As long as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to visit Tokyo. And I had very precise plans for what my trip would look like. First, my travel buddy would be my big brother, from whom I was inseparable. He was—and still is—obsessed with Japanese culture, and introduced me to anime even while it was being demonized by politicians on national television (yes, I grew up in France in the ’90s). We decided we’d explore the streets of Akihabara together, looking for action figures and arcades. Emo teen that I was, I also planned to spend too much money in Harajuku on extravagant clothes I’d be anxious to wear to school.
When my dream of traveling to Japan finally came true in November 2019, however, it didn’t go as planned. My brother’s first kid was born a month before, so he was obviously out of the equation. My favorite travel companion is now my partner, who was also the person who got me into craft beer. Instead of arcades and clothing shops, I found myself in a small brewpub in Yoyogi, drinking a Pumpkin Wheat Beer just after Halloween. The day before, I had been ecstatic to visit one of the coolest places for beer lovers in Tokyo, the Watering Hole.
I thought that craft beer was the thing that changed the way I traveled the most—I now organize most trips around brewery visits, beer tasting, and bar hunting. But instead, it’s the realization that spending time with your sibling represents so little of your lifetime, and the older you get, the more that time decreases. The long talks I had with my brother about Tokyo’s wonders didn’t come true the way we planned, and likely never will. We drift, and life sends us on different paths. What a funny feeling, one that was as bittersweet as that Pumpkin Wheat Beer.
