Koenji

You stand before your apartment in Koenji. A house with a slate tiled roof and a pine tree right in front of it, it probably had already seen its heyday back in the golden 80s. Ironically, it seems rather moony that you ended up in a quaint little house in the corner of a hipster, rather artsy, bohemian neighbourhood. The sun was beating down and you quietly strode into the house.

You make it across the rather narrow genkan and take off your shoes. The house wasn't all that avante-garde you expected it to be; it was fairly standard…and perhaps even a bit bland. There was a western style living room on the ground floor and there were two more rooms upstairs, one of them was apparently a washitsu (a Japanese style room lined with tatami mats).

You get some lunch from a convenience store right next to your apartment, and go for a stroll in the evening. Being the enigmatic, hipster neighbourhood it is, every niche in Koenji houses a shrine, thrift stores, vintage record hoards, endless eateries, and of course, the infamous "Live houses", the Japanese name for music venues or live bars. 

Amidst the sound of people, the babel of voices, flashy neon signs, massive lanterns, the aroma of food wafting out of the izakaya, and the resounding clamour of music…there lies a nothingness, a nihility within you. The glitzy sparkling metropolis is offset by a sentimental melancholy, a feeling of nihility within yourself. 

After having explored the neighborhood, you ended up in Kokōji (古滬路), a rather voguish bar with an understated charm, hidden away in a back alley…

....

You chug down your third martini as the pianist in the bar plays one more of Chopin's mazurkas.