even the “mid” places are so so great to me. Like it’s so fun to customize your own soup. Tonkotsu or miso broth? bok choy or baby corn? Thinly sliced pork belly or shrimp? it doesn’t even really matter it’s literally all good. and these places are always packed with people and music and have great drinks. Bring a date or as many friends as possible.
Particularly when traveling to Tokyo, where there are like a dozen different places in Shimokitazawa, Nakameguro, Shinjuku or Roppongi that feel like my platonic ideal of Japanese culture/society. Sit in your booth, put your earbuds in, float on a sea of tonkatsu broth. Ahhhh.
Sometimes you can just exist. you don’t (hopefully) need 50 hustles. You don’t need to be a writer and musician and artist and podcaster and influencer and girlboss or whatever. you don’t even need to signal how cool or smart or attractive you are. I know it’s hard cause I think our society incentives (forces?) people to be “on” all the time, but it’s probably better for your own sake to just exist for yourself and your love ones and to adjust your expectations of what a successful or meaningful life is. Sorry for being pedantic, just know a lot of friends and family my age or younger that seem to be struggling right now in all sorts of ways. Just know, regardless of what anyone says or even what you say or do, that you guys have inherent dignity and you are worth something
Eat yogurt, kimchi/sauerkraut, miso, kefir, kombucha, pickles, certain soft cheeses cause they’re good for you I never had a problem shitting I just like funky foods and pretending my gut is a nightclub where all the bacteria are dancing and having a good time like it’s osmosis jones or something