When I first heard that my internship company was located here, I have to admit, I was full of aspiration.

The landmark of the bubble economy era, the glitz and glamour of discos and nightclubs, the elites of mega-corporations working here, it seems that this place is the origin of all the exaggerated and luxurious impressions of Tokyo.

Roppongi 1-chome station is a distance away from Roppongi station, requiring a walk through the Roppongi intersection from the Roppongi station midtown exit to reach it, hidden underground among a group of office buildings.

Taking the Namboku Line, passing through Meguro, Shirokane-Takanawa, Azabu-Juban; my goodness, these are all the most luxurious places in Tokyo.

On the first day of my internship here, the company president took us interns to eat at the buffet on the first floor of the ANA Hotel in Akasaka.

The president said, you see, they are constantly constructing a building across from our company, do you know what that building is? It’s the new address of Tokyo TV, in a few years when the building is finished, we won’t have to always run to Kamiyacho, we can just go across the street, and the commissioned work will probably increase too.

In the high-end buffet restaurant, facing me on my first day of internship, he said some words that were not quite encouraging with a reluctant tone.

After finishing the buffet, we walked back to the company from “Sakurazaka,” which is not the one sung by Masaharu Fukuyama but is one of the most representative.

Completely ignoring the ladies who were having afternoon tea beside me, or the well-dressed couples who could go on dates to view cherry blossoms on weekdays, I just looked up, my eyes filled with blooming cherry blossoms.

In Roppongi, filled with cherry blossom petals, I was full of illusory expectations for this place.

The company is small, with a few dozen people on one floor, and only two girls.

Everyone smokes, with various nutritional drinks on the desk.

These people are working too hard, I still sighed in a relatively positive way.

I was responsible for a documentary-style program introducing Japanese people living abroad.

Every day, I searched for information in front of the computer, and was called by my supervisor to make English phone calls with the time difference calculated.

Interns don’t work overtime, after 6pm, my supervisor had to make calls to strange countries like French Guiana and Equatorial Guinea in English that was too poor to evaluate.

My supervisor said, don’t look for those employees of big companies stationed overseas, people who founded NGOs, and those girls and housewives immersed in narcissism who married to Europe to do music or open flower shops, those are all called “shiranngana-kei” (people who have nothing to do with me), our program is not about making stories of such people.

The week before I came to intern, he submitted a proposal that had already been approved, the protagonist of the program was a Japanese person in a transnational same-sex marriage who immigrated to the United States.

He said, some people said this definitely won’t pass, won’t pass, but I think this person is very interesting, and the story must be extraordinary, those high-level executives at Tokyo TV who reviewed the proposal are too boring.

Later, that episode was broadcast on TV and received a good response.

For a few weeks, my supervisor and I were stuck on the themes of “organic farm,” “Amish,” and “life on the water.”

Although we didn’t find the ideal subject, while searching, we would sigh, “I didn’t know there was still a group of people living like this in the world.”

Of course, I also found many incredible people.

Running a kindergarten in Iran, opening a Japanese restaurant in Africa, Being a pediatrician in Bhutan, living a self-sufficient life in Scotland, Working as a translator in Georgia, being a wedding planner in Slovenia, An entire family immigrating to a small island in Micronesia in the Pacific to live in seclusion with the natives, Fishing in Norway, running a bed and breakfast in Honduras, Demining in Palau, doing refugee activities in South Sudan…

One day, I called a small farm in Northern Cyprus.

At that time, I didn’t know and thought Northern Cyprus was also Cyprus.

It seemed that the phone number had changed, and I accidentally called an ordinary household.

I explained in English that we are a Japanese TV program production company, looking for Japanese people living in Cyprus, and asked if there were any Japanese people living on their farm.

The other party said, this is not a farm, but are you a Japanese company? Please don’t hang up the phone, few people know about Northern Cyprus, our history is very complicated, I really hope you can learn more about it…

I listened to the other party’s difficult-to-understand English and looked at my supervisor awkwardly.

After listening for a while, I thanked them, quietly hung up the phone, and told my supervisor that the phone number seemed to be wrong.

My supervisor impatiently said, you could still talk for so long, forget it, forget it, don’t call anymore, go find another country.

I also made many calls to India and other South Asian countries.

Asking for the other party’s email address was the biggest torture for my English listening comprehension;

Just to confirm whether what the other party said was W or Z, L or R, I made countless calls, and also caused some to refuse to be interviewed.

Just like this, I made many inexplicable phone calls, listened to English with strange accents from various countries, it was particularly interesting, and would also create an illusion, feeling that I was very global.

Searching for information on countries all over the world, even countries I had never heard of, finding stories of various people who could be called “weirdos,”

Walking on the streets of Roppongi, Minato-ku, full of elite atmosphere after work, walking a little further from the office buildings, I could even see Tokyo Tower lit up at night at close range, my mood was always indescribably complex.

I would go to the company at 10 in the morning, often the door was locked, and it seemed like there was no one inside, no one answered when I called. I often stood at the door not knowing what to do.

But after a while, someone would walk out from inside to open the door for me.

The first time I was a bit surprised, but when I walked into the office, I would often find a few people still sleeping soundly on the floor.

When I asked, it turned out they had worked overnight and slept directly in the company, and during the day they still had to go to the studio to continue editing videos overnight.

This was their normal work routine.

Once, my supervisor and I were on the outdoor stairs of the office building, and my supervisor said to me while smoking an American Spirit cigarette,

I really love the TV industry, you can meet so many interesting people;

And, although it’s always said to be a black-hearted industry, I think it’s very free, you may not understand, it’s not the overtime that limits your freedom, I’m talking about real freedom.

Returning to the company after an external meeting, walking between the office buildings in Roppongi, he said with a bit of irritation,

Don’t pay attention to these people in Roppongi, they are all people who don’t know where they are going or why they are alive;

I really dislike them, even if I have to interview them for a program, I don’t want to interact with them at all;

I hate Tokyo, the kind of salarymen uncles who would cross right through the middle of the two of us walking side by side without even saying sorry, Tokyo’s coldness is really too annoying.

I didn’t seem to pay attention at the time, actually the cigarettes he smoked were always American Spirit,

and his LINE profile picture was the most iconic photo of Goro Takahashi in his hippie style on a motorcycle.

This year, I heard that Tokyo TV’s headquarters has already moved to Roppongi 3-chome, really just across from the company, the president must be very happy.

Later, I heard that new interns from European and American countries came again. And that intern completely disregarded the low salary, long overtime hours, and only being able to live in a dorm-style share house, deciding to stay at this company and continue working.

I guess that intern must also be a very interesting person who yearns for freedom.

Today is March 1st, the day job hunting is lifted for Japanese university students. The last time I went to Roppongi, walking into the Roppongi Hills building, I really couldn’t help but sigh, aah, iwayuru eriito no kandzume da (Roppongi Hills is a sealed can, a can containing the so-called elites of the world).

Looking back on this internship experience, I still find it incredible. It’s such a cliché question, what are we working for after all?