I’m writing from a Cinnabon/Seattle’s Best Coffee shop in the back streets of Roppongi in Tokyo, Japan. There are black-and-white photos of Mt. Rainier, the Space Needle, and the stadiums in downtown Seattle (no Kingdome though). You can take the girl out of Seattle, but she’ll always find a way back to the place that feels closest to home.
I’m not here for the coffee, I’m here for the Cinnabon that tastes exactly as it did when I was a kid.
Where do you call home?
As my plane was on its final approach into Tokyo’s Haneda Airport Wednesday night, I was glued to the window, looking out, spotting buildings that I knew—Skytree, the rivers around Tsukiji the skyscrapers that started in Ginza and stretched to Shibuya and Shinjuku in the back. Tall, dark buildings dotted with white lights of salary workers and blinking red lights so the planes (and passengers) could see the edges.
As the pilot descended into the runway, Rainbow Bridge, and the orange glory that is Tokyo Tower—I was home.
The plane touched down at 9 pm. At 10:50 pm after a quick shower and luggage drop at my hotel, I walked into one of my favorite bars in Roppongi where one of my closest friends was waiting for me.
A few rounds of shots later, my friend introduced me to a regular at the bar. He’s an American on a work assignment in Tokyo.
“I have a question for you,” he asked us. “Where do you consider home?”
“I have three homes,” I said. “Tokyo, Lausanne, and Seattle.”
“You can only have one home,” he said.
“No,” I argued.
“I have four,” my friend said.
We tried to debate our case, but he is in a different place in life—he said he has one home and that is in the US. His work assignment just got extended and all he wants to do is go home.
I remember feeling that way. It was midway through my assignment while I was living in Tokyo. I felt like I was in a kind of limbo because even though I was living and working in Tokyo, it didn’t feel like home, even though Minnie was with me at that point, my heart was anchored in Seattle. My furniture was in Lausanne. But I didn’t have an emotional connection to Lausanne. Not at that point.
Unlike the guy in the bar, I was lucky in that I knew when my assignment would end and I’d go back to Lausanne. But I didn’t know what was waiting for me there. I didn’t know what I wanted to be doing when my time in Japan came to an end. It was really hard to picture anything but what I was in at the moment and I knew that I wasn’t happy.
It was around that time that I found a therapist who understood me and friends who were in a similar phase of life as me, which made the limbo I felt around work soften. I found home, I suppose. And things got better.
I wrote about coming home to Tokyo last year. It feels good to be back here again, feeling this sense of familiarity and knowing that it’ll never stop feeling familiar to me.
Laura’s World Tour kicks off!
Tokyo is my first stop on my five-week tour around the world. Here’s where this tour is taking me:
- January 31 – February 9: Tokyo, Japan 🇯🇵🗼🍻
Reuniting with those who made this place a home for me - February 10 – February 15: Osaka/Kyoto/Kobe, Japan ⛩️
Where my boyfriend will join the tour for 2 weeks of the Japan tour. - February 15 – February 22: Niseko, Japan ⛷️♨️❄️
Skiing with my bf and Swiss friends in some of the best powder in the world!!! - February 22 – 26: Seattle-area, Washington, USA 🇺🇸💝
Exclusive sister & auntie time. - February 27 – March 5: New York City, NY, USA 🚕 🗽
With my parents, a retreat, and a special guest appearance by my high school best friend and maybe another special guest too!
And then, back to Switzerland in time for spring. 🇨🇭✈️
It’s already an epic trip. And will get better. On my flight from Haneda to Seattle, I should reach Million Miler Status with Delta’s SkyMiles Program. That means I will have flown 1 million miles in my lifetime with Delta Airlines and their SkyTeam Partners.
I have been working on this goal for 10 years. And it’s almost here.
I’ve spreadsheet’ed this out. But last fall, Delta changed their rules on how status is earned and accumulated. I need to check my math, knowing that there’s a slight chance my numbers are off and I won’t hit 1 million on the HND > SEA flight. But, hey, there are two more very long flights after, so it will happen before. I return to Switzerland (I’m SO CLOSE!). I look forward to letting you know how it goes. 😉
Follow along!
You can follow what I’m up to on the tour on Instagram. I am posting stories as they happen or shortly after. If you tuned in this weekend, you’ll know that I did back-to-back nights at two of my favorite ex-pat bars that are a bit insane and I feel the most at home in.
As the week goes on, maybe I’ll bring you along as I binge-buy stationary supplies. Or maybe it’ll be a continuous series of nightlife in Tokyo. You’ll have to tune in and see…
👋 P.S. If you follow me on IG and I don’t follow you back, DM me and say hi!
World tour merchandise
No, there is no official Laura’s World Tour 2024/Million Miler run merchandise…but there could be!
This might be my silliest idea yet, and I kinda like and love it. Something that captures all of the stops, the iconic moments, some ridiculous hashtag…maybe an illustrated collage or something else…hmm…
Wanna help me design this? Leave a comment and give me some ideas of what this could look like. Or describe your favorite “world tour merch” you’ve picked up. This could be fun. 😅
Taylor Swift will be in Tokyo too? You don’t say…
Rumor has it I’m not the only blonde-haired American girl to be on tour in Tokyo this week.
Last night, a Swiftie who flew in from Portland for the Taylor Swift concert was SO CONFUSED about why I’d be in Tokyo THIS WEEK and not see Swift. (Apparently, that woman’s view of home is anywhere Taylor is.)
I pushed her to the bartenders who all knew my name and she requested Taylor Swift songs. The bartenders swapped Swift ballads between the rock that was on rotation and she grabbed me around the shoulders and we danced. It reminded me of when my girls and I requested Ariana Grande in that bar that was always packed with men.
The internet is very concerned about Taylor Swift making it through her concert and back to the US in time for the Super Bowl. And, hey, I can understand that.
Sources: @katiegrossbard, @japanembdc
Until next time,