka with my family. This place is my second home. This place has taught me many lessons and bestowed upon me many stories to share - lessons and tales that differed from the ones back home. This place has unchained bicycles outside convenience stores (and almost anywhere, actually), has strengthened my belief that smiles are immensely powerful, has taught me the importance of never forgetting my gloves in the hotel room, has reminded me that families can be forged everywhere. I took the photos with a Pentax my Dad bought. I really set out during that trip to capture what I find intriguing on the streets of Tokyo, which I took for granted on my past trips there. They were all taken during our nights in Shinjuku.

Staying at the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel after a long and amazing day.

My Dad got me these trail running shoes (which I can't wait to break in) and a lightweight trekking pack (in which I shoved my worldly possessions into for our Tokyo trip). I am, again, seriously contemplating on transitioning to or at least having a nice section of my blog for detailed travel posts. We're leaving for Cavite in a while, where we celebrate Christmas with many relatives every year. How do I cram everything else I need to do in 3 hours?

The artwork on the Elsa mug is so beautiful but it had sold out already... but I'm so happy and grateful my mom bought me a Travelary. It's a really cool planner & journal for travel planning and documentation. Very excited to bring this out in the field!

Midnight

Realizing this is one of my best Christmas breaks in years

Getting ready for my first winter in a long time, and first ever Christmas Day in Tokyo.

me: why am i not getting anything done

My sister went on a three-week exchange student program in Niigata and my mom did a talk in Tokyo. They got me these pasalubong which I really, really needed to get through with these insanely busy school weeks.