The Story of Receiving a Letter from Myself One Year Ago

I received a letter from myself one year ago.

I had been thinking about this letter off and on for about two months, feeling restless and waiting for it with anticipation, so it didn't exactly unfold into a scene where I was moved to tears by a letter from myself that arrived just when I had forgotten about it.

The letter arrived securely sealed to keep it from getting wet, and the beautiful sealing wax stamp I had pressed a year ago arrived with its color still vibrant.

Going back one year.

I visited a shop I had always wanted to go to, called Jiyucho in a town called Kuramae in Tokyo.

The sign in front of the shop said, "You can write a letter to the future." Looking inside, there were letters hanging from above, and stationery and bookshelves decorated in a stylish way.

I wrote down exactly how I was feeling at that time. I believe I was given about three cards to write the letters on. I used both the front and back and filled them completely.

This is a shop where you can write a letter to your future self. It seems some people come alone, while others come in pairs to write letters to each other for one year in the future.

I found out about this shop on Instagram.

They provide coffee or tea to accompany your letter writing, and they allow for a long stay, so you can really focus on writing at your own pace.

The process of writing the letter is, of course, fun, but the enjoyment continues right up to the moment you seal it.
When sealing the letter, you choose four colors you like from countless sparkling sealing wax beads (or stones?) and melt them.

Once melted, you press the stamp, and since you can choose from several types of stamps, I was able to enjoy the process right to the very end.
It was an extraordinary pleasure to be able to use a sealing wax stamp, which I can't do at home.

As for the actual content, since I just wrote down my feelings as they were at the time, various things were written all over the place in a chaotic mess (lol). I could feel the state of my struggling self back then firsthand.

Seeing my thoughts from a year ago, written on an original postcard using an expensive-looking pen with fine glitter that I don't have at home, I felt a renewed sense of purpose and decided to live a little more ambitiously this April.

Why don't you also try thinking about your future self?

This is the shop's official website! If you are interested, please take a look \♡/