Tokyo Nights: A Digital Nomad's Messy Love Letter to the City That Never Sleeps
it started with a late-night ramen run and ended with me questioning every life choice i'd ever made. tokyo-this neon-soaked, caffeine-fueled beast of a city-is equal parts exhilarating and exhausting. i landed with a backpack full of dreams and a laptop that immediately decided to update itself for three hours straight. classic.
*the weather was doing that weird japanese thing where it's technically winter but feels like someone left the fridge door open just a crack. i just checked and it's hovering around 1°c there right now, hope you like that kind of thing. layers are your best friend, and so is the nearest konbini for cheap heat packs.
i stayed in shinjuku because, well, it's shinjuku. loud, chaotic, and exactly what i needed. my airbnb host warned me about the izakayas on the ground floor-"they close late, and the karaoke is… enthusiastic." she wasn't wrong. by night two, i was joining in on "bohemian rhapsody" with a group of salarymen who'd clearly been at it since happy hour.
"the best gyoza in tokyo? definitely that tiny place behind the vending machine." - overheard at a 7/11 at 2am
if you get bored, yokohama and chiba are just a short train ride away. i took a day trip to yokohama for the ramen museum and immediately regretted not bringing stretchy pants. the shoyu ramen there? life-changing. someone told me that the lines are always long, but it's worth it for the taste of history in a bowl.
i spent an afternoon in aicai, a coworking space that felt more like a design studio than an office. fast wifi, decent coffee, and a view of the tokyo tower that made me feel like i was in a movie. highly recommend if you're trying to get work done without dying of isolation.
the food scene here is ridiculous. i ate at a tiny sushi spot in tsukiji where the chef handed me a piece of toro and said, "no soy sauce. trust me." i did, and it was the best decision i made all week. for something cheaper, the conveyor belt sushi at kaiten-zushi is surprisingly good-just don't expect the same level of zen.
pro tip:* download the tokyo metro app before you arrive. i learned this the hard way after getting lost in akihabara for an hour trying to find a specific anime figure. also, the trains stop around midnight, so plan your late-night adventures accordingly or be prepared to shell out for a taxi.
i heard that the best view of the city is from the tokyo skytree, but honestly, i preferred the free view from the tokyo metropolitan government building. less crowded, just as stunning, and you can pretend you're a spy surveying your kingdom.
by the end of my trip, my feet hurt, my wallet was lighter, and my heart was full. tokyo is chaos, but it's the kind of chaos that makes you feel alive. i'll be back-probably with better shoes and a bigger data plan.
for more tips, check out tokyo cheapo or time out tokyo. and if you're planning a trip, just remember: the city doesn't sleep, so neither should you. at least not until you've tried the melon pan.
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