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.

Gaijin POWER

Some times being a gaijin in Japan is both frightfully scary and immensely interesting. Japanese, like no other people, love talking to foreigners and are both very curious about your country and often honoured that your are interested in their language and culture. My second night in Hiroshima I wanted to taste the local speciality: Hiroshima okonomiyaki - not to be mistaken with Tokyo okonomiyaki which rarely contains noodles. I had bought a Japanese guide book and found a nearby shop that looked good. It was a very small place where you sat at the counter and the owner made the okonomiyaki right in front of you. While eating I started talking with the man next to me about Denmark and Japan and work and okonomiyaki and everything in between. He was extremely impressed with my Japanese and the fact that I had come to Hiroshima all alone to visit his city. He was very friendly and I immediately liked him very much, and he invited me to come back to his apartment to meet his wife and two children. As a good boy I of course refused to go home with strangers but he kept pushing and even bought me dinner so eventually I caved in. Outside the okonomiyaki shop he had a car waiting for him and it was not until I sat in the car and heard the locks go “click” that the thought occurred to me that maybe this was not such a smart move after all. Well, either they were pretty brave to take on a big weightlifting Danish guy... or they were packing. So I leaned back and looked forward to see what was going to happen next. After 5 minutes we stopped in front of the tallest building in all of Hiroshima and we quickly rode the elevator up to the 41st floor. Joking that his wife might be in the shower he rang the doorbell. Once... Twice... And then the cutest 4 year old boy in pyjamas opened the door. With a smile his father introduced me as a new friend he meet and with disbelieve the boy asked where I was from. But before I could answer, his even cuter 7 years old sister appeared and I presented me as a Danish friend of their Dad. 15 minutes later I had seen the spectacular view from the balcony, met his wife, shown his children where Denmark was, established that we all liked Lego and gotten his email address. My new found friend was none other than the CEO of a Japanese Pachinko company running a number of stores in Hiroshima. And his “apartment” probably cost more a month than I make a year so I was quite impressed when I was driven home to my hotel by his driver.
And here he is, Mr. Takahiro Hasegawa, introducing his company's corporate philosophy : click me

Hiroshima

I had sat aside a whole day to visit the A-bomb dome and the museum. The dome is the remains of a building that was almost directly below the hypercenter when the nuclear bomb exploded 60 years ago and has become a symbol of the tragic event. Because the shock wave came from almost directly above some of the walls of the building remained standing but in a radius of ½ km from the hypercenter almost every building was turned to rubble instantly killing everybody inside. Within 2 km anybody exposed directly to the heat and light rays were either killed instantly or died a few hours later from the severe burns. All wooden buildings caught fire instantly and within hours a 2-3 km circle of the city was simply gone. People exposed to the direct radiation got sick and died within the first week after the bombing while others began to have internal bleedings, lost their hair and died in a few month. Before the year was over more than 140,000 people had died from that one bomb. After that radiation sickness also increased cases of leukaemia, cancer, miscarried and deformed babies.


A-bomb dome
Few things can give me the chills but despite of beautiful weather I was freezing most of the day. The story of Hiroshima city, the bombing and the aftermath was very objectively, but selectively, told at the museum and with these kind of stories there was no need for dramatisation to get the point across. The tour was packed with the remains of clothes, burned lunch boxes and toys from real kids who were burned to death, died from radiation sickness or lost their entire families. But the most scary things I saw was a burned wrist watch stopped at exactly 8:15. The museum advocates the abolition of all nuclear weapons but personally I still think that up until now nuclear bombs have prevented more deaths than they have caused. Amidst all this tragedy we must not forget that this is only one of the horrible things that happened during World War II.

Vacation, vacation, vacation

With no more Japanese classes I was now ready for some vacation. I wanted to go to either Hiroshima or Nakasaki to visit an A-bomb museum. Nakasaki is on the Kyuushuu island in southern Japan and it was both more expensive and troublesome, so while it was probably the place I wanted to go to the most I decided on Hiroshima instead. Then I could also ride the Shinkansen (bullet-train) which is one of the most pleasant ways to travel. I was recommended visiting Onomichi as well so I reserved 3 nights in Hiroshima and 3 nights in Onomichi before I return to Tokyo on Saturday.


Japanese style toilet at the Shinkansen
The Nozomi Tokyo-Hakata Shinkansen ran at 270 Km/h very smoothly and quiet and after just over 4 hours I reached Hiroshima. The trip itself was quite uninteresting so instead of a grand description of the Japanese landscape rolling by the window I will tell a little about Japanese toilets. In Japan they not only have toilets like we know them they also have Japanese style toilets. A Japanese style toilet is very much inspired by a hole in the ground and you squat over it while you do your business without every sitting down. The Japanese claim they are more hygienic because you don't touch the toilet at any time but they do require some practice. Believe me, this is no place to read the morning paper. The toilet in the Shinkasen was Japanese style but because the train sometimes roll there was bars in the walls you could hold on to. I guess that when it comes toilet-paper-time you just had to rely on you own balance...

Kamakura

The day after my farewell party I surprisingly enough woke up very thirsty and with a bit of a headache. Since I came to Japan I really haven't been on any sightseeing trips but this weekend my host family had invited my to Kamakura, also known as Little Kyoto. The Yoshimuras is very fond of the place and go there at least once a year. It was the capital of Japan many many years ago and is still filled with old temples and shrines. It is about 1½ hour from Tokyo, so I had a much needed nap in the train after which I was ready for some serious sightseeing. First we had tempura for lunch which is deep fried fish and vegetables with rice and then we went to see a famous temple. There was a wedding ceremony in progress and the bride looked very pretty but very different from a Danish bride.


Big Buddha
After the wedding we went to see a Daibutsu(大仏) which literally means Big Buddha. It was an ancient bronze statue over 13 meter tall placed on a mountain side. It was an impressive sight and it was possible to go into the statue but unfortunately it was closed when we got there. On the back of the statue there was two "windows" with shutters wide open. It almost looked like a family lived there and the mother was airing out the house. I wonder what the rent is on a Daibutsu.... Moved by the greatness of Buddha we moved on to the nearby souvenir shop where we were moved by real size swords, figurines from Japanese cartoons (anime) and all kind of trinkets. They had loads of samurai and ninja weapons and even a few peaces of insanely expensive artifacts. And then there were shurikens (throwing stars) in all shapes and sizes and right next to them a picture of none other than Hatsumi, the greatest ninja master of them all, throwing a shuriken right at the camera. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the photographer's last picture. In Denmark, my good friend Torben studies the school of ninja which Hatsumi leads.

スプリングブレーク

金曜日は学校の最後の日でした。この3週間は思ったより早く終わってしまって、もうクラスメートから離れて寂しかったです。学校は本当に楽しくて、たくさん言語を習いました。そして世界中の友達もできました。他の学生たちはまだ二ヶ月半勉強しなければなりません。僕は宿題が恋しくならなくても皆さんが長い間日本に泊まって日本語を勉強するのがうらやましいものですよ。

学校の最後ですから、近い居酒屋をさようならパーティに予約しました。学校が終わったら、一緒に居酒屋へ飲み会に行きました。皆さんが来てくれて本当に嬉しくて、皆さんはとても楽しそうでした。学生たちが色々な国から来たので、英語が出来ない人もいて、学校が終わっても、いつも日本語を使っています。今回は初めて僕たちが飲みに行っても、すごい面白い飲み会ですから、次回がある違いません。理想のさようならパーティです。皆さん、どうもありがとうございまあああす
Ｖ（＾。＾）Ｖ　＜－　ペーター


クラス５Ａです。（僕とカミロさん以外）/ Class 5A (minus me and Kamiro)

English translation:
Spring break
Friday was the last day of school. The three weeks disappeared more quickly than I had expected so it was sad to leave my class mates already. School has been fun and I have learned both much new Japanese as well as met new friends from all over the world. The rest of the students still have 2½ month left before class is over and even though I am not going to miss home work I am still envious because they get to stay and study Japanese so long.

Being my last day of school I had reserved room at a nearby Izakaya for a farewell party. After school was over we all went to the restaurant for some good old 飲み会 (nomikai = drink-meeting). Luckily everybody was able to attend and we had a blast. Because we are from so many different countries not all of the students speak English so even outside of school we still speak Japanese to each other. It was the first time our class went out drinking together but I don't think it will be the last because it was one of the most funny Nomikais I have been to. It really was a dream of a farewell party. Thank you everybody.

KORN

After school Tuesday I met up with Asuka and head for Odaiba. She had gotten tickets to KORN and invited me to the concert. It has been a long time since I last listened to KORN and I have never been to a concert with them so I was excited like a little boy on Christmas morning. Asuka wanted to stay in the back so I mashed my way to the front alone and stood surrounded by Japanese and a single gaijin when the band entered. I was right in the middle of the mash pit, which incidentally was exactly like a Japanese train during rush hour - just with more jumping. I must say I respect the courage of the Japanese girl who was 150 cm and with her screaming blond hair fearlessly was pushing and jumping along with everybody else around her. I really hoped they would play my favorite KORN song "I did my time". But alas, they didn't.


The almighty KORN

Hallelujah

Praise the Lord it's a miracle. Thanks to the magic of modern medical science + beer, Monday I woke up fully recovered from my illness. The sun was shining from a clear sky and so I left for school more genki (healthy and full of spirit) than ever. This also meant that I could finally get back to my old life. So after school I met up with Jens and we went to an izakaya in Shibuya. He is going on a small vacation with his company from this Thursday so this was our last chance to meet before I go home to Denmark. We wanted to go Viking, which in Japanese means all you can eat, but when the waiter saw two big gaijins coming in to her store she immediately turned us away claiming the restaurant was reserved for a large party.

The last time I was in Japan the Japanese, even people from Tokyo, stared quite a lot at foreigners. This time I haven't noticed this nearly as much and neither had Jens. So I guess the Japanese have gotten a bit used to foreigners in they country. But not enough to feel safe around us. Rieko Yoshimura, the wife of my current home stay, told that her colleagues were very surprised to hear that they had let a foreigner stay at their home and that they should be careful.

Karaoke

Sunday was karaoke day. It was Tetsu's birthday and he had invited family and friends out to Yakiniku (焼肉). You order plates of raw meat and then fry it yourself right at the table. It was a long time since I had eaten that much meat so I filled up quickly. I also met Sergei, a Russian working at the same travel agency as Tetsu did. He had studied at Tokai university where incidentally he met Jens. It's a small world after all.


Do it yourself yakiniku
After dinner we went across the street to some good old fashion karaoke. I hadn't sung karaoke since last time I was in Japan, so I did my do-re-mi and warmed up with at big bottle of hot Sake. I usually only enjoy karaoke when I am really drunk so I made sure to do my homework at the Yakiniku restaurant and filled up on beer. After a few English songs I was ready to take on Linda Linda. This is the only Japanese song I know. I rehearsed it last time I was in Japan to surprise my colleagues and I remembered almost all of it. やった

Yabusame

流鏑馬(Yabusame) is a traditional but rather unknown Japanese sport. Most Japanese don't know it either and can't even read the Kanji, but as a well informed gaijin Saturday was my second encounter with Yabusame. The husband of my host family Tetsu is part of a Yabusame team and practice once a week. Once a year they gather with other teams and show the ancient art of Yabusame and I was lucky enough to be in Japan at that time. The main attraction is when horseback riders ride on a narrow track and tries to hit 3 targets at full speed. Both shooting and reloading while riding a horse is extremely difficult and only people who do it as a living is any good at it.

A man and his horse
One of my Japanese teachers had asked me to introduce two Korean girls to some of my friends, because they wanted to make some Japanese friends. I had invited Asuka and together with Rieko the 4 of us "enjoyed lovely Yabusame". Rieko and Asuka hit it of immediately and the Korean girls seemed happy as well. I feel like the perfect match-maker. Next time I will try to see if I can't fix up some couples :-)

Stress

It's official. I am stressed. Too much homework, meeting with too many friends and too much planning still left to be done. Man, I need a vacation.....

Wednesday morning I was very tired and slept late. I was also coming down with a sore throat and hoped to catch it before it got any worse but that was not meant to be, because when I woke up Thursday my throat was killing me and even after sleeping 12 hours I was feeling depressed, tired and irritated. I swallowed some pain killers and went to the nearest hospital. I had the exact same illness one month ago and at that time the doctor just said to wait and see so I pretty much expected the same this time. But this was not Denmark. The doctors in Japan love, and I mean LOVE, to prescribe medicine. He checked my throat but since I didn't have any fever and he couldn't find anything else wrong he just declared that it was either a virus or some bacteria. But that didn't matter because he had just the medicine to cure both. So now I am eating 15 pills a day for the next 4 days containing everything from pain killers to antibiotics.

My medicine cabinet

Back to school

With Monday coming up I once again had to get back to school. I got quite a lot of work done Monday morning and in the evening I went out with Eiko, a friend who have lived and taught Japanese at Copenhagen University. Tuesday evening my new host family helped me plan my vacation. I mostly want to go to Kyuushuu because I have never been there but it is both expensive and a bit troublesome. If that isn't possible I'll just go to Hiroshima to check out the Atomic Bomb Dome, the remains of a building after the atomic blast.

Wednesday I went out with my first home stay family again. They wanted to show me "real" sushi and not just the cheap rotating kind. Mr. Oginome's elder sister and her husband was buying and it was very delicious. We all drank a lot and the two wives drank a bottle of wine each. Either they are heavy drinkers or they must have had a big headache the next day. Besides the sushi we also had a rather peculiar delicacy: half a fried breams head. Since I was the gaijin I got to eat the eye of the fish and I must say that it belongs to one of the more strange things I have eaten in my life. It didn't have any particular interessting taste - it just tasted like fish.


Delicious bream

Child's play

On the second Sunday I was in Japan I moved to my second home stay. It is near 北千住駅(Kitasenju station) in the north-east part of Tokyo. The husband Tetsu Yoshimura picked me up at the station and together we went to their house. Both Kitasenju and Musashi-Koyama is so-called 下町(Shitamachi) which literally means downtown areas. Shitamachi in Tokyo are labyrinth like areas with tightly packed houses and extremely small roads with only room for one narrow car. There are rarely any skyscrapers and they have a cozy kind of feeling to them if you like that kind of thing.
At home I was welcomed by the wife Rieko Yoshimura and their two dogs. It wasn't the first time the Yoshimuras had foreigners visit their home and I felt very welcome. Where my first home stay family owned a very new, clean and minimalistic decorated house the Yoshimuras have an older darker house filled with all sorts of stuff they have collected over the years. It reminds me very much of my old high school friend Lars' house in Nordrup, so I feel very much at home.


Tetsu and Reiko Yoshimura

The quick-eyed may already have noticed from the picture that the Yoshimuras has an additional family member I haven't mentioned yet: Chucky. Yes, they are the proud owners of a real size Chucky doll who lives in their living room - and I mean LIVES. He comes complete with facial scars, a knife and some mean comments if you push his buttons. 怖い～(Scaaaary). Fortunately I was able to get my hands on a Pi-po-kun doll, which is the mascot of the Japanese police and I have given it to the Yoshimuras to keep a leash on Chucky.

Slashback

The first sunday I was in Japan I not only went to Hanami, I also made some o-mochi(お餅). O-mochi is boiled rice pounded into a sticy dough with an big wooden maul. Near the Oginome's home there was a small o-mochi & hanami happening and when they saw the gaijin I was immediately invited to try making o-mochi. So I rolled up my sleeves, grapped the maul and showed them how we make o-mochi where I come from. Every time I pounded the rice a Japanese lady turned the rice around so it gradually turned into a sticy dough.

Gaijin making o-mochi

週末週末

Saturday was the first day I could sleep late. No school, no homework, no nothing to spoil the weekend. When I woke at 11 AM the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. Mrs. Oginome offered to be my tour guide for the day and so we went to a Zoo in Ueno. We saw everybodies favorite animal: pandas. We saw lions and tigers and monkeys and even a group of evil pinguins waiting poised for the time when their grand scheme would be set in motion and their race would finally overthrow mankind and rightfully rule this world - that or waiting for more herring.

In the evening I had invited the Oginomes out to dinner. We went to an Izakaya(居酒屋), which literally means "a shop with alcohol". You normally order a lot of different small courses and everybody shares. Today was no different and we had Sashimi, Yakitori and a hundred more dishes I can't remember the name of. In the end I had to fight Mr. Oginome over the bill because even though I had invited the family he insisted on paying - so we ended up splitting the bill. In Denmark people only fight over the bill when nobody wants to pay :-)

Me and Mrs. Oginome getting a bear-hug

Two beers or not two beers, that is the question

I have been in Japan for over a week now and I have managed to drink alcohol every single day since I came here :-) I have gone out for dinner 5 or 6 times with old friends and new friends, colleagues and host families so even though I study 6-7 hours a day the evenings pretty much look like a normal vacation. Next week's schedule is already building up so I guess it continue like this :-) Maybe I should just drink soda when going out..... naaaa

When school was over this friday I meet with Asuka, a girl I have been mailing with, for some time now. Together with three of her friends, 1 gaijin (foreigner) and 2 native, we went to an Okonomiyaki restaurant. Tokyo-okonomiyaki and Osaka-okonomiyaki is different and last time I was in Japan my colleague Mr. Mizuuchi, who is from Osaka, spend a long time explaining the difference to me but unfortunately I have forgotten most of it (ごめんね、水内さん). Kanto area (Tokyo, Yokohama, ...) and Kansai area (Osaka, Kyoto, ...) also speak somewhat differently. So for us Kanto-people Kansai dialect is difficult to understand. Kanazawa is also from Osaka and last time I was in Japan she had a strong Kansai accent but this time it had completely disappeared.

I forgot to take a picture of the Okonomiyaki, so here is a picture I swiped from a Japanese website instead

BAM

Wednesday was my first real class with Mr. Moriyama and... BAM ... it was almost more than I bargained for. The text we covered was not difficult but he went through tropic after topic, explaining subtle little differencies between words and how to use them so after 4 hours my head was ready to explode from all the new information. We also practiced speaking about topics in the text and finally we covered 16 new Kanji (Japanese characters).

After class I needed some fun so I went to Takadanobaba, my old "home town" in Tokyo. It was fun seeing everything againg and not much had changed. A few new buildings was all I noticed. I went to an Indian restaurant I went to a lot when I lived in Takadanobaba, but they must have changed their chef because their Mutton curry wasn't any good anymore. Their butter chicken curry was still good and their Nan-bread superbé. After Baba (Takadanobaba) I went to Shibuya to meet one of my old colleagues, Mr. Suda. One of his high school friends is a musician and it was the day where his band's first album came out. They were giving a live performance in a small bar in Shibuya and we went there to hear them. They are called I'Fyth (I will fill your teary heart) and play romantic and emotional J-Pop. They were pretty talented and I enjoyed it very much. Afterwards my colleague and I went out to drink and another older colleague of mine Ms. Ebara joined us. It was fun seeing them after almost three years. They hadn't changed much and we had a very good time.


Shibuya crossing. A pedestrian crossing right outside Shibuya station.

First real day of school

Tuesday was the first day with real classes. My class have two different teachers. Mr. Moriyama on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and Ms. Nashimoto Tuesday and Thursday. So after another session of jikoshoukai (self-introduction) we were ready for our first class. We read three different texts and answered questions about them. The first was very easy and I could understand everything right away. The second was very difficult and we were just supposed to find clues in the text that we understood and then answer the questions - like a training for real life when we didn't understood much but may still be able to answer. The last text were a little bit over my level (too many characters I didn't know) but with a dictionary and a few re-reads I understood almost all of it. The level of my class seems to fit me very good. よかったな～.

Me and my homework

First day of school

Monday was my first day of school. I have classes in the afternoon so I didn't have to get up early. Tomohito, the son of my host family, came home for the night and since I was already in his room we played Janken (rock, paper, scissors) for the bed. I WON - and he had to sleep on the floor. When I arrived at the language school the next day I meet my old teacher Saitoh and he hasn't changed one bit in the three years it has been since I last saw him. He has got a daughter now but he still looks like a little boy himself :-) My first class was all introduction - in Japanese of course - but the teachers here are good at speaking at their student's level, so I understood most of what he was saying. After class was over I met with a Japanese friend of mine. I met her the first time I was in Japan and we have been writing a lot of mails since then. We went to a Japanese style restaurant in Shinjuku and had lots and lots of good Japanese food. It was a bit expensive but it was worth it. We sat in our own little booth with closing doors and the restaurant was very well decorated.


My good friend Kanazawa Naho

Second day in Japan

One day after I arrived in Japan my schedule was already building up :-) My two Danish friends Anders and Jens were in Tokyo for the day and the cherry blossom trees are blooming this week so we decided to go on a picnic called hanami(花見), which literally means flower-watchin. The Japanese do it a lot and its just a normal picnic where you sit under a cherry blossom tree and drink a lot of alcohol. Unfortunately Jens is a bit ill at the moment so we switched the beer with soda but it was still fun. お大事に先生。Besides, the alcohol we didn't drink the group of young Japanese next to us sure did.


Anders and Jens watching some cherry blossom flowers

In the evening I had my first kaiten-sushi (rotating sushi), with hopefully many more to come:-)

First day in Japan

Yesterday I came to Japan. I arrived at 8.45 AM in Narita airport and luckily I had been able to sleep on the plane so even though I still was a bit tired from the flight I was able to stay awake until evening. My first host family picked me up in the airport and after a two hour drive we came to Musashi-koyama, which is in the southern part of Tokyo. They own a narrow three stories house and I am living on the first floor (stuen in Danish) in the room of the youngest son. He is away at college and I therefore have the room all to my self. The house is very new but a bit cold - like most japanese houses compared to Danish standards. I am glad I brought some thick socks. The family I live with is very nice and helped me buy a mobile phone.
My phone number is +81 09091401585 and my mobile mail is aagaard@t.vodafone.ne.jp


My host family. Mr and Mrs. Oginome and their daughter Sayaka.

Japan trip

It has been some time since my last update, mostly because I have been pretty busy planning the trip to Japan. As somebody might noticed I found my host families. I am staying with a family in Megurohoncho (目黒本町) near Musashi-koyama station (武蔵小山駅) for the first week and a family in Senjutatsutacho (千住龍田町) near Kitasenju station (北千住駅).
I also decided on the school. I am goin to Kai Japanese School (カイ日本語スクール) near Shin-Ookubo station (新大久保駅) for three weeks. It was the only school that have classes from Monday the 3th of April and I have attended it last time I was in Japan.

I am attending the first three weeks of regular 3 month course but hope that I am still able to learn a lot from it. I have classes from 1pm to 5pm, but my plan is to go to school early and do my homework in the morning.