The heat has increased in the last few days, and it has become muggy. Still, I make sure to walk regularly. It’s one of the things I like to do because when I walk, I think. I consider, reflect and develop ideas. Sometimes that means I think myself into a deep, dark hole that I can’t get out of… like last night. I couldn’t sleep last night. I started to feel that my little box of an apartment was becoming oppressive. Even though it was almost midnight, I decided to walk over to one of my favourite local convenience stores.
As I walked, I realised that Tokyo may be bustling and bright at night… but living in the suburbs is not quite like this. It was dark, quiet and a little eerie. I walked on anyway. As I walked, I wondered… how do the Japanese manage to live in such small spaces? I know that my apartment is probably smaller than the houses that surround me, but still, there is less space here than in Australia. As I walked, I thought. I realised that home is probably a very important place in this country, and they may try to make it as welcoming and comfortable as possible. In fact, perhaps space in general is valuable to the people here. There is a limited amount of it. Maybe that’s another reason why people pay attention to the little things, so as to make everyone’s life as comfortable as possible.
This is why the space in which you live is important. The home. Just saying those words feels a little heavy. I realise that I have not laid my head down in a bed that I could call mine for a long time. It has always been the bed of a hotel, rented apartment, Airbnb, or a bench in an airport. I carry a little pillow around with me wherever I go, and I suppose that this has been the one and only thing that has stayed with me for the last eight years. But I can’t make my home in the size of a pillow. It dawned on me that this is why I haven’t been sleeping well for many years, because I’ve almost always been sleeping somewhere temporary.
As I walk on the side of the street I see the windows of houses glowing with the light of a lamp or pulsing with the light of a television. The faint sound of a few cars zooming by on the highway above me is the only sound I hear. Silence. I think of the people in their homes, and in their cars on their way home, enjoying a Friday evening in peace. I miss that feeling. After a brief look around the store. I turn around and headed back to the apartment. By the time I shuffled in and took off my shoes, I was still not tired. I open the little cupboard door to store my shoes and smile. Everything has its place here.
Neatness brings peace, a feeling of calm. You are prepared. Organisation makes space for you to move and breathe around your own home. It helps you mentally, clears your mind so that you have the capacity to think about things that are truly important in life. It is no wonder that minimalism, as a global movement, is a value that was already found deep within Japanese culture. Although it’s true that the inside of the houses of real Japanese people probably don’t always look immaculate or stylish. The ideal is maybe only displayed in concentrated form within a country’s most iconic buildings: castles, stadiums, monuments. But this dream flies over the ceilings of all the residents within its borders. Although not all people may achieve the ideal, you still feel its presence.
I change and sit on my bed again, the tiredness begins to sink in as I notice how my apartment also tries to reach for this ideal in its own little way. A walk always helps me to realign and ground, to notice the things which I so often easily forget. To bring calmness, and to bring sleep.
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