Christmas in Tokyo

Christmas is a big thing here. Of course there is no real tradition for it so it is something rather modern and therefore are some funny things to find. Nevertheless, not quite different from the copy and paste food (i will report of later) i am somewhat disappointed because of the decency with which things are put up here all in all. I only heard “Last Christmas” twice. Most of the time You have dimmed down classical music or choruses chanting even very rare themes from my home country like “Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen”.
Yesterday i passed by Roppongi Hills with my love, who is staying in Tokyo at the time, and we stumbled into a Christmas Market, where you can get lots of wooden craft, sausage and kraut, and even sweet hot wine (Glühwein)! Yeah!

Anyway it really is birthday time now, as the Japanese Emperor is celebrating his on the 23rd. We took the rare occasion to enter the area of the Imperial Palace which is closed except for two days of the year and get a glance of the buildings as well as the royal family, showing up on a balcony and addressing the crowd.

Then we went on to nearby Yasukuni shrine, which in fact never has been visited by the present emperor, there we had some soba among ultra nationalists and an assembly of Yakuza, who nevertheless gathered there for that particular day.
All in all exploring Tokyo together with my girlfriend was a very exciting and romantic time. Today we will celebrate Christmas together, and from tomorrow travel to Takayama and Kyoto.






















Merry Christmas to all of You!
Kathi and Christian

Christmas Fotos

Samurais can cath a cold too....

Funny commercial from Contac...

Trade

As it seems to be the appropriate time to talk about consumption, I continue with two major trading spots in Tokyo.

Tsukiji Market Japans largest one and also one of worlds largest wholesalemarkets. But the main thing of interest there is fish. Auctions taking place there in early morning, and you can watch all steps of fish being processed. Away from the hectic tuna auctions the goods being delivered to merchants, who saw the big animals and sale pieces of several kilos weight, which move on to the sushi-stores, were they once again are sliced up into much more tinier pieces, fitting on a small rice ball now. Besides fish you can get anything which used to be living in the sea. Especially in the morning it gets very hectic and you really have to be careful about all the small pick-up-carts entering even narrowest galleries, its already difficult to pass on foot without stumbling over anything. We ended our visit with a plate of freshest sushi possible. It was delicious, but as it was early morning and also some special titbits topping the rice, it turned out to be a particular challenge. And again it was early morning!

The other one is Tokyo Stock Exchange. Again one of worlds largest as probably anyone knows. But no hectic there, as floor trade has been put down and anything is computerized now. Instead of closing everything down for public too, as the paranoiacs did in New York and Chicago, they put up a giant screen where the quotes of all major listed companies are displayed. Nowadays there are only some system maintenants working there along with agents from finance news corporations. The giantesque arrangement seemed to be rather useless, but it reminded me of those science fiction movies as well as the funny Go for it (“Zwei bärenstarke Typen”). As this place is not among major tourist spots i had my guided tour together with only one guy from the Netherlands being into commodities trading.
Very interesting tour!

All fotos on Trade!

Overall favorite Tags on Flickr!

I really was surprised when I saw this:

Japan being among the most frequently used tags on flickr, just after Wedding and together with Family, Party and Travel. So this country really seems to be very popular with travelers. I wasnt aware of that at all! Quite probably this is because it particualrily attractive for all the technic-afficiandos which are certainly overrepresanted on flickr...

Melons for 60Euros each – Costs in Japan

I went to Japan somehow anxious about the high prices, i have heard of. Tokyo is said to have been worlds most espensive city up to 2005 now being the second to next.
But as soon as i got here I got more relaxed. Thanks to a strong Euro together with a weak Yen (different interest rates along with a weak dollar the Yen is tied to) the widespread horror stories are definitely outdated today (for Europeans at least...)

In fact there are some things that are really expensive here, especially in Tokyo:

1. Housing (this applies definitely to Tokyo, this is also why so many people taking daily rides of 1h and more).
2. Riding the Shinkansen (Taking the local trains or rapid ones is cheap, but as you have to get along with distances quite often, so you will want to get on a limited express or the said Shinkansen and a seat reservation there doubles resp. tripples the price).
3. Fruits and vegetables: The melons are still expensive, and a single apple costs around laughable 1,5 Euros. But it is possible to get around that somehow. Tangerines (what a stupid word for Mandarinen!) and Banans are ok. Replace lettuce with soy sprouts and it is ok too.
   

But just like the mentioned points above, the real costs are not about about what you need, but what you can get.
This city is defintely a shopping mekka! I always wondered about all the people relating Tokyo to shopping (and consumption in a more general speaking). The point is there is an endless variety of stuff. You can get the cheapest (all the 100Yen shops), you can get the most luxuriest (Ginza), as well as the most kinky (Akihabara, Harajuku) and of course all the traditional (Asakusa) stuff. And you get what you have paid for practically all the time.
Myself surely being far away from a shopping junkie, the more i see, the more difficult for me it gets to set back. Never experienced such a situation in all my life so far...!
Fitting topic for Christmas approaching somehow...

Hakone – Fujispotting and Leaves Hunt

After several weeks in central Tokyo it was definitely time for me to get out and experience some nature. So i took the Romancecar last Sunday and went over to Hakone, just at the border of the Kanto plain. As it was the right time, weather was promising and it was the last day of a long weekend, this japanese tourism hotspot par excellence was crowded just like back at Shinjuku station where I started my trip.
At Hakone Yumoto, I had to change for the Tozan small railway up to Gora, a way which is said to be scenic, but as it was just like metro at rushhour i couldnt get much of the scenery.

Up there, i had to change two more times, first for the Tozan Cable Car, then for the Hakone Ropeway. Just a fine variety of means of transportation i had there! When the Ropeway made it over the final ridge up to Owakudani, the reason why this spot attracted hordes of visitors became evident as the Fuji was raising in front of a bright autumn sky!
What an impressive view!

But Owakudani is an attraction by itself, as the mountain crest is covered with sulphuric hotsprings and steam fuming out of the rugged ground. Unfortunately the nature-trail leading right through the moonlike landscape was closed down by the time, so i had to content myself watching it from some distance. Furthermore Owakudani also has its culinary speciality, that is black eggs, which are boiled in pools of the said hotsprings, giving them a dark colour thanks to a chemical reaction.

By then i definitely had to escape from the crowds and make my way down to lake Ashi along a hiking trail, leading through a forest in full autumnal decoration. It is momijigari season, the time Japanese are hunting for turned red leaves and its considered to be just the autumn equivalent of cherry blossom, well covered in weather reports. And in fact, besides the famous radiant red you have all kinds of different colours.
After stopping at a temple and a tea house, both well hidden in the forest i got to the lakeshore of Togendai from where i took the megakitschy pirateboat ferry down to Hakone-machi, which is once again offering great views of the Fuji. Down there is the reconstruction of Edo-period Hakone Checkpoint, one of many posts serving to collect taxes on goods arriving form outside Edo as well keeping the few female inhabitants of the city inside (and therefore the daimyos loyal?). From there I walked over to Moto Hakone with its famous Shrine.

That's where I decided, to stay overnight as i definitely wanted to hike a little bit more and soak in an onsen without being worried about getting the last connection back home. So I stayed at Moto Hakone Guesthouse (Just a walk form the lakeshore up to Ashinokomae bus station, (0460-3-7880), where i got a small but cosy room for the night.
After having spent the evening at the great Mori no Yu, I got up early the next day and made my way back to Yumoto along the Stone Paved Edo Time Highway, going down from the vulcanic heights along a scenic valley. Back at Yumoto i dipped once more into an onsen pool at the rustic Kappa Tengoku, before finally returning to Tokyo.

All Hakone fotos!

In the ropeway up to Owakudani

Sayonara Sobu-Line...!

In the meantime I moved to central Tokyo. From the tiny suburb mansions to modern several storeys high buildings (I live at the 5th floor now, getting a great view of Shinjuku...). Going to school by bicycle rather then by train, it takes laughable 15 minutes now to get there. Furthermore, there is no more temple gong in the morning, but much sharper church bells, and in the evening no more factory-pipes fluting from the distance but drive-by-promotional-enchantments (“Gyooooza yasuiiii....!”). And between the traditional restaurants, sake bars and workshops nestled along the main street, there is some american style coffee shop or a french bakery to find here and there.

Nonetheless Akebonobashi is a mainly residential area, my room is oriented away from the main street and its quite calm, not what i expected from living in Tokyo at least (Traffic here is just not what you are used to in big cities in the west). But it is not only the outside that has changed. I share the apartment with three people, who are all nice, and we are doing much things together, talking, cooking, going out. But no more of the hospitality of my former hosts, who I liked a lot, and who I really miss. Being on my own now meaning also preparing my own food, shopping (trying to find all the good things i simply ate and drank so far), doing my laundry and putting out the garbage (one of the few things i really think is unnecessarily complicated here).
And all these things work just a little bit different, but that's the fun finding out how...!

More Fotos of Akebonbashi...
Now I have Videos too!

Farewell Sushi in Hamano

So what about school...

GEOS Kudan (just smile, my dear colleagues, this one happens to be quite a big language school chain) is located in central Tokyo, just a 10 minutes walk from the imperial palace. It belongs to Chioyda business district, but it is not really downtown, the big business places are located in the southeast (Otemachi, Ginza) or even farther off in Shinkuku. Besides the offices present here, you have a lot of universities around, and the lower part of yasukuni-dori (avenue) is full of bookstores.
First school day, was like total chaos! There was the placement-list for all the newcomers, the names written in katakana (the syllable-script for foreign words. No problem writing, but try to find your name on such a list. Furthermore they use forenames, so I had to look twice anyway...). Class started at 13:30 after a short self-introduction by everyone with the teacher just talking rapidly in japanese and – oh my goodness – the students just responding in japanese in a relaxed manner. While i didn't understand anything!
In fact class is held in japanese only. So new vocabulary is described with (mostly) more basic words. This is an overall characteristics of teaching here, things are not explained but shown (in a more or less transparent way). That applies to the structure of exercises as well. With some it took my over 2 weeks to figure out, how they really work (Especially those with pictures only, leaving you just wondering what they are supposed to mean already).
The level of the course I am in, is quite challenging for me, it is at about the level of the university course i took in Austria. But it is much more relaxed and fun, and there is a lot of interaction. Not only plain grammar repetition. After all I am quite positively surprised.
A propos repetition, yes, you have that kind of jointly reading aloud texts, fortunately only for some short times during the whole week.
One more thing: School is crowded, like most places in Tokyo, there is not much space. Classrooms are mall and 15 people fill it up quite well. During the breaks you can stay either in the classroom or in the hallway, where it is crowded. So most of the time I join smokers in the closet (smoking second hand). This is just the only place where you need not constantly give way for someone passing by.

Food

The Japanese word for meal is “Gohan” literally meaning boiled rice.
And boiled rice is just what you get all day long. Boiled rice in the morning ("asa-gohan"), boiled rice at noon ("hiro-gohan") and yes! boiled rice in the evening ("ban-gohan").
But that doesn't at all mean it is bad! It's the opposite! Rice is just the best thing to get you fed. And if it might sound strange to have rice accompanying spaghetti with sauce, it just does what it has to do. And you'll never experience that strange feeling of not being satisfied after having eat.

In fact, back then at Hachigome (Dewa-Sanzan), as season was low, all i got for dinner were two small pieces of onigiri (rice-sandwich, left). Normally these are filled with fish or something alike. But those only contained a single sour cherry. And I really worried, how I would make it through the evening only having eat those two tiny pieces.
But it lasted. And not a second I wasted a thought on getting more somehow.

Of course there is much much more than that, and especially in Tokyo you can get everything! One popular all days long food is noodle soup (“ramen”, “udon”, “soba”), you can find it just everywhere in this country! But it doesn't need to be a traditional dish. In the supermarket you can get yummie things too, like a soba-sandwich....

Beans and Rice!

During the weekend I went to Chiba City, to see what it's like. Being not that tourist-mekka, Chiba has its sights, such as Chiba-Castle, a zoo and the Port Tower, all of these linked by Chiba Urban Monorail, worlds longest suspension type monorail. Most of the day i spent at the port area, which is one of the largest in all of Japan. Just some minutes walk from Minato Station there's a small piece of green in midst the never to end industrial architecture spreading along the eastern coastline!

Just at the waterfront of this recreational area, there is the port-tower, a slender building of 112m height. Still not totally gotten used to outdoor background music, i stood in its shadow amazed and listened to jazzo-electrified popsongs (something that met my liking at last). I went it up of course, trying not to mind looking down 112 meters through a translucent glass- and steel construction. But you also have a great view over all the vast commercial area, up to Tokyo where buildings slowly disappear in the fume. Ships coming in and going out again, waking some wanderlust in me just at the other end of this beautiful earth.

Outside people were taking advantage of the accessible waterfront. At a small renaturalised bay surrounded by a factory- and silo-landscape, people were relaxing, surfing, fishing crabs (leaving aside the flying fish, which are lots of fun to watch) and looking for seashells (me too!). Still not having had enough of industrial coastline, i went on a boat, that did the port tour, allowing me to experience the view from the seaside.

I went back again by the monorail, stopping at Chiba Park to relax a bit, before continuing to the city center to experience Chiba after nightfall. In fact, by then the scenery totally changed. And daytime-commuters giving way to a more younger townsfolk looking for entertainment. Finally I let myself convince once more by some crazy background outdoor free jazz, to look for the place where they had that. But in vain. All in all I had quite a hard time getting a simple drink! That's because on ground floor, there are mostly shops. Clubs and bars, are on higher floors, so no strolling by, checking if the place is what you're up to right now. Instead there are panels in front of the elevators, turning out to be totally undecipherable for me, including signs saying pub, while the place turning out to offer some slightly different kind of leisure. I got my beer at last. In a restaurant.
Link to the Foto-Map (Thanks go to Thomas here!)

Best of falling asleep in a train (respectively in public)...

1)Man dozing off while unfolding a peace of paper.
2)Woman sleeping while on an escalator.
3)Girl satnding sleeps while holding herself up on a grab handle.
4)Girl fallen asleep while typing a message.
To be continued...

Those who are not reading or utilizing their mobile-whatsoever in the wagon are asleep. And that is about 50% of the passengers.
At first i found that really funny, how people managed to sleep in the most inconvenient positions you can imagine.
And I wondered how so many people could burden themselves with de facto no-quality rest. But after some days of commuting I now understand why.
Going for 1 ½ hour by train just drains your brain.
After about 60 minutes I just don't want to read any more.
Nothing at all!
And despite just not being able to, i realize getting near the point just dozing off too. And most of the time I arrive at school feeling like have been hit on the head by a stone.

Hamano. Satellite View

The distinctive coastline is shaped by land reclamation programs started in the sixties.

Chiba City Blues

Literally not a just title I am borrowing here. As Chiba City is rather far away and it takes about 20 minutes to get there.
The town I am living at is Hamano, still part of the never seeming to end agglomeration of Greater Tokyo Area, inhabiting around 35 million people (it's 20 more minutes by car farther south that urban area finally ends).
Despite its name (Hamano meaning “seaside fields”) you never see Tokyo Bay from anywhere here, as heavy industry, which Chiba prefecture is known for, is spreading down along the seaside and entering is prohibited (i tried to).
But just like of the nearby coastline, you never notice anything of all these kind of plants, power-, petrochemical-, what so ever, at the house where I stay.
It is situated in midst of a nice residential area, a shrine or workshop here and there, some traditional restaurants, as well as your “conbini”(-ent store) just around the corner. The hosts are incredibly friendly people and I like them really much. Of course there are these rules you have to stick to, but as we (there are more guests) are staying in a separate building, there is at about enough privacy and yes! there's space too!
The traditional room I live in might have 15-20m², opening up to a small garden with tiny crooked trees, full with strange fruits that are only not edible (probably for the best).
You might think you are living in a small town just like anywhere in Japan.
And a swift ride by train is probably the best cure from such delusions!
It takes about 90 minutes to get to school, but only if you get the rapid train, which in fact is quite popular among commuters, meaning you won't sit down for most of the ride. (It's crowded just all the time. From 11:00 to 16:00 it might be, let's say, less crowded.)
Of course there are the local trains too.
So enjoy reading a book during 1h45. Or find out why all the mobile gadgetry packed with the latest killer application, just no one cares for back home, is such a big thing over here!

Only that a plain tourist visa exempts you from the merits of postpaid-service. So no mobile plugging into the net for you, cowboy! (In fact I know quite a few people who didn't manage to get a mobile phone at all).
Another funny thing about commuting 90 minutes in one direction, is that the worlds best working public transport system situated in the worlds largest metropolitan area simply stops at about midnight. So when you go out make sure to head home at 22:30 at the latest, or otherwise be prepared to stay up all night. Much time to spend at home therefore!
Despite my hosts having put up a WLAN router, i hoped if not mobile so i could simply connect to the internet, without having to walk over to the noisy entertainment-center. But the thing just didn't work. Flatline! Eventually I spent two further weeks without permanent internet-connection, experiencing just how dependent on it one is today. Dependent, as it actually fullfils a purpose. But I tell you, this was cold turkey!
No skypeing with my girlfriend, no news, no getting organized on a more than basic level, checking train connections, anything...!
By now its fine. No more hanging around at strange manga-shops, or slipping onto the next seat released at school, to check emails and occasionally write one...
Junkie-time definitely is over!

Zao Onsen – Crater lake and Rotemburo

I arrived at Yamagata-city totally exhausted. Despite the assistance from the tourist office I didn't manage to find the hotel recommend in my wise book, so i stumbled into the next not to stylish looking business hotel just outside Yamagata station to the left, which called itself plainly “bizinesu hoteru”.
Having slept quite well i took an early bus up to Sao Onsen, a renowned ski and hiking resort, where i would allow myself 2 days of relaxation. I stayed at “Minshuku Boku no uchi” (Tel. 023-694-9542, literally meaning “my home”, which turned out to be a great name to earn surprised reactions, when being asked where i stayed.)

Zao Onsen offers two main attractions for visitors during this season: The first one is Okama, a crater lake in midst of a reddish moonlike mountain scape. As I definitely have had enough of exhausting hikes i eased my way up there by taking the ropeway, so i only had more or less to follow the the chine to access a spectacular view. Just like at home, people here use to greet each other on mountains, and as during these days mountains were about as crowded as Tokyo subway is at rush hour, i soon felt like a supermarket cashier.
Put the view payed it all back! In fact the crater housing Okama lake, is only one of several craters. The sichle-shaped chine you walk around, while looking down to Okama, seams to be itself formed by volcanic activity.

Apropos energy from beneath the earth, Zao Onsen's other attraction is its hot springs (“Onsen” actually meaning hot spring, therefore Zao Onsen means nothing other than “Zao Spa”). The characteristic sulfuric smell welcomes you as soon as you get out of the bus up there, and you only stop to dislike it as soon as you slide into the hot water of a rotemburo (open air basin). Despite the long way up from the village-center (my legs still ached from the day before) i preferred the Dai-rotemburo, which might be the more basic one, but which offers the most natural beauty.
So there i really found much needed relaxation before returning to the hectic metropolis of Tokyo.

Dewa Sanzan II - Don't try this at home: Climbing up Gas-san in bad weather

I didn't get too much sleep that night as the said wind, howling over the roof. As i opened the shutter to peer into morning light i was quite disturbed seeing no more than a light grey flatness. The shukubo was covered by clouds piling up at Gas-San and it rained from time to time. I was quite undecided what to do. There was no more bus for Tsuruoka and the weather really looked bad, despite the forecast reporting about good weather today.

So i waited for nearly three hours, but nothing changed, it even got worse. I could have called a Taxi, but that would have cost me around 100€ and i would go the opposite direction i wanted to go. So finally I decided for going over the mountain top. As the people at the shukubo didn't try to hold me back, i thought to myself, it will be ok.
But it got hard.

I lacked the appropriate equipment, especially boots and trousers, which would have been no great trouble, if weather had been better. But it started to rain again just 10 minutes after i had put on my backpack weighing around 10kgs and settled off. My jeans soon got soaked and the nice wooden planks, changed to a stone path even worse than the steps the day before. Sight was about 5-10 meters at the best.The higher up I came, the stronger the wind got, and it went cold. Balancing on the stones which were itchy and wet, i more than once nearly got knocked down by sudden blasts. The only thing preventing me from turning back were some other guys who went up too. Their equipment was much better than mine, only none of them seemed to care for their heads, as they didn't use theirg hoods, or anything, one of them wore a baseball-cap.

After two hours walking at a military pace (official walking time: 3hours for 5km and 600m height difference) i reached the mountain top, on which there is Gas-san jinja (Gas-san shrine). This one was closed as had been all the other huts on my way up (strange thing buildings suddenly taking shape out of grey nothing). At least i found shelter behind the walls surrounding the shrine. I was exhausted and hungry, but i had nothing to eat, so i went on down the other side, towards Yudono-San, the third mountain, which you luckily simply pass by descending. At noon rain finally stopped and after about one hour later i got beneath the clouds, offering less winds and higher temperature. On the way to Yudono-san Jinja (shrine) a small river went along the path, but as i already got used to balancing over slippery rocks this was no major obstacle for me. But i realised i steadily got weaker, and lost security of my step. Finally i went down some ladders (slippery too) after which i got to Yudono jinja and finally got some rest.

Yudono jinja is not a building like the other shrines but an about 3 meter high orange rock, from which a hotspring is pouring down. To worship it, you first receive a blessing by the priest, rub yourself with sacred paper, then you may walk it up along the warm well. Leaving, there is put up a small basin where you can soak your feet in the hot spring's water, which i did just gladly, before descending farther to Yudono-san hotel, which i thought to stay at, without having seen it. But as they charged 8500 Yen for a night in this run down concrete block dating probably from the 60ies, i decided to go to Yamagata-town directly, despite being totally exhausted.

Dewa Sanzan I - Haguro San

The next day i got up early and went to the Tsuruoka tourist office, where i got all the information I needed. The nice clerk even made the reservation for me at Hachigome Shukubo (Temple Lodge at "Eight Station" on the way up to Gas-san (Information, tel. 090-3022-1191)). So this was my plan: I would go from Tsuruoka to Haguro-Town by bus then hike up Haguro. As business would close down on the same day around Gas-san, i were lucky to take the last bus to Hachigome, where i could stay for the night and the next day proceed up to Gas-san and farther on to Yudono-san, from there continuing to Yamagata-city. So i would have to carry all my lugage with me.

After a short ride I got to Haguro-town, where you just turn left, to get on the path up to the peak. Haguro-San is the lowest of three sacred mountains. Pilgrimage there was established by Prince Hashiko in 594 AD, who practiced ascetism there. The three peaks have ever since been related with the idea of unity between shintoism and buddhism (shinto-deities are understood as incarnations of buddha), which was in fact the offical doctrine during Edo-Period. So just after the start of the path, i perished in a dense forest of tall cedar trees. The trail itself consist mainly of some 2000 stonesteps. Unfortunately these steps are not made for contemporary europeans feet, so i had to decide either going up there on my toes, or otherwise do it telemach-style. I decided for the latter.
On the way up, you pass by many shrines and also a 1000 year old Pagoda (that you normaly only find next to buddhist temples), as well as a 1400 year old cedar. After about 2/3ds of the way up there is a traditional teahouse where i stopped to have some matcha (powderised green tea) and enjoyed the plains stretching out at the feet of Haguro-San. You also get your certificate of achievement there, proving that you did all the way up on your own.

After the teahouse it's only a short hike, then the path ends just next to Sanjin-Gossiden, a tall red shrine, housing all three gods of the mountains. It is the main building in a vast complex of shrines, lodges, a museum, including some souvenir-shops that also serve soba (noodle soup).
I got the before mentioned bus that went up to Gas-san eight Station this season, meaning also that i definitely had to go on to Yamagata, as there was no returning to Tsuruoka by public transport within this year. The bus winded up its way up to Hachigome, where i went directly to the shukubo, which was a basic mountain hut just next to a shrine. I seemed - once again - to be the last guest this season as i shared the large loft just under the roof with no one (which was a creepy experience, when cold autumn wind howls outside). As there was some time left of the day, i was strolling a little bit around, impressed by the view, following wooden pathways, to whichs sides laid marsh-ponds, and i was just glad having weather on my side.

See all Fotos here!

From Aizu to Tsuruoka

The same day I went to Tsuruoka, which i read was the best stay on my way to Dewa Sanzan, the three sacred mountains: Haguro-San, Gas-San and Yudono-San, each holding a Shinto-Shrine.

I reserved a room at Nara Ryokan in Tsuruoka (down the main street away from the station, tel. 0235-22-1202) with simple tatami beds and western style bathrooms and a very kind landlady.

To get there i had to change trains at Niigata a middle sized town at the japanese sea.Having stayed on Honshu for some days now, i hoped to get to the seaside and taste some fresh fish. Unfortunately, i didnt come farther than to Shianano river delta, when it became already time to return and not miss my train.Still thinking the european way, i thought, where there is a nice view and good atmosphere, there must be some restaurant or at least a tea- or coffehouse. But the only thing that caught my eye was a big convention center. There, i said to myself, there i must get something to eat.

In vain.

Actually there where some buisiness folks sitting around tables on a beautiful terrace, but what they were drinking from, were oneway bottles and they had brought their bento with them.
Quite disappointed i went back out the the roadside, passing by a big storage hall.And thats where i noticed some flags with the character for fish. So just out of curiosity i stumbled into the open hall, where my eyes instantly got caught by the view of a large grill and tasty seafood roasting over burning wood. But they would only sell it starting from four o'clock, when i would be already continuing for Tsuruoka.

Now having the delicious goods right under my nose, i simply couldnt turn around and go away. So i told them my situation and begged them to make an excemption. They did. And luckily I carried my catch back to the Shinano where I had my lunch, just the way i had hoped it to be.

Aizu Matsuri - Festival

This is the festival to celebrate the beginning of autumn as well as rice harvest season. During three days there were celebrations all day long of witch i visited the evenening lantern parade and the Bandai dancers as well as the samurai procession the next morning.
In the evening events took place in the towncenter where the main road was blocked for circulation. I came early so to see how things would develop.


First of all, no alcohol anywhere! Instead the sidewalk was rowed with stands offering, diverse specialties, like Tako-Yaki, which is some sort of Knoedel made out of octopus. Look here how its made!
So first came the pupils, who were each carrying a lanteren, then the street was open to the bandai dancers. The most impressing thing wasnt the opulence of costumes, but the sheer mass of performers! I didnt manage to count the children, but I estimated the dancers to be a 1000 at the very least (locals told me it was much more!) So there where nearly as many people involved in the dance, than where standing by watching. Perfomers not only came from diverese clubs engaged in some cultural activity but also from local companies, who seemed to have kindly invited their employees to join the celebration.
What they did, was dancing around a main stand at the central crossing of the road, filling it up from one end to the other (about 1km). They where accompanied by the repeated enchantement of a female voice (which i first thought to be playback), who continued to chant for at least three hours long without pause. A really dionysic feast that was and you could feel a rise of temper just without any alcohol, people on the sidewalk gradually joining the dance as the evening advanced.

The next morning, there was a troop gathering at Tsuruga-Choo. Again there where several hundred people involved, wearing different samurai-costumes. They were welcomed by a assembly of the daimyo and other high rank warriors. During the day, they would make their way from the castle, again through the city center. I only watched the gathering, as I had to catch the train to Niigata, to go on to the three sacred mountains of Dewa Sanzan.

You can find the complete album of the Festival here!

Aizu Wakamatsu - Last Samurai Experience

So as troubles with getting internet access continue, I report a little bit delayed.

I went from Tokio to Koriyama with the Tohoku-Shinkansen Line and then by the local train passing many rice field as well as Bandai-San on to Aizu Wakamatsu. This one turned out to be a rather unimpressing middle sized town. I stayed at Hotel Alpha-1, one of these frequent buisness hotel-blocks you can see near every train-station in Japan (Tel. 0242-326868). In fact it was a convenient place, staff was very nice, and as i got a room in the 10th floor I could overlook the whole town, Tsuruga-Choo, as well as the mountains surrounding the town.
From the hotel the street leading to the town center is Dr. Noguchi-Street, which I started to like only after having it walked up and down at least twice. Because during the day local buisinessman came to the strange idea filling this narrow road inhabiting shops and soup-kitchens with music might raise the attracivity of this street (at least it was some turned down classical music!). Thing which reminded me a lot of Sugar Creek in Ohio, but in fact this turned out to be very common in Japan.

But Aizu has more to offer, in fact it has some very nice sights. So the next day i borrowed a bicycle from the hotel (which was free) and experienced the bike-friendliness of japanese circulation. It was perfect to reach the monuments.
Aizu-Wakamatsu has some historical background, which still lives on in the spirit of todays people (at least locals like to tell you that).
So when 1868 Emporer Meiji reclaimed power this lead to Boshin Civil war, in which he had to fight against ruling Tokugawa-Shogunate. And Matsudaira Katamori, head of the Aizu clan stayed loyal to shogun Tokugawa, opposing the emporer. In fact the Aizu where the very last to fight on against Meiji rule.
When Tsuruga-Choo was attacked by imperial forces and burnt down, a group of young samurai known as the Shiroi-Byakkutai (White Tigers) commited collective suicide, thinking their cause was finally lost. In fact the war continued on for about a month... (oops!). Anyway this tragic story is very popular in Japan. When I arrived on top of the mouintain a young woman reenacted the story. Also on the mountain, the graveyard of the dead samurai, as well as Sazae-Doo.
Not far from Imoriyama is the rebuilt residence of Aizu Bukeyashiki, displaying the composition of the daimyos estate. A little farther up the hill is another graveyard, where the members of the Aizu-Clan are buried. In fact all of the hill seems to consist of graves making a rather spooky hike.
On my way back I stopped at Oyaku-En, a meditational garden at the townborder of Aizu to relax a bit.

Tokyo --> Aizu

I now left Tokyo for Aizu Wakamatsu a small town in the northeast. There will be a matsuri (traditional celebration) this weekend. I enjoy it very much here, I liked Tokyo too, but it was a somewhat hectic in the end (i finally experienced a subwayride during rush-hour), so this is the real holidays that starts now.
I managed to find a place providing acces internet (which was rather hard) and uploaded some fotos!
More infos will follow.

Tokyo-Gagaga?

I Finally arrived. After so many weeks of preparation...

But despite many things here on the other end of this world are turned upside down like circulation, maps and so, and most people think I am American, and are suprised beeing talked to in Japanese, things are going very fine.

Okay, BA lost ma bagage, but they promised to deliver it directly to my school, so i will be spared the dirty work.

I am now at a Hotel in Ueno, a very nice place with a lot of tiny houses hosting noumerous workshops, people sitting on the pavement, a very relaxed atmosphere here, which I didnt expect at all.

Saying Good Bye!

Less than 24 hours before lift off!

I somehow managed to finish all preparations by now.
So in principle I could start right off .
Nervositiy augments again, but I'm far away from the peak (at least I hope so).

I said good bye most of my people, family, friends, collegues...
Only my girlfriend now, who is still present.
But within some hours I will have to say good bye even to her.
That hurts!
It hurts to have to say good bye to folks, even when I am so glad to actually engage in this journey. Which I will do alone, leaving every other behind (if I may say so... But that's what it feels like) and thereby loosing all security!

Euch allen viele Liebe Grüße und eine gute Zeit bis wir uns Wiedersehen!

What I'm up to....

Going to Japan, that is!
I got my sabbatical leave of 6 months which I will spend most of the time on the island of the rising sun.
I'll attend a language school in Tokyo.
Before returning home I hope to travel somewhat around, in any case stopping by in Ottawa visiting my grilfriend there.

But for now it's going east!
I will arrive at Tokyo 19th of september. My intention is to stay there for two days, then travelling up wrongfully neglected Tôhoku (Northern Honschu). One destination will be Aizu Wakamatsu.
The beaten track including Kyoto and Nara I'll probably take up later on during my stay.

29th of september I'll move to a host family. Course will start 1st of october.
So that's the plan so far....


Here an updated To Do-List

Travel Preparations

• Writing down and memorizing graphic characters of locations I will visit. --> DONE!
• Buying O-miyage (small presents) for host & others. --> DONE!
• Make reservation for a room in Tokyo. --> DONE!
• Asking for fees for a change in booking for my flight (so i can go to canada). --> DONE!
• Buy a train ticket. --> DONE!
  

Insurance & Medical Matters

• Take out a foreign health insurance --> DONE!
  
• Vaxxination --> DONE! (except Typhus)
• Collect Information about travel isurance --> DONE!
• Filled out insurance-form in casd of emergency return --> DONE!
  
• Visiting a dentist. --> WILL
• Visiting a physician. --> WONT
  

Job & Educational stuff

• Looking for the right language school --> DONE!
• Try to get an arrangement with my employer. --> DONE!
  

Finance & Money

• Opening a savings account. --> DONE!
  
• Put back some money --> DONE! (hehe...)

Now it's set!

I finally applied for a language course!

The school I chose is GEOS Kudan, who I have already been in contact with.
The nice contact is one main reason I chose them. Responses have always been rather swift, and they tried their best to help me with my questions.
Furthermore, the price is reasonable (150.000 JPY/term) and they are located not far from the emperors palace, so i hope it will be situated nicely. (In fact it seems to be quite near the (at least internationally) disputed Yasukuni Shrine, so I'll probably be right at the focus of controversy about japanese history).
Lastly, they will organize homestay at a reasonable price either. (By the way, there's a worldwide homestay marketplace online too....)

Anyway, the last few schools I wrote to, didn't reply at all (except one), so it seems to be silly season in Japan too. Actually I'm rather curious how the school will turn out to be.

Have to clear out my appart now, as I'll move out by september 1st.
Ahh, getting rid off all the piled up stuff, that'll be purifiying!

Directly into latest news.....

So i have been working through about hundrets of Tokyo-based language schools, which are more or less very similar. What I'm disappointed of, i found no new ones that organise homestay. So the choice here's quite hard limited down to the three or four Institutes I have been envisaging from the beginning on.
Another thing that astonishes are rather flat tuition fees, which never leave the range between 150.000JPY and 220.000JPY for a term, everything included.
So now I included some more contacts which I think are good picks, for the one or another reason. See the list below:

LABO Japanese Language Institute
focused on "cultural exchange", has severeal language foreign langugae courses, so no Ghetto, about 140.000JPY/3months. No Infos on accomod.
Located:Shinjuku

Tokyo Central Japanese Language School
Includes Teacher-Education, nothing on accomodiation. Course 44.000JPY/month
Located: Shibuya (near Shinjuku, Yoyogi Park)

Tokyo Riverside School
Fall-Term fpr 175.000JPY, no infos on accomodiation
Located:Taito (Ueno, Asakusa, really just at the riverside)

AN Language School
Nice site, only to mention its-"Learner-Based" System, price is 150000/3mon
Located:Toshima (Ikebukuro)

Tokyo Shibaura Institute of foreign Language
No Short-Courses, perhaps on request.
Located:Minato (directly at the harbour!)

Shurin Japanese School
Nice Site, 150.000JPY/term, school-owned dorm, no further infos, Jap.-Teacher education.
Located:Koto (East)

Language Course Research

I'll have to force my search for an aprropriate language school now.
I took me somer time to find it again, but here it is:

Association for the Promotion of Japanese Language Education

The have a list of all the schools over there, included a search by conditions (such as area and price).
So 'ill have to work through it now the upcoming days.

MAPS

Another thing relevant for choosing the rigt school: its location in Tokyo.
Here some links to maps
Tokyo City Map (at japaneselivestyle.com)
Tokyo Special Wards Map (TravelWiki)
Tokyo 23 Wards Map (J-accomodiation)


So long.

Preparatory News!

As the project is official now, i'll step out of the shadows!

The bosses have been granting me the leave without any problems. I'm quite pleasently surprised!

Starting date will be the 18th of september 2007, i'll return at the end of march 2008.

I even booked the flight already. After a little dispute with the travel agency, i got the there and back ticket for laughable 600€s.
Next step will now be selecting an appropiate language school. But that shouldnt turn out to be too much a hassle, since the correspondance i had so far is quite positiv.
The final unknown so far: should I try to apply for a pre-college visa or not. If so i will have to book a course for 6months at once, meaning augmenting fixed costs: Visa assistance by the school is extra. 1300€ plus.
The consulate told me, i could stay for 6months visa free, only thing required: alien registration as late as 90 days after arrival, followed by extension for another 90.
Let's see...

What's my motivation?

Basicly I wanted to learn one more langugage and live in another contry for some time. Only this time something more different than my stay in Switzerland (which has been rather nice after all).
From the beginnig on my choice has been either an eastern european or an asian country. While the first would have been much more easier to realize and also lucrative of some sort (regarding EUs eastward expansion) my decision fell on the latter.
That is because I wanted getting to know a really different kind of lifestyle and culture, which wouldnt be the case in an european county (who are all very much alike in the end).
So my preferred options narrowed very quickly to either Japan or China. That's based on my fascination for the grafic characters used both in chinese as well as the japanese writen language.
Besides at the final stage of my studies i rather accidently attended a university-course on chinese philosophy, which let my interest grow once more.
Finally I have already been training Iaido (Art of the Sword) for quite some time, so one more thing to make up my mind.
Besides Iaido it's my personal fascination for Japan, which has always been in the background of my perception during early youth, though always present.
There are the well known Cartoons made for European Television, as well as the expanding economy, which made the country in the news (about as much as China today), Tokyo as of beeing some kind of city of the future, where they are already building robots and at the other hand the land where there were samurais: at once a culture beeing in the midst of modern times but at the other hand rooted in a cultural background, which is totally different (That word defintily occurs a lot!) from mine.
So my final decision on focusing on Japan is not really rational, but more rooted in curiousness.

No Yuippie!!!-Now-Me-Too-Im-Writing-A-Blog-Stopping-At-Once-After-
Two-Or-Three-More-Posts-rubbish here!
Practical stuff is to be put here!

What I'm up to (aka My preperations for going to Japan)

Job & Educational stuff

• Looking for a language school
• Try to get an arrangement with my employer.
• Looking for possibilities for jobbing in Japan (Including getting in contact with the chamber of commerce, putting my profile online)

Insurance Matters

• Collect Information about travel isurance
• Get in contact with employment agency (so they wonct cut my claims by wangling interpretations: i paid my dues).
• What help can really be expected from the visa travel insurance?
  

Finance & Money

• Opening a savings account.
• Put back some money (naturally!).
  

Health

• Vaxxination.
• Visiting a physician for preventive examination of health.
• Visiting a dentist for preventive examination of teeth.

I know Im little bit pendantic.