“Whiskey on the Rocks Please” I said to a pretty girl working the bar.
“Hai! Which whiskey would you like me to pour?” She replied with a cordial smile. “Anything Japanese and a single malt,” I softly replied.
She poured a Yamazaki 12 on a crystal ball of ice, while warm jazz flowed through the bar.
Took my first sip of the Yamazaki, nothing like the strong initial bite of a Japanese Whiskey.
As I sat at the bar drinking, a melancholic feeling came over me.
Reflecting on the last 5 years of my life going back and forth from here to the states. It was my job that destined me to Japan. It was the time in my life when I was the most lost …. trying to grasp who I really was. Tokyo really made me open my eyes to reality. Tokyo made me realize who I was, what made me smile, what made me angry, and lastly what made me cry.
Especially riding the subway every day to work, it made me think.
Sitting in the Tokyo subway train was reminiscent of my life. Most people ride the subway every day at the same time and to the same destination. Just like life, many people hop on and step out of your life. I lost many family members and friends, some I had falling outs with. Depending on who steps into your life and who steps out, your life changes drastically. Life is a big fucken drama, and you have to act the leading role to your own movie called Life. Now I know why people say life is about the journey, it’s not the destination. Or maybe it’s the destination that’s important, and each destination comes with a different journey.
Working and living in Tokyo opened up a new perspective for me. I felt like a kid again, back to the pure me. Throughout the years my heart had become tarnished. I had ill-natured thoughts all the time.
Ground zero is where I was standing. Tokyo. This city became the quintessence of where I was going to restart my life. Where I was heading, I do not know, but it had felt right. Even in the cold hustle and bustle of this metropolis there is a calm and warmth, if you are willing to find it. The first week I arrived in Tokyo, sitting in my hotel room I felt lonesome, so I decided to go out wandering around the wild streets of Tokyo. Where the night was going to take me, I didn’t know. As I was walking in the neon lit streets, I found myself lost, it felt like a tunnel vision with lights. The buildings were all tall, which in essence made the night sky look small. After a long stroll around the main streets, I was drawn into this small quiet corridor and as I was walking down, there it was …. “The Bar” the bar that I will make my sanctuary. This bar had a nostalgic ambiance to it. A bar so deep only local patrons drown their sorrows here. I felt so at home when I first walked in. This is where I took my first sip of Yamazaki. This place became my abode.
Not realizing at the time, this place was going to have such a crazy impact on my life. I’ve met so many amazing and also dotty individuals here. If it wasn’t for this establishment and the folks here, I wouldn’t have survived Tokyo. The people here listen to you and share their stories. I realized after many cheers throughout the years here, nothing changes. Every time I come back, I can start reading the same chapter I left off. This was how it was supposed to be, I was going to finish reading the never-ending story.
Until something unexpected happened to the world. The turn of events changed the course of my life and everyone else’s in the world. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Why does life throw shit at you when things are starting to get better?
Tonight, will be my last night here, or at least I won’t be back for a long time. As I’m walking the streets of Tokyo for the last time, I found myself mysteriously drawn back to my favorite bar. After all, this was the first bar I came to in Tokyo and I want to make sure it’s the last bar I come to before I leave. Right now, I’m here, sitting in my favorite seat sipping on my usual. It was my turn to get off the Tokyo train, I didn’t tell anybody at the bar I was going back to the states, because I wanted to remember everyone’s face just like it is tonight. Picture perfect.
As I took my last sip of my drink, I felt sad as the whiskey trickled down my throat. Soon someone lucky will board the Tokyo train and hopefully stumble into this bar; “Bar 8OG”.
I am truly going to miss Tokyo… after all, this is the concrete jungle I discovered myself in.
One day I will be back to board the Tokyo train again.
Until then hold my Bittersweet Whiskey……Tokyo Whiskey
~Mr. Coffee