Who knew that the thing to finally slow me down would be… a shoe?
I had just landed in Tokyo, exhausted from the flight, when I noticed something felt strange as I walked through the airport. I looked down—and saw that my shoe had split in half. Not just a little crack. Fully, dramatically, split.
I still had a long journey ahead of me, so I just kept walking, hoping the entire toe wouldn’t fall off.
It didn’t.
Japan’s transit system is flawless—silent, fast, seamless—and it carried me exactly where I needed to go. After 24 hours of travel with no sleep, I collapsed into my hotel bed thinking, Okay, now what? Where am I going to find new shoes?
I figured I’d cross that bridge in the morning.
And I did. Just a few blocks away, I found a nine-floor store called Kitti, filled with every imaginable thing—and two super cute pairs of shoes that now have a permanent place in my overpacked suitcase.
There was an onsen at my hotel—one of those serene, steamy Japanese hot baths I’d heard about. My hairstylist Mari had walked me through the etiquette: no clothes, no swimsuits, just you and the water. As someone who’s pretty modest, the idea of bathing naked with strangers had me spiraling a bit.
After a nap, still feeling unsure, I opened up ChatGPT and typed, “What if you’re chubby in an onsen?” Weirdly enough, the response calmed me. It told me that “every body is welcome and noone is looking”. Who knew ChatGPT could be so gentle and reassuring?
So I went. And you know what? It was totally fine. Peaceful, even. (Though I’m still not sure I’d ever try a mixed-gender one!)
Travel has this funny way of presenting unexpected hurdles—things that feel massive in the moment but fade as soon as you move through them. You can plan for everything, but it’s the weird little curveballs that make the story. And in the end, none of the things I worried about were really an issue at all.
Now, with new shoes tucked into my suitcase, the scent of onsen water still lingering in my hair, and my body finally at ease, I’m hunkering down—warm, calm, and content—for an early night. Tomorrow, I’ll begin the final leg of my journey to Studio Kura, rested and ready for whatever comes next.