Testing my new camera! After having struggled for about 3 years now with cellphone cameras and a crippled Konica, I thought it was about time I finally got myself a new camera and started taking some pictures again!
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I was given some Danish-produced chocolate recently and with the chocolate came a small pamphlet explaining about Denmark and Morten Heiberg, the chocolate "designer". Also included was this Danish coin that according to the text is a "symbol of happiness" that should be carried around as an amulet and will help your wishes come true. I must admit though, that all I see is "1 krone" or about 20 yen worth of Danish money and I am somewhat sceptic of the amount of happiness that amount of cash can bring about and would definitely feel pretty silly wearing it in a necklace or stroking it for good luck.
Not me this time but my company is moving to a bigger office this weekend and we spent today packing stuff in cardboard boxes. It's goodbye to Shibuya (land of the ganguro and crazy right wingers) and hello to Ebisu (home of the beer garden and Sapporo Breweries) which is actually just next door a station away on the Yamanote line.
A couple of cold but sunfilled days concluded 2006 here in Tokyo and 2007 started in similiar fashion. Happy new year everyone!
I am on my way to Osaka and it has been SNOWING. A lot! Woohoo!
I am back in Tokyo and it's been sunny and hot until today where it suddenly started to rain. A good oppurtunity to get those last "culture shocks" out of the way! Culture shock #5: Copenhagen
This is most likely stating the obvious but it is striking how different a city Copenhagen is from Tokyo. Although Tokyo is probably one of the most exciting cities in the world to live in, Copenhagen does have a unique charm of its own not least due a large number of well-preserved old buildings like the ones seen scattered across town in the shot above.
Culture shock #6: Nature
Kanagawa had the slumbering volcano Fuji, mountain ranges and vast areas of rice fields and farms, Denenchofu (where I'm living now) has the Tamagawa river and long stretches of bicycle paths through parks and camping areas, yet there is something basically appealing about the simplicity of the greens and blues seen on display on a late summer day in Daneland.
Culture shock #7: Koldskaal
This frozen desert is indeed the nectar of the Norse Gods.
Culture shock #8: Hygge
Taken from wikipedia --> "The Danes always emphasize the danish word 'hygge'. Not an entirely unique concept but one Danes consider their own and are very proud of. This term means spending quality time with family and friends, in a relaxed atmosphere." Oh yes, we do love our "hygge", and I was glad to have time for some of that too inspite of only being in Denmark for a week!
For more pictures go ahead and look at my Denmark/Sweden photoalbum (the new pictures have been tacked on to the ones I took last year).
Culture shock #3: The sky
There are probably a billion geological and meteorological reasons for this, but the skies over here simply look different from the ones in Japan. It's hard to explain exactly in what way they are different but I think it is still quite an apparent characteristic.
Culture shock #4: TV
I've never really been a big fan of Japanese TV that for the most part makes me feel like I'm being sonically and visually beaten up, so it is quite a change to be able to watch television programs that chug along at a leisurely pace and don't chop everything to pieces with commercials.
I've been in Denmark for about a day now so maybe it's about time I listed some of the culture "shocks" of coming back. Culture shock #1: Food
Bread! Good, tasty bread that doesn't go stale in less than a day! It seems like such a simple thing but after eating so much "soft" food in Japan it is a delight to chomp into a crisp slice of rye bed with a delicious selection of toppings.
Culture shock #2: Housing
Living in a tiny box in Tokyo I am quite jealous to see the kind of apartments/houses my friends and family live in.
Yep, I'm at Narita airport for the umpteenth time. I almost feel like I've been here on more occasions than I 've been to Kastrup airport in Denmark! Inspite of the airport being less crowded than usual, the lines are unbelievably long and I suspect the cause is increased security. I can't wait to be x-rayed and getting a body-cavity search, woohoo! A guy is passing out some kind of explanation about carry-on baggage but for some reason didn't give me one. It probably says "look out for suspicious-looking Danes" or something. Anyway (such a great word for getting out of a pointless ramble) hopefully I will get to wherever this line ends before my flight leaves, exciting stuff!
I am officially graduated from Tokai University with a Master's degree from today and also officially impressed with the amount of stuff they give you on such an occasion. I mean, I even got a MEDAL like it was the olympics or something! I guess I can hardly write this entry without including the obligatory graduation shot with my professor, so here it is in all its glory:
3 and a half years of my stay in Japan has been spent at Tokai after randomly stubling across an internet posting about a scholarship in 2002 and the time has come to say goodbye to the founder Matsumae and the rest of Shonan campus. Although I will definitely miss certain parts of attending Tokai and living in Kanagawa, I am already getting used to my new lifestyle as a "salaryman" in Tokyo and am looking forward to (re)figuring out the laws of living in the urban jungle I used to live in for half a year when I first arrived in Japan.
Went to see Freesscape play live at a pub in Ebisu yesterday. First time we actually talked in person (I'm featuring their music on my website). Emi and Hiro, great people, great music.
It's REALLY early in the morning and I'm in Tsukiji near the fish market having morning sashimi with a couple of my co-workers. Exactly why I got up at 5 o'clock in the morning to eat cold fish I'm not sure but hopefully an answer will present itself once I manage to open my eyes!
Sanada, me and Adachi
Me, Fiona and Sanada
In order to gather information for a research project I am participating in with a professor from Tokai, I will have a chance to visit Denmark for a week next month! Hope to have time to see everyone who wants to see me (all 3 of you)! Here is the lowdown: 2006/10/08 13:10-17:15 Narita - Heathrow 2006/10/08 18:55-21:50 Heathrow - Copenhagen
2006/10/15 10:50-11:55 Copenhagen - Heathrow 2006/10/15 13:50-09:10 Heathrow- Narita
After almost 3 years of faithful service I've finally retired my blue Vodafone in exchange for a spanking new, knight-rider black Willcom!
Well, it's really more PC than phone which sadly also means the "phone" part of it has to some extent been neglected (it takes forever to reply to a short mail, the reputation of my previously world famous high-school girl-like speed replying skils are at stake!). However, with promises of lower calling charges and free e-mailing I simply couldn't just let a device with such a high Geek Factor pass me by. It's definitely the first phone I've owned to bear this logo:
I've fitted it with a 2gb miniSD card and am using it to play MP3s during the morning commute to work, and I've even found music composition software for it too! You can browse the internet with it and it also comes with a stylus and this really neat slide out keyboard, which comes in handy for writing blog entries when on the move:
I'm sitting by Tamagawa river reading a book after having eaten a sandwich under the sun on a lazy Sunday surrounded by people having barbecues, flying kites and playing games and realize that inspite of the numerous problems I had finding a new apartment and subsequently trying to fit my stuff within the confines of a standard Tokyo apartment, the place I've finally ended up living in isn't that bad after all. Long sentence written on cell phone: 10 points.
Another first for me: I have just returned from Tsukiji after having appeared on a TV show that will be broadcast this weekend. Of course, I mostly just sat there without saying much, but being able to say "I have been on Japanese television" without having to get arrested is fun I guess. Everyone can look forward to see me stutter my way through Japanese foreign relation-issues this Saturday night on one of TV Asahi's satellite channels.
Although my new apartment is still a mess of cardboard boxes until I can get some proper furniture in which to store stuff, I have officially left Kanagawa and moved to Denenchofu in Tokyo where I have been living for about a week now. Moving house has been just as chaotic as expected (which really only seemed fitting for a summer that has been more than hectic) and filled with little "fun" surprises, such as when during the last part of assembling a newly purchased desk, a bolt decided to pop up through the table top leaving a beautiful crater on the faux wooden surface, or arriving at a nearby supermarket I had seen from the moving truck a week earlier only to find it had closed down and I would have to look elsewhere for my groceries etc etc.
Denenchofu is supposedly the place where the rich people in Tokyo live (although I doubt many rich people would be caught dead living in my tiny box of an apartment) and I live quite close to Tamagawa river so I'm planning to get a bicycle as soon as possible and go exploring.
In other news, I went to the newly opened Ikea the other day looking for furniture, and although I didn't really buy anything interesting, I did have a chance to try out Swedish "k?ttbullar" (what's with the jam?) and stock up on Daim. Go Sweden!