It’s weird to think that this year it will have been twenty years ago since I first came to Atsugi. It’s equally weird to think that I left this place fifteen years ago. It always feels good to reconnect with my past, although I’ve been back so many times since, and so many things have changed in my life, that the nostalgia goggles have definitely worn off. That said, it’s still my go-to destination whenever I go back to Japan though. I don’t like Tokyo, and Atsugi is familiar for going cycling. It’s a good place. But things have definitely changed over time.
I did a dumb gaijin thing today. I walked into one of the restaurant chains that I used to frequent only to realize that I couldn’t figure out how to use the machine up front to order. They used to have a machine where you inserted cash, picked your food item, and it would dispense a food ticket, which the waitperson would then take from you as you got seated. Turns out that got replaced by tablets at each seat, with the machine upfront just being the (automated) payment machine. I should and would have known that, but my mind was stuck in the past. D’oh.
I walked by my old favorite moping spot today, a lovely place near the riverside in front of a sports field that used to be nice and secluded. I often used to go there in the evening since it was a short walk from where I used to live, thinking about everything that was wrong with my early-twenties love life. Good times. Now they built a giant.. I don’t even know what is, but a giant building that looks like a warehouse, on the opposite side of the river, which is lit so brightly that the moping spot is more of a spotlight spot now. Oh well. Things change.
One thing that’s definitely noticeable is the increased urbanization. Atsugi is still in that little narrow patch of flat, agricultural land between greater Tokyo and where the mountains begin. But every time I go back more of those rice fields disappear and are replaced by malls, warehouses and residential suburbs. It’s understandable, but such a shame. There is definitely some character being lost there.
On the bright side, my new favorite spot is a place I never went when I was living here, and that was because it’s on the opposite side of the river and there wasn’t a bridge nearby to get to it. In the last decade or so they’ve opened up a bridge that goes across a weir, opening up to a lovely cycling path on the other side that provides great views of the river and the mountains. It’s become my new go-to spot every time I’m back here.
That is all for now. Depending on the weather I might cycle to the lake tomorrow, or else I might stay in and do some laundry. We will see. More to come.