Noise of Silence.

On Saturday the team decided to spend some quality time shopping, a self-proclaimed “last night on the town” before we left Tokyo and moved up north to Ofunato for this coming week. After a pretty successful haul from Uniqlo the guys decided to take a personal trip to Akihabara, or otherwise known as “electric town.” As the name implies Akihabara is home to every electronic known to man and every component needed to build those electronics. 
  
We were expecting to see a light show that would shame New York Times Square, but no. To preface we did arrive at 8:30pm a time which many stores close at so that may explain the lack of illumination. Although, to our luck there were still a handful of stores that closed at nine, giving us a solid half an hour to venture the dim lit alleyways. 
  
But.
  
The more we walked around Akihabara the heavier my heart felt, to a point were I found myself in a state of overwhelmed sadness. Bewildered, I began to wonder, eyes darted left and right searching as if a billboard held the answer to my predicament. Then as I cleared my mind it hit me. It wasn’t a sudden flash of insight rather it a subtle resurfacing thought once locked away in the far corner of my mind. This may be a mere opinion of someone who’s been in Japan for barely a week but in this “noise” I speak as a veteran, for I too have spent a lifetime running and trying to drown out the noises of “loneliness.”
  
Japan fears loneliness. 
  
It was in this state of sadness that my eyes began to see past the façade and the “noise” that Japan was hiding in. Lit stores to draw you in, electronics to distract you, pachinko casinos that numb your senses, and arcades to help you forget the world you live in. But the places that pain me the most were the maid cafes. Young girls, someone’s daughter, were dressing up, getting all dolled up to flirt and spoon feed a stranger willing to pay.
  
We watched as old businessmen stumbled in and out of these cafes, maids lined the streets tugging and cooing any man that passes by. What a sad industry; but when there is no god, why not.  

Silence is a scary thing. How lonely do you think these men are to stumble into these cafés? Dreading the silence of their own homes they come to be masters for a night. Why do you think Japan has such a huge presence in the entertainment industry. An industry that thrives on people who seek to live in a different reality, to be entertained by a world of fantasy.

Upon arriving in Japan I wondered why Japan was known to have such high suicide rates, but after today I’m beginning to see why.
   

In the end these may just be thoughts, but they're giving me a bigger heart for those that seek false asylum amongst the noises of Japan.