[ENG] The Trip I’ve Dreamed About My Whole Life – Japan 2026
The Trip I've Dreamed About My Whole Life
At the beginning of 2026 sometime between January and February I’m heading to Japan.
It’ll be two weeks, though in reality it’ll probably be twelve days: the “real” time, the time you walk, breathe, and just look. I’ll be going with my brother Massimiliano, who’s already been this year and will be doing the same route with me: Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka.
It’s hard to describe, but this will probably be the trip of my life. Not because of the distance, nor because of the cliché “you should see Japan at least once,” but because Japan has been my dream since childhood. Even before I really understood it. Even before I had the words to say why.
As a kid, I was completely immersed in anime and manga: Evangelion above all, then Naruto, Initial D… and in manga, The Climbers. Over time I drifted away from that world, mostly because the newer styles never really spoke to me. But that imagery stuck with me: the lines, the atmospheres, the silences.
I’ve always loved Japan from afar, fully aware of its less charming sides: the exhausted salarymen, the addictions, the loneliness, the contradictions. But I’m going there as an outsider, and I want to see it exactly like that: from the outside.
What I’m after is everyday aesthetics.
The kanji on walls.
Clean streets.
Gentle rain.
Simple food.
Silence.
Courtesy.
I can already imagine really savoring the air. Pausing to watch how people dress. Sitting in ordinary parks. Walking out of the hotel at three in the morning just to see empty streets, standing in an alley looking at neon lights and thinking: okay, I’m really here. Like a lo-fi track that suddenly becomes real.
I can’t wait to lose myself in second-hand shops, retro-tech stores, places selling old video games, clothes, electronics, knick-knacks. Arcades. Things that only exist there, or at least feel like they only exist there.
I don’t want to do the “classic tourist” trip. I’ll probably see the temples, and they’ll be beautiful. But that’s not what I’m after. What I want is everyday Japan, the kind that slowly seeps into you without you even noticing.
I read a post about growing slowly, staying small.
And it made me think that the same idea applies to travel, to big decisions, to everything that usually carries expectations.
It works better when you do it slowly.
When you stay small.
I’m writing this more as a note to myself than an announcement.
It’s not a detailed plan, not a “let the adventure begin.”
It’s a seed, a seed planted months ago, quietly.
While recording the memo that sparked this post, I realized I’ve started thinking about travel the way I think about almost everything now:
fewer checklists, less “I have to see this,” less running after the idea of a perfect experience.
I only know how I want to feel: light.
Like walking through a new city without having to get anywhere.
Like getting lost and it doesn’t matter.
Like time slowing down on its own.
Even a trip like this can stay small.
It can stay yours.
It doesn’t have to become a project, content, or a performance.
I’ll leave in 2026.
But the truth is, the trip started a long time ago.
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