Going solo

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!

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

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!

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!

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!

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!

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.