OH, HARROW

It's that time again!

2009-12-02T22:56:00.002+09:00

It is, really!

As I've yelled about before, I like the idea of starting Christmas in full swing on December 1st. This year, I started two days early, but it's totally cool. In Sweden we absolutely give a shit about the first day of Advent, the fourth Sunday before Christmas (see how that makes perfect sense?) and this year me and Melody decided to go all-out with Christmas decorating and cookie-baking in one sweaty, festive day. I also bought a couch.

Yes, a couch. I've been wanting to replace my old one, which had many shortcomings and few uses beyond turning it into a guest bed. As if I take in guests! Bah, humbug.

In it's stead, I have a monstrous, black mountain of cozyness and comfort. It also includes a chaise longue (which I'm quite certain has a different name in common English.)

Thus, The Holiday Season begins. Onwards, to gifts, snow and an obscene amount of chocolate!

Fuck you, Architects!

2009-12-02T22:35:00.002+09:00

This is Architects.

If you've heard them, you most likely have your own opinions about their music. Mine is, they are amazingly talented. Their songs are well-written, simple enough but not bland or really unoriginal, and I'm mostly refering to Ruin and Hollow Crown here. They're incredible musicians. For a bunch of fucking teenagers (hah!) they absolutely dominate their genre in terms of technical finesse and skill.

I could go on and on, but I'm mentioning them for an entirely different reason.

I can not get Architects out of my head.

Seriously. To say that their songs are catchy isn't quite to the point, it's rather a case of brilliant composing and a wonderfully natural flow in every song. But I could name a hundred bands (almost) that share that talent. Amazing groups of musicians whose songs make me want to never play an instrument again (Oceansize come to mind.)

Yet, it is Architects who refuse to leave my sphere of humming, my internal background noise.

Hell, it's been months since I last listened to Early Grave or We're All Alone, but whenever I'm not listening to something else, some god damn choppy riff keeps popping up in my head.

It's driving me crazy – I don't even like them that much. I mean, not that much.

Anyway. My own ridiculous hardcore band was supposed to do a tour with Architects this February. Might have been fun, but they cancelled the whole thing to go to Australia (I think.)

And now we're stuck here trying to write new songs.

That sound exactly like Architects.

iProblems

2009-10-14T17:28:00.006+09:00

I went to the optician yesterday, a long overdue appointment.

I've felt for years now that there might be an issue with my visual system worth reprimanding. I can, for instance, barely read subtitles.

I am nearsighted. No big surprise there, it can and will be fixed with glasses or contact lenses.

But why settle for simple? My left eye also suffers from astigmatism, which means the eye doesn't focus equally along the horizontal and vertical axis. It's hard to understand or explain, and apparently difficult to correct as well. So that sucks, and I'll need a pair of goggles.

While I'm not overly excited about wearing corrective spectacles, I look forward to improved vision and actually enjoying things like HD and Blu-ray without having to press my nose against the screen and squint.

And on that subject, I've recycled my Wii, so to speak. Due to a lack of money and new, really good games (well, there's some of both, but not enough) I've gone back to Twilight Princess again – still an absolutely fan-fucking-tas-fucking-tic game – and occasionally continuing my struggle to collect all 120 stars in Super Mario Galaxy.

On top of that, I finally connected the console to a wireless network, enabling all kinds of online funtime downloadyness. Like World of Goo. Or Tales of Monkey Island. Or Mario Kart online, which is really addictive and fun.

In a month, the band will go on tour with American Jesus-core sextet The Devil Wears Prada. I'm pretty excited, if only to see the workings of such an ambitious machine.

Last weekend we played three shows in Sweden, which were, on the whole, a lot of fun (and about as much time as I want to spend with those people in one go.) We sounded pretty good, we got paid, and we broke something in our hotel room, as per our rock star obligation.

A quite flattering example of the kind of wit and wisdom (and musical brilliance) we can look forward to:

'Size

2009-09-11T20:52:00.001+09:00

Can't wait.

I hate

2009-08-25T18:31:00.001+09:00

Jokes.com

Patton Oswalt - I Hate

comedians.comedycentral.com

Joke of the Day

Stand-Up Comedy

Free Online Games

Also

2009-08-14T17:37:00.002+09:00

Oh! Continuing my list of things that keep me going – TV is fun again!

Okay, the subject of television shows in respect to quality and quantity, and the seemingly sudden increase of both… should be it's own, long-as-fuck-post, but I won't write it now.

Suffice to say, in the last year I've seen many really good tv shows, and two more are now looming on my 32" horizon.

Both of these cater to the modern pop culture nerd (I'm struggling to find a good word or description here, but basically everyone who thinks 300 is both "fucking awesome!" and a "dignified version of Frank Miller's graphic novel".)

The first is The Pacific, HBO's follow-up to Band of Brothers (pretty much the best thing ever). It seems to be more of the same, if only more epic. Epic is important to the modern geek. Hollywood has understood now, that the epic-money ratio is almost equal (the exception being some of Roland Emmerich's films, which are just silly.)

The Pacific also stars Joseph Mazzello, the kid from Jurassic Park. How 'bout that!

The second is Spartacus: Blood and Sand (you know it), which fuses Gladiator, 300 and Rome. It has more testosterone than watching The Expendables while driving a hummer through a strip club. Just look at the trailer and production video, and you'll agree it has the potential to be profusely epic indeed.

Both will be out sometime next year.

Small doses

2009-08-13T17:45:00.005+09:00

That's it.

The last time I submitted anything to this blaaawrgh, summertime was in full swing (the sun was chirping, the birds were shining) and I was gearing up for six weeks of hard work.

That was precicely six weeks ago today, and next week I don't really have a job to go to. I should be alright, I actually don't mind a few days off.

And that's the thing.

I've realized I don't really like doing anything for very long, or even very seriously. It quite silly, and I think very representative of my generation. A little bit of this, a little bit of that. No real job, no one hobby that takes up all your spare time every day for the rest of your life. Even relationships in many cases just wear out and we're always adamant in our belief that a bit of change is A OK.

Anyway. I'm not a big fan of this, my own, attitude. Stability and genuine dedication to any one cause is, I think, desirable.

As grey as my days may feel, there are things that excite me. Here are some:

Going to London (at some point, hopefully within the next three months.)

Movies. Big Fan, Sherlock Holmes, The Lovely Bones, and looking further ahead – Alice In Wonderland, Avatar, Prince of Persia, and many others.

Music. Things tend to pop up (no pun intended) here and there, so there's not that much anticipation. However, some highlights include new music by Yo La Tengo, Beastie Boys and Oceansize, and the ever-impending new album by Glassjaw.

Touring with Jesaiah. Possibly.

Redecorating. Basically I've finally gotten fed up with the shortcomings of my residence. The bed. The couch. The big, empty wall behind the TV. It's a beautiful place to live, by all means, but now I want to, once and for all, sort things out.

Is it hawt enough for you yet?

2009-07-03T08:57:00.007+09:00

Shit! I haven't been writing enough, as usual.

Note, non-existent reader, that I don't find these pages to be of any real importance or literary gravity. My eagerness to scribble merely comes from an ambition and determination to write. Anything. 'Cause, you know, words are cool and stuff.

Two weeks ago I celebrated midsummer's, a very Swedish thing to do. Me and Melody got our blue and yellow groove on in expert fashion by cooking a lot of food. Like, a lot of food. I think the total amount would have sustained a small village for two weeks, but alas we settled on eating it ourselves. What? At least it took us two days.

The menu included a Västerbotten cheese pie, a strawberry- and mint salad, a french-ish potato salad, smoked salmon, home-baked parmesan bread and, oh why the hell not, a cheesecake.

I like food.

Today I saw Ponyo, the latest film by animation-God Hayao Miyazaki. Having deliberately limited my impressions of the movie to merchandise (which was hard to avoid in Tokyo) and the trailer for the english version, I didn't know much about the actual story.

To say the least, I was impressed but not surprised or really blown away. It's not his best work, but his worst is still miles ahead of damn near any other animation. Yes, Pixar included.

Ponyo on the cliff by the sea gets four hamsters out of five.

On Monday I start work for real, but I still have three days in which to get funky. So, tomorrow me and Fredrik are watching all six Star Wars movies back-to-back.

Yay!

We'll try to get started by 3 PM, which means we should finish Return of the Jedi around four in the morning. Not a bad day, indeed!

Although watching trilogies in one sitting have almost become a standard for me and Melody (we did Terminator 1, 2 and 3 a week ago and finished by going to see Salvation. It was fun.) I have yet to watch all six installments of the Star Wars saga without so much as a nap in between. We'll see how it pans out. I might need some sugar.

Also, summer is the biz.

Blackberry cheesecake. And you can't have any.

Nathalie doesn't actually need my hand, she can walk on her own.

It's awesome.

Boatness in the city.

A very slow afternoon.

Like a real musicplayerperson

2009-06-02T23:15:00.000+09:00

It occurred to me just now that I haven't written anything in a while, despite "ideas" for posts (which will never be written.)

So. I've spent the past two days in a studio in Gävle, about two hours on a slow train to the north of Stockholm. The first six or so hours of that time were spent recording bass for the new Jesaiah record, which may actually turn out pretty good.

I thought two days would be enough. Enough to get everything nice and tight, fix any mistakes, and take my sweet time fine-tuning a massive sound that would melt people's brains. Turns out, I underestimated my own awesome bass playing skills, and was able to finish all my parts in less than a day. Well, all but one song, but we did that this morning with Joel finishing the last guitar parts.

The sound is gritty, dirty and mean, which I like. But it's still simple and punchy enough to actually break through all the other crap (namely, guitars and drums) and make a difference. In short, I'm stoked.

Having completed our task, me and our producer Björn (whose apartment is covered in sawdust, by the way) spent the rest of the day at his friend Bosse. This came to be by Bosse's invitation to partake of some DIY vegan sausage that he'd just made.

If my friends called me because they had just made vegan sausage and wanted me to eat it, I would be a happy rabbit. This never happens.

Does this not look like the most delicious thing ever?

Okay, don't answer that.

Today Melody moved back from Malmö, for real. She now lives in the same city as me, and that makes me more excited than everything Nintendo revealed at E3 combined.

Yeah, I said that shit.

New Super Mario Bros. for Wii? Mario Galaxy 2? Some new ultra mega burn-my-eyes-out Metroid game? Oh, and Monkey Island on WiiWare. Fuck it. I get to see my girlfriend.

Yes, I am quite aware that one does not negate the other. I'm trying to make a point.

Smiley.

09210

2009-05-16T20:41:00.003+09:00

I'm really quite bored.

Sappy go lucky

2009-05-12T16:31:00.016+09:00

This weekend I visited Melody in Malmö, Sweden's link to the cursed lands of Denmark. She's been studying photography there since August, and is moving back to Stockholm in just three short weeks. This makes me happier than a pig in crap.

Melody is my Favorite Person In The World™, a title previously and occasionally held by Kim Gordon, Aragorn and this dude I met once.

She's funny, smart, unbelievably kind, pretty, cute, sweet, more cool than anyone. She smells good. She loves good food, music, books and film, and she cares about it. She knows everything and doesn't mind teaching me. She actually and continuously makes me happy. She is the best.

I arrived on Thursday morning, after a four-hour train ride that began around sunrise and which allowed me to unintentionally eavesdrop on a married couple's awkward conversation about breasts.

There was obviously none of that in Malmö, as me and Melody paraded the sunny streets in search of adventure. Or, as it were, cheap candy and Star Wars action figures.

In four days we made obnoxiously good food, watched Gilmore Girls, sat on a blanket under a warm sun, visited a library and a Vegan convention (sort of), rented a boat, fed ducks, made plans, took pictures of everything and otherwise enjoyed the hell out of ourselves. It was fantastic, and now Malmö seems like the most fun place on earth.

And I've almost started working. I had two days of introduction and initiation this week, whereby I was told and shown how business is conducted at my new workplace (which also happens to be my old workplace, but that's not very important.)

Work isn't my favorite thing in the world, and could largely be held accountable for some of the times I've wanted to kill myself. But that's a different story.

I try not to think too much about work when I'm not there. I guess I'm not very good at playing grown up.

I am however a serious tourist, as evidenced by the image below.

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

2009-04-28T01:05:00.008+09:00

I'm back in Sweden now, and have been for a few days. During that time I've met Melody (to everyone's explosive delight) had dinner with my parents, listened to an early cut of Jesaiah's new album, and begun to organize my grown-up life.

It's surprisingly hard to understand that I have just spent three months in Tokyo. Really.

Nothing here has changed, obviously, but it's funny how quickly you pick up old routines and habits. In many ways, it's as if I never left.

My last night in Tokyo took place in Shin-matsudo, hometown of Philippe and Robin. The former was kind enough to let me stay at his place for the night, and together with Robin's friend Andreas we set out to find something fun to do in Shin-matsudo on a Friday night. It started well enough with sushi, which I've eaten less of than I had hoped in Tokyo.

The plan was then to find a karaoke place and/or bowling alley, which proved difficult. I was initially determined to find something really colourful, like a paintball/casino/dog race establishment, but there's not that much available in Shin-matsudo. At last we settled for an hour of free drinks and karaoke, servicing both the thirst of my comrades and my eagerness to sing Whitney Houston songs.

It was a nice hour. I sang pretty much non-stop, plowing through both One Moment In Time and The Greatest Love of All, as well as some old favorites by Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins and Feist. Me and Philippe also tried to conquer Hysteria by Muse, which nearly killed us.

The journey back to Stockholm was smooth, thankfully. My overweight suitcase and bus-sized backpack made it through check-in and customs at Narita without any fuss, and the 10-hour flight to Copenhagen wasn't too bad at all. I watched some of The Incredibles and about 9 episodes of The Simpsons. The food was great, and I got some sleep.

At Copenhagen I again bought some internet-time, and the flight to Stockholm was barely noticeable.

Before I knew it, I was back in my apartment.

I've already been asked the question "How was Tokyo?" to which I have no good reply. It was amazing. It was difficult, at times, and confusing. It's the greatest city in the world, and probably the most expensive one I've visited.

I'm sure the significance of this trip will become apparent over time. Right now, it's a collection of photographs and new acquaintances, fond memories and some vague understanding of the Japanese language.

But three months is a long time. Maybe not spent going to work as always, but learning new things every day and discovering a city like Tokyo, it's a lot of time.

I've seen snow and summer, listened to noise and the shamisen, eaten every type of Japanese food I could ever want, seen the sakura blossom. I've been to temples in Kamakura and seen robots on Odaiba, I've watched a Japanese game show being made, and seen silent movies accompanied by a benshi voice-actor. I've been to retro videogame shops and ten-floor department stores, the Imperial Garden and Electric Town in Akihabara.

Despite all that I have done and seen, I can't wait to go back.

As far as "How was Tokyo?" goes, I advise anyone who asks to find out for themselves. It's the best city in the world.

Packing all the essentials.

Philippe's glorious home.

Hitting the notes.

My ten-hour flight: Simpsons, onigiri and Soyjoy, and sleep (not pictured.)

Oh harrow.

Everyone's favorite niece, making friends with Totoro.

Back home, as it were.

Packin' heat.

2009-04-24T17:10:00.008+09:00

I'm leaving.

Tomorrow, that is. Due to Sakura House's lovely adherence to bureaucracy, I had to move out today, and will be spending the night in Philippe's room (or possibly on the subway or in an alley, we'll see what happens.)

I barely managed to squeeze my belongings into a suitcase and a very serious backpack, which will no doubt leave my spine mangled and shattered by the time I get home.

Home! It's exciting, and scary, and a bit sad. With so little time left, I just want to get moving and bring everything back safely. Well, at least my records are already in my apartment.

This, the last week of my stay in Tokyo, has been a good one. I had my doubts, but then I met a really nice girl from school who didn't oppose to spending three afternoons in a row walking aimlessly around some of my favorite parts of Tokyo. It's a bit of a kicker that I met her now, four days before leaving. Anyway, we walked and talked and bought cool stuff and ate crêpes, and I'm really glad we did.

Monday was my birthday, so Robin and Philippe bought me sushi for lunch. Then me and Robin went to the Yushukan war museum at Yasukuni shrine, to see broken helmets and the Japanese' thoughts on Pearl Harbor (amongst many other, really interesting things.)

I've been there before, and I still like it.

So that's about it. One night and one morning to go.

Now I'm literally sitting outside my vacated room in Shimura-sanchome, ready to depart and eventually return home.

Philippe and Robin, happy about sushi.

My stand-in birthday cake, with cotton candy-flavoured ice cream.

Not bad at all.

Lunch at Yasukuni with Sanna. Yes, that is nattō.

Bright lights in Ginza, one last time.

Yoyogi.

よこはまへくもをみにいきました。

2009-04-19T23:59:00.006+09:00

Yokohama is, apparently, the second largest city in Japan. Huh. I wouldn't have guessed it.

With it's seaside location at the entrance to Tokyo bay, Yokohama has ever been a vital commercial hub of Japan. It's also been torn apart more than once.

In 1923, a staggering 95% of the city's entire population died in the Great Kantō earthquake. Some 22 years later, American bombs repeated the effect and erased most of Yokohama along with the rest of Tokyo.

As I said in my previous post, I keep this in mind when looking at the infrastructure, architecture and everyday life of Tokyo. Most of what I see around me has only been here for about 60 years.

Anyway, I went to Yokohama today! Perhaps that was obvious. I've been wanting to go there for some time, if only to get away from Tokyo for a day (not that I don't like Tokyo, it's just nice to check out the surroundings.)

Although Yokohama is officially it's own city it's still within the Tokyo subway system. Me, Philippe and Robin were able to get from Jimbocho to Yokohama in less than 30 minutes for 510 yen, which was nice.

Once there, we eventually managed to find our way towards Chinatown, following the water.

Chinatown was cool. I mean, nothing mind-blowing, but it was different. We had some proper chinese food for lunch, which was really good. Also, there were about 80 shops selling panda-related items of every kind. Panda candy, panda t-shirts, panda umbrellas. Panda meat? Maybe.

Chinatown being the first, we did have a second motive for being in Yokohama today. As Philippe informed us early on, a giant robotic spider was scheduled to make an appearance in Yokohama today. Sounds good, I thought. But where? And when?

These two pieces of information were gathered quickly and easily enough, and after our colorful adventure in Chinatown, we decided to try and locate said constructs.

When looking for a gigantic robotic spider, you'll never do wrong to follow the crowd. We did, and even though "the crowd" covered most of downtown Yokohama, we eventually found the spiders. They were, in fact, gigantic. And robotic. Sort of. It was actually a set of limbs on a Matrix-inspired body, that moved as though the spider was walking. Except, it was hauled around on a truck.

A touch lame, I have to say. See, when someone says "giant robotic spider", I envision a scuttling cyberbug of lethal, inhumane power climbing up the side of the Landmark Tower. This did not happen today.

Anyway. I enjoyed Yokohama. The sun and the heat helped, I suppose.

Three days ago, I returned to Kugahara for dinner with the family. It was great to see Akiko, Kobayashi-san, Eric and José again, and eat good, real Japanese food. I guess that's the last time I'll see them for a very long time. A bit sad, really.

And tomorrow it's my birthday. Hip hop hooray!

Sea Bass. We saw this error on least six different signs.

We also saw lots and lots of dogs in silly clothes.

As one does in Tokyo.

Giant robotic spider.

Chinatown.

Going solo

2009-04-16T12:18:00.009+09:00

I'm a nerd. Alot of people make that claim about themselves, often in an attempt at self-criticism or humour, but I don't think that's necessary. Saying that I'm a nerd is like saying that my shirt is red; it's stating a simple matter of fact.

Anyway, my nerdism manifests itself in many ways, not least in my complete fascination with the second World War.

I think one of the most interesting things about coming to a new country is understanding it through it's history, to some degree. Things like colonialism, war and religion have all helped change and shape the world, not least in the last hundred years.

This is especially true in Japan, who suffered perhaps the most humiliating and utter defeat in World War II, and still managed to become one of the leading economic and industrial powers in the world. Like, omg, wtf?

I've had all this in mind when I've met alot of Japanese people, especially the elderly. Those who were born in Tokyo in the late 40's have literally grown up with the city, seeing it emerge from a smoking ruin to a futuristic metropolis (in some places, at least.)

But aside from the Yushukan war museum, I haven't found too many traces of the war here. Until now.

Two days ago I decided to check out a photographic exhibition in a building very close to our school. I've walked past it dozens of times, only occasionally looking up at it's unique facade, but I never knew what it was.

Turns out, this building is the Showa-kan – a library and memorial to Japan during and after World War II. Since opening in 1999, they've collected and exhibited pictures, texts and films from that time for all to see. I only glimpsed at some of the books and photography archives, but there was alot of it.

My inspiration for going there now was an exhibition with photos taken by Werner Bischof in 1951 and 1952, in Tokyo and Kyoto. It shows an occupied Japan, shaped by American influences but still shaken by the tragedies of the war. Funny, educational, fascinating, I really enjoyed it. And it was free, so that made it extra super awesome.

Yesterday, my roommate Nathalie went back to Sweden. She came here when I did, but I have nine more days of rice, sun and crowded subway trains to go.

I've never lived together with anyone before, and all things considered it's been great.

So long, my friend, I will miss you.

First day of school, Januray 13th.

Sweet's Paradise, February 6th.

Denny's, February 21st.

Ice skating, March 28th.

Holiday road!

2009-04-12T13:39:00.013+09:00

A week ago it was spring. Now it's summer.

The blossoming is all but over, but the warmth seems to be staying put. The last few days I've been doing an absurd amount of walking.

I have one of those machines that count your every step, and since coming to Tokyo I've walked 134 040 393 steps, which is the equivalent of six laps around the earth.

Okay, so none of the facts stated above are true. But fuck me, have I been walking!

On Wednesday, I went to Ueno. This was actually my first time there, and I'm impressed. Aside from the famous park and it's many pretty trees, there's a market between Okachimachi and Ueno where gullable tourists can buy cheap backpacks and skewered fruit. I'll be going back there before long. Me and Robin walked there from school, which wasn't too bad. Even though Geos is quite a bit away from Shinjuku and Shibuya, I think it's at a good location.

Thursday, I went south towards the Imperial Gardens to eat my lunch under a tree. Aside from an abundance of ants, it was nice. The sun is really intense here, and sunscreen didn't seem all that necessary when I packed my bags in early January.

I continued down towards Ginza, hung out at the Apple store for a while to borrow their smokin' hot wi-fi, and walked back to Jimbōchō. I plan on bringing a book the next time.

On Friday, me and Robin took the advice of our teacher to go and see sumo wrestling at Yasukuni shrine, near Kudanshita. Supposedly it was free, but we couldn't really find an entrance and there were too many people there already anyway (where do all these people come from, don't they have jobs to go to?) so we went off to find a better spot.

We did, actually, find a school just behind the shrine. Trying to look like we belonged, we went inside and up to the roof, which gave us a great view of the entire arena. Not that sumo wrestling is very exciting to watch, but it was cool none the less.

From there we followed the Kandagawa river to Ochanomizu, bought some records, and went home.

And yesterday, I finished off this week's leg-abuse with a trip to Odaiba, with Phillippe. I've been there once before, with my parents. This time our main destination was the Miraikan science museum, and their current Terminator-exhibition.

Featuring mostly scale models and some brief facts about the creation of the movies, it wasn't quite what it could have been. But I was satisfied, not least by the few items they had on display from the upcoming Terminator Salvation. I hope that one doesn't suck, by the way.

The rest of the museum was much more engaging. We saw an animated short film called The Space Elevator (oh yes) on one of those gigantic screens, as well as several robots. The biggest crowd-pleaser was Asimo, a humanoid robot whose balance is better than most organic people after they've had two drinks.

A second robot seemed at first to be designed for cleaning, like a really advanced vaccum cleaner. But that's because me and Phillippe confused the words sōji (cleaning) and sōjū (controlling). Stupid foreigners.

There was also a "hands-on model of the internet" (oh yes!) and a robotic seal with a pascifier.

When we finally decided that the future is awesome, and the museum had given us it's all, we headed towards the beach to find some food. In keeping with the theme, we settled for a "hawaiian" burger place called Kua'Aina. My mahi mahi burger with fries and ginger ale might be the best lunch I've had in weeks.

And then we took a walk.

It's weird, but Odaiba really is a great change of scenery. Walking alongside palm trees with the ocean in front of you, it's hard to believe you're still in Tokyo. And it's funny how a sea breeze can render me completely sappy, and content. Like I said, it's a great change of scenery.

We saw the sun set behind the Rainbow bridge, and walked back towards the city.

Even though my legs were hurting, I was too awake to go home. So I strolled through Ginza, watching all the stores close (at nine on a Saturday. I like Tokyo.)

This week I've felt like I'm on vacation. It's the weather, and perhaps an increase of tourists. I want to do something fun every day, but I can't really afford to go traveling around the country now. And as Melody pointed out, I'm not really here on vacation. I live here.

The city looks different in bright sunlight, I think. I'm very prone to moodswings depending on the weather, so it's a bit easier to smile now.

I have places to visit and revisit, people and things I want to see. But in less than two weeks, I'm going home.

This made my day. Diet Dr Pepper for 84 yen.

Shrine in Ueno.

Sumo at Yasukuni shrine.

Phillippe-san and meself, enjoying English dubs at Miraikan.

A different side of Tokyo.

Sunset on Odaiba.

Almost there, but still here

2009-04-07T19:04:00.007+09:00

Last week we finished our 12-week conversation course. This means little to me, since I have three more weeks of conversing to go. But it did set a good mark – the beginning of the end of my stay in Japan.

Today I have 18 days left before I set foot in Sweden. As I've said and thought, I really hope to make the best of every one of those days. But at the same time I'm starting to warm up to the thought of returning home.

The past week have seen the sakura blossom in earnest, and damn it if the Japanese will miss a second of it. The pink and white flowers are absolutely everywhere, and under each tree is at least one Tokyoite with a camera. By the looks of it, this is the first year that the sakura has blossomed. Ever.

Aside from saturday's outing, the creative people working at Geos decided to organize a hana-mi and/or long walk for the entire school yesterday. The hana-mi part was less prominent, the walking very tedious and confusing. It mostly consisted of random teachers (I think) telling random groups of students (I think) to go somewhere, or wait, or hurry up, or all of the above.

Me and some friends ended up near Yasukuni shrine, having lunch under some cherry blossoms after all.

Look, flowers!

Big Christmas!

2009-04-05T11:26:00.003+09:00

Yesterday I went to hana-mi ("watching flowers and getting shitfaced") in Sumida park with some friends.

It was really nice. I've never actually been to an official hana-mi as a dedicated activity, but I enjoyed it. Lots of food, good enough weather, and an amazingly drunken japanese girl with a trumpet. I even made a video.

Don't be a fool!

2009-04-01T20:27:00.005+09:00

Hello, April!

I like April, I always have. It's my birthday in 19 days, and this is usually the month where spring decides to appear in earnest in Sweden.

In Tokyo, it's much the same. Shigatsu is the month of hana-mi, the national obsession with sakura blossoms, and although I've already seen my fair share of sunshine and warmth, it feels more and more like winter is done for the year.

Since my parents took off on Friday, I've spent a lot of time indoors. I caught a cold around Thursday and by Friday I was feeling pretty messed up, so I thought I'd surrender my weekend to rest. A true enough paradigm, granted, but one that proved a bit difficult to stick to.

On Saturday, Nathalie and I had agreed to meet Kyouhei and his friend in Shibuya.

With no specific activity planned, it wasn't long before we ended up in a batting cage in Shinjuku-gyoemmae (I think, I'm still unsure where we went). I understand that this was mostly Nathalie's initiative.

It was great. I used to play baseball – some fifteen years ago – so naturally I had no difficulty securing at least nine or ten simulated homeruns against my ball-chucking robot opponent. I kind of wish we had batting cages in Sweden, even if we don't have baseball.

When everyone was finished with the bat-swinging, we were again left with nothing to do on a less than sunny day. Brief consultation of a map revealed a skating rink nearby, and why wouldn't we want to do a bit of skating, right there and then?

So, a pair of rented size 44 skates later, I found myself on the ice for the first time in about twelve years, doing surprisingly well. I didn't fall, I didn't die, I didn't even freeze that bad.

After a good few laps around the rink, we decided to call it quits.

I spent all of Sunday indoors. Like, literally, I did not leave the house once. I watched some Firefly, made some soup, got some sleep. It was awesome. I said I'd make the best of my last days here in Tokyo, I wasn't kidding.

Disney's Swedes On Ice.

With extra smile, please.

This is what we've been doing in school this week. Hard times.

School's out forever!

2009-03-27T17:46:00.010+09:00

Not really.

But two days ago, I took the final (and only) exam of my 13-week Japanese conversation course. I passed, and that means I pretty much don't have to worry too much about school. I still have to go, though.

This week was also the second half of my parents' visit to Tokyo (including our trip to Seoul.)

Due to my impending examination, I spent most of Monday and Tuesday studying, with the exception of a brief venture to Shinjuku and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building. Aside from housing the headquarters of The Government, it has an observation deck that granted us yet another spectacular view of Tokyo.

We had dinner at a place called The Lion Beer Hall, which is a German-inspired restaurant in Ginza. They serve sausages, fish & chips and pizza, and occasionally a group of lederhosen-wearing Japanese will fill the spacious room with Bavarian folk music. It ranks among the top five on my list of WTF? But in a good way.

On Wednesday, I took the test. I did quite well, 102 points out of 120 (which, in reality, means nothing if I can't actually speak to Japanese people on the street, but it's nice anyway.)

After it's completion, I set my brain for celebration and relaxation, and we headed for Shimo-kitazawa – everyone's favorite Tokyo hippie hideout. Even in grey and cold weather, the area is a great walk-around, with tons of small shops selling arts and crafts, used clothing and records (you know, hippie stuff.)

After some tea, cake and three magnificent records bought, we decided to move on.

A travel guide to Tokyo had given us the idea to visit a restaurant called Jidaiya, in Akasaka. There are hundreds of restaurants in Tokyo that claim to have more or less "genuine" Japanese cuisine. Some merely serve very good sushi, like in Tsukiji.

This particular establishment is the most honestly Japanese place I've been to, with some of the best food I've ever had. This included sashimi, tempura, miso, yakimono (a simple piece of fried fish) and plain, white rice. All of it absolutely superb, and the staff was extremely friendly.

Yesterday was my parents' last day in Tokyo, and the sun was shining. They wanted to check out my accomodations, past and present, so we visited Shimura sanchome and Kugahara. It was nice to see the neighborhood again, greener than before.

We then set course for Ebisu, and the Tokyo museum of photography. An exhibition about photography's evolution in Japan, and one by Japanese photographer Yanagi Miwa were interesting enough. Especially the former, which included large daguerreotype images of daimyo and their samurai from the mid 1800's.

Given the quality of Thursday's dinner, it seemed impossible to find Japanese food that could match it for our final dinner in Tokyo. So, we instead opted for some righteous indian food. Curry, naan, pilau rice and mango lassie. A perfect finish.

These two weeks have been amazing. I've seen areas of Tokyo previously unknown to me, and revisited past favorites.

Now, the countdown begins. Today I have 29 days left here, and I hope to make the best of them.

The view from Tokyo Metropolitan Government building.

A man walking his monkey, Shimokitazawa.

Dinner at Jidaiya.

Back in Kugahara.

Gangnam it!

2009-03-25T23:04:00.010+09:00

I've been to Korea!

I meant to write more and sooner about that, but I've been a busy sumbitch, what with the end-of-term test and all.

I dealt with said examination yesterday, so now I'm officially set to giveth-not-a-fuck mode.

But first things first.

On Friday morning, me and the 'rents boarded an early flight for Seoul's Incheon airport, arriving in a slightly warmer climate than Tokyo's.

One thing that struck me immediately about Seoul was how spacious it is, considering the size of the city. Whereas Tokyo is a dense carpet of houses and skyskrapers, Seoul offers more in way of… you know, plants and stuff. It reminded me of Los Angeles, but without all the crap.

Anyway, the bus ride from the airport to the hotel was very smooth, an introduction of sorts to an exceptionally comfortable weekend in South Korea.

We stayed at the Imperial Palace hotel. They're not kidding with that name. The place reeks with british imperial splendour, with every surface in gold and dark wood, and every member of staff dressed in sterile suits calling you "sir" if you pass them by.

Our room on the 16th floor had a western view of the sprawling mass of concrete and neon that is Seoul, and carried on the style of the hotel. Fancy, but in a charming way.

After settling in, we decided to scout the nearby area for food and sights. This turned out to be quite the task. What seemed like a walk around the block was in fact a few subway stops away. Alas, we walked on, impervious to fatigue.

After a really Korean lunch of juk – vegetable gruel, similar to risotto – and kimchi (naturally) we found the Coex mall and adjacent Kimchi Museum. Now, the Kimchi Museum might very well be the single best museum on earth.

Kimchi is pickled vegetables, usually cabbage. And there's a museum about it. Fantastic.

We actually had dinner at the hotel, which I would normally think to be a bit simplistic and uninspiring. Except, the hotel had a buffet of some of the best food I've had. It was ridiculous. Dozens of hot and cold dishes, raw vegetables, soup, desserts. Very nice indeed.

We went there for breakfast twice, and it was much the same. Any tasty, hearty breakfast ingredient one can think of, and more.

Day number two began on the subway, as we had now accepted the distance between the various sights we wanted to see. These included several fine temples, the Seoul Museum of History and Seoul Tower. All of these were nice to see, and the bus that traveled conveniently between most of them allowed us further viewing.

Dinner was had at a place called Mad for Garlic which, as the name insinuates, is not a sushi restaurant. We had garlic bread, garlic fondue (!) and more garlic bread, followed by three different garlic-heavy pizzas. Pretty strange, but none the less good food.

My final day of Korean adventures took me to the electronics market of Yongsan where everything was suspiciously cheap and there were hardly any people. And to more temples, in the beautiful Changgyeonggung palace. I also made use of the hotel's swimming facilities, which were unsurprisingly fancy.

After three days in Seoul, I could make certain observations:

Koreans eat Kimchi in, on, and with everything. It's not a way to prepare food, it's a religion. I also suspect that it's a ritual form of embalming corpses, to cover them in Kimchi.
Korea is cheap! Compared to Tokyo it's vastly different, but even by proper standards, Seoul is a great place to shop.
Korea is slightly more American than Japan (I feel the need to compare the two countries) with Wal-Mart, Dunkin' Donuts and the like. But it's actually not that big a difference.

Ji-bu-ri

2009-03-20T00:14:00.002+09:00

When Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata and others founded Ghibli Studios in 1985, they weren't fluent in Italian. None the less, they were determined to call their new company "Jee-buri", which is how it's pronounced here. Personally, I think some Japanese companies should just stay away from certain grammatical deathtraps (or simply, certain letters…)

Anyway, why I'm even mentioning this is because yesterday we visited the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka. The museum is a colourful and cartoony building situated within Inokashira park, not far from Shinjuku. It contains a playful exhibition on the history of cinema, a mock-up of an animation studio (which may or may not look anything like the real thing) and a gift shop.

Also, a huge robot from Castle In The Sky.

But perhaps most importantly, the building houses a cinema where visitors are treated to an exclusive screening of a short film by Ghibli Studios. These films are not available anywhere else, so it's a pretty big deal.

The one we saw yesterday is the 16-minute Hoshi o Katta hi ("The day I harvested a star"), directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It was really great, and full of Miyazaki-like quirkyness and style.

After this joyful excursion, including a walk around Inokashira, we headed back to Shinjuku for dinner at a place that specialized in sukiyaki. A big bowl of boiling broth is placed in the center of the table, and guests are free to dunk whatever vegetable, meat or fish they want into it. I've had it before, but not like this. An interesting experience. And good food.

Today I decided to get some god damn studying done, seeing as how I have less than a week to remind myself of everything I've learned over the past couple of months. The sun was doing it's thing, it was about 23º C, so me and three classmates went to the Imperial garden to hit the books.

Afterwards, I met my parents at their ryokan in Asakusa. We went for a short walk around the tourist-packed but somehow genuinely japanese neighborhood, bought chopsticks, and found some nice tempura for dinner. A fine evening, to be sure.

Tomorrow, Korea! I have absolutely no expectations whatsoever.

Out and about.

2009-03-17T22:34:00.003+09:00

Wow. The last three days have been busy. On Sunday, my parents landed in sunny Tokyo, so at two o'clock we met up at their hotel by Tokyo Dome. The tourist-friendly area surrounding said Dome contains many souvenir-shops, restaurants, a roller-coaster and a shopping mall, and so is worth a good walk around. We had lunch at the über-japanese establishment of Bubba Gump Shrimp, where I wolfed down my own weight in seafood (seemed like the thing to do.)

Afterwards, we headed towards Akihabara for more walking and general sightseeing. A proper, good japanese dinner finished Sunday off nicely.

Yesterday was busier still. We met up after my three hours of school and took the subway to Tsukiji, where one can famously sample the best sushi in the world (and that's a pretty realistic statement – sushi was invented and perfected in Tokyo, and in Tsukiji you can eat fish that's been dead for less than six hours.)

Great food, of course. But the sheer atmosphere of the place was just as satisfying.

Not one to waste time, I swiftly led the way towards the Rainbow Bridge, which leads to the artificial island of Odaiba.

The plan was to walk across the bridge (a fairly ambitious scheme, in hindsight) but it was closed. So we took the monorail instead, which is obviously a lot cooler.

Odaiba itself is hard to judge after just one brief visit, but I do love the futuristic architecture of the Fuji TV-building, Tokyo Big Sight and The Museum of Maritime Science.

And the Tokyo skyline from a kind-of-boardwalk café is not a bad view.

After all this fresh air and open space, we thought it more than appropriate to nose-dive straight into the heart of the metropolis for dinner. After a quick tour of Tokyo Tower (a 333 m imitation of the Eiffel Tower, with an extremely impressive view) we found a well-enough-looking restaurant in Ginza.

Though I'm not entirely sure why, because the entire menu was in japanese (which I understood some of, but not enough to make a confident decision about what to order.)

Anyway, it ended well with some grilled salmon, chicken and tuna, plus a sallad and some potatoes.

Today was busiest of all. I wanted to take the folks to a Tokyo favorite of mine – the Brown Rice café in Omote-sando – so that was our first destination. After waiting for a table a bit too long, I got my hands on a vegan burger and a red fruit slushy of some sort. All was delicious, all was well.

This location also meant a close proximity to Harajuku, leading into Shibuya, and off we went for more easy strolling in the sunshine. We did some shopping (books, frying pans that look like Winnie the Pooh, colourful socks, etc.) and took several pictures of Shibuya crossing, like real tourists. I love it!

Today is St Patrick's day, so from Shibuya we took the train to Roppongi for Guinness and green hats at a very Irish pub. Really cool, and pretty random considering that I've never celebrated St Patrick's day before (but that's all about to change, now I've seen the fun-and-fancy-free that is catholicism, I'm like totally converted!)

We had dinner at Wolfgang Puck's, which is not very japanese at all, except for a pair of starters that pretty much blew my head off. I had some fish after that, which was also ridiculously good.

Pictures will follow.

わたしわあめがすきですが、あめきらいです。

2009-03-14T12:10:00.005+09:00

Well hell, I never meant for this to be a weekly endeavour.

The past couple of weeks have just all looked fairly similar. I spend monday through friday taking walks to and around record stores close to the school, eating rice, studying and talking to my favorite gal until bedtime.

And since I don't have much to share on the subject of rice-cooking, or what records I want to buy (but haven't, yet) I just don't write that much.

Well, a slap on the wrist for me.

This week I went to Ginza, again. It takes a good 30-40 minutes to walk from school to the posh, New Yorkish Ginza-dori, so if I feel like visiting the Apple store or Uniclo (or just walking south because it feels like going downhill) I'll steer towards fancytown.

This particular promenade was, as usual, fairly fruitless. Except for one item – a book that Nathalie bought called Tokyo Maniacs Guide. It's a somewhat random collection of tips about record stores, cafés, thrift shops and other such gems, in areas like Shimokitazawa, Shibuya and Harajuku. It basically seems very useful to me, even though I have yet to take advantage of it.

I also went back to Daikanyama. I've been there twice before, which isn't really a big deal now that I've discovered it's proximity to Shibuya. It's just part of the area between Shibuya and Ebisu (oh, and for those of you who haven't been to Tokyo – sorry about all this geography nonsense.)

I like Daikanyama. I think. It's a pretty area, I like the many small shops and the ultra-hip, english-speaking japanese who occupy them. What I don't like is the price of almost anything you find there. A second-hand t-shirt shouldn't cost 3500 yen.

Having said that, me and my companion did stumble upon some colourful ski hats, and bought five for 500 yen. Nice!

Apart from that, I'm trying to study for the test in less than two weeks. We are still learning new and exciting ways to conjugate verbs in japanese, which seems to be all they ever do here. Like a hobby or a lifestyle.

"Say, are you at all into music or films?"

"No, I'm far too busy conjugating verbs in my sparetime. Sorry, ask the Koreans."

Tomorrow my parents will join me here for a two-week tour of Tokyo, and a short trip to Seoul. I'm really looking forward to it, if only to do some proper sightseeing. I've lived here for a while, but being a tourist is great too.

Weak end.

2009-03-08T20:31:00.011+09:00

Yesterday was a very long day. Most of it was fun.

I got up bright and early because it's my turn to handle the garbage disposal here in our communist collective. Japan has a very strict and somewhat confusing system of dividing trash by their ability to burn, or be recycled. I'm not sure anyone gets it right, but I'm pretty sure we don't.

At noon I met an old collegue in Harajuku. She's been visiting Tokyo over the weekend, so I had offered my services as a guide. As it turns out, I do know my way around Tokyo, but giving a general tour of the choice locations in the city in less than a day is difficult work.

We did alot of walking, saw Harajuku, Shibuya, Shinjuku and Akihabara, and they did some modest shopping. So I think it went well.

It was nice to see a familiar face, too.

When they had seen enough for one day, we parted ways and I headed for Shibuya, to converge with Nathalie and our new japanese friend Kyouhei, who we met at the Café-thing a couple of weeks ago.

He was one of the many friendly people we spoke to, and helped us get back home (well, tried to…)

Apparently, Kyouhei's friend's band was playing Shibuya AX, so he wondered if we wanted to tag along. Guest list and everything.

Now, I'm not very down with concert venues in Tokyo. I basically don't know any. But Shibuya AX is pretty big. Even bigger is Come Back My Daughter (epic name), the "friend's band" that we saw perform. They were nothing special, or even that good, but I was just excited to see some live music.

After two and a half hours (!!!) they decided to go home, but we didn't. Even though my body was pretty much devastated from walking and standing for eleven hours, with barely anything to eat, I figured "Aw hell, what are saturdays for, if not staying up all night?"

So we promptly followed Kyouhei to the second gig, a club in Shimokitazawa where yet another friend was set to play around midnight.

After some much-needed Moss Burger indulgence, we dove into the smokey basement of the Shelter. Dark, hot, inviting. And we got to be on the guest list again.

This was around twelve o'clock, and for the next five hours we were treated to a very random concoction of japanese music, from hip hop to… some sort of keytar-club-shit. I wasn't paying that close attention.

And for once I managed to get off the Yamanote train at the right stop. We got home at about six.

Today, I've enjoyed a few hours of disturbed and uneasy sleep. And made food! Mmm… rice.

Me, Fredrik and Anna with three japanese students of english, who gave us a spontaneous tour of the Meiji shrine in Yoyogi park.

CBMD and a really good crowd.

Nathalie and Kyouhei – diggin' on some ripe tunes.

Around five AM, ready to throw in the towel.

わたしのしゅみはいぬをたべることです。

2009-03-07T01:07:00.004+09:00

So, another five days of school careened past me like a salaryman on his lunch-break. This has been a mellow week.

It's been raining pretty much every day, so I've mostly stayed indoors watching Heroes or reading random articles on wikipedia.

Which is nice, actually.

But I would rather like some sunshine and, if possible, adventure.

On monday morning I was greeted in school by a jar of peanut butter, courtesy of Akiko-san. She asked José to bring it for me, since she had bought too much peanut butter. She's great.

Yesterday I went for a long walk around Ikebukuro (I originally went there for camera equipment reconnaissance) which yielded seeings of two big graveyards. Very uplifting indeed.

And today I went back to Sweets Paradise with three friends from my class, to once again discover how much pasta and cake I can physically fit into my stomach. It was fabulous and all, but I think twice is enough.

Some musix I'm excited about right now include: M83 – Saturdays = Youth, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Crystal Castles, Deerhoof – Offend Maggie, The Album Leaf – Into The Blue Again, God Is An Astronaut, Stereolab – Peng! and The Great Redneck Hope – Behold The Fuck Thunder.

Also, I'm watching a lot of Darkwing Duck. Why aren't you?

Rockin' the sanshin all night long

2009-03-01T19:55:00.006+09:00

Yesterday I went to a party. Well, "party". How I came to be there I barely understand myself.

A few days ago, one of the other swedes from my school was approached by a woman on the subway named Yumi. She asked him if he wanted to go to a party at her friend's house on saturday (yesterday) and he thought it sounded like a swell idea. She said to bring some friends.

So he told me about it, and most of our jaunty, swedish gang. He also told his neighbor Phillip, a swiss guy who's in my class.

Gets a bit confusing, I know.

Anyway, last night we were set to meet at Hatsudai station around six o'clock. When I arrived, punctual and proper, there was no one there. Eventually I found Phillip, and the japanese girl from the subway, whom none of us knew. Yumi had with her two friends named Asami and Nami (makes for a great superhero team, doesn't it?)

She informed us that our mutual friend wasn't coming due to illness (I call bullshit, but whatever) and we decided that no one else was going to show. It was him and me.

So, in the company of three japanese girls whom we'd never seen before, we headed off to meet the host of the party, Kazu.

After some last-minute shopping (when someone says they're getting snacks for a party, you don't expect them to leave the store with a bag full of raw vegetables) we found his apartment.

It's located right nearby the Park Hyatt and has a superb, futuristic view of downtown Tokyo.

At this point we'd broken some ice with the usual "I'm swedish. Yes, Ikea. No, I'm not a polar bear." Our four companions were friendly and curious, as per usual.

The "party" turned out to be just the six of us, seated around a low table in Kazu's very small and hospitable flat. We had soup, drank tea and wine, listened to japanese hip hop, and it was great. Really nice. Really friendly people.

Kazu thought it appropriate to produce his sanshin, a japanese lute much like the shamisen that Kobayashi-san plays. Obviously, I couldn't help but lay down a few tight licks. I rock anywhere, at any time.

So, a great night that came to be by unlikely circumstances. I like when that happens.

Asami, Yumi, and soup.

Phillip and Kazu.

Riffing the shit out of a lute.

A merry bunch. Kazu, Yumi, Asami, Nami, Phillip and me.

わたしはかせいじん。なにもしりません。

2009-02-26T07:45:00.008+09:00

Well, that's almost another whole week passed. Time flies when you're eating nattō, eh?

So last saturday, I moved from my favorite japanese family to a student "guest house" where I share a small room with a friend.

The change was not without it's anxieties. Mainly, I miss dinner with the Kobayashis, and the high-speed internet connection I had there. You know, for surfing on teh webz.

But I won't complain. It's nice here, and warm.

Saturday was eventful in other areas, too.

After dinner, me and Nathalie headed off to Ikebukuro where a café was supposedly celebrating some sort of anniversary. I knew nothing about it, but tagged along for lack of anything else to do.

Turns out, this get-together was largely one of artists and musicians, three of whom were performing when we arrived. Clad in white, heads bowed, they delicately manipulated their instruments (a steel plate, a mixer with a delay pedal, and some mutation of a record player) to create random noise and ambient hum. It was very good.

Most of the expensive-glasses-wearing clientele seemed a bit awkward by the whole affiair, which obviously made it even better.

After their set, I wasn't late to approach the oldest of the three to compliment his weirdness and ask about his steel plate. His name is Ken-ichi Kanazawa, and he's a sculptor. The audio-thing was just one of many ways to explore the uses and features of steel. Or so he said.

Fascinating old dude, he quickly introduced me to the other two; Shinjiro Yamagiuchi and Hiroyuki Ura. Behind the usual japanese politeness, they were really cool people, and were far less pretentious than I would have thought. Shows me.

The event also hosted a screening of a very artsy short film, which I didn't care that much for. Most of the next four hours was spent talking to nice people. A canadian named Luke took several pictures of our shoes, and his english friend Lisa gave us tips about vegan eateries in Tokyo.

Tired and smiling, we left just after eleven to catch the last train home. Or so we thought. Through some misunderstanding, we missed the train and had to find something to do for five hours. The proximity of Tokyo Dome seemed encouraging, so we approached the premises, immediately finding a 24-hour Denny's.

We figured we could get some tea, get warm, then go someplace else. Right.

We woke up around 4:30, and staggered off to catch the first train instead.

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday came and went. Got some studying done, which was good. Went for a walk and found a good 100-yen shop that sells food (not all of them do.)

Yesterday me, Nathalie, Maria and Nathalie's visiting friend Erika went to a vegan restaurant/café in Shibuya to eat falafel burgers. I've been curious about places like that, but it was actually a bit disappointing. The food was bland and expensive, the room small and grey.

And obviously there's a sign on the wall that reads "Vegan. Make the change you want to see in the world." Shit, can't we just eat food without meat? We're not better people for it.

School is trucking on, getting more difficult now. I just hope that when I go home, I'll actually be able to use some of it.

Also, the weather sucks. Hope that changes soon enough.

The last meal I had at the Kobayashis' – sushi and tempura.

Stupidly good.

And the first thing I had in my new house. Rice.

Ken-ichi Kanazawa, fucking shit up.

Five talkative japanese and one lingually challenged foreigner.

Denny's. They know their stuff.

死にたいですか!?

2009-02-20T15:57:00.007+09:00

Right. I haven't written anything in a week because somehow I didn't think it was worth writing about.

Bah humbug! to that, everything is worth writing about!

Last saturday, summer paid us a visit. It was about 18° C (in february, that's what I like to call "fuck you, Sweden!")

Tokyo was surprisingly different under the effect of warmth and blazing sunshine, and I'm all for it. I went for a long walk through Harajuku and Shibuya and found more attractive places for buying stuff. Not entirely good, I should think.

I did alot of walking this week, again. The temperature did drop, but it was sunny most of the week and it's not like I'm going to let the weather dampen my walking-glee.

My modest purchases for this week includes Super Donkey Kong for Gameboy, bought at yet another retro games store (which was just fantastic, it's kept by an old lady) and a pair of hashi – purple Hello Kitty ones. Yeah.

Sesame Street makes everyone feel happy because it's a town always filled with fun and joy.

Good to know.

Typical Tokyo, I guess. Pretty.

The Imperial Garden. Actually, a particularly uninteresting part of it.

Yes we can.

Tomorrow I move. I'm getting all my stuff together now, a fairly simple task.

My six weeks with the Kobayashis have, in one snack-sized word, been great. The people, the food; it's all been great.

I'm sure I'll see more of them in the weeks to come, but I will miss them.

Me, José, Kobayashi-san, Yu-Lin, Hage and Eric. Missing is Paul, the Canadian kaisha-in.

Kugahara, Ota-ku

2009-02-13T17:28:00.007+09:00

One week from now, I'm leaving the Kobayashis in Kugahara to live further up north with fellow knäckebröd-enthusiast Nathalie from my school. I won't say goodbye just yet, but I thought I'd give a fairly detailed description of a normal day.

I get up at 6:45. This is done with much reluctance and difficulty, since my bed is warm, and the rest of the room is colder than Santa's nose.

The first thing I do is either shower or shave, or both, or snooze for a few minutes.

At about 7:22 I'm downstairs in the kitchen, where Akiko-san is preparing breakfast. This, the meals of all meals, consists of white bread with peanut butter or jam, and coffee or tea. In my case, three pieces of bread and a cup of tea (hardcore – no sugar or milk.)

José and Eric joins me about five minutes later.

We try to leave just shy of 8:00, since the train from Kugahara departs at 8:09. This gives us plenty of time.

At Kugahara, we board a train that is already completely full. This, as I have mentioned before, is my share of Tokyo's rush hour.

For ten stops I stand up, listening to music and sometimes falling asleep. Ontakesan, Yukigaya-Ōtsuka, Ishikawadai, Senzoku-Ike, Nagahara, Hatanodai, Ebara-Nakanobu, Togoshi-Ginza, Ōsaki-Hirokōji and finally Gotanda.

At Gotanda, we have a bit of a walk to get to the subway.

Construction workers getting their morning exercise at Gotanda station.

From Gotanda it's three short stops on the Asakusa line to Mita, where we change to the Mita line. This takes us all the way through central Tokyo and the Palace grounds to Jimbōchō, where exit A1 lies within two minutes walk from our school. We usually get there about 8:58.

Then, at 9:10, class. What can I say about that? We study japanese. Today, counting objects and people with a ridiculous amount of variations.

School ends at 12:40, so the first thing I do is usually have lunch. Of course, this is where the routine dies and gives way to gung-ho, spur-of-the-moment, impulse-driven activity. Yesterday, modern art in Roppongi. Some days, studying.

Today was pretty mellow, in a great way. I went to a favorite noodle-place and bought a cheap bowl of soba with tofu.

Then, a skim through the record stores near our school. I'm really starting to like that neighborhood. From the junction of Yasukuni-dori and Hakusan-dori I can either go left to find several good record stores, cheap restaurants, and five million antique bookstores. Or, go straight to guitar shops, a store that seems to specialize in old cameras, and eventually, Akihabara.

Anyway, today I bought two super awesome rekkids at Disk Union and walked around in all of the above areas.

Eventually, I head back home.

Dinner is at 19:00, unless noted, so by 18:50, I and the other expats will again meet Akiko-san in the kitchen to help set the table and otherwise act politely. We do that a lot here.

Then, food! Yesterday we had tempura, which is insanely good when the Kobayashis make it. One funny thing I've noticed is that no matter what we eat, there's always a bowl of rice and some miso soup. Even when it's pasta with tomato sauce, there's some miso and rice on the side. I love that.

Another staple of our meals is the after-dinner cup of Japanese tea (green, but toasted in some way… I think. It's very good.)

Then I go back to my room and make funny faces on Skype until I fall asleep. I would stay up all night if I could.

No plans for the weekend, but apparently it's not going to snow or anything. So, maybe I'll go outside.

Home swede home

2009-02-12T20:21:00.005+09:00

Yesterday we had a day off from school (I think it's Japan's birthday or something like that) so me and the other blondes-and-blue-eyes thought it would be a great opportunity to visit Ikea.

Good ol' Ikea. Founded by genuine man's man Ingvar Kamprad, it's one of Sweden's main cultural exports, providing people all over the world with simple, cheap furniture with names like VIBBYN, GUNGHULT or ASPVIK.

Such is the case in Japan. There are two Ikeas that I know of in Tokyo, and one of them is located not too far from where I live.

Seeing as how I'm moving in less than ten days, I figured I'd better equip myself with some bedsheets and a towel (simply because I had neither.)

I could give many fascinating details about the day, but I won't. The gist of it is, I got lost. Horribly, insufferably lost. First, on the way to Ikea.

I was supposed to walk to a bus-station, about fifteen minutes. After two and a half hours of walking aimlessly through Ota and Setagaya, I found the busstop and had to wait there for 40 minutes.

Then, after gathering my goods amongst the somewhat confusing aisles of the Palace of Pinewood, I got back on the bus. However, this was a different bus, that didn't return to where I came from. No, this bus went to Yokohama.

As usual, a map will instantly tell you just what an insanely fucking long detour I took just to get to Ikea and back.

From Yokohama, I knew the (relatively simple and short) way home and even afforded myself a quick stop in Kamata to eat one onigiri as a kind of late lunch.

Anyway.

On a brighter note, my girlfriend is the best. And so is this.

All you can eat, and then some.

2009-02-09T18:40:00.011+09:00

This past week I've found a few favorites. Places that I will remember the next time I come to Tokyo, especially if I don't have alot of time on my hands.

First up is Hanjiro, in Harajuku. See, I wasn't aware, but Harajuku is big. Considered by many as a maelstrom of modern youth fashion and all that, but within its' vague borders lies many hidden gems. Hanjiro is not one of them, since it isn't hidden at all. It occupies two floors in a mall of sorts, close to one of the main street crossings in Harajuku.

Hanjiro is a second hand or vintage or used clothing store. It's still not clear whether all the items were actually old and worn, but they looked the part. I got a pair of sunglasses and a sweater, and now I look cool.

The second favorite is Super Potato. Nestled in the electronic neon jungle of Akihabara, they specialize in retro videogames like the old Nintendo or Sega systems, and I can (most likely will) buy a SNES for 2900 yen. Hundreds of old games, game music, Gameboys, toys and miscellanea. Not very expensive. I shall return.

And third, the place where I had lunch today. Or rather, a combination of several meals presented on a chariot of chocolate and feathers and served in a famous bowl. (Two Patton Oswalt references in one sentence. I rule.)

At Sweets Paradise, one can indulge in an all-you-can-eat buffet that puts any American equivalent to shame. Not because it features six kinds of salad dressing, no, but because a) it had more cake than food, and b) both food and cake was extremely good.

Me and three friends entered the establishment famished and excited, and upon hearing Sonic Youth's Dirty Boots playing somewhere close I thought that this might very well be the single greatest place on earth.

Precisely 90 minutes later we emerged, bursting with sugar and fullfillment.

Okay, so maybe I won't have lunch there every day. But it's on my list.

I've also gotten to partake in two of Yu-Lin's favorite lunch-eateries, namely the black udon of Ichigaya (not what it sounds like, but almost) and tempura in Shinjuku. The former was a quiet place with almost no other guests, that served a superb udon soup with tofu and egg, in a big ceramic bowl, which itself sat in some sort of wooden crate. It was wierd, and great. A very friendly and talkative couple worked there.

The tempura was cool mostly because we got to sit cross-legged on tatami mats when we had it. The food was very good, but a bit expensive.

The weekend was calm, except for friday night which was noisy, Korean, and lasted until 8:30 on saturday morning. No karaoke, mind you, but fun times and falling asleep on the Yamanote line again.

I decided to give Ota-ku yet another shot at impressing me, and found that Togoshi-ginza has some good spots. A bookstore that sold really cheap SNES-games (to go with the aforementioned console) was one.

Shinjuku after sun-down.

Friday night. I stole this off Nathalie's blog.

Now that right there is sexy.

Helping ourselves.

Well, I couldn't very well have a little cake, right?

Cute bookstore in Ota-ku, occupied by a sociable cat.

And a merry setsubun to all!

2009-02-04T18:25:00.013+09:00

Yesterday, February 3rd, we celebrated setsubun here in Japan. Didn't you?

Basically, setsubun marks the beginning of spring. It's a divider of all seasons, but spring is special to the japanese, so its' coming should be greeted with music and laughter, and cheer. And, obviously, by throwing beans.

At me.

By the ancient and revered tradition of mamemaki (mame being the beans), the japanese exorcise evil spirits for the coming year. Roasted beans are either thrown out of the door ("And don't come back, bean!") or at a member of the family, dressed up as an oni – a demon or ogre.

Now, here's where it gets exciting.

One way of celebrating setsubun is by having celebrities throwing bags of beans (um, yeah) to anxious civilians, such as myself, Akiko-san, José, Eric and his girlfriend Yvonne, and Yu-Lin.

The theatre of this affair was Ikegami, two short stops away from Kugahara.

More specifically, it took place at a temple where one could conveniently do a bit of worshipping as well.

It went down like this.

A calm, tuesday afternoon. Hundreds of people.

Then, this gang appeared. Cool. Like something out of Conan. They were followed by a big bunch of celebrities, none of which I knew. At all. None.

Suddenly, chaos! Handfulls of beanbags were thrown into the crowd, who responded by going apeshit berzerk, grasping at the morsels.

Taking no prisoners. José, eager to score him some luck, makes a clean one-handed catch.

It should at this point be noted that I, who didn't really try to catch anything and instead hid behind my camera, had secured four bags. They all hit my face.

Bombardment! I guess being tall and white as a ghost makes you kind of a bulls-eye for sadistic japanese tv-celebs.

When the smoke had cleared, the dead carried away or eaten by carrion birds, we left the scene. I had, mostly by standing in the way, caught eight bags. Eight. A good few more than your average elderly, 123 cm high japanese woman. Take that, haters.

After this fresh experience, we walked back to Kugahara. It took longer than expected, and showed me once again that this part of Ota-ku has little to offer, but is quite nice to walk through.

Another segment of our celebration, and something I guess Akiko-san wanted to do anyway, was making our own sushi. Awesome! I always wanted to try that, and having a japanese housewife show you the ropes certainly adds to the impression.

We only made maki-sushi, since that has something to do with setsubun. But we made tons of it.

Rice, cucumber, lettuce, omelette and nori.

This is Choi Jong Hak, who's going back to Korea in two days. I'll miss him.

Akiko-san's knife-skills: the art of turning this…

… into this! Served with a hearty miso-soup. Unbeatable.

Sunday

2009-02-03T16:26:00.000+09:00

This weekend was pretty mellow. On sunday I went with the family to the Tama river, then walked alongside it. We ended up somewhere in the vast Setagaya-ku, where we took the subway to Roppongi. From there we walked back to Gotanda, which took about two hours.

My legs are hurting still.

Tama river and Mt. Fuji

Sunday afternoon baseball

Minutes prior to lunchtime

Lunch: two onigiri, two croquettes of some kind, two pieces of omelette, and a bottle of Soft Fruit.

Setagaya-ku

Roppongi

Gotanda

Firecrackers – the silent killer

2009-01-29T15:24:00.000+09:00

Yesterday I saw four japanese silent movies. Cool, huh?

This came to happen by the suggestion of Akiko-san, always keen to teach us white boys about the many faces of japanese culture. Or something like that.

I in turn told my fellow swedes about it, and six of us ended up going. Six swedes, in an audience of maybe fifteen people, total.

What I knew of this event was the time and location, and that we were privy to a pretty rare viewing of a japanese silent movie.

What none of us quite understood was that this was an authentic japanese movie-going experience, circa 1930, and that four films would be screened.

The authenticity came in the form of a benshi, a narrator and voice actor who provided one half of the sound to the mute visuals (the other half being music, mainly traditional japanese stuff.)

After a brief introduction by and of Mr Raiko Sakamoto, one of a few now-active benshi, the first of three short anime was shown.

Taro's Early Training Days (Hinomaru Taro: Musho Shugyo no Maki) from 1936 is about a man named Taro who saves a princess from a baddy with a beard. Five minutes long and fun enough, it was interesting to see how similar it looked to the early Disney shorts.

Next up was The Bat (Komori, 1930), which had a really beautiful style and featured animals as samurai. This story had a pretty strong morale (although it was a tad bit difficult to catch its subtleties, due to the combination of Sakamoto and korean subtitles.)

Komori was drawn and directed by Yasuji Murata, who is also credited with the third and last anime short of the evening: Sanko and the Octopus (Sanko to Tako, 1933).

Sanko is a lazy fisherman who neglects his wife and fisherman-duties, and spends much time drinking and dancing (as one does.) When his friend Kuma tells him about a sunken ship and its hidden treasure, Sanko goes out to sea. There he encounters a stubborn octopus and… well, it gets a bit odd, but no less interesting to watch.

Another example of Murata's skill in animation and style, and a fine closure of the anime-chapter.

On to longer and more physical things, our main feature was Jirokichi the Rat (Oatsurae Jirokichi goshi, 1931)

Being the (apparently) only completely preserved silent film by Daisuke Itô – an extremely prolific japanese filmmaker – it features the very popular silent movie actor Denjirô Ôkôchi (who worked on most of Itô's silent films, and did several talkies with Akira Kurosawa) as Jirokichi, who is something of an Edo Robin Hood.

All voices were again provided by Raiko Sakamoto, which proved quite convincing (well, under the circumstances.)

All in all, it was great. Well worth the 1000 yen we paid to get in (and we got a funky pen too! It writes on plastic, we were told.)

Denjirô Ôkôchi and Naoe Fushimi (or her sister Nobuko, I can't tell them apart.)

Also, the other day I got lost somewhere between Hibiya and Mita subway stations. My idea was to go for a short walk and maybe check out some of Roppongi. It ended up taking about an hour or so before I found Mita.

It was great. I love walking.

Cheerful sumo wrestlers on the last day of the tournaments.

Tall buildings somewhere in Mita.

Here is my carefully reconstructed path of aimlessness.

Hibiya is at the top, near the Imperial palace.

Trashtalk

2009-01-25T20:54:00.001+09:00

Being the ever-curious, bordering on autistic, I have during these past few days counted the number of trashcans in Tokyo.

In the entire Greater Tokyo Metropolitan Area, with its' 35 million inhabitants, there are four trashcans.

Really now.

The Tokyoites do have a penchant for buying and consuming food and goods on the run, the popular bentō lunchboxes being an example. Despite this, there's nowhere to put your bentō once it's empty, or your candy wrapper, your used tissues, your bloodied knife, and so on. At least not anywhere near a subway station, which incidentally is everywhere in Tokyo.

What's even more fucked up is that, in spite of this ridiculous lack of garbage receptacles, there's no littering. Nothing. The odd cigarette butt, maybe, but most foreigners agree that Tokyo is a surprisingly clean city.

So combining these two facts we come to the conclusion that the Japanese are meant to – and actually do – take their trash with them, until they happen upon one of the four trashcans that do exist, or find a suitable river or something.

I for one think this is bullshit. So, there.

Today I went to Edo-Tokyo Museum with José and Eric. It was really nice, with lots of details about the rise and fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate (in English!) and many very neat models. Also, an annoyingly small section about the Tokyo bombings of World War II. If I remember correctly, they had more on that at the Yushukan War Museum… Well, I'm going there anyway one of these days.

Also, I've just started on the second season of Californication. Fantastic.

Shop 'til you drop. Then get up and shop some more.

2009-01-23T21:36:00.000+09:00

It's friday! Yay!

It doesn't make all that much difference, but weekends are always welcome when they decide to show up.

Today I went to Nakano, having recieved a tip from Eric that there lies a goldmine of manga and its related merchandise. Now, I'm only moderately interested in anime, and I've only read a few manga translated into English. I'm not very into the whole thing. But…

Holy crap.

There was literally a dozen stores, all crammed full of every type of manga I could think of (and many more, of course) along with thousands of plastic figures, ranging between 100-yen robots to 50,000-yen Doraemon statues and the like.

It was awesome. They also had tons of vintage manga, like original issues of Astro Boy, and animation cells from, amongst others, a few Miyazaki-films. I wanted those real bad, but I don't think I have 125,000 yen to spend on that just now.

Yesterday the Oscar-nominations were announced, and the world stood still (yeah). I was pretty annoyed when I realized that I haven't seen any of the nominees for Best Picture. I'll have to do something about that.

This week I'm listening mostly to the new Architects album, Michael Jackson's Off The Wall, and Blonde Redhead's 23.

Next week, who knows? The fun never stops.

Pictures, because you know you want to:

Early spring in Setagaya-ku

Cool toys in Nakano

Cells from Miyazaki-films

I bought stuff today! A shirt and a pair of purple socks

Temples, rodents and pork

2009-01-21T21:01:00.000+09:00

Welcome to Kamakura, population: 173 588. 8 billion of you count the squirrels.

Since I last wrote, I have explored my hometown of Kugahara, eaten expensive pancakes at the Moomin-kafé and almost gone to see sumo wrestling.

But most memorably, I went to Kamakura on sunday for some quiet sightseeing of old Japan.

Kamakura is one of a few cities in Japan that the US ear-marked for preservation during the bombings of the second World War. Or, so they say.

It is unclear how Henry L Stimson and others influenced president Truman in the decision to spare Kyoto, but it wasn't the only city whose historical value was deemed too great to... well, lay flat.

While probably not quite as magnificent as Kyoto (I have yet to go there), Kamakura is the place to go for temples and shrines (and let's be honest, that's why we all came to Japan in the first place, right?)

It took about an hour from Kugahara, which itself is about an hour from central Tokyo. So a bit of a journey, but surprisingly cheap. We passed Yokohama, which I thought was pretty far off. So that's promising as far as daytrips from Tokyo goes.

Anyway, the company was my surrogate-mother Akiko-san, and my fellow house guest students Eric and José. We started early, by Akiko-san's orders, and by lunch had visited a couple of ancient and revered sights, including the Great Buddha (yes, the God himself.)

We delayed lunch and instead decided to take a cookie-break. Apparently, Kamakura is a seaside town, so we had a nice view. (And how the hell did I miss that? I mean the pacific is a rather substantial body of water.)

And thus it was, that we came upon the mythical creature known only as: Cookie Snatcher. It was no surprise that this fabled being of ancient Japanese folklore surfaced here, at a shrine dedicated to nature itself. And on this beautiful, sunny sunday, that we should encounter first-hand the doings of such a sneaky-as-fuck animal.

I was off to the vending machine to purchase a can of hot tea. Yes, they have hot drinks in vending machines here. Pretty neat.

Suddenly, out of nowhere (or rather, from right above us) the bird struck. Akiko-san was helping herself to a lemon-ish biscuit when SWOOOSH, a lightning of feathers and sneakyness dove from the heavens and yoinked said treat from her hand!

Needless to say, there was much commotion from on-lookers, who frantically ran for their lives as the beast ascended upwards.

This was probably the most exciting thing that happened all day, which was kind of nice.

We continued to find and appreciate shrines, washing our hands with water to purify our blackened souls and inhaling incense to… give us asthma, I guess.

One shrine, dedicated to the fox, was particularly picturesque. It was located at the top of a long flight of stairs, lined with narrow tori gates and fox statues. As we reached the shrine itself, we realized that the foxes had all been killed or enslaved. By squirrels.

There were literally fifty thousand squirrels (well, about six) casually skipping about between the treebranches, and we got close enough to feed a couple of them with cookies (yes, feeding fauna with cookies was the theme for this day). One even climbed onto Eric's coat.

We had lunch at a nice, very japanese restaurant which gave me reason to reflect on two annoying facts: there's nothing to eat here but meat. What the fuck? And also, it's perfectly fine to smoke in restaurants, even McDonald's. Again, what the fuck, Japan?

Like I said, Kamakura (Japanese for "old stuff") is a modest treasure of preserved houses and landmarks, and more than any shrine I enjoyed just walking through the small town and seeing the odd Edo-style house pop up. Some aren't genuine, I know, but some are and it doesn't really matter. It's beautiful.

All in all, that was a nice sunday. We had planned to do something nice this weekend too, but it seems nature is poking me in the proverbial eye with some cold weather on sunday.

So that sucks.

Anyway, pictures from Kamakura:

The Great Buddha

This way to trains, toilets and nazis

Two cars in every garage

A squirrel and a cookie

The boys are back in town. Or rather, they are here now for the first time.

2009-01-17T17:43:00.000+09:00

I woke up at 3:30 PM today.

So effing what? I hear you say. That's saturday for ya, right? Well, I tend to get up before lunch even on the laziest of days.

The main reason why I neglected most of the sunlight-hours today is, I'm quite certain, the fact that I went to bed at nine this morning. Which is in itself largely due to a six-hour stay at a karaoke bar in Shibuya last night.

I've never sung karaoke before. In fact, the number of times I've handled a microphone is pretty insignificant, not to mention my singing voice.

Anyway, as much of a Tokyo-cliché as it is, it's not bad.

I had arranged to meet some friends at nine, who supposedly knew of a cool place for pre-singing drinks. After walking aimlessly through the labyrinthine streets of Shibuya, we actually found the place. The seven of us were barely able to squeeze in (and there was no one else there) and I cheerfully ordered my first 500 yen ginger ale.

After a couple of hours the establishment had served its' purpose, so we opted to find one more suitable for vocal endeavours.

I can't remember the name (who am I kidding, I didn't care what it was called), but it was pretty close to Shibuya station. A towering plaza of drunken singing where gullable gaijin like us could make asses of ourself without having to apologize for it.

For 30,000 yen (divided by seven people, you do the math), we got a room, a karaoke-machine, and all the booze we wanted. For six hours. That was the deal.

Being swedish and quite appreciative of a drink or two, my companions quickly realized that they were going to die.

It started off well enough, with some 80's classics and beers, but soon the pitchers and random whiskey drinks (I think) took their toll.

As for the songs, I think I gave Blitzkrieg bop a fair treatment, as well as Prince's 1999. The others did superbly too, of course.

Anyway, we left at five o'clock to find that Shibuya looked the same as it had at nine (no real surprise) and I took one of the first trains home. I actually went the wrong way on the circular Yamanote subway line on purpose, because I felt like riding the train for a while and watching sleepy Tokyoites return home (or in many cases, going to work.)

I'm beginning to settle in now, which is nice. Tomorrow Akiko-san (the mother of the family in whose home I'm staying) is taking me and the other dudes to Kamakura. It should be good.

I've had karaoke, now I want some temples.

Pictures:

Tokyo tower

An awesome rendering of The Great Wave off Kanagawa, in Shimokitazawa

Daikanyama

Shibuya

Gotanda station at sunrise

Blogging on the run!

2009-01-16T16:11:00.000+09:00

Being the avant garde-trooper that I am, I am stealing some precious internets from the good people at Apple, out of their store in Ginza.

Today marks the end of the first, rather short, school-week. I'm enjoying it so far, although I haven't really learned anything new. I'm sure it's coming though. Practicing hiragana is really useful.

Oh well. This keyboard is fucking with me, so goodbye for now.

Swedes in Tokyo

2009-01-14T20:36:00.000+09:00

Yesterday I found out just how crowded rush hour in the Tokyo subway is. Basically, imagine standing in a 1 x 1 meter closet with fourteen other people. Then twelve more people decide to get in.

Today was just as bad, but having confided to holding my breath for 15 minutes (being a pirate, this is not beyond my skill) I didn't really mind. I'm sure I'll have many fun mornings on the train between Kugahara and Gotanda in the coming month. I mean, when you've had a robust Mexican boy shoving his hip into your crotch, you can't even remember what life was like without it.

Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. Yesterday morning I learned that Tokyo has way too many people living here – and only minutes after my arrival to school I found out who they all are.

They're Swedish.

I'm taking a Japanese Conversation course. So are about twelve other swedes. From what I know, the situation is the same in every other language school and institute. What the hell is going on here?

Well, for one thing we get the king's money for doing stuff like this. CSN (NAMBLA for short) happily hands out dough to anyone who has the bright idea of going abroad to "study", so why wait?

And Japan is the it-place to go right now, I guess. I don't consider myself a trendy or fashionable so-and-so, but I can't deny that some of the same forces have driven me here that have affected every other blonde-and-blue-eyed gaijin in Tokyo.

It's fascination, in various forms and flavours.

Aside from that grown-up analysis, it was cool to meet some nice people from back home.

We only had an introduction yesterday, along with a small test to determine our Japanese skills (or lack thereof), so today was the first actual schoolday.

It was alright. Our teacher, Mrs Hasegawa, was great. The lesson itself was extremely basic and pretty easy for me. But I guess it will pick up soon enough.

After that, I went with some of the swedes to Shimo-kitazawa. By recommendation, we knew it to be a cluster of small shops and cafés, selling old records and second-hand clothing.

It didn't dissapoint, but I didn't buy anything today. Maybe next time.

And that will have to do for these two days, since I am barely able to keep my eyes open.

A combination of jetlag, lack of sleep and choice of activities has left me completely spent. At 10:30 PM.

Oh well.

Store My Ducks

2009-01-12T17:40:00.000+09:00

Welcome to Tokyo, the present time is tomorrow.

Today was Coming-of-age Day. That means everyone who's turning 20 today gets a free cookie from the emperor's hand.

Just kidding.

No, it manifests itself in goings to shrines, and people otherwise enjoying a day off work. The Japanese don't get many of those.

Spurred by our lovely landlady Mrs Kobayashi, I and three of my fellow house guests set out to explore central Tokyo with naught but a map and my scattered memory to guide us.

We did fine, as a matter of fact, and found our way from Shibuya to Harajuku via the Meiji shrine, which was very busy today.

It appears this Meiji fellow is one popular dude. I dabbed my hands with holy water of some kind, so I guess I have his blessings now. Thanks, pal!

After that we went to Harajuku, which, according to Gwen Stefani is a super awesome "pedestrian paradise". I need to come back a few dozen times before I can say if I agree. Gwen has been known to make mistakes. From time to time. (If you get that reference, you get a cookie. From the emperor's hand.)

We also had lunch in the one place that wasn't completely crowded (probably a bad sign, that), in my case a very simple salmon with rice. Hey, it was cheap enough.

Again, I have chosen to write just before dinner (which is served at 7 o'clock, daily). Last night we had some very japanese dishes, which were excellent. The Kobayashis are really cheerful and talkative, as it were, much more so than us non-japanese.

Here are some pictures from today.

Arrival and excitement

2009-01-11T16:26:00.000+09:00

Okay, I'm here now.

The trip from Stockholm began about four days ago (well, maybe not that long. But it takes a good few hours.) After a brief flight to Copenhagen, I bought four hours of wifi-time, and learned to appreciate Skype. I hope to use it extensively during my stay here in the Land of Heated Toilet Seats.

Having spent waaaay more time at Denmark's international airport than I should ever wish to, I made my way to the gate, where I more or less stumbled upon two fellow Swedes.

One has been living in Tokyo for three months, the other is just beginning his first year here. Long story short, we have common friends at home and ended up hanging out all the way to Shinagawa station. I think I'll be seeing more of them both.

The house I live in, where I will stay for the next six weeks, is situated in Kugahara. It lies a ways away from central Tokyo, to the southwest. I have yet to explore my surroundings, but my walk from the train station hinted at a very quiet neighborhood with small houses and – gasp! – some greenery.

In an hour or so I will have dinner with the other students staying here, so more about them later.

Okay, I'm here now.

Into the west... oh right, east.

2009-01-10T05:41:00.000+09:00

You know that scene from one of the endings of The Return of The King? Frodo's departure at the Grey Havens, when everything looks shiny, and everybody's sad but kind of glad too? I've been re-enacting that scene several times over the last couple of days, and it's painful.

I'm excited about the whole Japan-thing, but being away from the people I love is not cool. I suppose I'll be able to give a better assessment of how uncool it is in a week or so, but right now, I'm a sad bear.

I'm just about done packing, so I guess the next time I write something here, I'll be in Tokyo. Possibly Denmark. Maybe Portugal if I get lost at the airport. We'll see.

The year for living dangerously!

2009-01-04T18:48:00.000+09:00

Yeah! Finally, the sad, monotone existence of 2008 is over! Dead and gone!

Alright, that's enough exclamation marks for now.

Another year has passed. A year that, for me, saw many transgressions. I ended a long relationship, moved from one job to another and spent many scattered weeks unemployed and chillaxed.

I traveled to London for a week, Denmark for a day, and Malmö for two very pleasant weekends. My band found a new label and started working on our first album, to be released this year.

All in all, I think 2008 ended with a pretty cool cliffhanger, so I'm not one to linger on what has passed. That said, I think a recap is in order. Here now, listed in no reasonable order, is my 2008 favorites.

Live Music

Having just read and responded to His Holy Beardness' post about gigs in 2008, I realised what an awesome year it has been for live music. I finally got to see Best Band In The World™ Oceansize, albeit as an opening act for Coheed & Cambria. They still killed, though.

Alt-noiserock-legends Sonic Youth were never on my must-see list, but having just opened my ears to them this summer, I joined some friends at the Way Out West festival to check them out.

In retrospect, it was one of the brighter ideas of my concert-going life, since their show was among the best I've ever seen. Hell, I didn't even know half the songs. I didn't care.

My friend Olle, aging veteran of a thousand gigs at a thousand blood-soaked venues, who has seen Sonic Youth, like, seven times, could attest to their quality on the day. It was fantastic.

I also saw Cult of Luna again. I've seen them about five times now, and I never tire. Really.

This time they played at a good venue, with both drummers on stage and a longer set than usual. Incredible.

Aside from that, The Mars Volta, This Will Destroy You, Mogwai, Explosions In The Sky and a Vessels concert in London were all good or really good.

As for 2009, I only have one concert in my calendar so far: Mono playing in their hometown of Tokyo on March 14. That should be cool, I hope I can get tickets (like, not that they might sell out, but I hope I am physically able to purchase a ticket in Japan. Maybe not, you know?)

Movies

I've seen alot of movies this year. More than I care to remember, which is why this recap won't really do them justice. Among the noticable were the many comic book adaptions, and their quality. The Incredible Hulk was alright, Iron Man was fun, The Dark Knight was excellent.

I was also happy to see at least two superb Swedish films. Yes, there are more than most care to recognize, but then there's also alot of shit. So when something is as good as Ruben Östlund's De Ofrivilliga, or Låt Den Rätte Komma In, it deserves to be noted.

On the lighter side of things, the Indiana Jones series got its much anticipated closure in Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Temple of Magic Spears of Light In The Hands of Evil Corporations (NAMBLA).

I could do without it, but it has its moments. George Lucas wants my money and I can't turn the man down. Just look at him.

Anyway, I had a good time at the movies this year. Looking into the future (as I do), I have high hopes for 2009. Apart from the usual "hey, cool!"-stuff that looms on the summer-horizon – Wolverine, Star Trek, Watchmen, Harry Potter and The Half-blood Prince – there are things like James Cameron's 3D revolution Avatar, which seems like a very big deal indeed.

Music

Again, the list is too long to even sum up. Among the favorites is Fleet Foxes self-titled debut, Cult of Luna's Eternal Kingdom, The Hawk Is Howling by Mogwai, The Mars Volta's Bedlam In Goliath and the heroic self-titled debut of United Nations.

I've just heard alot of random stuff that made me go "dude, nice", and I really hope that'll continue this year.

I don't watch TV. I do, however, watch TV-shows. On DVD. And that has for the last few years been one of my favorite things to do in front of my 32" screen. This year, the highs included two seasons of 30 Rock (which I had just heard really good things about, but never seen a single clip from) and the first, excellent season of The Wire.

Games

Well, okay, I won't try to cover everything I've done, seen, eaten, smelled, punched or raped, but I like games. Videogames, that is. Or console games. I don't know the right term for it.

The kind where you're not as nerdy as PC-gamers but still can't pick up girls with it. That one.

I own a Wii, and buy enough games to sustain me constantly should I feel like playing. That has meant about five games this year. I started with Lego Star Wars, then moved on to Metroid Prime 3, took a while with that, then got Mario Kart for my birthday. That lasted a couple of months, then I bought Call of Duty 3 (a couple of years late, but I wanted to check it out). Went back and forth between that and Mario for a while, then I got Okami.

Okami is easily the best game I've played this year, including the fantastic Metroid Prime. It looks, and plays, alot like Zelda (especially Twilight Princess, where you incidentally play as a wolf…) but only to the game's credit.

It looks good, the story is good, it's fun, it's all shiny, Japanese-y, wolfy brilliance and I want more of it.

I also shared some of Fredde's PS3 funtime, namely GTA4 and Call of Duty 4 and 5. It was awesome. If I thought I had slightly more time to play games, or gave up hunting ducks, I'd get one.

As for predicting 2009, I have no fucking clue what to expect. But IGN does, so check that out if you give a shit.

In less than four days, I'm leaving for Tokyo, never to return (for three months). It makes my eyes pop out just thinking about it.

Winter What-the?-land

2008-12-22T05:25:00.000+09:00

Season greetings to all, and to all a happy Xmas.

Friends, something has been eating away at my fragile sanity for some time. Something dark, sinister, and most confusing appears every year around this time, colouring my red-and-green spirit a dull brown.

I am referring, obviously, to the song Winter Wonderland. Or, more specifically, its lyrics.

Now, I am not one to criticize songwriters, especially those who make a living writing Christmas standards. Songs like "White Christmas", "Jingle Bell Rock" or "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" has ever been a part of my celebratory traditions.

But the happy-go-lucky lyrics of those songs tend to focus on describing and foreseeing simple concepts like "I want snow, because it's totally awesome" or "Santa will give you a present and eat your cookies" or "Fuck the Jews, Jesus loves Mickey Mouse".

Now, having listened to all these songs several thousand times each, I can't help but feel that Winter Wonderland was written by someone who had been inhaling a very serious amount of cocaine.

Sleigh bells ring, are you listening,

In the lane, snow is glistening

A beautiful sight,

We're happy tonight.

Walking in a winter wonderland.

Alright, fair enough. "In the lane" is a pretty awkward expression, but fine. You're pleased to see pearly snow lining your driveway.

Gone away is the bluebird,

Here to stay is a new bird

He sings a love song,

As we go along,

Walking in a winter wonderland.

"A new bird"? What fucking new bird? A woodpecker? Because he sure as shit won't sing you any love songs. Also, bluebirds don't migrate, as far as I know. He's not "gone away", homie.

In the meadow we can build a snowman,

Then pretend that he is Parson Brown

He'll say: Are you married? 

We'll say: No man,  

But you can do the job 

When you're in town.

Okay. Here it is. This line has been the bane of my existence for the past few Christmases, and I've finally found out what it means. Apparently, back in '34 when this here song was done written, parsons – that's a protestant minister, a church-man – would travel the small towns and perform impromptu weddings.

WHAT. THE. FUCK.

So let me get this straight. You'll go to a big ol' clearing, erect a snowman, and go all crazy-brainfreeze-schizo, pretending that it's just the friendly neighbourhood random priest, passing by for a quick marriage. Great!

And isn't that exactly the kind of conversation you would imagine taking place in a 1934 american small town.

- Hey there, children. My name is Brown.

- Hello. I'm Michelle, this is Kevin. We're both 26 years old.

- Say, are you two young sinners married? I saw you holding hands.

- We are not, actually. But since you showed up here all random and sudden, we might as well let you do it. Right now.

Later on, we'll conspire,

As we dream by the fire

To face unafraid,

The plans that we've made,

Walking in a winter wonderland.

"We'll conspire, as we dream"? That's nonsense. And "To face unafraid, the plans that we made"? You'll face your plans? Come on. Rephrase, please.

In the meadow we can build a snowman,

And pretend that he's a circus clown

We'll have lots of fun with mister snowman,

Until the other kids knock him down.

This is just retarded. Yeah, I'm sure you'll have "lots of fun" with three gobs of snow stacked on top of each other, until some asshole bully shows up and devastates said construction.

Where's the verse about you avenging "mister snowman" and beating the shit out of those "other kids"? Huh?

When it snows, ain't it thrilling,

Though your nose gets a chilling

We'll frolic and play, the Eskimo way,

Walking in a winter wonderland.

"Frolic and play". Yeah, I'm sure that's precisely the Eskimo way. They sure do love their snow, them silly Eskimos.

As with most Christmas songs, this one has been recorded dozens if not hundreds of times since it's inception. Artists as varied as Louis Armstrong, Michael Bolton, Macy Gray, Ozzy Osbourne, Kenny G, Cyndi Lauper, Willie Nelson and The California Raisins have all gotten a stab at guessing what in the hell a Parson Brown is.

Me, I'll stick to Mr Hankey's Christmas Classics, thank you very much. Nothing says Happy Holidays like hearing racist, bigot Mr Garrison singing "Merry fucking Christmas".

That, and chocolate. Mounds of it.

Into the great unknown.

2008-12-13T20:27:00.001+09:00

Or as the geographically talented call it: Japan.

In less than a month, I will leave the comforting soil of motherland Sweden behind, setting my course for Tokyo. (In reality, I will not have to set the course myself. What a modern age we live in.)

There I will stay for more than three months, studying Japanese at Geos Kudan Institute (dig that groovy retro 90's website!) and living for a time with a Japanese family.

The whole thing has been a couple of months in the planning, but was made official only a few days ago when I made a stupidly huge deposit to the Blueberry organization, the in-between people who hooked me up with all of this.

My feelings towards the trip are, as far as I care to define, positive. A kind of optimistic excitement, spiced with a healthy dose of fear. I don't know what's going to happen, outside of my schedule for the Japanese Conversation course (which I also don't know very much about.)

Today, I know absolutely nothing about the family with whom I will stay for six weeks, nor the student dormitory where I'll live the remainder of my time.

I'm writing this mostly as a prologue to my trip as documented on this blog, and in hopes that it will remind me of these uncertain times in years to come.

I'll try, mainly for my own sake, to write often.

Fish!

2008-12-04T08:32:00.001+09:00

Today I ate fish. It was good, but I feel kind of bad for them.

I have been a vegetarian for almost five years. It started around the time I lived in London, which was not long after the whole mad cow-thing (no, not that one). I basically wasn't too keen on red meat, and also I was broke as a rat so veggies seemed like a good idea.

It caught on, apparently, as I am now approaching five years without meat of any variety. Or, it would have been five years this January if I hadn't wolfed town a delicious piece of salmon for dinner tonight.

"Wtf?", I hear you cry (no I don't). Well, my reasons are many. The main and singularly significant one is that I'm moving to Japan for a while.

Japanese cuisine tends to include a very serious amount of fish, and since I'm staying with a family for six weeks, I thought I would make it easier on them. And me.

So there it is. I'm officially back on fish.

That doesn't mean it's okay. The sea is awesome. Don't fuck with it.

Buy me some health!

2008-12-02T21:11:00.000+09:00

Fuck! I should write more. Oh well.

This past week has seen the official transgression into Christmastime, or Juletide as people with no understanding of what they're talking about like to say. I am totally stoked!

Unfortunately, this might come at a price, I fear. When something exciting appears before me, I tend to hype the hell out of it until I barely care anymore. This is usually true with movies, which I often know about months or years before I can see them, and have plenty of time to digest every shred of information one at a time. I want to see something new when I actually see the movie. As a result of this, I have now begun to ignore trailers, rumours and other such pieces of hyperbole if it's a movie I really care about. Anyway, I'm derailing here.

My point is, I'm not sure I can retain my Christmas cheer for 22 more days. This relates to my previous post about starting Christmas early, which I still think is silly.

Hopefully, I can take it slow and save my celebrating for choice occasions, such as this weekend. I just wish there was more snow. But, hey, that's manbearpig for you.

Oh yeah, the title of this post relates to my previous weekend. Me and Melody was at a spa of sorts. It's not really a spa, but I can't think of a better English word. It's more like rehab for people who aren't sick or addicted to heroin.

It was nice, and a bit wierd. We ate lots of vegetarian food, and did some swimming (that's the health part) and filled our remaining hours with a stupid amount of sleep and many episodes of Family Guy (less healthy, but not that bad either).

It's always fun to see the different ways people approach the "pay to feel better"-concept. Because as friendly as Masesgården was, it was damn expensive. But we didn't pay for it, so I'm in no position to complain. The aforementioned activities constitutes one hell of a weekend for me, end of story.

Plus, we hung out with a Yorkshire terrier with short fur, which may actually be the cutest non-fictional being on this earth.

As a last note, I have just about finished sending in my paperwork for the stay in Japan. It looks like it's happening. Holler.

Ain't no nothing happening.

2008-11-16T20:47:00.000+09:00

We all have days when we sleep half the day and watch reruns of Scrubs the other half while consuming just enough nourishment to stay alive for said activities. This generally constitutes "nothing" in my book. The kind of nothing that Peter Gibbons dreams about in Office Space, the kind of nothing that occurs at least twice a month for most people, and five times a week for some.

Anyway, I've been doing "nothing" quite alot over the past couple of weeks.

If I were to list the entries in my calendar and add up the number of hours slept I might seem like a busy sumbitch, but if anyone asks, I've done: nothing.

Grammatically, factually, nothing is a concept that describes the absence of anything at all. And technically, one could argue that it is impossible for a human being to abstain from doing anything at all. We breathe, think, move and rest outside of our own concious activities.

So the type of nothing I'm talking about is, in fact, something.

Obviously, the subjective concept of nothing depends on one's idea of something. Anything that isn't something, according to someone, is nothing.

Having established that, I aim to lower my standards and glorify menial things like watching a whole season of 24 in two days, or taking a really long walk, or flipping through old issues of Empire just to look at the pictures.

Basically, I think alot of somethings are undeservedly thrown on the nothing-pile. Fuck that. If I remember it a week later, it's something.

So. Today I'm going to see a serious movie, pay my bills, eat pizza, play music and most likely talk to people. It's a full, big day for me.

It's Christmas!

2008-11-10T21:29:00.001+09:00

Apparently.

And it has been for about two or three weeks already.

I get the impression that it starts earlier every year, and in 2025 Christmas will be an all-year event, after which it will implode on itself and seize to exist.

For me, Christmas starts on december 1st. It's like a lightswitch. November 30th, no Christmas. Nothing, no snow, no gingerbread, no decorations, no Santa, no buying presents.

Next day, instant Christmas. Festivity hits me like a sugary injection and for precisely 26 days, all is red and green. And brown, and white I guess. And silver. Okay, the colour scheme isn't so important.

Anyway, the point is that before december 1st, any and every attempt to start Christmas early pisses me off. Especially when department stores in Stockholm dedicate whole floors to Christmas decorations when some people are just getting ready for Halloween.

Obviously it's perfectly fine to ignore all holidays and celebrations and save your money for something of actual value.

But shoving jingle bells down my throat in October is not cool.

Also, I can not believe some of the shitty holiday movies that get made every year. And this is just the beginning. God help us all.

The good guys won. No, really.

2008-11-05T18:27:00.000+09:00

He sure knows how to speak, but did they have to end with "May God bless America"? (Yes, of course they did. I'm just saying.) And the hero music? I'd like to know who wrote that and tell him to fuck off.

Anyway, woo hoo!

Trying to say something.

2008-11-02T23:00:00.000+09:00

So I done gone and erected another blog. I hope to actually write something this time. In English, no less! We'll see how it goes.

Today I visited my parents. They're going to Thailand for two weeks to eat fruit and talk to other Swedes.

Their apartment is bigger, smarter, faster, meaner, better, cooler, greener, rounder than mine. Like this. Good tagline, that. I want it on my business card.

Anyway, this week I've surrendered my own home to my cousin who's studying in Stockholm, so I've moved out for now. It's only for a week.

I'm also enjoying unemployment a little too much. Will try to work on that.