#036: Bluefin tuna pizza and a natural wine izakaya
Part two of my Tokyo guide and a little note on gatekeeping
I’ve had a lot of new readers subscribe to this newsletter in the last few weeks and I’m really truly so grateful you are all here. Welcome and thank you :’’’) I will do a quick Q&A for the next issue to introduce myself to those not familiar with who I am and what I’ve been cultivating here on Substack, etc.
Today’s issue is the second installment of my Tokyo guide, which I have thought about a lot since publishing the first issue that included my Google maps list I was once very protective of. I’ve been thinking a lot about gatekeeping lately and how I do feel there is a need to do it more. So much of the content we create and consume is the antithesis of gatekeeping and this notion of democratizing the access to valuable information lets us travel better and experience more. My peers and I are expected to share every little thing we use, do, visit, wear, like, dislike through an endless stream of links and tags. We are to foster the idea that life’s “things” and experiences are meant to be easily accessible because we are not entitled to any one thing. And it’s a special thing knowing that people are inspired by the way I move through the world and it is for this very reason that I’ve been able to build out my community and share my recommendations! But I also feel conflicted about this oversharing, this proliferation of information that can lead to a flattening of taste across the board. And taste is something that I like to think is still a rare and valuable commodity.
Having been to Tokyo twice in the span of six months, it’s safe to say that this flattening of taste has manifested in the form of hours-long lines to eat a bowl of viral ramen noodles and a vintage shop that promises the best shopping experience of your life but will actually just have you wondering if you’ve been punked. The “recommendations economy” has spiraled so out of control that people are now defaulting to another person’s itinerary and not actually seeking out an experience through their own modes of research, trial and error and discovery. While I don’t fully want to go back to gatekeeping, I understand the above sentiment by Laura Harrier deeply. It is for this very reason that I keep my itineraries and travel guides behind a paywall (thank you so much if you are reading this!) because I work extremely hard to cultivate the kind of travel guide I would seek out myself: one that is tried and true and has a mix of both local under the radar spots and the more popular destinations that are still worth a visit. It is the kind of traveling that makes you appreciate a city on a deeper level, beyond the frills of tourist traps and your TikTok algorithm.
My recommendations list is a result of years of visiting Tokyo, meeting locals and sharing spots with likeminded friends. As I mentioned before, use this as a starting point and I encourage you to still discover the city as you would because the best places are the ones you discover yourself!
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