Håkon had for a long time had a chord sequence on his mind. A very basic and simple sequence starting on Em.

The whole sequence was Em-G-Am-D. What it needed was some lyrics and a purpose.

The lyrics came faster than expected. A picture Håkon’s daughter had taken of him during their trip to Japan the year prior saw to that.

“Moments pause
neon lights
Thoughts flickering
car passes by

Stop a while
Tokyo

Inhale
Inhale”

Let’s stop for a moment, get onboard the timemachine and head back to were the picture was taken, after all it is the entire inspiration for the song.

Tokyo, October 2016

After having traversed the city of Tokyo for a whole day Håkon and his daughter, 17 yo at the time, are finally back to the area where they have their accommodation, in this case a pod hostel, highly recommended if you’re ever in Japan.

Anyway, always thirsty for a cup of coffee Håkon decides to stop by one of the many minimarts, or Lawson’s that can be found all over Japan.

With a hot cup of coffee in hand he sits down by the window. Outside cars passes by, neon lights lighting up the street and reflecting on the window pane, people walking by outside. In that moment an incredible feeling engulfs him, a feeling of here and now, of being in the moment. Coming to Japan has been a lifelong dream of his since he was 8, and now, here and now, the fact that “you’re here, you have arrived, this is Tokyo, and you are here, now” manifests itself in his mind. Completely in his own world he sits still as a statue, staring out the window, a hot cup of coffee in his hand.

His daughter sees him sitting there lost in thoughts and finds it quite funny. Quickly she snaps a picture of him, and post the picture on her snap story along with the text “tenker over livet” (thinking about life) meant in a slightly sarcastically and funny way.

A year later, Håkon tells Kathrine about that moment, the experience, and shows her the picture. The songs lyrics immediately starts flowing. Have we mentioned the creative powerhouse that is Kathrine?

“Tokyo” is about being in the moment. About one of these rare occassions were you are fully and entirely commited to the moment, your own being and self. A sort of awareness.

We got the lyrics, now we needed to put the whole song together. That was something that should take a lot more time than we had anticipated, and we found ourselves stuck for a long time, not being able to cross the bridge so to speak. Yes, pun intended.

It wasn’t until we had a super lazy day at a hotel in Lithuania that the final piece of the puzzle clicked in place, and with that revelation the song was complete.

Once more we have to travel by time machine, back to 2019 and Kaunas, Lithuania.

To be continued..