The one city Anthony Bourdain would have chosen to live in for the rest of his life
A no-nonsense frankness coupled with an infectious embrace of food and culture from all over the globe made Anthony Bourdain one of the world’s most beloved celebrity chefs. Having travelled to over 80 countries in his lifetime, the late chef spent much of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown scouring all corners of the world for the best sights and spices he could find.
But there was only one city alluring enough for him to want to live there forever: Tokyo. As the chef empathically told Maxim in 2017: “If I had to agree to live in one country, or even one city, for the rest of my life, never leaving it, I’d pick Tokyo in a second,” he said.
“I went to Tokyo the first time, and my head kind of exploded. I compared it to taking my first acid trip: Nothing was ever the same for me. I just wanted more of it,” he added. When Bourdain visited for Parts Unknown, he wrote in his field notes: “For those with restless, curious minds, fascinated by layer upon layer of things, flavours, tastes and customs, which we will never fully be able to understand, Tokyo is deliciously unknowable.”
Beyond eating and drinking in the Izakayas or stopping by the Robot Restaurant, Bourdain also took the time to embrace Japan’s traditional tattoo scene. Bourdain got a stick-and-poke Tebori tattoo of a chrysanthemum in 2015, done by Japanese-born artist Takashi Matsuba.
He said his tattoo was an extension of his “obsession” with all things Japanese. “It’s so different than the aesthetic I grew up with, the society and culture I grew up with,” he explained. “When I first went to Japan, it was an explosive event for me. It changed my life in very real ways.”
He admired the disciplined spirit of the Japanese. “Pity the salary man,” wrote Bourdain, “Tokyo’s willing cog in an enormous machine requiring long hours, low pay, total dedication. And sometimes what’s called karōshi: death by overwork.”
The Japanese quest to craft the perfect tattoos, swords, and cuisine are all practices that take lifetimes to perfect, with unwavering dedication and focus. Bourdain admitted most of what he loved about Japan stemmed from his distinct lack of those traits, which made the city all the more fascinating.
“I don’t have those qualities – I don’t have the discipline,” he said. “I don’t think the way they do in Japanese flower arranging, for instance. It’s almost like stripping away the unnecessary to arrive at the absolute core beauty.”
It’s something that clearly touched Bourdain, who expressed he wished he could “unclutter” his life the way the Japanese did. Their cultural mentality, food, and restaurants left a lifelong mark on the late chef, who concluded: “The attention to detail, the perfectionism, the concentration on what are the most fundamental elements of beauty, pleasure, and relaxation.”
