2023.9.14～2023.9.17 Tokyo, Japan

Mood

This is my first trip abroad after the pandemic, and also my first since starting work. I’ve suddenly experienced the joy of taking leave. Our company’s policy of converting annual leave into cash does seem to have garnered a lot of labor with no additional days off throughout the year.

Having gone a year and a half without wanting/daring to take leave, this trip made me realize that with well-planned holidays, the annual leave is sufficient for two trips abroad. The money earned from cashing in annual leave might be enough for a week’s getaway, but the fatigue from working without a break all year cannot be erased. Even if the money is at hand, there’s no time to spend it. Always feeling this way seems very distant from the “carpe diem” attitude I aspired to in college. Perhaps I’ll increasingly become “afraid” to spend.

Over the past few days, I find myself envying those groups of people lounging in the park. I fantasize about being able to lie on the grass with good friends on every comfortable day, chatting away, and breaking into hearty laughter when someone brings up something funny.

There are quite a few photos. I really love live photos; the brief sound and movement, compared to static images, help me recall the emotions and feelings when I lifted the camera. I’m no longer inclined to post all the pictures on my blog. Instead, I’ll keep them in an album to occasionally trigger my memories of Tokyo.

The park

Such a good weather