Tokyo, without a doubt, has everything you’re looking for. It’s just a matter of where and when. Apparently, finding salt is quite the challenge.
My exchange friends and I went grocery shopping, and none of us could find it in the supermarket. Only pepper. Frankly, I was starting to question our sanity because surely there had to be at least one grain of salt in a city of 10 million people. We left that supermarket feeling defeated and overwhelmed by the soy sauce options, only for one of us to stumble upon our holy grail in the local 7-Eleven, albeit for an absurd price.
It’s sometimes those small things that throw you off your feet. People expect the massive train network to be a major source of disorientation for the aspiring Tokyo native, but the pieces start to fall into place after a while. Once you learn to see the many maps and signs a certain way, Tokyo starts to feel rather small, a perception created by an incredibly efficient transportation system. And yet, there are cracks in that perfect picture, too; the Fukutoshinline is always delayed when I need it, but I find that being able to complain about such a nuance means I have come to a deeper understanding of my time here.
It’s right when you let your guard down on the train, your hand loosening its grip on the handrail, that you get thrown off balance by a curve in the rail. I used to overthink those moments, giving them more weight than they were worth. Now they’re a sign of the constant promise of surprise in Tokyo. It’s conquering these small moments, soldiering through the shake of the train and finding just the right exit out of the station, that help you conquer the big one, mastering a train network that unlocks one of the world’s most diverse cities.
Studying abroad in Japan has helped me on my journey of overcoming hesitation. My time in Japan will come to an end, and I can choose whether my fear of messing up my Japanese will hinder me. It’s embarrassing to admit, but I didn’t want to go grocery shopping again after our salt debacle. It’s sometimes the small things that make your trip into a big victory. I have now overcome my fear of the supermarket, free to enjoy the modestly priced strawberry shortcakes and Japanese breads. It was one of the small steps in settling into life here in Tokyo, like mastering which exit to take at Nishi-Waseda station. Knowing which vending machine has the right brand of apple juice for the right price. Finding that right spot on campus to study.
I was worried that I would feel a lot more pressure. As someone majoring in international relations with aspirations of joining the foreign service, every small thing could have felt like a trial for that larger goal, but I’ve found peace in my small victories that help me grow into the role I will one day fill. I don’t have to know the most efficient path to my class on an entirely new campus in an entirely different country, but I do have to try. And I feel that I’ve succeeded in a way that works for me. I’m slowly collecting Japanese news sources to aid me in my understanding of Japanese foreign policy, an academic interest of mine even back home, and navigating daily life here, like being prepared for a possible earthquake.
There’s plenty of joys to be had in a city as big as Tokyo, both big and small. I’ve been making a memory book on Canva—now that UT has given us premium for free—and despite only being a month in, it already feels so full of life. Japan has and always will hold a special place in my heart for the sheer personal development I feel that I have undergone in such a short amount of time. I’ve made friends I’ll cherish for a lifetime. I’ve become an active and engaged member of yet another lively academic community. I’ve learned more about myself, learning to trust myself and dare to “take the world by the horns.” Tokyo truly has it all, and now I feel that I have it too.
This blog was contributed by Sofia Johansson, Global Ambassador for Spring 2026. Sofia is a College of Liberal Arts junior participating in an exchange program at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan.
