やった

Bring out the wine, uncork the champagne and break open the sake barrel. I finally got the answer and I am now the proud owner of a JLPT level 3 certificate.

Here are my scores:
Writing-Vocabulary: 88/100
Listening: 78/100
Reading-Grammer: 187/200

Total: 353/400

I was quite surprised that I did my worst in listening. I thought that I had watched enough Japanese anime and old samurai movies to give me perfect listening skills but I guess I'm just not used to listening for whether Tanaka and Suzuki goes by bus or train to the airport. If only they would make the theme of the listening test more in my area of expertise, like how to kill the Lord of Darkness Shabranigdo and save the world from total destruction or how to protect a village of poor farmers from certain death.

But no more time for contemplation. I'm already busy studying for 2級.

今度も、頑張ります！

頑張りました

One year has passed and this time I have actually been studying! After much consideration I decided that 2級 was a bit ambitious so on December 2nd 2007 I took 日本語能力試験３級.

As many people know Japan is the land of technology. It has the highest number of industrial robots in the world, some of the worlds most power full super computers and is THE country when it comes to humanoid robot technology.

So it is only natural that the test is 100% multiple choice so a computer can automatically grade it without the need for human intervention. Unfortunately that computer must be as old as the Japanese language itself because it takes 4 months. Yes I can expect the result in March 2008.

The test went well so I think I have passed but I am keeping my fingers crossed until March just in case.

Back to the Future

It has been over half a year since I left Japan and life in Denmark has been busy. So busy in fact that my Japanese studies have come to more or less a halt. It is difficult to find time for both job, family and studies. Today was the day I was supposed to take my Japanese test but I have a confession to make. I didn't go. It's a little bit of a let down because the truth is I told everybody that no matter how bad my studies was going I was still going to take the test (^.^);　

But to quote from a James Bond movie:
Mr. Wint: If at first you don't succeed Mr. Kidd...?
Mr. Kidd: Try, try again, Mr. Wint.
So the counter has been reset for December 2nd 2007, my books have been dusted and my pencils sharpened.

今回はぜったい頑張ります。

So long, and Thanks for All the Fish

This is it. I am leaving Japan. My baggage has been checked in, I have written and mailed my last postcard and soon I will be on the airplane home to Denmark. No more real sushi, no more kanjis and no more crammed subways. Farewell flashing neon lights and shouting street salesmen. Goodbye all you wonderful ramen shops and convenience stores. So long Mr. Izakaya and Mrs. Bar. Farwell all my dear Japanese friends, I will miss you all. Stay genki till I come back.

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

Peter
ペーター

Farewell part(y) II

My host family had invited me to a farewell party on Sunday and Jens and Kanazawa joined us. We went to a restaurant and had a full 河豚 course, and for those who know their deadly fish will of course immediately recognize this as the blowfish Fugu which nearly kills Homer in episode 211 of the Simpsons. We all joked that I could stay longer in Japan if I got poisoned from the fish and couldn't fly tomorrow. So it was with shaky hands I took my first bite. I had never tasted fugu before but this meal had it all. There were raw fugu, fugu hot-pot, fugu sake and all that was missing was fugu ice cream for dessert. Last time I was in Japan Kanazawa had baked me a cheese cake and this time I had promised to take her out for cheese cake. Since it was my last day in Japan I had instead bought a cheese cake on the way to the restaurant and gave it to her as a farewell present. I gave my host family a hand made kitchen knife I bought at a local knife maker in Onomichi and Jens got an issue of Hot Pepper. He was very grateful for it and said that he would carry it with him always - like a real Japanese. It was a fun party and I almost forgot that I was leaving Japan the next day to go back to work in cold Denmark. 哲さん、理絵子さん、イエンス先生、金ちゃん、さようならパーティはありがとうございました。


From the right: Tetsu, Jens, Kanazawa, Rieko and me

Back to Tokyo

Onomichi is famous for its ramen (noodles) and I simply looooove ramen, so Onomichi and Peter was a perfect match. My vacation was unfortunately coming to an end and Saturday I ate my last Onomichi ramen and then took the Shinkansen home to Tokyo. I still had two days in Japan before going home to Denmark so I went back to the Yoshimuras who was kindly letting me stay a little longer than initially planed. During my entire trip at least three different Japanese friends had independently told me about this new “hit” place called Maid Café. It's this place where the waitresses are dressed in maid uniforms and when the customer enters they don't just say “Welcome” they say “Welcome home master”. You can play games with the maids for 500-1000 yens and they do little cute shows on a stage. All in all it sounds a bit like a creepy place where old business men hit on young girls in sexy uniforms. On Sunday the wife of my host family Rieko and I went to electric town Akihabara to look for a PDA and check out all the other neat electronic gadgets that Japan has to offer. But in Akihabara there is also a Maid Café, so this being the last day I could see young Japanese girls in skimpy clothes we decided to go check it out. I was kinda exited because it seemed like a very weird place. If it was in Denmark it would certainly attract a certain type of clientèle. But this was Japan, so it was nothing like that. The customers were mostly young people and guys, girls and even couples went there. Unfortunately it was so popular that 10-20 people were waiting in line when we came so we just stared through the window for a while and then left. So instead of pretty maids, here is a picture of some delicious USB-stick sushi.


128MB sushi sticks.　おいしそう～

Monty Peter and the Quest for the Holy Onsen

I had one more day in Onomichi before I returned to Tokyo and what better way to spend it than to find a hot spring, an 温泉 (onsen). Unfortunately the nearest hot spring was quite far away according to my map. So I went to the bus station and asked the nice lady how to get there but after she had explained me how to change to the third bus I began to loose interest. But my guide book said that I could rent a bicycle in Onomichi and go there myself. So I was off to the nearby tourist office to make plans. It turned out that the onsen was actually 50 km away and that I had to cross three islands to get there... but if I can climb a mountain I can ride 50 km... on a rental bike... over three mountain islands... The next day I got up at 8:00 and went to the bike rental shop. The weather was beautiful, 20ºC and not a cloud in sight. All the bikes they had were of course too small for me, but I took the biggest I could get and after 500 Yen rental fee and 1000 Yen deposit I was ready to go. With three gears, a grandma saddle and a big basket on the handle, I looked pretty funny riding my small bike through town to find a convenience store and buy an o-bento (lunch box). The onsen was actually located on a bicycle-route called しまなみ海道(shimanami-kaidou, which means something like island-wave-ocean-road) and there were signs along the route so you could easily find your way. Anybody knowing me will of course already have guessed that I got completely lost at the very first island within 10 minutes from departure :-) I had deliberately started out early so I had time to get lost a couple of times during the day but believe it or not that was the only time. The ocean-road took me around the outskirts of islands and in beautiful sunshine I cycled my way through islands and bridges, said Konnichiha to passing school children and enjoyed the ocean air. After 5 hours on the bike with only a short ramen break at a local restaurant I finally reached my destination: 多々羅温泉(Tatara-onsen).


Tatara hot spring. The separated women and mens baths are in the two round buildings.
Only 200 Yen and I was in. The hot spring was indoor and only had one big bath but it was heaven to wash off all the dust and relax in the hot water. I must have spend an entire hour in the water and with prune fingers and peace in body and soul I went to a very small okonomiyaki shop next to the onsen. After dinner and a beer it was getting late so I got on my bike and cycled to a nearby harbour where I took the ferry all the way home to Onomichi.

I went to bed early that night :-)

I am Peter my name is tourist

No trip to Japan is complete without seeing some old buildings, so Tuesday I went to a small town named 尾道 (Onomichi) an hour or so from Hiroshima. The original religion in Japan is called Shinto but over time Buddhism was introduced from China and now they have a mixture of both. Onomichi is known for its many Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples and on Wednesday I went on a power-temple-walk. I had bought an all Japanese guidebook which contained a route for all the temples and from 12 o'clock I started on my trip. From east to west I walked down small roads and up wide stairs following the trail of temples and shrines scattered on the mountain side. The town had grown up the mountain and the beautiful buildings were hidden between old aluminium and wooden houses pressed tightly together. The path was marked with signs showing the way to the next temple on the route and the small streets I walked down were some places no wider than half a meter. I visited 20 shrines and temples, took 40 pictures, rode a ropeway and bought some lucky charms to help me on my Japanese test. Onomichi is the birthplace of number of famous writers and like the temple-walk they have a path-of-literature walk so I'm sure my lucky charms will be good for study.


A Japanese temple

山登り

With nuclear holocaust still fresh in mind I needed some relaxation and decided to go on a day trip to the nearby island Miyajima (宮島) famous for it's O-torii, which is a big wooden gate standing in the water. It is officially the third most beautiful view in Japan. I took a boat to the island and after visiting a few temples and the O-torii I was ready to take on the mountain. There was a ropeway to the top but on the way to the station I wandered a bit of the trail and suddenly I was on my way on foot. It was only a 2,5 km walk to the top so I thought that I might as well walk the rest of the way. Besides, the sun was shining, the mountain forest was beautiful and I was super-genki. The path was very narrow and full of twists and turns and most of the time the forest closed around the path and it felt like walking in a completely different world. Tired from walking for 2 hours I reached the top. The view from there was simply breathtaking. The ocean, surrounding the island, lay there quiet and in the distance I could see Hiroshima city. At the top there was a rest station where you could buy food for the “wild” deer and I even saw a Tanuki (狸) a raccoon like animal. Inspired by the beautiful ascend I decided to skip the ropeway entirely and walk down on foot as well – then I could also brag that I had climbed a mountain all by myself.


One big O-torii
When I finally reached the bottom I was TIRED: My feet were killing me and I was sweating from the trip. But not 100 meters from the bottom I walked past a sign saying お風呂. I had found a bath. One of the island hotels offered baths for tourists and for 600 yen I could wash off all the dust and dirt and relax all alone in a huge bathroom with room for 20. I also tried the local speciality eel and tasted the most delicious fried oysters before I took the train home to Hiroshima.