It's going to be very difficult to write about Tokyo. Obviously, I was biased about the city before I even landed, but I want my praise to eclipse the eyerolling and shrugging that people will inevitably share when they read my posts. Tokyo was wonderful, and not because I was biased towards its greatness, nor because I was blind to its shortcomings. Furthermore, I am an anime fan, and I know that a city, a landscape, and a people amount to more than their pop-culture. I'm not a blanket Japanophile; I am an otaku. Going to Japan does not mean Entering an Anime (regardless of how much I wish it) - instead, it is entering a place where I finally can find some common reference base with the people around me. I know no other Otaku well or personally, so this is a social thirst that rarely gets quenched.
Also, I don't believe writing about singing Anime Opening Theme Songs in a lesbian bar with strangers will truly convey the spiritual happiness of finding a Space Where I Felt Accepted. That was what Tokyo was, in many ways. I place where I felt I belonged.
I can write about Being in a 24-Hour-A-Day Virtual Vana'Diel, but it doesn't mean anything to anyone who reads these entries. Virtual Vana'Diel was just a few inches to the left of heaven. Not because playing a video game is a moving experience in itself. But sharing that game with other people who love it is something I have never had before.
Tokyo may not be for everyone. But it was wonderful for me.
I guess I can simply recount the facts of the trip; where I went, what I did. But I wish everyone could have gone with me - to have experienced it with me. I wish that when I wrote about Tokyo, that you knew what it Meant. But I'll do my best to show you some pictures and tell some anecdotes; to let you in so that you can see a little of it with me. Please don't roll your eyes - it was something very special.
I'm about to hop on a plane from Los Angeles to Amsterdam, and sometime this week I'll settle in and tell some stories.