My hand feels around on the nightstand quietly, I’m trying to find my cell phone in the dark and not wake up my roommate Sal at the same time. The phone flashes 3:49am.

I’ve had a hard time falling asleep the last few days but I don’t mind. There is no better place to stay up all night than in Tokyo, Japan. I sneak out of bed and grab my camera, I tiptoe around the suitcases on the floor and snap a few pictures through the window.

Japan is addictive for photographers - its ancient culture with ceremonies and traditional dress, its lush green landscape and the romantic spring cherry blossoms, its quick embrace of technology and fast economic development.

For me, the appeal of this country lies in its contrast. Japan is a world of dichotomies and of contradiction - it is futuristic as much as it is traditional, it is calm and collected yet effusively emotional, it is the past and the present, preserved in one place. It is wabi sabi.

I sit by the window for a few more minutes and start to yawn. Tiptoeing back to my bed, I decide to give sleep one more try and snuggle back under the covers.

Tonight, I hope I dream about Tokyo.