Thursday, 28 June 2012

Shinme

I forgot about something. Last week I got to do 'shodo' (Japanese calligraphy). The hostal organized for a 'shodo-sensei' to come and teach us how to write our names in japanese calligraphy. I told them the meaning of my name in Japanese is Shinme (jeune pouce verte, young green shoot) so I asked them to teach me how to write Shinme, which they did, herewith the result:
It was a lot of fun, but pretty hard. I'd like to do it again...

Hiking on Takao-san

On Thursday, I went to Takaosanguchi with Slovak/German guy to do some hiking on Takao-san (mount Takao). We got to Takaosanguchi at arround 12h30 and started the route at around 13h, after taking a few pictures at the starting point:






And then we started the walk:

 
The surroundings and the walk were both beautiful. The weather was perfect because it wasn't to cold nor too hot on the way up.

 Half way to the top we had a view point but unfortunately the sky wasn't as clear as what we'd wished for...



Unfortunately, it was a little misty so we didn't get to see Fuji-san from the top of Takao-san. It got a little chillier on our way down, but nothing a sweater couldn't solve. 
 Below picture is not just a river, that small river is the route down. We were 'jumping from one stone to the other trying to avoid getting wet feet since neither of us really had the appropriate 'gear' (as you'll notice on above picture) for this route, but we managed anyways. It wasn't to hard of a route.


 Below you can see a small shrine we met on our way down. Unfortunately it was already closed by the time we reached it.
 We took a different route on the way down that on the way up (there are 7 routes on mount Takao). Below picture was taken on our way down and the horizon line of the picture is the route we used to go up. There is however a cable car as well to get to the top of the mount.
 It was fantastic day and I really enjoyed the walk. After that we took the train back to Tokyo (about 1h30 to get to Tokyo) and had dinner together as it was Matus (Slovak/German guy) last night in Japan. He's leaving this evening to Thailand to continue his trip for one more week. I'll say goodbye for today, as it's lunch time and Matus might drop by soon to say goodbye.

Do not hesitate to leave a comment or send me a mail to say hi. Byebye

Ghibli museum, Language exchange, belgian supper...

On Monday and Tuesday I got a little sick and took it easy. I didn't do anything special except rest, spend time with some friends around here, talk, walk around Asakusa, ... On Wednesday I already felt better which was a good thing because I had a busy day planned and I was able to stick to it :-)
In the morning I met with Slovak/German guy who by now had changed hostels. We went together to the Ghibli museum (a museum featuring the Japanese anime work of Studio Ghibli) in Mitaka. It was great! Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures inside but pictures would probably ruin the whole surprise effect. Herewith some pictures from the outside at least:

 The facade of the building from the entrance.
 View from the 2nd floor (equivalent to our 1st floor as the Japanese 1st floor is actually the ground floor).
 This is actually the roof of the museum. A roof garden, I love those!
 Still on the roof of the museum.





Totoro welcoming us to the museum. The building is really nice, but the inside was even better. You do not need to be an anime fan at all to be able to appreciate this museum. This was a lot of fun. 

After visiting the museum, I went back to Tokyo, did some groceries and started preparing 'carbonade à la flamande' because that night's dinner was going to be Belgian supper as a thank you to Taka-san who always cooks for us and always has us taste delicious Japanese food. I then rushed to a language exchange group with Ruriko-chan where I had a fun but unfortunately I didn't get to talk much with Ruriko-chan and I had to leave early to continue preparing the Carbonade. A bunch of us had supper together and ate the Japanese-style carbonade à la flamande as it is not easy to find the appropriate ingredients. All in all, it was a great day again!

Nikko

After the cycling in Tokyo, I went to Nikko with Ruriko-chan on Sunday. Ruriko-chan is one of the two Japanese girls I met during the international party in Roppongi and we whom I met again afterwards do do a language exchange (English-Japanese). We met at the train station at 7am and took a 2h train to Nikko from there. Both of us were quite tired since neither of us slept very well the night before, but we ended up talking during the whole trip instead of resting before arriving to Nikko. Sunday was an amazing day because I got to visit Nikko, which is a beautiful town and I got to talk Japanese all day long!! I practiced the informal speech and learned loads of new vocabulary.


Arrival at Nikko with Ruriko-chan.


These monkeys are actually engraved on one of the temples in Nikko. They are, from right to left, Mizaru, Iwazaru and Kikazaru. Saru, changed to Zaru when attached after another word, means monkey. Mi comes from miru which means to see; Iwa comes from iu which means to say; and Kika comes from kiku which means to hear. The monkeys legend is international and I think the saying goes "See no wrong, Say no wrong, Hear no wrong" in English.







Several of the many temples of Nikko.

From Nikko, we took a local bus to reach the 'top' of one of the surrounding mountains where a huge lake and a big waterfall are to be seen. By the time we reached the top, the weather got pretty misty and cold so the pictures aren't great, sorry.


 The lake was huge and the water was clear blue but unfortunately it's not to be seen on the picture.






This is the big waterfall near Nikko. I have to admit I was surprised it was this big. I was expecting a small waterfall, and ok, It's not the biggest there i, but I personally had never seen such a big Waterfall.


Ok, I think that was it for Nikko. After that, we went back to Nikko and took the train back to Tokyo. Both of us were very tired by the end of the day but we still spent the whole trip back talking. This is one of the really fun things with Ruriko-chan, we never run out of things to tell each-other. I learn a lot of Japanese thanks to her, because she is so patient! This was an amazing day!!!

Cycling trip in Tokyo

Hi all,

It's been almost 2 weeks since I posted anything, sorry about that. So what's happened since my last post?  I went to another international party where I met several foreign students who are now studying in Japan. Most of them were Chinese and Korean but there was one Nepalese guy and a guy from the USA. All of them were really nice and all of them speak fluent Japanese, which is very motivating and depressing at the same time... I met plenty of new people at the hostel as well, but unfortunately, I had to say goodbye to them already. Three very nice Spanish people from Pamplona, a French girl who had been traveling around the world for the last 6 months and who was finishing her trip here, two great Australian guys who went on with their trip South of Japan (Kyoto and Hiroshima), a very interesting German guy who went on with his hitch-hiking/camping trip North of Japan and a very cool Slovak/German guy with whom I got along very well. I'm still in contact with some of them though, so that's very nice.

What else?? Well I finished my Japanese classes on Friday last week (22nd of June) and on Saturday I went on a cycling trip with a bunch of friends from the Hostel. Taka, a Japanese guy from Sendai (North from Tokyo) whose house is being rebuilt after the Earthquake right now, was nice enough to guide us by bicycle through Tokyo. We went from Asakusa to Odaiba and basically cycled most of the day. It was perfect because we foreigners (USA, Slovakia/Germany, Marocco/Belgium, Italy and me)  never once had to check a map or wonder if we were taking the nicest/best road. Herewith very few pictures from that cycling trip:

 The group on the rented bicycle (200Yen=2 € for one day/ 500Yen for a whole week)
 A huge (supposedly live version) of a Gundam. I remember watching the anime when I was in High school.



 
 On our way to Odaiba, we pass by the French neighborhood of Tokyo.




Views from Odaiba.


On our way back, a very original clock on a modern building. I'm not sure what that clock is but is was very nice. There was quite the crowd out there because inside the building, below the clock, was a famous Japanese actress doing a television program.




 When we got back, Taka-san decided to cook for us. When Taka-san offers to cook for you or for you to taste some dish he prepared, you do not refuse; he is an amazing cook!!!


 The cycling group around a delicious Japanese supper.



Friday, 15 June 2012

Random info and pics.

Hellooo.

On Tuesday I went to Shibuya to see the Japan-Australia game with London and his girlfriend. It took us a while to find a bar, showing the game, which could still be entered as most of them were packed up until outside the bar. We managed to find a place on time to see the second half, and it was great. It was still 0-0 when we got there and all the action started once we got in, as if the players were waiting for us before they'd give it their all. Japan was great and the atmosphere in the bar was even greater. The game ended 1-1 but Japan clearly had the upper hand and could have won if the referee hadn't blown the whistle right before Japan was going to kick the penalty. Everyone was very happy with the outcome though, which was a lot of fun to see. You probably all have seen the famous Shibuya crossing on TV, well once the lights were green for pedestrians, people would run to the center while screaming. Herewith a short video (sorry the quality is very bad):


And herewith some random pictures I took (I guess I'm not a pictures person, I just don't have the reflex of taking out my camera):

This one was taken in Asakusa on a rainy day:
 Below one is a picture of the Tokyo Sky Tree:
 And below one was as well taken in Asakusa. It's from this small traditional commercial street. Here you can buy, traditional Japanese sweets and clothes:

I'm sorry, they're actually all from Asakusa. I'll try to take some more pictures of other areas soon.

Byebye :-)




Japanese classes!!!

Hi all, I have been quiet for a week again, and this time the reason is: Japanese classes!!! I started Japanese classes since Monday. I have 3h of private classes every afternoon from Monday to Friday in an area called Meguro. It takes me around 45 minutes to get there (which is pretty close in Tokyo standards). I have two different teachers which is quiet nice. I have M-sensei on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and I have O-sensei on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The reason it is nice to have two different teachers is that I don't get used to only one way of speaking and the rhythm of the class changes as well. Both teachers are really nice and classes are a lot of fun even if I have to admit I'm quiet happy it's weekend now and I don't have any classes. These classes are only 3 hours a days but they actually take up most of my days. I get a LOT of homework (mostly from M-sensei) so I work on my homework during for about 2 to 3 hours each morning. I check my mails and then I leave to Meguro. My classes only start at 13h, but if I leave at 12h to get there, it'd mean I would have to have lunch at 11h, so instead, I leave at 11h and have lunch at around 12h in Meguro before my class. I usually arrive back at the hostel at around 17h30 and either do some groceries or read for a little while and then cook dinner. However, sometimes I have language exchanges. On Wednesday, I met this Japanese girl who speaks very good French. She lived in Paris for "only" 10 months but her French is really good. It's so good we ended up not really speaking Japanese, but we agreed that the next time we would meet, we'd speak in Japanese. She put an add in a magazine called the 'Tokyo Notice Board'. It's an English only Tokyo magazine in which all types of adds (sales, language exchanges, Japanese language schools,...) can be found. She works for the magazine and decided to put her add in there to find someone to practice French with. On Thursday I had another language exchange with two girls I met at the international party I went to with London, London's girlfriend and New-Zealand. We got along really well at that party and exchanged phone numbers saying we should meet again to do some English-Japanese language exchanged. At the start of the week I sent them a message asking if they would like to meet on Thursday evening which is what we did. It was really a lot of fun. We ended up talking for 4 hours and only 30 minutes of those were in English ( although I obviously did use English words here and there throughout the whole conversation since I'm lacking a lot of vocabulary). I'm probably going to go to Nikko with one of them (Ruriko-san) next Sunday as she has never been there either and the three of us will go to Hakone and Kamakura when Yuka-san is back from Korea.

Sunday, 10 June 2012

So, what have I been doing during my first week in Japan?

I have to admit my first week in Japan has mainly been filled with visits. I went to Akihabara with New-Zealand. Akihabara is also known as the electric city, if you need anything informatics related, that’s the place to go. The place is just filled with shops, small and huge where you can find from the oldest up until the newest phone, laptop, Tablet, Television, Play station, etc. and all the electric cables you could ever dream of (if you do dream about cables, I guess…). It is supposed to be very popular with Otaku’s which might be the Japanese equivalent to ‘geeks’ or ‘nerds’. You can find loads of mangas, animes and computer games as well as the famous maid café’s. A maid café is a very strange concept which would not work anywhere but in contradictory Japan. It is a very basic Café except the girls serving you are dressed in maid costumes and you are to interact with them. You play games and take pictures. It is a little bit awkward, certainly at first, and I was happy to be there with New-Zealand who is very outgoing. Well, I guess I would never have gone had I been alone. It ended up being a fun experience and I’m very happy I got to do it.

After that I went to have supper with my friends living in Tokyo. Supper was delicious, as usual, and I really enjoyed spending time with them. My friends live in a neighborhood called Asagaya. It’s a
residential area which makes it very different to the other areas I have been to in Tokyo. It’s
atmosphere is set by all the small neighborhood shops, the people going to or coming back from
work and school, doing the groceries for that night’s dinner, going on a date, having a drink at one of
the local café’s or bars, … I love this atmosphere. At the station, most signs are written in Kanji, no
hiragana, katakana or alphabet for the illiterate tourists. However, all the main information (the
station’s name and the direction of the train) can always be found in alphabet.

The public transportation in Japan is amazing! You mainly use the trains or subways, depending on
where you are going. At each station’s ticket machines, you have a map of the train or subway
network. The station you are at is clearly indicated and all the other stations are followed by the fare
to get there from the station you are at. If you are lucky, the way I al, you have friends who have an
extra ‘suica’ or ‘passmo’ card. You basically put as much money as you want on it and you ‘beep’ it
when entering and leaving the train/subway station and it will withdraw the correct fare. You can
also use it to buy things in the conbini’s (convenience stores such as ‘SevenEleven’ and ‘Lawson’).
You also have busses, but as far as I know, they are not used as often as the trains and subways. I
guess they are mainly for when you are moving within the same neighborhood.

On the next day I went back to Ueno with London (male) to meet his Japanese girlfriend who is
studying Greek and Spanish. Her English is very good so it was easy to communicate with her. I had a great time wandering around Ueno with them. I ate Taiyaki which is a sort of hot pancake filled with sweet bean jam and shaped like a fish. After walking around for a little while longer we went to have Yakiniku. It would be kind of similar to saying we went to have barbeque in a restaurant. You
basically sit at a table in the centre of which there is a whole. The waiter brings you a bucket filled
with hot charcoal which fits perfectly in the whole of the table. You have a huge choice of meat and
side dishes on the menu, so you basically choose whatever you want. I tasted beef tongue for the
first time in my life (I’m not exactly a huge fan of meat and certainly not of ears, tongues, “feet”, liver, etc.), but I have to admit it was delicious!
Photo: Muchas gracias :D


What else have I done? I met some friends from Asturias to have lunch with them. It was fun to see
them in Tokyo! We had Udon together (noodles in a kind of soup with meat and veggies – similar to
ramen, different kind of noodle I guess) before I went to my future Japanese school to have an Oral
Japanese level test. I was listed as a High Beginner which made me very happy. From coming Monday on, I’ll have 3 hours of Japanese every afternoon during two working weeks. I’m really looking forward to it!

I also went to Shibuya with London, London’s girlfriend and a friend of hers. Shibuya is an extremely active and popular/fashionable neighborhood in Tokyo. That’s where the huge crossing is which is very often seen on TV when you see a movie or documentary about Tokyo. The one where heaps of people suddenly walk towards each other, as if they were going to crush one another, once the traffic lights turn green for pedestrians. We went there to check out a sports bar where we would be able to watch the Japan-Jordan football match! I ended up not watching the game because I went to have dinner at my friends place again, but I’ll definitely go there to watch the Japan-Australia game on Tuesday! It will certainly be a tighter game than the Japan-Jordan game.

Yesterday evening I went to an international party in Roppongi with London & girlfriend and with
New-Zealand. Roppongi is mostly a shopping and going out area of Tokyo where many foreigners go as well. It is not my favorite area in Tokyo for two reasons. 1. It is very stereotypical for a foreigner to go to Roppongi; 2. I don’t go out that much. I’m talking about disco-going out. But the party was great! I met loads of people. There were many Japanese people eager to meet foreigners but the best part of that party was that I spoke Japanese during most of the evening. I exchanged e-mail addresses with a few of the people I met to do some language exchanges (English-Japanese), so I am very much looking forward to that. However, today I tried to talk to a girl in the street to get some information about a hairdresser and unfortunately we weren’t able to communicate at all . It really depends on the subject I guess.