Tokyo 'r Us RE-ENACT

I'm starting to realize that I'm actually going to Japan again. It takes some time before it actually sinks in. But with only one week and a few more days to go, I've gotten this tingling feeling in my stomach.
What does it mean?

It means that I'm hungry. I'll be right back, I'm going to get an apple.

[....]

Ok, I'm back. We have an apple tree in our garden and the apples are rather tasty now.
They're not so sour anymore, edible in other words!
So, where were I? Oh right, tingling feeling in the stomach. Ok, it doesn't just have to do with being hungry. I think the word 'excited' fits in right about now. And a pinch of nervousness.
Today, I've finally gotten myself an insurance for students studying abroad. It's a good thing they have a so called "drulleforsakring" included. It means that for an example: if I drop something by accident, let's say my computer, into the toilet they will give me a new one. Well, sort of. I have to pay 1200 Swedish Kronor myself, but that's it. The rest my insurance company will pay for. Great huh?

I'm still trying to figure out how much I will actually be able to bring with me. Lufthansa has a 20 kilo limit for check-in luggage. I mean, the suitcase itself probably weighs 3-5kg or something.
I want to bring as much clothes as I can, including my suit, extra shoes and on top of that some souvenirs for Asami and her family. And... maybe a souvenir for my advisor at the university as well?

I hate packing, with passion... and I need to make a check-list.

And so it begins! Well no, not yet, but soon! In about three weeks.
Since the last post, I've been busy with work, studying and preparing for launch!
The university I will be studying at is called Tokyo Gakugei University and is a well-known university in educational fields. You could say that this is the university you want to go to if you want to become a teacher.



This is what the main campus looks like. It is located in Koganei, west of down-town Tokyo.
And what else is west of down-town Tokyo? My dormitory! The dormitory, however, is not that particularly close to the university. It's situated in a suburban town called Higashikurume and it takes about 1 hour or more to get to the university.
However, since changing trains three times during morning rush in order to get there seems like a bit too much of a hassle, I'm thinking of buying a bicycle instead. It's a good 9km distance, but what the hell, why not? I'll just bring an extra T-shirt with me and change when I get there. No biggy... or well, at least I can say that now. Fortunately, I'm in good shape. I work out regularly, so it shouldn't be a problem distance wise or time wise. It's just that I sweat a lot :-(

Aaaaanyways, enough talk about sweat!
Things have gone pretty smoothly. We had a information meeting at the embassy last week and I got the chance to meet all the ones who received the scholarship. It turns out that one more person will be going to Tokyo Gakugei as well. My good boy Jesper. We'll even be staying at the same dormitory! Jolly good, at least there's ONE person in the dormitory who knows the meaning of Fika!
Now I just need to buy a coffee maker when I get there. I wonder why the Japanese love instant coffee so much? I mean, I would never give someone a nicely wrapped gift package filled with different sorts of instant coffee jars. Wow, off-topic again so let's go back to the original topic!

At the meeting, I was surprised to see so many people. I only knew that six people received the scholarship, but that's not what actually happened. What really happened was that eight people received the scholarship, but the six I knew of were embassy recommendations. The other two were based on university recommendation. The more the merrier however, so I'm not complaining!
Me and Jesper are going to Gakugei and Björn is going to Tokyo Gaikoku University. So we'll be three Swedes, making Tokyo unsafe.

Yesterday, I received the schedule for October and it seems all good. I'm studying everyday and I'm reading Japanese history in Japanese to brush up my reading speed.
I've a few things left to do before I feel home free, but it's not something that I worry too much about.

Oh, and I got the ticket yesterday too. I will be flying out on 3rd October, via Frankfurt. I have approximately one hour in Frankfurt to get to my next flight. I just hope that the flight from Stockholm won't be delayed. Last time I was in Frankfurt, it wasn't a pleasant experience. I followed a sign towards "Gates A", turned a corner and walked right into a dead end.
On the plus side, I get to fly with Lufthansa's newest addition: The Airbus A380.
Rawr, what a beast! Compared to Lufthansa's old Boeing 747-fleet, the new A380 has individual screens at least. Now I won't have to stare into the seat in front of me with nothing to do for 11 hours.

Anyways, have a good one! And until next time!

So, it's been... almost a year now since I made my last post, right?
It's been quite the eventful year so far.
First off, my lovely girlfriend Asami came to visit me in Sweden during spring and stayed at my apartment for about 1.5 months. Also, Ryosuke and Natsumi visited Stockholm as well!
I got good grades at my University during the spring term and now I'm currently working, as every I do every summer, at a supermarket in my hometown. I love my co-workers and customers and the job pays well! I do different things there. Everything from being a cashier to handling goods.

Now, I think most of you guys know why I'm starting up this blog again. However, some new readers may not so I'm going to explain why! :P

It all started way back, when I wasn't able to extend my stay at Nihon University last year. I had to figure out how to be able to go to Japan again, and soon, because there were still so many things that I wanted to learn and experience. Also, Asami was still in Japan so I wanted to be close to her of course.

Ever since I got home from Japan last December, I've been studying a great deal for the Monbukagakushou (MEXT) Japanese Studies scholarship exam. Yes, this would be my ticket back to Japan. The ticket back to where I want to be right now. It was a golden opportunity and I took it.

For those who intrested, and those who want to aim for this scholarship, I will try explain the process step by step (seen from my point of view of course). For those who don't want to read this, just skip this part.

-----------------------------

What is the MEXT scholarship? The MEXT scholarship is a prestigious scholarship which is a subsidy provided by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). There are 6 different scholarship, whereas Japanese Studies scholarship is one of them. For the fiscal year 2010, 340 students are granted the Japanese Studies scholarship. I don't know how many were accepted previous years though, but I'm think it hasn't changed.

So what does the scholarship include? You will receive flight tickets (a one-way ticket to Japan, and then a one-way ticket back home once the scholarship period has ended) and a monthly stipend. The amount of the stipend varies, depending on which scholarship you received and the current Japanese budget. Last year, the Japanese Studies scholarship stipend amounted to 125 000 yen per month. This would be equal to almost 11 000 Swedish Kronor. Also, as I understand you have to sign up for a National Health Insurance, which covers some things but not all expenses if something happens. You pay about 1500 yen I think per month for this.
The university you are accepted to, will of course provide you housing such as a dormitory. However, it does seem to me that you have to option to search for your own apartment.

The process of getting the Japanese Studies Scholarship (for embassy recommendation) includes two screenings.
The first step is a written examination and the second is, if you pass the examination, an interview at a Japanese consulate or embassy. As far as I know, we only have a Japanese embassy here, which lies in Stockholm. Thus, those who want to take this exam have to go to Stockholm in order to do it. Do not forget to apply for the examination, otherwise you probably won't be able to take it. The requirement is that you have studied Japanese for at least one year, that you are an undergraduate and that your major is the Japanese language now and after you get home from the time spent in Japan.

The written examination took place in early February. I'm guessing it's the same in all countries.
It is said to be a combination of JLPT 2kyuu and 1kyuu. It was only a written test, however, with no listening comprehension or conversation. It was a very hard test, to be honest. We had 2 hours and the test included kanji reading, grammar and long texts.

After the examination, we were told that if not contacted by the embassy within 2 weeks, you have not passed the preliminary screening. The embassy in Sweden contacts every candidate by phone.

The interview took place in March sometime. I've forgotten when it was, but think it was in the middle of March.
The interview was made by two culture attachés from Japan (I'm guessing from MEXT) and one Swedish man from the Sweden-Japan Foundation (which also have scholarships). The interview was in English and Japanese.
The interview ended and I was told that we were to be contacted within a few days for the results.
Fortunaly, it only took a few hours before the embassy called, notifying which ones were recommended.

After that, we had about two weeks before we needed to hand in a medical certificate.
Then, the long wait began...

Also, as I understand it, there is a chance to get recommended through your university as well, but I have no experience of that so I'm afraid there's nothing for me to say about that.

--------------------------------

So, we were about 30+ people who took the examination and eight people made it through the first screening (written exam). All of the eight who made it through the first screening also made it through the second screening (interview), thus we were eight people who were recommended by the embassy for the scholarship.

Now, I've been worried sick about if I will really be granted the scholarship or not. During 2008, seven students were recommended, however only six received it. Last year, six were recommended and everyone received the scholarship. This year, we were eight students. It made me nervous that we were so many who were recommended. And while knowing that in the past two years, six people each year had been granted the scholarship. I assumed quite early that not all eight would receive it.
A few weeks ago, one of my classmate who also were recommended got an e-mail from Nagoya University (Nanzan University) about accommodations. I figured straight away that he already gotten a green light by MEXT (although not official) and started to worrying even more.

It wasn't until yesterday, August 12th, that I received notifcation from the embassy that I have been granted the scholarship

I was sitting in my car, driving towards downtown Karlskoga and suddenly my cell phone started to vibrate and ring. I always put my cell phone inside the smallest pocket on the right side of my jeans because the pocket is a perfect size for the phone. However, since the size is "perfect", it also takes time to take it out from the pocket. I was struggling with that and when I finally got it out I got a heart-warming
"This is from the embassy. I have good news for you!"
"Did I receive the scholarship?!"
"Yes."
"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS"
As I yelled, I realized that I was still on the phone, however not embarrassed in any way though for screaming out loud.

It's been a long 6 month process of screening, interviewing and waiting. But in the end, I can't tell you how happy I am that MEXT granted me this scholarship. However, in one way the saddest thing about this whole process was the notification. A very good friend of mine didn't receive the scholarship. He has been very down after that and I don't know what to say to him.
All I can think is how sorry I am that he did not receive the scholarship. I was looking forward to it very much, being with him in Tokyo together again. I hope he will decide to take the opportunity to go to Japan as an exchange student this coming spring instead.

For me, however, suddenly all these dreams about experiencing a university life in Japan will come true. There are a lot of events in Japan I've yet to experience such as firework festivals, Christmas Eve, the fine colors of cherry blossoms during march and April... So many things I want to do and experience! And talk about being happy, being able to spend a whole year with Asami.
We have been talking so much about doing different things together if I get this scholarship.
Dating, eating out together, going to hot springs, going to the movies... Ecstasy.

Now you know why I have restarted this blog. I will try to do better this time.
The last time I tried to write too much too often and I got tired of it. Now I will either portion it up or write a longer topic once every week.

For now, I hope you'll have a good day and I hope that you, just like I, will be looking forward to a continuation of this blog.

I will right again soon someday, if not once the preparations for the trip has started.

So it’s just about a week to go now before I have to go back to Sweden. I’m thinking of buying space for extra luggage for my trip back home because there is a lot of stuff to bring back… and on top of that I want to buy some more stuff! The alcohol here is crazy cheap. Yesterday, we had dinner at David’s place. Asami made nabe and David made some Philipino chicken which was awesome. To this, we drank umeshu. You can buy a two liter pack for about 750 yen and that very cheap. In Sweden, alcohol is really expensive so I was thinking of bringing some home with me so I don’t have to care about buying that much for parties when I get back. There are bottles of wine for about 300 yen (750ml) as well.  It’s not like it’s the best wine or so, but it still tastes like wine.

Tomorrow’s my last grammar and vocabulary test. Hopefully I’ll score well on this one as well. On Wednesday we have tests in speed reading and listening comprehension but other than that, we’re all done! Friday is our last day here at Nihon University and on by Saturday morning we have to take our belongings and get out of these apartments so they can clean up after us and prepare for the next term. I’ve finished written all my reports as well so I’m now officially done with all of them. For some reason two of the reports are about food. I think Kyle’s influence on me is greater than I ever thought!

In any case, back to Kansai! The hotel we stayed at was in Osaka. The good thing about Kansai is that Osaka, Kyoto, Nara and Kobe are all close to each other. We didn’t go to Kobe though, but that’s alright. It takes about 30 minutes by train from Osaka to Kyoto and to Nara which isn’t that bad at all actually! Osaka is well known for its comedians and business. We didn’t go around that much in Osaka. Asami has an old childhood friend living in Osaka and who’s working at an expensive Izakaya.
After our trip to Nara (still Saturday), we went to check-in at the hotel, rested for an hour or so and then we went out on our adventure to look for this Izakaya. It took quite a while actually. Osaka is like a jungle if you’ve been living in Tokyo for three months. It’s hard to find where to go and so on and even with Asamis cellphone with GPS, it took us about 2.5 hours to get there. On our way there, we ate some takoyaki. Osaka is well known for okonomiyaki and takoyaki and the place we ate at was awesome.

So anyway, after wandering around for a while we finally arrived at the Izakaya and it was a very nice place indeed. The atmosphere was really good and we got to meet with Asamis childhood friend Yui. She seems to be a person full of life and speaks in Kansai dialect. We ate some food, drank some alcohol… and it wasn’t that much at all but the price came up to like 4000 anyway, expensive indeed but still a nice experience.

The next two days we spent in Kyoto but we stayed in the same hotel in Osaka until Monday. So during Sunday evening, after our first trip to Kyoto (will report about Kyoto soon), we went to a real nice Okonomiyaki place. Since there are a lot of Kanto people went to Kansai during the three day holiday, the line was quite long to get in, but it was worth the wait. The okonomiyaki was excellent and we didn’t even have to do it ourselves which you usually do when eating at okonomiyaki restaurants. Okonomiyaki is probably one of my favorite foods and I love to make okonomiyaki as well. I’m a specialist, so to speak!

Osaka feels a bit more like Tokyo mostly because of the night-life here. There are streets which looks quite similar to Shinjuku’s Kabukichou. I’ve also come to notice that Kansai people tend to not line up that well when entering the train. Surely they line up before, but once the doors open it’s like a crazy rush towards the door and no one seems to care about the order.
Compared to Tokyo they also stand on the right side when riding the escalators while Kanto people stands on the left side. It was quite funny because you could distinguish which people who were from Kanto and which ones who were from Kansai.

Since the last post it has been rather hectic. I’ve been writing on my report for JASSO (in Japanese) which is required by those who received the scholarship. Other than that, I still have a report due this Monday for my economy class. The good thing though is that we can chose to write about anything as long as it’s related to Japanese culture or economy. I’ve decided to write, yet again, about food. Not about Swedish food as I did for my graduation paper but about Japanese cuisine and etiquette. It’s quite interesting actually as I’ve found out a few things I never knew about Japanese food and its food history. Apparently eating meat was banned for over a thousand years before emperor Meiji decided to lift the ban, wanting to modernize Japan.

Next week we have our final chapter test and on top of that a 2kyuu test which we take to see if we have progressed. Although it doesn’t have anything to do with our grades or the book we use it would be nice to see what score I can get on it. I’m uncertain though, because they say we have it tomorrow and if that is true I don’t think I have that much of a chance to get the 70% which is required to pass for E-class. My kanji knowledge isn’t the best right now since we’ve been forced to “learn” over 2000 new words which include kanji. We’ve been jumping real fast through our book which new grammar and words every day. The pace is pretty crazy and since we’re in Japan we don’t want to only do homework and tests but explore Tokyo and other places while we can. Who knows how long it will take before we can get back here. I’m going to write the test which Monbusho has to offer but I have to study for hours every day when I get back home, which I’m willing to do.

By each day it’s getting colder and now it’s so cold that I can wear a scarf without sweating. A month ago that would be unthinkable but it’s been rather cold lately and apparently it’s been colder than usual at this time of the year. It’s been raining quite often as well and that is one of the reasons why it grew so cold in such a short time. The trains get uncomfortably overcrowded during rainy days and the trains are sometimes late as well during these kinds of days. If a certain train is late, they will hand out a proof document that says that you’re late because of the train by how many minutes. This is to prevent you from getting into trouble with your teachers or work related people. It would be funny to use it as an excuse to get late for a date.

Last weekend (Nov 21-23) I and Asami went to Osaka, Nara and Kyoto. On the first day we went to Nara straight away and Nara was an old capital of Japan during the Nara period (years 710 – 791) with a lot of legends, temples and… deer! Yes, you read it right. A lot of deer. Nara is full of deer and as a result of all the deer there are also deer spilling wherever you go. You have to watch your step, otherwise you might (or actually most probably) step into it. Other than the deer poo, Nara was quite beautiful. We didn’t spend that much time there though as our main trip was focused on Kyoto. We went Toudai-ji which was very nice. We went to a shrine as well but I can’t remember the name. We couldn’t get in though, they had some sort of ceremony for kids turning 3, 7 and… something I can’t remember. Nara really felt like an old city. Not only that, Nara is out in the suburbs so you won’t find any tall buildings like in Tokyo, Osaka or Kyoto. The atmosphere is hard to describe when it comes to a city with such old history. You have to go there yourself in order to experience it. If not, go there to experience the deer!

Anyway, enjoy the pictures!

This past week has been hectic as usual. As always, we have kanji quizzes almost every day and a chapter test as well. Asami came by during the Monday and I cooked some spaghetti and meat sauce for her and she brought some pudding for dessert. She also bought this cute mobile phone strap for me. I eat bananas everyday here since they’re cheap and good, but unfortunaly they go bad very quickly here for some reason. In any case, I’ve been saying that I want a banana strap for a while so she bought me the perfect gift. Today I had a speech about Gustav Vasa, the “farther” of our country. He liberated Sweden from Denmark during the 16:th century and became king June the 6^th, which now is our independence day.

I’ve also been writing on my JASSO report which is due later in November. It’s actually harder than I thought to write it. We are supposed to write about our achievement during our stay here and for some reason it’s hard to praise yourself in a report. I’ve written about one A4 page (which was the lowest limit) but I want to do at least one more page. Tomorrow is also the deadline for our graduation composition, which I’m basically done with I just need someone to correct it one more time. It became like 5 pages long including some pictures. I wrote about Swedish food which was more difficult than I could ever imagine. To think that food is such a complicated subject!

So who would’ve thought that November could be such a sweaty month (literally speaking). We went to Okinawa last weekend and damn it was hot. It was humid even as soon as we stepped out from the airplane and into Naha airport. The very same day, Friday, had been 27 degrees Celsius which is like high summer in Sweden except for the humidity. It was my first time in there and it was certainly a real nice experience. It seems to be “off season” for the Japanese, but I wonder how that can be since it’s colder during autumn and winter while the weather in Okinawa is crazy hot.

In any case, Ryosuke was the kindest for having planned the whole event for us, including reservations of trip, taxi, hotel and even where we should go and visit. The first thing I was kind of surprised of was that we actually rode a Boeing 747-400 to Okinawa from Haneda. The 747 is usually meant for long distance but Haneda – Okinawa only takes about 2.5 hours.
When we got out the airplane it was like walking straight into a sauna. Well OK, it wasn’t THAT bad, but it was most definitely warmer than Tokyo (and Swedish summer). We went by Taxi to the hotel, which took about one hour. On the way there we bought some food, awamori (Okinawa Sake) and Okinawan beer.  The Okinawan beer was alright, but I prefer Asahi over it and I’m not too fond of sake except for Umeshu (plumwine, sweet) but I drank it nonetheless! So we arrived at the hotel and it goodness it was a very luxurious hotel with ocean view. The rooms were big as well and the hotel had onsen (hot public bath) along with sauna and the whole kit. It had been a while since I’ve gone to an onsen and it felt real nice. Me, Ryosuke and Kyle went down to take a bath as we talked about various things. Afterwards it was time to go to the beach and to enjoy the ocean during the fine evening with a few beers and snacks. We were supposed to get up around 8 o’clock the next morning because our schedule was pretty much full for the entire day. Mikael was the first one to go to bed and I was the second one. Apparently in all the drunkenness, the rest of the people went out for a swim in the ocean.  Kyle and Ryosuke, who I shared rooms with, came back around 3 o’clock in the morning so I had to get up and open up for them.  You could imagine how they looked like in the morning… Or check the pictures! :>

So the Saturday started off with us going to eat the biggest breakfast I’ve ever had in my whole life. It was a buffet (Japanese call it Viking which is actually another term for Smörgåsbord!) and god they had everything there. There were mostly western style dishes, but also Japanese food sorts as well.

The first even we went to was snorkeling! And it was really nice. I never thought the ocean could be so beautiful. I got to borrow Asami’s underwater camera so I took some photos but I probably won’t get them processed until I get back to Sweden. After that we stopped at some random place where apparently 10 000 people can sit at the same time. I can’t remember it name though, but it was nice. It had some fine views of the ocean and cliffs. After that we continued to theme park of some sorts. It had an aquarium, dolphin show, museums and stuff so we all went around looking freely as we pleased. After that we went back home to eat at a restaurant and then to get together to play a game called Maffia in our room until late.

Sunday came and it was our last day in Okinawa. We went to a cape which was not far from the hotel, a artificial made Ryukyu Village (Okinawa used to be it’s own kingdom before it became a part of Japan. There’s still an Okinawa language and such.), the old castle of the Okinawa Kings and to the international street (It’s just simple called that). After that we went back to Naha airport and flew back to Haneda.

I wanted to try to make this post short so I could explain it with pictures instead. There’s no point in writing how beautiful something is unless you can’t show it!
So enjoy the pictures!

It's almost only one month left until the JLSP term ends. Accordingly to the schedule we have the closing ceremony on the 4th of December and we also have to move out from the apartment by the 4th... Unless I can get my extention approved. They said that they would let me know by this week, but I haven't heard anything so far. Accordingly to Hosaka-sensei there were only 12 students who applied for the next term which isn’t many at all compared to this term. This term we’re over 22 people and last term there were only 15. Jonas in my class says that there’s some sort of deficit of exchange students at Nihon Daigaku and that they need to let more people in so I’m thinking the chances are pretty high. Hosaka-sensei said that the chances are high as well so I’m hopeful.

If I won’t be able to stay it’ll be sad for many reasons. It will, of course, be sad even if I stay in some ways as well. The problem with being an exchange student for just a few months is that you meet new people, become friends, experience new things together and laugh together.  Then three months later, everyone returns to their own home countries to continue their previous lives they had before they came here. It’s a wonderful thing to make new friends, but also sad to “lose” them so quickly. Of course there’s Facebook and such, but it’s not the same thing as real life.

Enough said about the sad stuff! Under Monday’s class we had Peter Mizuki and he demonstrated how kendo works. We got to try out different basic strikes as well on him as he wore armor. Compared to soccer, baseball and other sorts of sports kendo can even be practiced by older people. In fact, the older the person is the high rank they usually are. The highest rank can only be achieved after passing a certain age. In budo sports such as kendo and sumo, you’re never allowed to cheer after you’ve taken a point or won. That is a very no-no. In recent events, there was a Bulgarian (I think he was Bulgarian) sumo wrestler who did just this. There’s been a lot of talk about it and the manager had to apologize over and over.
Trying out kendo was fun, but it’s nothing for me. It feels that I’m a bit too old to start doing it now. Most people start out very young and in my case it feels too late… And unfortunaly, even though it was a fun experience, I’m not that interested in martial arts. I prefer my jogging and from time to time weight training.



Above: Mizuki-sensei shows us how to do a "Men" strike.




Above: Me performing a "dou" strike.

During the weekend I went to Asami’s place. We went to the movies and watcher The Time Traveler’s Wife starring Eric Bana. The last time I saw Eric Bana was in München, which was an OK movie but way too long. It was nice to see a different Eric Bana actually compared to the assassin in München or the Hulk. It’s a romantic movie and even though I usually don’t watch romantic movies it was quite alright. The problem with it is of course that it felt like a never ending story. Time Traveling, remember?

On our way back, there was this huge place with tons of vendor machines. We have those in Sweden of course, but they’re EVERYWHERE here in Japan. It’s unbelievable what the sell in these as well. In Sweden some of this would be unthinkable, such as alcohol and tobacco. Of course, it’s not legal to drink or smoke in Japan until you’ve turned 20 (18 in Sweden). Some of these machines have ID-check functions but most of them don’t though. In Sweden,  when you’re 18 you can only buy alcohol up to 3.5% in a local shop such as supermarket or convenient store but you can still drink stronger beverage at bars and such. However if you want to buy your own beverage outside restaurants and such, you need to go to what’s called “Systembolaget” which is a state owned company which has monopoly over all the stronger spirits and such.  For this you need to be 20 years old. It’s a somewhat odd system which has its ups and downs.





Above: Sake!



Above: Here you need to insert your ID in order to buy sake or tabacco.



Above: What would life be without instant ramen?

Tomorrow I’ll be going to Okinawa. Expect a nice post with pictures when I get back! (If I have time, it might take a while O_O)

So a few days has passed since the last time I wrote. Nothing much new has happened except for yesterday and today. I’ve been here for about 2 months now and it feels like it’s been like 1 week. I will say it again; the time goes by so fast when I’m here. It feels unrealistic for some reason and I think every other JLSP students agree with me. By next week I will know if I can stay for another term or not. The deadline for the next JLSP term was due today and accordingly to one of the senior teachers, Hosaka-sensei, the probability of staying for another term is pretty high (at least accordingly to her opinion). I also finally received my scholarship this week, a hefty 240 000 yen. A lot of the money has been spent already though, but that’s alright. I’m going to Okinawa next weekend and in the end of November to Kansai (Kyoto, Osaka and Nara). A lot of money will be spent on these trips, but it’s worth it. I’ve never been to any of these places so I’m excited.
We’ve had kanji quizzes and stuff like every day and the latest test I did last Friday I got a whooping 49/50 again, so far so good.

Yesterday afternoon some of us went and played football (or soccer (...) if you’re American) at a futsal (5 v 5 court). It was really nice actually and it’s been like 3 years since I touched a football the last time. Although my legs are a tad sour at the moment, but that’s alright. I managed to so awesomely forget to bring a fresh pair of underwear so I had no choice but to do it the Italian way without underwear. It wasn’t that bad though, freedom to say the least I guess. Nothing I would do again however!



In the evening we went to Alpis in Shinjuku. The good thing about Alpis is that you can make reservation for a lot of people there as the Izakaya has like four floors. The event on Facebook indicated that we were going to be around 50 people at least and I’m guessing we were about that amount as well. Ontop of that since it were almost Halloween, people dressed out as different creatures, things, characters and what not. I and David made masks of each other. I wore a mask with his face and he wore a mask with my face on it. Anyways, lots of fun people and fun time.




Today was the most peculiar day however. Kyle is a US Airforce soldier and US military personal has entry permission to the bases here in Japan if they want to go inside. He bought some pop-tarts and stuffs for me the other week but this time he asked me if I wanted to go with him. Me, Kyle, David, Asami and Liz went to the base which is located in Fussa, Saitama. Anyways, for the most part I wanted to go there and shop some American food and candy but the trip itself became quite interesting itself. The first thing I noticed about Fussa was of course the amount of foreigners there. The second thing I noticed was the “result” of the amount of foreigners there. If you live in Tokyo you would be surprised at first how clean the streets are. People never throw trash and such on the street, well at least not the majority of the Japanese at least. However, in Fussa where a big chunk of the population is of foreign identity the streets look dirty.

When we finally got to the base there were a lot of kids with Halloween costumes waiting to get inside. American base = American traditions, yeah that sounds about right. A lot of the kids are half-Japanese half-American since a lot of the personal marries Japanese women (or men, but I’m guessing that there aren’t that many). In any case, Kyle and Asami got to go inside and get some sort of permission papers as they’re military and Japanese respectively. Me, Liz and David got to wait outside the building and when Kyle and Asami returned we could go inside. We had to show our passports as well before we could go in. Apparently, they don’t allow people from certain countries to enter the bases. In any case, we entered the base and it wasn’t like anything I imagined. Imagined it to be more military but I guess we could only see the civilian side of the base from where we were. In any case, it was kind of surreal and creepy though. 100 meters behind us was Japan and now we were standing in America, but it wasn’t really America either. I’ve never been to the US before so I don’t know for sure what it looks like. Apparently the US bases even looks different compared to the outside in US as well. It was very open, clean and sort of plain but yet there were restaurants, a department store, a supermarket and so on. It was very peculiar to say the least.

In any case, we checked out the department store first. It wasn’t all THAT big but it had sufficient stuff for my hometown to be jealous. I found some nice Quicksilver t-shirts in there for $16 apiece and that’s like less than half the price you buy them for in Sweden or Japan. When I got to the cashier though, I was greeted by “Where’s your military ID?”. Apparently you need a military ID in order to shop here, except for restaurants. I was going around with Asami and Kyle and the others had gone their way. We were supposed to meet up 5 minutes later though so I fetched Kyle to buy it for me.
Happy ending!

Then we got to the supermarket and god there were a lot of food and stuff there. I’ve never been to a store with American food and things like that so this was kind of exciting. I managed to get hold of some nice things such Pop tarts with banana split taste, Reese’s (chocolate + peanut butter candy), some Pringles taste I’ve never seen and so on. I also bought minced meat as it was _really_ cheap. I don’t know how much it weights in grams, but I’m guessing it’s like 500g or so for not even $3 which is even cheaper than Sweden. I felt a bit like a child in a toy store actually as there were so many things for very cheap prices there. I managed to hold back some though! Asami bought only like chips and candy though!


After the supermarket we went to meet up with a friend of Kyle’s who has been stationed in Fussa since 6 weeks earlier. We went to a restaurant called Chili’s and it was kind of what I imagined. The food was really good, but the since of the meals were like made for two people or maybe even three. However, as I said the food was really good though. I had a “margarita grilled chicken” and along with that were baked beans and some sort of rice with small taco stripes.




That’s it for today though! Good night!

Today has been one of those days I’ve just been inside and studying. I woke up at 9 and went for a jog before I ate breakfast. So far I’ve finished my report for the Hakone trip which isn’t even due until the middle of november. I felt like it was time to do it now though before I start ”forgetting” about it and I’ve done at least one report out of a few.  We’re supposed to write a small essay for our graduation book as well (everyone are) and other than that we have a to do another report of whatever topic we want to related to Japan.

The food in Japan is good. The most unfortunate thing is that some things are more expensive than others. Meat for an example is very expensive and so is instant coffe, yoghurt and cereals among other things. I eat yoghurt and cereals every morning and I usually eat the branflakes type for fibres.
Yoghurt is very expensive here compared to Sweden. It costs about 170 yen for like 400g. There yoghurt isn’t the same either as in Sweden. The yoghurt here is like Turkish or Greek yoghurt while the Swedish one is more like a thicker form of milk. Maybe that’s why it’s so expensive. But still, the yoghurt tastes good and all, so except for the price it’s all nice.
The fiber cereals here costs a fortune as well compared to Sweden. I’m not quite sure why though, because Sweden is importing most of the fiber cereals from the US as well. 240 gram of fibre cereals costs about 420 yen, which is really expensive. The package is like half the size of the ones in Sweden as well.


Today though, Kyle went to a US military base here in Tokyo to buy some American food. I asked him to buy some cereals if the package was bigger and cheaper. Of course, it was both bigger and cheaper. It was half the price but double the size which is awesome. I also asked him to buy pop-tarts! The oh so awesome pop-tarts which can’t be bought in Sweden at all. Two packages of pop-tarts is just what I needed!





Tonight I will eat udon and my own vegetable wook mix. The good thing about Japan is that they sell cheap vegetables, at least their own produced ones such as enoki mushrooms, daikon, negi and so on. I’ve noticed that the potatoes however are expensive as hell compared to Sweden, but then again Swedes eat alot more of it just as Japanese eat alot more rice.

I've written two posts today. Be sure to check out the one before this post.

Today a few of us went to Asami’s, Ryosuke’s and Yuki’s campus as they were having a school festival there. I’ve never been to one so I didn’t really know what to expect. We started out from Shimotakaido around 10 o’clock. We weren’t many JLSP students at all who were going just me, Stephanie, Lina and her boyfriend Lucas and Chris. Asami was with us all the time as well.
So at Shimokitazawa, we were going to change trains but we went out the wrong exit. All of the sudden, Chris was gone. We looked back behind us but he wasn’t showing up. We waited for about 5 minutes but still nothing. We thought he might’ve gone ahead to the platform already, but that didn’t seem to be the case. Since we had no way of getting hold of Chris (he doesn’t have a cell phone and tends to disappear and reappear as he sees fit during times we do group activities) we went on without him.

We arrived at Mutsuai Nichidaimae, the station, around 12 o’clock and the campus was very close to the station. The stairs down from the station are a bit special though.  As we descended the stairs Asami told us to look behind us at the stairs. I didn’t really get it at first but turned backwards and understood what was so cool about it.



As you can see, that’s what was cool. Before I studied at Stockholm’s University, I studied at Linköping’s University. There’s a slope leading towards campus which is called the “Logo slope”. Every summer before the new term starts, members of different groups and programs paint their logo on the slope. It’s exactly what they’re doing on these stairs but in this case only one program is doing the job.



In any case, as we got to the campus there were a lot of people there since it was open house. Before I move on, I want to add that I asked Lina’s boyfriend Lucas to buy some Djungelvrål and Turkisk Peber. These two sorts of candies are very popular in Sweden and tastes very good or at least to a Swede. Japanese people dislike concentrated tastes such as too much soy sauce or food with too much fat in it. Thus I took a bag of djungelvrål with me to the festival as I wanted to introduce it to my friends. After Asami and Yuki tasted it Asami wanted as many of her friends as possible to taste it so about every person we met on campus got one. There were even a few who liked it! Djungelvrål is kind of special. It’s very salty first but once the first layer of the taste is gone (the salty taste) the licorice part kicks in. Licorice is very good actually and most of the Japanese are OK with it as licorice is sweet. However, it’s usually the first layer of salt which makes them go all crazy. Here, let me show you:





From candy to the food and dessert stands. There were a lot of different stands with different kinds of food and desserts. We ate stirred fried innards which was surprisingly good. However, the consistency of the actually innards was very weird. I’ve never eaten this kind of food before, but it was still good. Number two was chijimi which is the Korean version of okonomiyaki. They were also selling Nihon Daigaku's own produced sausages, bacon, vegetables and other kinds of things as well. The campus we were at is specialized in animals and such as well as plants.
As for the sweeter things the most curious thing I ate was “age-ice”. Age stands for, in terms of food, deep fried and the ice part for ice cream. Yeah, that’s right. Deep fried ice cream. From the looks of it, they have the ice cream inside a sort of bread like ball, they dip it into some sort of mix and then into the bread crunches or whatever they use. And it was godly good. I don’t think I’ve eaten such simple yet “complex” ice cream before.



Later during the afternoon Mark and Kyle joined forces with us. Mark had apparently gotten his scholarship today (240 000 yen + another 80 000 next month) and he was very happy. He’d been having some problem with money since he had expected to get the scholarship in time. Apparently there have been some problems at JASSO and all of us who are going to receive the money have to wait. At first they said the end of October or even November, but we got a mail last night and apparently we’re going to receive our scholarship on Monday! Wooooo! There was also a man cheerleader squad. It's kind of cool actually. It's more like military, heavy drums and deep voices screaming. I've played a game called Ossu! Tatakae! Ouendan! and this reminded me of it!





During around 5 o’clock we disbanded and I and Asami went to Machida to check out the 4 stories 100 yen shop. It was crazy; I’ve never seen so many things which sell for 100 yen.  They had everything from tableware and cleaning products to food and snacks. We went there to look for some sort of hats or something for Halloween next week. Well, actually we’re going to celebrate it on the 30^th at Torikizoku (the Izakaya nearby the station) and then go back here to drink some more until 31^st. In any case, I’ve never celebrated Halloween in Sweden and it seems to be fairly new in Japan as well. We went to Tokyu Hands in Shinjuku yesterday and some of the JLSP-students bought full costumes.  I’m not sure what to buy and if I’m going to buy anything at all. But we’ll see.

Last night I actually cooked meatballs for the first time. I wanted to make something Swedish for Asami and I simply picked the most simplest of all of the dishes. The result was pretty good and I’m proud of myself! Too bad meat is so expensive in Japan compared to Sweden, but then again the fresh fish here is much cheaper. I made sauce for it as well, but the only problem is that they don’t seem to have anything else than like REALLY fat cream here. In Sweden we usually cook with 15% or lower when making sauce, but the one I used now was like 45%. It became very thick to say the least, but still good. I’m surprised how simple it is to make your own sauce without having to use any mixes.

I’m still waiting for the answer if I can stay for another term here or not. We were told that they were going to have an answer for us by this weekend but nothing yet. I’m kind of nervous because the time just flies by. We only have a bit over a month to go before the term is over and my current flight back home is scheduled for the 7^th December. If I’m able to stay, I’ve already sorted out the questions about my insurance, rebooking of my flight and so on. I just need the damn confirmation now!

This is a topic I’ve wanted to do for a while now and I’m going to do a speech about it in class next week. Might as well jump on the bandwagon and write it down in my blog. In Sweden, going by train is a pretty simple and nice thing. You make a reservation for a seat and you just go. Sometimes on shorter distances you don’t have or can’t reserve seats. If you don’t make a reservation and just jump onto the train and buy a ticket from the conductor you might get a seat for a while, but if someone has reserved that spot you have to give it up once that person gets on the train.

If I’m not completely mistaken, you can only reserve seats for the Shinkansen (Bullet train type) in Japan while the regular ones you have to literally fight your way inside the train in order to get an open seat. If you’re working in Tokyo but live outside in another prefecture, you still need to fight for the seats. If you don’t get a seat during the rush hour, you’re pretty much done for and have to stand for the rest of the trip. Hell, I don’t even possible to get a seat unless you’re getting on the train on the first station. I remember two years ago when I was here during the summer. I went to a language school in Tokyo but lived with my grandparents in Ibaraki-ken. It took about 1 hour from Ushiku station to Takadanobaba. Fortunaly, I mostly had my classes on the afternoon so I didn’t have to worry about the rush hour, but there were some mornings I did have to worry about them and it was chaos.

Now when I live inside Tokyo and have to go to school on the morning it’s like going to war. Some days are worse than others but the most irritating thing is that it’s getting colder outside but as soon as you step inside a train it gets hot as a cooking pot. I usually have my jacket with me, but I have it in the bag cause in a train full with people it’s irritating to have more luggage than necessary.
So, war you ask? The only place where there’s a subway and it’s in Stockholm and not even that can be compared to the mornings here. Ok, it’s not THAT bad, but if a Japanese takes a manin densha in Stockholm, he or she will probably feel that it is 20% full (creds to Mikael for all the data collection) and go like ”Oh there are so many spots here and there left in this train”.
The manin densha in Tokyo, however, don’t have even have one decimeter to spare. Once you’re inside squeezed between all the people you’ll have to stick to that spot, shut up and focus on not to swing to much from the trains irregular movements. Fortunaly you don’t have to worry about falling down since you’re surrounded by human cushions, and they most likely think the same way about you.

Now, where to put your hands when you’re in a train like this? There’s a thing called ”chikan” in Japan which means molester. As far as I know, I’ve never seen one or heard of any at all since I got here. Most people try to keep their hands occupied by holding them high, holding their bags, hold on to the supporter ring (I’ve no idea what to call them, but they’re the ones hanging down from the above which you can hold onto so you don’t tumble) or something like that. The higher up you hold your hands, the better so to speak. Because if you hold your hands below your belt and are unlucky, I’m guessing that you can be misunderstood for being a molester.
During rush hours, some of the train cars are for women only, which is a great idea but most train cars are for both sexes. I usually hold either both my hands on my bag or one hand on the bag and the other in the support ring or if possible both hands in the ring.

There’s also something holy about the Japanese trains. The Japanese people tend to be very quiet on the trains. In fact so quiet that it’s almost embarrassing to have your iPod running. I usually lower my volume when I enter a train just because I’m afraid I’ll make too much noise. Of course, if there are friends inside the same train they make conversation, but usually it’s not that loud. However, when westerners step into the train that section of the train becomes like a farm. Westerners tend to talk alot and it’s especially notable in trains where most Japanese are quiet. Of course, as a westerner myself it’s hard not to talk but I try to do it in a low voice or not at all. The train is like a sanctuary to the Japanese and most of the time when they sit down they sleep. I hardly see anyone sleep on the subway in Stockholm. The train is also the perfect place to check blogs, other home pages and your mail. Since most people go by train pretty far it’s another good way to spend their time if they don’t have a seat.

There’s also a few things that are pretty much different in some Japanese trains. There’s alot of advertisement. In Stockholm’s subway trains there are a few ads, but in Japanese trains they’re everywhere. And on top of that, there’s no limit to what kind of advertisement they can put up either. The most bizarre ads I’ve seen are the pornography ads. Funny thing is that the Japanese doesn’t seem to be bothered by it at all or at least not on the outside.

One of the things which is “annoying” about Japanese railway is that there are like a hundred different lines. Of course most of them go to the bigger hubs such as Shinjuku and Ueno but there are so many lines to keep track of, where they go, which stations the different types of trains stop at and so on. There are usually local, rapid and express trains but in some cases even rapid-express. You have to be careful not jumping on the wrong train, because rapid and express trains don’t stop at every station. Thus it’s necessary to keep a look out for which one to take. The safest way to go is by local of course, but it takes longer time since it stops at all stations.

So last Friday we went on a bus tour to Hakone with the JLSP students and volunteers matching the JLSP student numbers.  Two busses, lot’s of talk and snacks made a real nice bus trip. So anyway, Hosaka-sensei appointed me and Kyle as translators in our bus. Actually, I did all the translation in the bus while Kyle got to do it out at Hakone. It was kind of embarassing but still educational.  I seem to have the knack for translation Japanese -> English rather than English -> Japanese. Listening comperhension is fun though, and you get to be proud of yourself for being able to understand what is being said. I give myself a pat on my back as I write this. Good job Simon. The university has a ”buddy-system” for these type of trips, which basically means they pair a JLSP student with a Japanese volunteer student from Nihon University. The Japanese students are asked to use as much Japanese as possible since after all we are here to learn Japanese. My buddy was Mitsuyoshi, real nice guy and funny as well.

So anyway, the bus ride took about 2 hours, including a 10 minute break at some sort of rest stop. Funny enough this rest stop had a real big store for omiyage (presents) and some small food stands. I think it’s the biggest rest stop I’ve ever seen in my whole life. In Sweden you usually only see maybe a few restaurants and a toilet. I was kind of suprised of how well the toilets were being handled here.  Stopping at these kind of places you don’t expect a royal welcome from the toilets, but Japan is different (at least some parts).

Enough about toilet talk and let’s move on to the snacks. For some reason Japanese people have a tendency to bring lots, and I mean lots, of snacks with them for trips. Ikuho had brought with her snacks enough to feed a whole army. I’ve noticed that Japanese people eats alot of sweets. There are like crepes stands at every corner, icecream stands and what not. Of course, Swedes eat alot of snacks and candy as well, but I never though it was this popular in Japan. You’d think that Japanese people are eating raw fish and rice constantly but BUH BUH wrong. But then again, as a foreigner I can’t keep myself from eating all the macha (green tea) flavored candies, icecreams and frappuccinos. They are infact godsent and unbeatable, no doubt about it. Unfortunaly though for a student like me is tha they ’re expensive as hell, but then again it’s not like I buy them everyday either.

From sidetrack to maintrack, the bus trip was fun. I made some conversation with Mitsuyoshi. Infront of us were Liz and Ikuho and to the right of us were Kyle with his buddy Yuki and then David with Asami. We had a few good laughs and it was fun! I guess my need for flying or traveling alone has taken a turn cause it is more fun to travel together with someone in a bus or airplane. The bus tour included a tour guide as well, but in Japanese. There were alot of beginners in Japanese in the bus and I don’t think they understood what she said. Oh well, hardly anyone cared though. Most of the students were sitting and talking to each other instead.


 

We arrived at Hakone around 10 a.m and the weather was nice. Although not good enough to see Mt. Fuji during the day. We did get to see it during our way home though. We started out at Hakone shrine which was quite big and nice. But most shrines looks about the same and it didn’t stand out very much from the rest of the 10 000 shrines I’ve seen in Japan so far. There’re the usual things there such as charms, fortune telling and stuff like that. There was a wedding ceremony held there though and this is actually the second one I’ve seen so far held in a big tourist attraction place. When we went to Kamakura, there was a wedding ceremony being held there as well. I’d say it’s probably a bit embarassing but at the same time very nice. The people who gather around the ceremony to watch are not only watching it because it’s sort of a tourist attraction but also because they want to wish the groom and bride good fortune. As usually you clean your hands before you go in with what they call pure water. Hakone sort of lies at the foot of mount fuji so it was a bit chilly, so it was a good thing I brought my jacket. I didn’t wear it when we were at the shrine though. I didn’t die from it but it wasn’t like summer weather either so. They sold omochi there as well (rice cakes) with different flavors. Me, Asami, Mitsuyoshi and David shared a plate with different flavors and I ate the one with sesame which was really good.


  
I think the time was like 11:30 or something when we headed towards our next destination by bus, which was the Hakone Checkpoint. During Tokugawa period the Hakone Checkpoint was used as a measure to search people and to control the ones passing through. During the Edo period the checkpoint was the border to the Kanto region as well. In any case there were some exhibitions here with models showing how they worked during the Edo period.



After the checkpoint we went to eat food at a restaurant and oh my goodness it was really nice food. In Japan they call it “washoku”, which means Japanese style food. Japanese style food is usually divided into small dishes with different kinds of food. Small plates, but there are many of them. After the meal we went upstairs to the gift shop and I bought some ricecake (mochi) for my grandparents and for Masuda. I asked Masuda when we could meet to have a bite and talk some, but he hasn’t answered yet. I hope I can meet him soon!




There’s a big lake in Hakone as well. We crossed it by a pirate ship. Can you imagine? A pirate ship in a lake. First I thought, does this have a history to it? But that’s impossible. Who would build a pirate ship in a lake covered by forest and land. I mean, it’s not like you can raid a beach and then hide afterwards. Anyways, the view was beautiful from the boat. Since the weather was clear the sun was reflecting beautifully on the lake as well. Before we rode the boat, we bought some icecream and it was really nice. I hade one with sesame flavour. I think I’ve fallen in love with black icecreams and black mochis by now.




Once we crossed the lake, it was time to go by the ropeway. Since Hakone is surrounded by mountains you can get very nice views from the ropeway.  And from the ropeway, we could some steam coming out from the mountains. I was wondering what it was. They had been talking about some sort of black eggs before we got to Hakone, but I wasn’t really sure what it all meant except for that it was black instead of white on the shell and that you could eat it. Accordingly to legends, if you eat one egg you prolong your life by 7 years. Two eggs, 14 years and three eggs a whole life time (I think). In any case, I got my answer pretty quickly. Once we got to the top, it started to smell like rotten eggs all over the place. Apparently, the steam was sulphurgas and the eggs are boiled in the water thus making them black (but still edible).  Not so much of a pleasant experience for the nose, but it was still fun. After this small adventure it was time to head back home. The time was almost 5 p.m and we were pretty well synched with the schedule so it was all good.



The busride back home took longer than the way to Hakone. You can imagine it yourself, a Friday night and heading towards central Tokyo. Yeah, that’s right, lot’s of traffic. It took about 1.5 hour longer than going the other way but it was still expected from the very beginning. The teacher warned us about it beforehand so it was alright. Besides, we still had each other and there were lots of laughters and talking!

Between October 14th and 17th (Wednesday and Saturday) my good friend Johan from Stockholm stayed at my place. He’s been traveling for about 2 months in Japan and Korea but his trip ended last Saturday. I met with Johan a few weeks ago as well when he was in Tokyo after coming back from his trip to Korea. We’ve been talking alot about different stuff and it was good to have a familiar face around here. Since Johan was leaving soon Johan and me decided to have a small reunion with Ikuho, Midori and Gakuto. All three of them had been studying in Stockholm last year up till spring term this year. So Johan had made Korean food for us and was waiting eagerly for us to come home.
It’s been almost 5 months I think since I saw Gakuto last. He’s been busy studying and stuff like that so it’s no wonder he hasn’t time. Midori and Ikuho are both volunteers so I meet them from time to time. It was very nice being able to have this get together and eat good food. Johan’s cooking skills are as good as ever.



During Sunday I went to visit my grandparents. They live in the Ibaraki province in a city called Ushiku. From Shimotakaido it takes about 2 hours tog get to Ushiku station. On the way to my grandparents I walked from the station and it took about another 25 minutes. The weather was as clear as ever and the sun was frying my back. I wish I had brought an extra t-shirt with me but whatever.
Ushiku is a pretty small town for a Japanese and after living in Tokyo for over 1 month it really does feel like a rural area. There are about 70 000 people living there but the town itself is pretty big I think compared to a Swedish town… Well, compared to Karlskoga if anything.

I arrived at my grandparents house and was greeted by my grandmother. I was very happy to see both my grandparents since it’s been over 2 years since I met them. They’re old as well so while I have the chance I would like to see them more often. Unfortunaly, there’s alot to think about here in Tokyo as well and I’m practically busy almost everyday. My grandfather is 92 years old now and to me it’s an age I can’t even comperhend yet. He’s been living for 70 years longer than me and it’s hard to imagine what it’s like. They had ordered some sort of Chinese food and it was delicious. Apparently the chef was Taiwanese but I guess that happens pretty often. I mean, in Sweden there are alot of sushi restaurants which are run by Chinese or Thai.
And for the first time I’ve heard my grandfather talk quite alot. He can be pretty quite but that day he talked alot. We talked about life, the Japanese language, me being here and all sorts of stuff.
Around 5 p.m we’ve been chatting and eating for a while and I was about to head home. My grandmother offered to take me to the station by cab, which I refused of course since it’s not that bad walking, but she insisted and so we went. I bid my grandfather farwell and went to the station where I bid my grandmother farwell as well.
Asami is collecting Hello Kitty cellphone straps and in each city and or prefecture they sell straps which are exclusive to those areas. So anyway I bought two of them and headed back for Shimotakaido.



About two hours later I got home and was pretty tired but as usual I had homework and quizes. This week is a very busy one… So anyway, the camera works very well but I haven’t taken that many pictures with the Tamron macro yet. I’m thinking of buying a cheap tripod because taking photos with macro without a tripod is very hard. You can imagine yourself when you’re zooming very far and naturally your hands are shaking.

So that’s it for now, I hope you enjoyed my rambling and the pictures. Take care until next time.