Tokyo 'r Us RE-ENACT

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Det har gått drygt två veckor sedan jag kom hit och dagarna bara flyger iväg. Den värsta delen efter dessa tre månader kommer ju att givetvis vara den delen där jag säger farväl till alla sköna människor man träffat på. Det kommer att bli hårt!

Nåja, från de mindre roliga tankarna till de roliga! I onsdags, som var den sista dagen i silver week, bestämde vi oss för att bestiga berget Takao. Bara på rak arm sådär kan det ju tyckas vara lätt som en plätt att gå uppför stigar istället för att verkligen klättra på berget. Men det var jobbigare än väntat då stigarna och vägarna upp var väldigt branta. Eftersom det fortfarande är varmt och fuktigt här så räcker det att man tar ett kliv i backen innan man blir svettigt. Längst fram i ledet marscherade den finska armén. Alla är ju så himla långbenta så de hade ganska rask takt också, jämfört med oss andra. Det var lite lustigt för jag kunde höra andra japaner runt omkring skratta lite lätt och kommentera finnarnas långa ben och raskhet.

Jag minns inte hur lång tid det tog innan vi kom upp, men det tog säkert 1.5-2 timmar skulle jag kunna tro. På vägen upp fanns det flera små olika affärer som sålde allt från mat och glas till souvenirer. Givetvis fanns det shiontistiska helgedomar (existerar det någon plats i Japan där det inte förekommer?) och det var många människor som bestämt sig för att klättra Takao den dagen. Under Silver Week var väl nog de flesta attraktionerna proppfulla.

Igår efter skolan hade vi ett evenemang med skolan. Vi åkte till Disaster Prevention Centre, som är till för att informera och visa hur olika typer av naturliga katastrofer fungerar. För att visa det hade de olika slags simulationer där vi fick deltaga i. Det fanns fyra olika övningar; Tyfon, rök, jordbävning och brand.

Vid tyfonövningen fick vi dra på oss regnställ och gå in i ett rum där en operatör slog på effekterna av en tyfon. Första delen innebör regn och vind på samma gång och djävlar kan jag säga er vad det regnade och blåste där. Andra delen var enbart vind som uppnådde 30m/s.

Den andra övningen vi fick göra var att gå in i en simulerad våning av en kontorsbyggnad. Eftersom rök lägger sig upp mot taket var vi tvungna att huka oss för att undvika röken, hitta nödutgången för att sedan gå i mål. Röken var dock inte riktig rök såklart, utan någon slags rök med vaniljessens… Jag hade inga problem i att ta bort min handduk från min mun och näsa i smyg för att inhalera vaniljen.
Nåväl, det finns sensorer inne där och hukar man sig inte bra nog så ”dör” man helt enkelt. Två stycken dog i vår grupp och en i den första gruppen. Jag tror dock att det var samma person i vår grupp, för hon gick i princip runt som vanligt >:(

Den tredje övningen var jordbävning. Simuleringen bestod av ett rum som hissades upp och sedan sattes det igång med en ”jordbävning” i magnituden 7. Jag har aldrig upplevt en jordbävning på sådan stor skala och det var ganska oväntat att det skulle vara så pass himla hårt. Det gick ju inte att röra på sig som man ville heller då svängningarna var så kraftfulla. Vi skulle ner under bordet, som fanns där men det var inte det lättaste då man gick in fyra och fyra i simuleringsrummet. Jag börjar undra om ens Mika, som är den största finnen, fick in huvudet under bordet.
Och angående magnituden så var den lika stor som den i Hanshin-awaji daishinsai (The Great Hanshin Earthquake) som hände 1997. Runt 6500 människor dog och hundra tusentals blev hemlösa.

Den sista var inte lika rolig, men fortfarande lärorik. Det handlade om att man skulle använda en brandsläckare för att släcka en eld (en eld som var på en datorskärm). Två vikta saker skulle vi komma ihåg och det första är att skrika ”kaji da!” (eldsvåda!) för att göra de runtom medvetna om elden, sedan springa fram med våra brandsläckare och spruta. Allt som allt var det en riktigt rolig upplevelse, om än väldigt allvarlig. Jag hoppas att jag inte behöver uppleva något av detta under tiden jag är här.

Efter Disaster Prevention Center möttes några av oss upp av Asami, Ryousuke och Natsumi för att dra en sväng till Tokyo Tower. Även Ikuho (som jag känt sedan tidigare i Stockholm) och Atsuko följde med och vi blev ganska många som drog dit. Det går inte beskriva med ord hur vacker utsikten var från Tokyo Tower under solnedgång och kvällen. Bilderna finner ni längst ner, som sagt. Jag tror nästan att jag såg en av de bästa delarna av Tokyo igår. Så vackert det var med all belysning, månen, solnedgången och man kunde till och med se Mt. Fuji!

Bilder från Mt. Takao häråt.
Bilder från Tokyo Tower häråt.

Wowow, the past few days has been really exciting. The day before yesterday I finally got my hands on a cellphone thanks to Ryosuke. The process to get a prepaid cellphone in Japan takes a long time even for a Japanese. It takes about 20 minutes for different kinds of activations and regstrations and since we were two people who wanted a phone it took about 40 minutes before the process was done. The cellphone itself was cheap actually, around 4000 yen but then of course it was a really simple cellphone. Then of course we had to buy credit to charge the cellphone. I finally feel a little bit more Japanese. It’s very handy having a cellphone since all Japanese has one and it’s nice to be able to mail each other. During the evening we were a few people who went to an Izakaya for drinks, food and good time. Since we were going out last night as well, we took it easy however.

Last night David called pretty early and wondered if we were going to do something. I suggested Ginza since I’ve not been there this year. Ginza is like the place you go to if you have loads of money. You notice the difference right away once you step inside a department store and it feels like about the same as if I would walk around in NK or Stureplan in Stockholm to look for clothes. You feel a bit out of place in other words. We didn’t have time to see that much since we had to go back and get ready for tonight’s action.

Anyways, yesterday was really nice, but also horrible to say the least. It started well but ended badly. We went to a Okinawa style Izakaya and it was nomihoudai (drink as much as you want for two hours). Okinawa is known for a special kind of spirit called awamori and the alcohol percentage is like 35%. It was really dangerous I might add. You can drink it very easily since it’s very smooth and you hardly feel anything at all when you drink it. It all started when I challenged the German JLSP student Michael to drink beer in one sweep. Then suddenly we were sweeping awamori instead and it all started to go bananas. Me, Kyle and poor Asami were the ones who fell victim of the awamori.
So after lots of glasses of beer and awamori the night turned to the worse. I’ve never felt that bad as I did yesterday, except for when I graduated from high-school. It was embarrassing actually and throwing up doesn’t make things better.

The time was only like 9.30 p.m. when I was on my way home (I think) and thanks to Gustav who helped me I got home safely. The hangover could’ve been worse though. I’ve drunk more and had worse hangovers than the one today so it’s “alright”. Asami seemed to have a tough night too since she was out cold pretty early together with Kyle. On the brighter side the Okinawa food was really good actually. There was some sort of meat which tasted like ribs but much more epic.

Here are a few pics, with Ginza to begin with

This is a post without pictures. Yes, unfortunaly I've not had the time to take anything at all.

Yesterday the opening ceremony took place which felt very formal. There were a few laughs when those who hadn't studied Japanese before tried to memorize a small speech they were going to have as self-introduction. As usual I'm very bad at speeches and even though it isn't even 30 seconds and just a self-introduction.
During monday we took the placement test which will tell you what level your Japanese is on and will place you in the appropriate class. I got into D-class and there are A-E where A is the beginner class and E is the hardest. I did both the 3 kyuu and 2 kyuu tests. I wrote about 2 pages in the 2 kyuu test and gave up as I probably wouldn't be able to manage to finish it anyway, or so I felt. Yesterday I was asked to do 2 kyuu test again, because I had nearly 100% on the 3 kyuu test (and I didn't even review my 3 kyuu test!). I was asked to check in with the office to see if I was still going to be in D-class or not.

At first I thought I would be in C-class cause I've not done the book they used in C-class yet and the D-class book is the book which comes after that one. Anyways, during the first two periods we had lessons until 12 o'clock. Iwami was the name of the teacher and she's alright, but very stressfull. She presses on to quickly I think. The lesson was about newspaper articles, which is a damn hard job to read. The headlines in Japanese newspapers are very often abbrivated and you need to figure out what verbs and particles are going where. Then of course the articles themselves are hard to read and my kanji vocabulary is not that good. After some work we had read at least half an article about the earthquake in Kobe 1995.

During the afternoon yesterday I went to one of the elective courses. There are a few to chose between and the one I went to was a reading and listening comprehension. You need real good concentration and hearing for this not to say the least. Listening to the news and try to pick up words fast enough to try to summarize it. The reading part seems hard as well. We need to read godly fast for this one.

During the opening ceremony there were a few of the some 40:ish volounteers there. The volounteers are there to help during the Japanese lessons as well as to spend time with during free time. One of them I already know since my time in Stockholm, Ikuho. She was studying there during autumn and spring. It was nice to see a known face. After some chitchat with some of the Japanese people most people went down to the dining hall. The food here is pretty cheap, about 500 yen per meal (40 SEK). At least there's also Facebook if you don't have a cellphone. Most of the volounteers has facebook. After lunch I went to do my 2 kyuu test again.

After I finished my test I bumped into a few of the exchange student, Ikuho and another volounteer called Maki. I suggested that we could go to a Starbucks in Shinjuku and so we did. Starbucks is really neat. I love frapuccino but I'm afraid to guess how many calories are in them. I ordered the Maccha Cream which is frappuccino with green tea. It was awesomly good and it's been like two years since I had one last time, so it was nice. But now I'll most likely try to keep it down with frappuccino. I don't want to go up that much in weight.

Today has been a eventfulday as well. The funniest part was the last lesson, conversation. There were a few volounteers who came to help out and we were able to chat about anything we wanted and it went well actually. After todays conversation lesson I've become much more happy about my knowledge in conversation. Hopefully I'll be able to get even better from now on. I have to endure the hard way of learning words in order to ease the whole proccess. One of the girls were very intrested in Sweden. She'd been told to write about a country except for Japan during her time in juniour high and she picked Sweden randomly and became interested just like that.

Ohwell, here I am in the apartment again and pretty tired actually. Yesterday I dragged along Gustav for some jogging and it went well. Since we didn't have a map or anything we just ran here and there for 30 minutes and it worked out fine. The roads are pretty calm here but you get hot very fast when jogging in Japan. Jogging in Sweden makes you warm, jogging in Japan makes you boiling hot, litterally.

Tomorrow we have a kanji quiz on the news article so I need to do some studying. I need to do a good first impression at least.

Here comes the continuation of the last post. As most of you know, Japan is the leading country when it comes to the cellphone business (or at least I think so). The cellphones are nicely designed with alot of functions such as e-mail, bluetooth, IR, internet and other stuff. Almost every Japanese person has a cellphone and as soon as you see one stepping into a train they sit down or stand there, pulling out their phone and starts playing with it. The cellphone is really a must in Japan, and in Sweden too of course. You want to be able to keep contact with your friends and such.

The biggest problem with Japan and cellphones, however nice and advanced they might be, are the operators. The biggest operators are DoCoMo, AU by KDDI and Softbank (in this particular order when it comes to popularity). Of these three only two are offering a prepaid service and those are KDDI and Softbank. DoCoMo stopped their prepaid service since apparently some people used these kind of cellphones for criminal activities. KDDI and Softbank were are also saying that there were criminal activities and in order to get a prepaid cellphone you need to be able to identify yourself and have an address in Japan. As a temporary foreigner in Japan, this is the worst nightmare. The thing is that you need an alien registration card and you won't be able to get that if you're only here for 90 days.

I've been running around to almost every Softbank shop and gotten a "No" at every single one of them. 99,9% says that I need the alien registration card which identifies the user and has the address printed on the card. The problem is that you have to be a "permanent" resident here or at least live here for a year or so in order to get one. In any case, me and David enetered a Softbank shop in Akihabara and here one of the salespeople told us that the Softbank in Roppongi accepted passport as means of identification. The reason why the shop in Roppongi does that is because of the amount of foreigners there... I'm not sure I was following that argument though since Akihabara is quite attractive for foreigners as well, but whatever.

In any case, me and David went there today to check it out. The way to Roppongi is quite far as it is, even with train and it became even longer as we took the wrong train twice. First we went as usual to Shinjuku where we were going to siwtch from Keio line to Sobu line. We switched to Sobu line alright, but towards the wrong direction. After like 8 stations or more we suspected it was the wrong way. We took the right train back at least and kept going until we got to Akihabara. Here we switched to Hibiya line and we managed to take the wrong train again here as well. Fortunaly it was for like only two stations but still. The distance between Akihabara and Roppongi is far enough as it is so two extra stations felt pretty unecessary. Two hours later we were finally in Roppongi.

Before we went to the Softbank shop we found a small okonomiyaki place. Okonomiyaki places in Japan usually serves you a bowl with the ingredients for you to fry yourself on a hotplate. And it's pretty fun actually. For a typical western man / woman they would probably look oddly at the host and wonder why they're not getting served already made food. The place was run by an older lady and it was that sort of place which probably not alot of people go to except for it's regulars. As we entered there were two older ladies sitting there already chatting with the owner. The food was good and after our stomachs were full we started to head for the Softbank shop, which was near the restaurant. It was a pretty big shop so I had high expectations but unfortunaly it was for nothing. Once we came in they said that they were waiting for a shipment for prepaid phones (you can't buy whichever phone you want. They need to be a "prepaid phone" in order to work with the prepaid service). Something had gone wrong and they didn't know when the shipment would get there at all. One week, one month and so one. 100 Softbanks shops later I'm still standing without a cellphone. In worst case I have to go with KDDI, but their phones are old and are more expensive than Softbank. I'm gonna try to see if one of the Japanese volounteers can help me out and subscribe under their name instead.

After the phone hunt, we went to Roppongi Hills. At first we both thought it would be some sort of hill (you know, a green one), but it was rather a hill of buildings. There was an alright view of Tokyo Tower from there as well. There were other buildings as well such as Asahi TV Building and something called Mori Tower. Never heard of the tower before and from the looks of it it was some sort of office building. There were som sort of television or movie activity going on in the Hills but we never understood what it was. There were alot of people watching though. Here're some pictures.













So I went to the supermarket earlier and spontaniously bought a bottle of tomato juice. It looked quite alright when it said it had some other stuff in it such as carrots. I don't think I've seen anything like this in Sweden so I wanted to try it. How was it you ask? It was like watery ketchup except for the good taste. After a few sips I couldn't drink anymore and switched to milk instead. The Japanese milk is actually epic.

Yesterday was our first schoolday. Well it was really just information, registrations and a placement test. The written test was based on the different JLPT levels (Japanese Profficient Language Test) which are divided into four different levels. Level 4 is the easiest while 1 is the hardest. I’m somewhere inbetween 3 and 2. I recieved both 3 and 2, but I noticed that the difference between them was pretty big. It’s not so much grammar that differs though, but mostly about expressions, words and kanji I’ve never seen before. In other words if I study some more words and kanjis 2 kyuu won’t be a problem.

Yesterday I had two goals: Get a SUICA or PASMO (commuter pass) and a cellphone. The first one is completed while number two is a bit more complex.  Softbank which is the cheapest of all the prepaid operators requires you to have an alien registration card which you can’t get as a temporary visitor for 90 days. Luckily enough, the Softbank store in Roppongi only needs to see your passport for confirmation. So I will go there today together with David from Canada.

Japan is pretty known for being the mothercountry of electronics along with the US. While Shibuya and Harajuku specialize on clothing the district Akihabara (or Akiba as it’s called sometimes) specializes in the field of eletronics. All the nerds are drooling, I know. In Akiba there’s everything when it comes to electornics. From big airconditioners to small things such as cables or plugs. There is also something else here besides electronics: anime and manga. Lina wanted to go here to check out some manga and anime and buy a denshijisho (electronical dictionary) so we were a few people who decided to go there.

On the picture above we can see Yodobashi, which probably is the biggest electronic store I’ve ever seen. You can imagine an OnOff shop in Sweden times 10 or something, if not more. (OnOff is a Swedish electronic shop chain). Around 6 PM we started to head homewards and later the same evening someone was knocking on my door. I opened up and there stood one of the girls from Cambridge. Apparently she was running around all over cherry court knocking on doors and wanted people to come to her room to party. Spontaneously I said yes, got dressed and went upstairs. Inside I was greeted by the other girls from England and all of the 6 Finnish people who are also here on exchange. After a while we went to an Izakaya restaurant to continue our small party. Izakaya is a pub:ish place where you can eat and drink for a cheap penny. That day everything was like 218 yen per drink or plate of food which is crazy cheap compared to Sweden. And the sizes are as big as in Sweden.
It was really fun actually and I’m happy over my spontaneously made decision. After the Izakaya, four of the Finnish guys went by cab to keep the party going somewhere else. As Lina said this morning: The Finns really live up to the image we have of them.

Anyways, I’m gonna get ready and head out to Roppongi (and maybe someplace else as well). I might update before I go to bed tonight!

Today is the third day I’m in Japan of the almost 90 days I will spend here. Both today and yesterday went by so fast that it feels silly. Too fast for my taste, truth be told. I’ve already known since earlier that I love Japan, but after spending three days here and ontop of that living here makes you just fall in love with Tokyo anew. I have very high expectation and wish to meet nice people. Starting tomorrow we have our first schoolday so I hope to make some new good friends. The day will consist of a placement test which we are to take so we can be placed in the proper class. The groups will be divided in different levels depending on your Japanese skills. I hope to meet alot of Japanese students from Nihon University as well so that you can make contact and do all sorts of stuff with Japanese students and not just the other exchange students.

Today me, Lina and Gustav spent the day in Harajuku and Shibuya. It’s easy to say that you know when it’s Sunday. Sunday is, just like in Sweden, a weekend day but in Japan Sunday is the only weekend day (except for other holidays of course) when people aren’t working or going to school (with the exception of stores of course). In Sweden we normally work from Monday to Friday while the Japanese works on Saturday as well. Both Harajuku and Shibuya were full of people. Both are quarters or districts of Tokyo and alot of young people hand out here. Shibuya is especially reknown for it’s fashion shops and night life. Harajuku has alot of clothing and shoe shops as well, but doesn’t feel as big as Shibuya. Anyways, we started out in Harajuku and there you can find places such as Meiji Shrine and Yoyogi Park.
Right before you enter the domain of the Meiji Shrine there’s a spot where some people who like to cosplay shows up on Sundays. Since Meiji Shrine is a pretty big tourist attraction, the cosplayers gets alot of attention as well. Of course they love to have their pictures taken, that’s why they’re there right?


Above: A bizzarr example of cosplayer.


Above: Here we see what kind of attraction the cosplaying turns into during Sundays.


Above: It's me! Infront of the first Tori gate out of... two or three I think?


If I'm not mistaken these are gifts to the Gods. Gods like to drink sake too, right?


Above: Main entrance to the shrine.


Above: Accordingly to tradition, you are supposed to cleanse yourself before you enter a shrine. (Cleansing = Kiyomeru in Japanese). On this picture Lina and Gustav wash their hands. Why they didn't just grab water from the well instead of the tap I've no idea. It took longer than necessary I think!


Above: A threshold? Yepp. I think accordingly to Shinto belief if you step on the
middle threshold the Gods will get upset and electrify you or turn you into a Dango.


Above: And finally a picture of the shrine itself. Taking pictures inside the shrine
is forbidden though so there's none. You'll have to go and see it for yourself!

Anyways, continuing... From the picture just below here it might seem that there aren't so many people in Harajuku, but once you step onto Takeshita Doori (Street) you will notice right away. Just outside of the station there're usually alot of people standing there, waiting for someone or just chatting with eachother.
In Takeshita Street are alot of stores and smaller streets leading from and to Takeshita which those too have alot of stores on them.


Above: Takeshita street taken from just outside the station exit.


Above: Do you see all the people down there? It's crazy I tell you and it's like a war. The biggest problem is when someone stops in the middle of the street to look into one of the shops. This makes the side of that street totally stop where the window shoppers are the guilty ones for making everyone wait. It happened several times that we had to stand and wait for the mass to start moving again. It was narrow, hot and sweaty and not enough water to drink, but it was still fun!


Above: In Harajuku you can find this place, Condomania. A pretty small shop but funny!


Above: No comment :D


Above: H&M in Harajuku? Cool, some Swedish design in Japan isn't bad. Too bad they shut down the WESC-shop though.

Oh well, next is Shibuya. Gustav and Lina thought that we should walk from Harajuku since it was a pretty straight forward road. And it was and it only took us like 10 minutes, except for the stop we made in a Quicksilver shop on the way there. I must go back there though cause I love Quicksilver. The shop was big and nice, compared to the smaller ones I've seen in Stockholm. Anyways, when we finally got to Shibuya I recogniced the place from two years ago. Have you ever seen THE pedestrian crossing? No?





That's what it looks like. I didn't get a very good shot though since it was from street level, but you can imagine that there are quite a few people passing that crossing. This is what it looks like everytime it turns from red to green. It feels like you are advancing towards an army in a 19th century warfare where you are in the first row of soldiers about to fall. Tokyo has about 8.7 million citizens which can almost be compared to Sweden's almost 9 miljon. I think I bumped into at least 1 million of them there or at least it felt like it.



And lastly a picture of a tired Simon with the dog Hachiko (and some random kid apparently). The history behind the Hachiko statue is pretty sad. I think it goes like this: Each day Hachiko would say goodbye to his master, who left for his work at Tokyo University, and eacy day Hachiko would come to the station to greet his master welcome home. However, one day his Master died of a stroke but Hachiko still came to Shibuya station every evening waiting for his master. Hachiko was given away to another master, but still sneaked out in order to wait at the station. This continued for 10 years before Hachiko died.

That's how it went. Now I'm gonna study some kanji. Good nighters!

But it’s impossible to compare Stockholm with such a humongous city as Tokyo. Stockholm is a very nice and beautiful city but compared to all the people and all the skyscrapes, which all looks like Babel’s Tower, it’s nothing.
This morning I woke up around 5:30 am and around that time there wasn’t much to do. I finally came to understand how to get hot water from the tap and for the shower / bathtub. First I thought the small panel on the wall was only for the shower and bathtub but apparently it’s connected to the tap in the kitchen as well. I’m learning something new everday.

During the morning I also discovered a small spider crawling on the wall in the living room. I’m not that big fan of spiders, bugs and stuff like that so I thought I might as well get done with it and kill it. To my suprise, Japanese spiders are apparently: 1: Very agile and fast. 2: Their bodies are made out of rubber or some other kind of elastic material. 3: Can jump / fly (which is waaay creepy for my taste).
I’ve never seen a spider in Sweden of this small size being this fast. And when I actually cought the spider with some paper and trying to squeeze it, it survived! It took ages before I could actually squash it. The most fearsome part was when he started jumping around. I’m not joking, the Japanese spider is the predecessor to the Japanese ninja. Immortal, agile and acrobatic. Luckily they’re not poisonous (not in the city at least… O_O).

Oh well, after Gustav and I had a talk through MSN during the morning we decided to go to Lina’s apartment and head out to the city. Around 9:45 we went to her place (same building, but two floors above mine) and knocked on the door. Apparently she had stayed up all night chatting with her boyfriend and family so she was still sleeping. Anyways, she wanted some time to prepare before we were going to head out so Gustav went back to his room and I went down to the supermarket. I bought some bread (Jesus my lord Japanese bread is so good) and some other fun stuff. I didn’t have proper breakfeast materials during the morning so I ate rice with furikakte (furikake is something you put on the rice for some more taste).

When I came back 30 minutes later, Lina and Gustav was waiting for me outside of my door. So after I put my stuff into the fridge, we went to Shinjuku. One thing I’ve noticed when you’re in Tokyo is that you feel so damn small. Partly because of the tall buildings and partly because you’re not Japanese. I look abit more Japanese than the other two since I’m half, but if you’re a Japanese you can probably still notice that I’m not a Japanese. The fashion here is different and even though I wear such simple clothing as t-shirts and jeans it still looks like I’m a foreigner (or at least I think so). Of course you bump into more foreigners in Shinjuku in the other bigger city parts than in the area I live in, but they’re still very few compared to the 9 other milion Japanese living in Tokyo. I try my best to blend in as a ”Japanese” with gestures, apologizes, humbleness and proper pronounciation. It’s a while before I go back home so before that I’ve hopefully become a Japanese, only to become Swedish again of course.

Right, where were we... Shinjuku! Unfortunaly I didn’t have a camera with me, but there will be more times I go to Shinjuku. Shinjuku is as lively as I remember it from two years ago. Everything from young people to older running around, making conversation, working and shopping. A really pleasant sight truth be told. I could probably just sit down on a bench somewhere and watch all the people passing by and then go come a few hours later still smiling. There are so many different people who passes the streets of Shinjuku and sometimes it feels so surreal. Not only that but there are tall buildings where ever you put your eyes. We went up the Shinjuku Goverment Building, but since it’s raining today the view wasn’t too good. I have to go back there when the weather is better. You go up 45 floors and there’s a nice view of Tokyo (usually) from there. One good thing about it is that it’s for free. Going up Tokyo Tower costs money!

We also went around to some shops, but there are so many shops that it’s impossible to find time to do window shopping in all of them in one day. For lunch we actually ate sushi! Ontop of that it was the kaitenzushi. Kaitenzushi is a type of restaurant which is funny, cheap and nowadays serves good sushi. The thing about this kind of sushi restaurant is that the chefs puts up different pieces on different colored plates. Depending on the color of the plates the price varies as well. They put the plates on a conveyor belt and the plates go round and round. I was happy enough with the 130yen plates and there are usually two pieces per plate, sometimes three. So 8 plates later I was pretty full and it cost 1040 yen which is very cheap compared to Swedish sushi.

We met this weird foreign guy in Shinjuku as well who seemed to be from Europe. Apparently he’s been living in Tokyo for 2,5 years, has a Japanese wife and teaches English… But he can’t speak Japanese at all! How can you live in a country without even studying the language? Especially a country like Japan where the culture is so different from that of the west in epic proportions. In any case, he wondered if we wanted to know a good place to have drinks and we said sure, why not. He took us to a place called Golden-gai. Here there are around 180 different bars, if I remember correctly, and each bar fit like 6-10 people. It looked abit shady but as I understand it (after some research on the internet) it seems to be like a cool place. I even might try it sometime!

After a whole day in Shinjuku, we went back home. The building I live in isn’t that far from Shimotakaido station, where the Keio line runs. It takes about 10 minutes to walk to the station which isn’t bad at all. On the way to the station there are alot of small shops and it’s not like it’s boring to go back and forth.
This is how my apartment looks like:

After two long and exhausting days I’ve finally arrived in Japan. I got up from bed as planned around 3 o’clock in the morning in Sweden on Thursday. At 5 o’clock I went by taxi to Stockholm Arlanda Airport and from Arlanda to London Heathrow. When I got to Heathrow I smiled a bit at all the tax-free prices I was bathing in. I bought a Guccy perfume which smells really nice. It costed 38 GBP for 90ml, which could seem like expensive compared to others, but much more cheaper than in Sweden where a 50ml costs about 45 GBP.

So anyways, the feared planerides went smoother than expected. Before these rides, I was always so nervous during flights but it has finally come to an and. I’m no longer as nervous as I used to be which was really a relief. Even though my anxiety has been cured the flight from London to Tokyo is still very long and exhausting. The 11 hours spend sitting in the same chair really does leave a sort of an unpleasent sense in your buttocks. Oh well, at least I got to see two new movies which I haven’t seen before, Terminator Salvation and Fast and Furious. Both sucked, but I can’t miss any movies with Christian Bale or Vin Diesel in them. I haven’t gotten alot of sleep either. I slept better than I did before during the flight, but still badly. All in all, I’ve slept maybe 7-8 hours these past two days. This and the jetlag isn’t a pleasent combination.

When I finally arrived at Narita my luggage was of course the last one to come. When I went out to the lobby I met an employee on Narita who would show us the right buss to the right station. In the airport was also Gustav and Lina from the same university and class as me. They had gone one day earlier and had spent the night at a hotel in Narita and came back to the airport to meet up with the rest of us.
We had to wait a while for a few finnish people who were going to arrive with KLM. If I remember correctly, I landed around 8:45 AM and around 11:30 we finally got our bus tickets and started to head for down-town Tokyo. The bus trip took an hour or so I think, which wasn’t a bad thing as I could sleep for a bit.

When we arrived to the bus station an employee from the international division of Nihon University was waiting for hus. We switched from bus to taxi and started towards our apartments. In the beginning I was worried about all the fairs we had to pay for. The bus costed 2900 yen and as the taximeter was ticking towards to 7000 yen when we finally stopped, I started to take out my wallet (we were two in this cab though so we would’ve split the fair) but as I did, it appeared that the University would pay for the ride. Awesome.

The employee showed us some of the functionalities of the apartment before he left. Around 2:30 PM we were finally on our own. Me, Gustav, Lina a french named Chris and a german called Anna went to a supermarket close by to buy some basic food stuff. The apartment isn’t equiped with more than a few tools and such. I bought some rice, oil, salt, hondashi (like fish stock) among others. I actually bought bentos since I wouldn’t have the stamina left to cook my own meal. Tonight I have a small bento which includes three different dishes. Rice and meat, sushi and some noodles. It was like 350 yen so it wasn’t bad at all!.

More to come tomorrow. I will try to post some pictures of the apartment as well. Now I’m going to eat and then go to sleep. I’m so damn tired.

In about 11 hours, I will fly to Japan. In other words: it’s time. I went up 7 o’clock this morning to reserve my seats for the flights to London and from London to Tokyo and I can really start to feel it in my stomach now. It feels good to have that all done with. Tonight me and my sister ate potatoes and pork slices with sauce. The last (western) supper.

I plan to wake up around 3 in the morning to shower and recheck my luggage. Better safe than sorry so to speak. I have to fix my hair and stuff as well and it usually takes a while before I wake up for real (like 1 hour or so). The Taxi will be here at 5 to pick me up and the flight is half past 7. It takes about 2,5h to Heathrow London and I have 4,5h hours to spend there before the flight towards Narita Tokyo leaves. The most bothersome thing about Heathrow is it’s security check which takes forever and if you’re lucky, about one hour. Often you have to take off your choes, belt and things for them to see. Not that I’m bothered that much by it, but it feels kind of weird for a guy like me who doesn’t wear knives or explosives on a plane.

Right now it feels alright to spend a few hours on Heathrow as I’m hunting cologne. I’ve checked around on Åhlens (a big department store in Stockholm) and found a Gucci which smelled real nice truth be told. Fortunaly they have it on the airplane as well. Anyway, Heathrow is pretty big and there are shops everywhere so 3 hours should be quick.

I’m going to drink up my tea, repack some and then go to sleep. Next time I write it will be from the far east. So long!

Packningen är i princip klar nu! Till min förtvivlan märkte jag dock att mina fina sterohörlurar från Philips håller på att falla i bitar. Tänker nog ta med dem till Japan och dumpa dem där för att köpa nya innan jag åker. Även om jag bara har småprylar kvar att packa ner känns det alltid som att man glömmer någonting. Skulle det vara så ligger de ju åtminstone nära till hands än så länge då jag är i kvar i landet i en vecka till. Morsan tyckte att vi skulle äta något gott nu sista dagen innan jag åker vidare och hon bjöd på smaskig entrecote med vitlökssmör, potatis, sallad och färskt bröd. En väldans lyxmåltid faktiskt som var riktigt god. Unnade mig dessutom ett glas vin vilket inte händer så ofta längre.

Nu när jag äntligen åker tillbaks till civilisationen imorgon får jag chansen att gå runt och shoppa lite kläder. Japanernas kroppsbyggnad är smalare än vad min är och det är lättare för mig att hitta passande kläder här tror jag. Nu ska jag väl inte säga att jag är 100% säker på det för senast jag var där 07 så såg ajg ju annorlunda ut också. Men jag ska väl försöka se ifall jag kan fixa några sjysta t-shirts och ett par jeans för en billig peng. Man kan aldrig ha för många t-shirts, speciellt om man är t-shirtsnörd som mig. Jag har även planerat på att köpa ny parfym eftersom min nuvarande börjar kännas lite passé och man vill ju, som alltid, variera lite ibland. Parfymen ska jag dock köpa antingen i Heathrow eller på flyget till Japan så det får bli rekognoseringsarbete.

I skrivande stund sitter jag och snackar med en gammal klasskamrat från Linköping. Jag påpekade att jag blir röd efter jag rakat mig (kör rakapparat så det är inevitable typ) och då börjar han förklara hur man rakar sig på korrekt sätt med en hyvel åtminstone. Sen börjar rakhyvelfetischen komma fram hos honom och han slänger upp massa länkar på rakhyvlar... Nej Eric, jag är inte så intresserad av rakhyvlar! Och det är definitivt roligare att titta på en film än att googla rakhyvlar från 1920-talet!

Under lunchen idag påträffade jag en ganska rolig notis I Nerikes Allehanda. Med inga namn nämnda (vilket var lätt att kolla upp ändå med tanke på vem det snackades om) skrev de att den blivande japanska premiärministern Yukio Hatoyamas fru Miyuki skrivit en bok för något år sen. I den boken skrev hon att hennes själ förmodligen åkt med ett UFO till Venus och sagda planet: ”Was a very beautiful place, and it was very green”. Morsan i sin tur höjde ögonbrynen och lärde mig ett nytt gammalt japanskt ordspråk: ”Mayutsuba” och sen ska man spotta eller slicka på tummen (ok, det räcker med att man immiterar), dra tummen på ena ögonbrynet och sedan göra om tummsekvensen på det andra ögonbrynet. Ordspråket betyder ”fake, overkligt”. Tittar man på de enskilda orden betyder mayu ögonbryn och tsuba spott.

Söta Sara Holmer ville av någon anledning jämföra ”sjukdomar” med mig. Hon påstod sig ha något som heter ”kanaldrigslutaskratta”-sjukdomen. Min sjukdom? Min sjukdom heter ”Awesomeness”.

Som avslutning har jag med de ytterst skumma japanska kortfilmerna om ”Inochi-kun” (Inochi betyder ”liv” på japanska).

Nu har jag äntligen börjat packa. På fredag åker jag tillbaks till huvudstaden för att träffa lite kompisar innan jag drar vidare till Japan nästa torsdag. Har inte träffat någon av dem sedan jag åkte tillbaks till Karlskoga för det årliga sommarjobbet... Så mig veterligen har det gått nästan tre månader sedan jag såg någon av dem sist! Shit, tre månader... det går ganska snabbt ändå, men ändå inte. Jag hoppas bara att mina tre månader i Tokyo inte kommer att ta slut så snabbt som sommaren gjorde. Men det blir väl på det visate i alla fall. Tiden går snabbt när man har det roligt. Det har kommit en drös nya japanska utbytesstudenter till Stockholm nu också och min käre vän Jonas ställer till med fest i Lappkärrsberget, som ligger vid universitetet. Dit ska då  (supposely) många nya japaner komma! Ska bli kul att få träffa lite nytt folk, även om jag åker iväg snart. Får träna på japanskan lite när jag ändå kan.

Det största problemet med att bekanta sig med utbytesstudenter är nog att de åker hem efter ett tag givetvis. Även om jag tokgillar alla mina vänner som kommer från Tokyo, Nagoya och Akita så är chansen att man kan träffas i samlad trupp, som vi alltid gjort i Stockholm, ganska liten. Tragiskt, men sant. Givetvis har de flesta facebook och då är det enklare att hålla kontakten med dem, men det är ju ändå inte riktigt samma sak tyvärr. Men nu när jag åker till Tokyo kommer jag att träffa på två av dem i alla fall, vilket ska bli kul! Det första jag tänker göra när jag kommer till min lägenhet är definitivt att dra ut och handla bärs. Den japanska ölen är djävligt god om jag får säga det själv. Den är visserligen mildare än de vi är vana vid i Sverige, men inte så mild att den smakar skit som Corona, Miller eller Buddweister. Den har en bra beska helt enkelt! Jag vill ju inte låta som en alkoholist, men det undgår nog ingen att kommentera om den när man väl smakat!

Jag fick dessutom en gratis försäkring av staten via kammarkollegiet också. Som utbytesstudent har man den rättigheten tydligen och det är ju inget fel det. Nu slipper farsan betala för Trygghansa-försäkringen som jag annars skulle haft (Ja, han ville bjuda på den :P). 1250kr eller något liknande sparade vi in där!

På fotograferingsfronten har det inte hänt något nytt sedan de tidigare tagna bilderna. Däremot har jag bestämt mig för att köpa ett Sigma 105mm macroobjektiv via Masuda. Har kollat runt lite och det priset han kan fixa på den är sådär 10 000 yen billigare än vad det är i butik. Inte illa pinkat det inte.

I förrgår kollade jag på Watchmen och den ägde rent utsagt. 300 var helt OK, men inte så mycket mer. Men Watchmen uppskattade jag mycket mer. Riktigt stilig film med bra repliker, musik och givetvis skådespelarna. Det är inte varje dag man ser en naken datoranimerad blått skinande man gå runt på skärmen. Helt plötsligt blev jag galen i vigilante-filmer. Önskar att jag hade The Punisher också, men den får jag köpa när jag kommer tillbaks från Japan.