Yamagata Reflection
I’m on a bus ride to Tsuruoka from Yamagata Station as I write this.
During my time in the quiet city of Yamagata, I’m realizing just how wrong life in Tokyo feels. Morning trains come every two minutes, each one packed with people crammed like sardines. You squeeze in, elbow to elbow, everyone in suits or corporate wear, cellphone in one hand, holding onto the railing with the other. It’s crowded, yet completely silent. Everyone’s rushing to make that 9am meeting or avoid being scolded for showing up late.
Lunchtime is no better — people eating alone, phone in one hand, plastic-covered junk or konbini food in the other. Why? Because there’s no time. Just grinding… or pretending to be busy because there’s no task at hand. Sitting under fluorescent lights all day, no sunlight, just BPA-covered cans of sugary drinks and caffeine to survive the hours. Then the workday finally ends — maybe at 6pm, maybe 9pm — and you go back alone to a tiny box apartment that costs ¥100,000 a month. You fill your emptiness with gacha games, some show or YouTube videos because the day gave you no real joy.
All of this… just to live. To survive. To maybe “make it big.” But it’s ironic — because what you do to “succeed” is the very thing that’s killing you. It’s modern-day slavery. It’s the erosion of the soul.
Everything is crowded. Cafes, restaurants, lines everywhere. Everyone chasing vanity — status, validation, money, social approval. All the girls dressed the same in their pastel summer dresses, umbrella in one hand, phone in the other, waiting in line for some trendy thing, talking about nothing meaningful. So many people — but everyone’s alone. And that doesn’t even touch the crap we go through in our jobs.
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And that’s just the general Tokyo experience. Personally? It’s worse. I’m trapped in a top-down system with cold policies and canned apologies. No real help. Just 10 “Moshiwake gozaimasen”s and an implicit “take care of it your self” — just plain old helpless submission.
I used to associate this with Japan, but this trip made it clear: the problem is Tokyo. This city is corrupt. Spiritually, mentally, morally. It erases people. I watched a video last weekend about a salaryman whose train was delayed 1.5 hours because someone jumped onto the tracks. What shook me wasn’t the tragedy — but his reaction. All he could think was, “I’m super late to work.” A human life was lost — and all he could feel was lateness. Both of these cruel things — that’s what the system does: It numbs you to the point of lacking sympathy for a life lost or to the point of suicide. It’s all money. Money is the root of it all. It’s why corporations treat people like objects. It’s why people are scraping to survive. Too many people, too little care.
But here in Yamagata — I feel like a human again.
Space. Peace. Stillness. No rush. Buses and trains come every 40 minutes to an hour — because there’s no rush. Hotel rooms are cheap and spacious. Supermarkets are bigger, cheaper, better. They have actual local produce and meats. You can get a solid meal with real portions. You can breathe. The air is clean. The food is cleaner. There’s so much green. The roads are wide. Rent is low, and people live in homes that feel like homes.
I looked it up — ¥200,000 a month is all you need to live comfortably here. That’s wild. Why are we suffering so much in Tokyo when this kind of life is possible?
Even the Anytime Fitness here is 3x bigger. Bike share rides are ¥100 for 30 minutes.
I don’t know, man. I feel like I’m being called away from the city life. If you’re looking for something real… something whole… city life sucks.
