About

Reflecting upon my time in Japan. There is one thing I noticed: it’s easy to fall into some form of routine. Two weeks into my stay at Osaka, I find myself repeating almost the same thing daily. Waking up at roughly the same time without an alarm, I made the same breakfast, then proceeded to start my commute at the same time, heading to the same class with the same people, and returning to the same apartment at last. I knew exactly when and where to go for groceries, buying the same items that would go on discount for certain. Granted, occasional trips and meals at restaurants served as an interlude and reprieve from the repetition, yet the underlying rhythm of life remained nonetheless unaltered. At one point, it occurred to me that I had perhaps been living the life of Tsukuru Tazaki, that—both figuratively and literally—colorless figure who is “sleepwalking through life.”

Then I proceeded to wonder why? Putting the blame on myself is an easy task. Japanese urbanity, however, may also have its own faults. It operates in such a reliable and predictable manner, which makes day-to-day life feel equally repetitive. Give or take, I can always count on the same person scanning my item at the nearby FamilyMart, regardless of the time of the day; the choices there are plentiful yet repeated daily. Likewise, I can always expect to see the morning crowd on the 8:10 train heading to Takatsuki. Occasional hiccups like the infamous personal injuries does not change this reality. Therefore, predictability permeates every part of my time in Japan.

I believe that this sensation of monotony comes down to a question of perspective. Take photography for example: if I were to take multiple pictures at the same place, facing the same direction, at the same focal length and aperture, and with the same equipment, of course the end result would not change much. Should I just take a step back, or simply turn around, then I would get an entirely different picture. The same logic applies to life. My perspective is locked in to what I consider normal life.

In this way, looking at an ordinary, overly familiar object like a train is an excellent exercise in changing perspectives. The posts on this site are, as the description suggests, a series of incoherent thoughts and observations about railways. They are neither comprehensive nor in-depth, but undertaking this project has made me think more profoundly about the world around me.