Johnny Sabino

• This picture was taken at a bar in Harajuku called Sankeys Penthouse.

Before you read about my experience oversea in Tokyo please play these songs listed below to capture my full experience as you read.

XXXtentacion - mind in awe (whoa)

Lil uzi vert - 20 min

ski mask the slump god - so high

Deko - phantasy star online

Intro: why did I leave to Tokyo, Japan?

in 2019 before the pandemic was even thought about. I was in a depression I could not shake. At the time I was bored with my environment and the people around me.

everything at the time felt so routine that I had gotten sick of it. especially as a black male from Bronx New York, usually people in my environment succumb to societal  norms and adapt to it.

 If you  know what I mean you would know eventually you going to question if the environment that you're in is the best you can do. Ever since I was a young teenager I had always had an interest in asian culture.

I think it was because of the games i played as a child which were mostly Japanese games.  I grew up playing Zelda, Mario, sonic, and also mega man so the influence was there at an early age.

 my interest grew  so much I remember my brother promised me he would take me to Tokyo If I pass high school. when I was a high school student I had always carried a Japanese dictionary because I was trying to learn before my trip to Japan.

Sadly for some reasons it never happened, about time I got out of high school I lost all interest in traveling to Tokyo, I think because I was old enough to travel any where in New York alone the environment started to become more appealing to me but eventually later down the line i took a dive.

so fast forward it was 2019 and I was 27 and Before my journey began. I had met some people online living in Japan. Eventually we became close friends because there was a mutual appreciation for each others culture.

because of my new connection I made overseas it encouraged me to get on a one way flight to Tokyo.

The reason for my journey was to re-jump start my life. I was looking for more excitement and adventure. at the time Manhattan the place I once fell in love with had lost its shine and glitter.

before leaving I chugged a pint of jack Daniels than I hoped in the cab. I told my family I was on my way to Tokyo with a one way and they thought I've lost my mind lol.

On that flight staring out the window I realize how little I knew about my self and as well as the world I live in. looking at the world beneath me I pondered on my courageous act.

I thought to my self, was this the right thing to do? was it selfish to pick up and leave just like that? will I see my friends again?

I saw how high up I was in the clouds than I thought how small I was compared to the world beneath the plane. and at that moment I finally felt like I put my hands on the steering wheel of my life.

Flight to Japan

My flight was 16 hours and it was at 11pm. if you never flew on plane before, just know 16 hours will kill your booty cheeks.

but I knew I was in for a rude awaking so I prepared. I made sure I pack chewing gum plus some things to keep me entertained.

 like bro I came in to that flight with a plan. I was already lit before the flight cause I chugged the jack Daniels cause I was nervous. so my game plan was go to sleep watch three movies and in between those movies take a nap and boy did it work like a charm.

Landing in Tokyo

 It was September 1st I flew in to Haneda airport on Philippine airlines. it was a 16 hour flight the lay over was in Manila in the Philippines for a hour, so it wasn't so bad for my first time on a long flight.

finally I touch down in Haneda airport and the first thing I had to do was try out the food in 711. I had heard a lot about how different it is compared to what we have in America.

I tried onigiri for the first time. onigiri is rice with seaweed and it come in different variety like you can have fish eggs inside or salmon.

At the airport I met with a friend and furthermore we decided to go to a festival at a park ( I can not remember  the parks name). it was September 1st and it was so hot my balls was sticking to my legs. every where there were trees there were sounds of cicadas.

  but if you asked me the hotter it got in Tokyo the more loud the cicadas were.

 After chilling out at the park we jumped on the train straight to Shibuya.

on my very first day I had caught an allergic reaction to the pollen and mind you back in New York I never had a reaction to pollen before, so just know it was real. BUT I didn't let that ruin my first day in tokyo.

about time I got to Shibuya, to my surprise I was greeted by Tokyo's beautiful night lights that almost resembled home. I bought some eye drop from a local convenient store and walked around the busy street of Tokyo. after walking around in the city it was finally time to call it a night.

Tokyo Verses New York

imma keep it real with you tho The train in Tokyo is confusing as hell. especially if you don't know a lick of Japanese. but regardless it runs a lot better than New York City trains that for damn sure.

eating inside the Tokyo train carts are frown upon so you know I had a few stares during my visit. but if you are a New York native you will find out there that theirs is no such thing as "show time" in Tokyo.

no one in Tokyo break dance on the train neither do they play loud music in the train or train station. unlike New York people are as loud as they want to be. people of New York City can and will do anything they want on the train.

trust me I live in New York all my life there is nothing you can't do on a New York City trains. in NYC there are no barriers protecting the citizens from falling into the tracks.

 in Tokyo there are barriers in some train stations to keep people from falling in. During my stay I barely saw any homeless people which was a culture shock to me cause living in the Bronx drug addicts and homeless people are a dime a dozen in New York  city, they're on every corner.

in Tokyo public trash cans are like nonexistent. You will be carrying garbage on your person for miles. and speaking of miles, the distance between train station in Tokyo are drastic.

anyone that know me personally knows that I love to walk but if you get off at the wrong stop in Tokyo you're going to be walking your ass off. The one thing I hate about Tokyo is every train station has there own respective price for each station. so it not like a set price like New York City.

 Tokyo use Suica cards and tickets, New York uses metro cards and change for transportation. every train I been on in Tokyo had cushion seats, where as in new York there is no such thing as comfortably on trains.

 and because of the over population going on in Japan there are a lot of groping incidents going on in the train. but during my stay I never seen any one touch someone without consent however on some trains there are woman only train carts.

 So honestly speaking the train system in general is better in Tokyo. Overall you can tell the government takes the voices of their people into consideration when it comes to societal issues, that's just my opinion.

I would say the cost of living is about the same in Tokyo, a one bedroom is like the same cost as a one bedroom in New York. the food in Japan is just cheaper than food in New York.

The people of Tokyo, Japan

The people in Tokyo on the surface seem to be very nice and helpful. Even tho I didn't know any Japanese the people I came across always wanted to help me regardless.

 Some people have even gone the extra mile to help a stranger get to their destination. one time I had ran out of money for a train station and a man had no problem with helping me out.

 in New York people are harden to other people, due to tricky people and it shows. During my stay I lost my passport on 3 accounts and on one of them it was an experiment, and on each time I dropped it someone was there always returning my belongings to me.

I promise you if you lose your belongs like a wallet or passport in New York I would have no doubt someone has taken it. but in Japan its seem like everyone wants to be a good Samaritan.

compare to New York people in Tokyo  have more enthusiasm when it come to their job its like they seem to genuinely want to help. however if you are a black male from America people will gravitate towards you due to nationality and scarcity.

you will find that people from other countries are happy to see people that are foreginers.

if you are black and you are abroad you will find out that people of color are closer than when they are in the united states. it was like my skin color was a password to a brotherhood.

To my surprise I didn't know their were black people in Japan. one of the craziest things I saw was africans speaking Japanese and that shit blew my mind. I saw black and asian muslims,  I even saw some middle eastern people.

Where did I lay my head?

 I was staying almost in the outskirts of Tokyo in an area called Tachikawa. I would say it a nice area mainly a place where families are raised.

Tachikawa is like the country side of Tokyo, its very quiet very calm during the night and the day. where I was staying I had a beautiful view of Mount Fuji in the distance to greet me everyday.

Living in New York for so long you forget that real mountains are a thing. One of the things I regret was not climbing Mount Fuji while I was in Japan.

Tachikawa is not far from the nearest USA military base so I thought about enlisting a few times while I was there. the USA military base is called Fussa which is like a place for foreigners in Japan, which is a perfect transition to my next topic.

Business and Opportunity

 if I am talking to you personally  I would tell you that there is some bias-ness going on in Tokyo, Japan. like I said before if you do not know the language you are going to be shit out of luck trying to find a job.

Japan keeps out the riff Raff by keeping out people that don't have a college degrees like people such as my self. I never finished college so the hiring managers are not going to look at a guy from The Bronx resume. especially if there is no university degree on your resume.

I remember I had gotten to interview in the fossa base to get a job so I can get a visa to stay longer and I never got the job. when situations like that happen you realize that its a who do you know bases.

 but people that are nationals will help each other out overseas and its really a plus if  you are black. cause if you oversea people with color will see you as a brother and try to help as much as possible.

but I can not stress this enough if you don't know Japanese you will not be able to get a job. I don't recommend just leaving to Tokyo make sure u have a visa and a good job.

 you either gotta be a student in Japan or you gotta be in the military plus know some Japanese with a degree. None of which I had lol

Japanese Cuisines

honestly speaking most of y'all won't make it in Japan. I am not saying the food is bad because I think  the food in Japan is like crack. you gotta have to have an open mind when it come to Japanese food.

 if you thinking of traveling to Tokyo and your a picking eater you might as well turn around. during my stay I had the strangest things.

my favorite thing in Japan is plum flavored everything lol. over there there is a pickle plum snack and let me tell you  it beats anything pickled hands down. plum pickled seaweed was my shit.

I had many favorite drinks in Tokyo. I love the salty lychee, apple cider soda, and whisky soda.

I had cups of noodles with sharks and turtles and fried tofu, and they all tasted like gods toe. but I know you wanna know what the craziest thing I ate in Japan so here it go, are you ready?

I ate raw horse and whale and it all happen at the same time. to tell the truth I am not too happy about it either but I was tricked into eating it cause I didn't know what it was.

 I know what you thinking how can anyone eat such a majectic creature? and ill tell you its when they are hungry as hell. horse had a much softer meat compare to whale.

whale was a lot chewy then horse. " but Johnny how didn't you not know what you are eating?", ill tell you I was eating raw tuna my whole trip so I thought nothing of it.

as the waiter was telling me what it was I was knee deep in a convo to the point I didn't hear " this is horse and whale" come out the  waiter mouth. if given a time machine I would have eaten it. during my stay my friend had ate dolphin and I had crucified them for it. so that was their pay back in return I guess.