Tokyo Address Sugoroku

I didn't care where I lived in Tokyo, as long as it was in Tokyo. With that thought, I chose Kamiya in Kita Ward as my first town. However, once I started living there, I realized that the choice of address in Tokyo can influence the rest of your life.

Motoomi Takeuchi, my first mentor in advertising copy, once said, 'You'll never become a good copywriter living in a downtown area like that. I went into debt just to live in Harajuku.' I wonder if there really is a correlation between copywriting and one's address.

However, there is certainly a distinct difference in the atmosphere of each region. The character of the shops that make up the shopping streets. The distribution of residents' occupations. Lifestyles. Manners and rules. And pride. It is hard to believe that Hikifune and Okamoto are in the same 23 wards.

I felt I had to slide my address to the west of Tokyo at all costs. I moved from Jujo to Senkawa at 25. From Higashi-Nagasaki to Kamikitazawa at 35. While crawling forward, I drifted from the northern district toward the southwest.

I finally obtained my long-desired Setagaya address at 45. I thought this meant I had finished my Tokyo Sugoroku. Akatsutsumi, Setagaya Ward. Although it is an area within Setagaya that has a strong Suginami flavor, the car license plate was Shinagawa (at the time).

However, the terrifying thing about this Sugoroku is that the game continues regardless of your own will. Through a strange turn of events, I ended up moving my residence even further south. I moved to the waterfront area of Koto Ward.

The town built on reclaimed land is artificial and plastic. There are no drunks or pickpockets. But even though it is the urban center I longed for so much, the lack of the chaotic, downtown vibe is somehow boring.

If this Sugoroku continues as it is, the next stops will likely be Sumida, Edogawa, Katsushika, Arakawa, or Adachi. Perhaps one day, I will be drinking cup sake while worshipping Takeshi's beckoning cat at the Kumanomae shopping street, stuffing my cheeks with cheap motsuyaki.

And I thought that was a future very close to the life of honorable poverty I led when I first came to Tokyo, a future that wouldn't be bad at all.