Tokyo: The City Joa Disappeared Into
Tokyo began as a complete unknown. I first visited Japan with Diane in summer 2000, aged 20 and on holiday from university. Once I had seen it, Tokyo became the place against which everywhere else was judged. I kept returning, but lacked the courage to make the move until 2007, when I was 27.
In winter 2002–03, I spent Christmas with Kirara, an artist I had met in Hiroshima. Somewhere among her Tokyo friends, the building blocks of spoken Japanese began to click for me and I discovered I could sustain friendships entirely in the language. A year later came Philip, Kenken and the Koenji Rats: gay and international couples, graphic designers and aspiring filmmakers clustered near Shinjuku among vintage clothes, record shops, gourmet burgers and ethnic food. They were living the logical urban, artistic next step I imagined for myself.
After MountainMouth, Portugal, Airport New Town and a year incubating in Kurashiki, I finally moved to Shinjuku. I marketed myself, somewhat audaciously, as a junior graphic designer and found my first job outside teaching. My first Tokyo year was precarious and completely nuts. I let loose, conducted many brief and exciting love affairs, made a stab at the design world and eventually found a considerably more sensible employer and grown-up career.
By then JoaFruit had spent 5 years introducing me before I entered the room. Usually meeting readers created a thrilling instant connection. Occasionally I encountered someone I desperately wished knew nothing about me, which could be alarming. Many of the original Beautiful Abusers had also left Japan, and a new city produced a new cast and storyline. Tokyo did not reject me. It simply left me too busy to keep explaining myself. Joa spent the next 2 or 3 years quietly fading out, and by around 2010 he had all but evaporated.