“I am so happy I don’t need a visa anymore,” I said, as I handed her my Malaysian passport.

“Hai,” she replied, nodding.

“Very free now,” I added.

“Hai.” This time, the nod was more vigorous and I think she gave a little smile. (By the way, I hear the lifting of visas has resulted in a 96% increase in Thai arrivals and that’s just one market.)

Feeling like a freed Alice in Tokyo-land, I hop into a taxi and in 20 minutes was at the Hotel Nikko in Odaiba, home of WIT for the last three years. Okay, there was some minor hiccup at check-in – the one staff at reception wasn’t aware that we had requested early check-in.

But after three years of understanding how things work in Japan, I do not panic or fret or fume. I know things will be sorted out in silence. They won’t tell you what’s going on while they sort out problems – but they will sort it out.

True enough, in about 20 minutes, I am given my room key, breakfast vouchers and complimentary spa ticket, all neatly arranged in a folder.

So I’ve been here now more than 36 hours and I am happy to report that it’s all happening in Tokyo. It’s like this city is waking up to a new dawn.

Across the Conrad, where I caught up with Heinrich Grafe, who ran Conrad Singapore for 16 years – I guess Tokyo was the only place he would have left Singapore for – is a view of Hamarikyu Garden and the red roof of the Tsukiji Fish Market. It’s a hazy day so the view isn’t as good as usual, says Grafe.

He points out to the second peninsula in the distance. “That’s where the Olympics will be held and this bridge (you can see it just next to the monorail) was built overnight,” he said.

Olympics 2020 has definitely given Tokyo a renewed sense of optimism, perhaps even a sense of urgency. I understand the government has allowed 200,000 foreign workers to come in under what it calls a “trainee” programme – otherwise how else will they build the facilities needed for the Olympics?

The next two days, all the big-wigs from the casino industry – you name it, they are all here – will also be in town, all vying to be the chosen ones for Japan’s proposed Integrated Resort and the pending legalization of gaming.

It reminds me of where Singapore was a few years ago when it was in the midst of planning its Integrated Resort and the doors were open to foreign investors and foreign labour to come in and build whatever was needed to sustain growth.

Today, the doors of Singapore are slowly being shut to foreign workers while the doors of Japan are slowly being opened. Interesting, the lifecycles of cities …

And just today Nikkei reported that Recruit Holdings, whose units provide information on everything from jobs to marriage, is expected to list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in October. “Market watchers reckon that the Tokyo-based company could have an initial valuation of more than 1 trillion yen ($9.78 billion), topping Suntory Beverage & Food’s roughly 970 billion yen debut last July,” according to the report.

This is timely news for us as we prepare to hold our third WIT Japan. Over the three years, we’ve seen a very traditional travel industry morph and more interest being shown in the online travel space as our event gets bigger and this year, will see speakers from South Korea take to the stage.

With the president director of Recruit Lifestyle, Yoshihiro Kitamura, opening on Friday, the stage is definitely set for accelerated change in Japan as it rides the bullet train to transformation. OK, maybe not quite bullet train speed because if you know Japan, you know it does take time to get things moving but when they do move, they do so with precision and accuracy.

Yes, after 16 years in Singapore, Grafe (left) knows he’s in the right city at the right time.

PS See you on Thursday if you are coming to the Bootcamp where we have eight start-ups vying for the first prize and on Friday where I have a feeling discussions will be going at bullet train speed because of the packed agenda we’ve put together.