Steps to Moving Abroad
A short collection of steps.
The first thing I noticed when I got off the train in Shinjuku was the staircases that jut out from the buildings surrounding me. Their ridged yet curvy form clung to the exterior wall while barely avoiding the neighboring building. It felt like they were the personality of the building or adornment which made it beautiful. Walking further down the road I noticed more buildings with these winding stairs. So I started collecting pictures of them and quickly felt that I had made a small connection with Tokyo. It's similar to how you feel connected to a new friend when they tell you something about themselves. This is not to say that you learned something dark or deep, but simple and kind.
It is hard to build a sense of comfort in a new city, especially when you don't speak the language, but actively collecting images of these stairs made me look for them. This made me feel as if the city was a familiar place even as I turned corners of streets whose names I couldn't even pronounce. As it should, building a relationship with the spaces that surround you takes time. Although I can't yet say I know Tokyo yet, this small collection of images has made it seem a lot less foreign.
I might be "faking it until I make it" by fixating on one familiar piece of my environment, but until I become more acquainted with Japan, I'll take it.
