Tokyo is colorless: A frozen city, said one that named after this city as I have heard of. Black, grey and white cover the city: yes, I’ve come to find it cold and colorless. Looking around the city and upon my foot, I have probably become part of the crowd as well. Recently my days over the lenses have been covered by black, grey and white.

But once looking at this afar, I come to notice something. Once looking at the map from high up, how much the green and the blue surround this city. Once looking upon the afterglow over the cloud, how much of the sky is being filled with the comforting orange.

And the colorful and beautiful food culture lies place to place. The ingredients transform themselves into smaller pieces, traveling miles and miles from an island afar. Here is also a town of gastronomy.

The advent of 4 Seasons would be the oasis of all of this. They spray color all over the places; cultivating and altering greenary, and transforming the outlooks that blanket people. When the seasons breath, so do people and the city at the same time.

Diversity dances here, thriving and creating a variety of events that amuse audiences. Winds that driven by such momentum don’t stop traveling through the city.

. . .

Here comes another night again. With the cloud hiding the moon partly, the tip of skyscrapers heatbeats their red dots. When a day turns into night, ubiquitously spread color disappears quietly. The wave of people in black suits washs over the street like tide.

The tranquility and the dynamical scenes wouldn’t only be driven by the seasons and the sun. The cyber connectives, the combination of the smart heads and cutting edge technology, work hard on their daily tasks. The net result of this workforce over 10 million people presents what Tokyo appears to be today.

What’s the light staying upon these skyscrapers made out of? What is the origin of the torch? Does the beautiful light afar come from a long cozy breathe at home? Or does it come from an exhausted sigh which is forcefully backed by the flouresent light?

The tranquility that lies ahead, may be just a fake one that is presented by countless activities of people. That is, it is a state of equilibrium: In case of water in the glass, small particles pop out of the surface and others dive into the surface, though it still looks stationary to us. This is because the state of water is at its equilibrium.

Individuals stay active, sometimes wearing out like a water particle. Even once one halts a step, the whole picture won’t look different.

But if a large number of individuals halt their footsteps, then wouldn’t the total equilibrium change? Yes, it probably will. This year, our city that experienced the pandemic has seen the tip of the iceberg, and now we’re all well aware of it.

. . .

Amid of this, I moved to a place where my lifestlye would overlap with others. I lived alone a little while ago, but that wasn’t suitable to me. Here the neighbors interact with each other which have become somewhat old-fashioned now: a lifestyle that resides within the individual and its neighbors. Living under the same roof with neighbors, we gather and share meals. Once I have people around, then I came to realize that my lifestyle has become more diverse.

The lifestyle where eyeballs are often sticked to screens has become a new normal: a new lifestyle under post evolution. If you squeeze the 13.7 billion years old history of the universe into a year-long calender; however, this lifestyle consists only after 23:59:59.9 on the 31st of December.

In the pandemic age, I often get to find people looking at the screen, working from home. At the expense of living in this magical world, I often had come to view the world that lives in the screen. It has become an era where everybody pays attention to the balkanization over the pacific ocean instead of the politics within their own home.

However after I moved, I came to see what the world looks like as it is afront, rather than the one that resides in the screen.

. . .

At one night, I had an opportunity of stargazing with the neighbors. One magician said that we can see Leonids. Lying down pararelly out there at the rooftop in the cold, we started gazing upon the sky. As our eyes got used to the darkness with the tranquility, a numerous number of dots appeared.

A shooting star flew across our eyesight in the blink of an eye. Excitement blancked everybody. Looking at the shooting star together, it felt like it has some super power that unites each of us. After spotting it, we kept our eyes on the sky eagerly, longing with the silient voice inside that yells “I want to see it again, again!”. For the first time in a while, I came to realize that we gazed something with heart other than screens.

Then, I wondered. If all the ceilings of the buildings, trains and everything are transparent, would the people in the city look upon the sky together? Would people come to feel that they want to share the moment with others, and to leave the magical world and the equilibrium?

. . .

I woke up with the voice of kids from the park. Another morning visits this town. Every day is a new day. People like us, are only living in this equilibrium. Yes, it’s just a life here like this. But, there’s a life like this here.