Seeing relatives

Quite a vision for the eye

070321, Wednesday

I went to Yokohama to see one of my cousins & his family and my uncle & his wife and my grandmother. We had a nice time together over tasty food. I feel very privileged being able to spend time with them :)

Huge ice cream

It is huge!

070320, Tuesday

A friend of mine had told me about a special soft ice in Shin Ookubo so we went there today to check it out. Well, she was right! The soft ice was huge and very good :)

Birthday Party in Shibuya

070317, Saturday

Today a friend had a birthday party in Shibuya. The party took place at an American restaurant so we had chicken sallad, french fries, ribs etc. Since the dinner was rather expensive, especially since some of us are students, most of us went home after dinner. However, a small group continued to sing karaoke. We had a nice time together.

Tsukiji and cinema

Tsukiji fish market

A huge fish

The workers are very busy

This is how happy you look when you have sushi for breakfast :)

Different kinds of sushi

070315, Thursday

I woke up a little past 4AM and met my friend at the station where we took off for Tsukiji by metro. Tsukiji is the largest fish market in the world with daily amounts of more than 2000 tons of 450 types of seafood. After about half an hour, a little before 6AM, we arrived and the market was already in full action. The workers are very busy and drive around with their special vehicles loaded with fish. It was quite an experience walking around in the market and seeing so much fish!! Being at the fish market, where would be a better place to have sushi for breakfast?? We soon found a restaurant and ordered different types of sushi. It was truly delicious :) This is the best breakfast I have ever had and it was really worth waking up this early hehe. No mather how good the sushi was we started feeling a bit tired and went back home to get some rest. I slept for almost three hours before going to Roppongi where I went to the movies with another friend. We saw "Dreamgirls" which was very good :)

Kabuki in Ginza

The famous Kabukiza

Kabuki posters

070314, Wednesday

I met up with a friend in Ginza to get hold of tickets to see Kabuki. Back in 1603, in Kyoto, a women named Izumo no Okuni invented this special type of dance drama. Both men and women characters were played by women performers and it became a huge hit. However, in 1629 women were banned by the Tokugawa shogunate from this performance and instead young male actors took over. The young male performers were however after a couple of years replaced by mature men. My friend and I were lucky to get hold of good yet expensive (15000 yen) tickets for the play "Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura". We got good seats just by the "Hanamichi" (flower path) which is a walkway to the scene. On this walkway the actors make dramatic entrances and exits so we were able to get a close up view of the performers :) The perfomers are dressed in spectacular outfits and their make up is truly extraordinary. While the performers act another person plays a special instrument, that ressembles a small guitar but has lesser strings. The actors talk in a very special way so it is not always easy to understand what they are saying. Although one might not understand everything, merely watching the acts is fun. Since I had not been sleeping a lot during the last nights I accidentely dozed off for a minute or two a couple of times during the play hehe but I am very happy I went to see this special type of Japanese drama :)

Fuji-Q High Land

"Eejyanaika"

"Dodonpa"

"Fujiyama"

"Shining Flower"

Enjoying the ride "Shining Flower"

Great view of Fujisan :)

Tasty food

070313, Tuesday

Today I woke up early to be able to be at Shinjuku at 7AM. The resason for my doing this is that I met up with a friend at Shinjuku where we took the bus heading for the theme park "Fuji-Q High Land". A little before 9AM, when the theme park opened, we arrived. We were not exactly the only ones there, the place was already rather packed. Until 5PM, when the park closed, we enjoyed as many rides as possible! For instance the three rides which all have the Guinness World Record; "Eejyanaika" where "Riders turn upside down a total of 14 times during each 1,153 m run". Another is "Dodonpa" with the record that the rollercoaster gets into a speed of 172km/h. The third one is called "Fujiyama" and "It is 79 m tall, and has a lift height of 71,5 m, a vertical drop of 70 m and a design speed of 130 km/h". They were all great but I liked the "Eejyanaika" best :) Other less dangerous attractions we tried were "Mad Mouse", "Merry Go Round" and "Tea Cup". We also went on the "Shining Flower" but the container in which we sat was made out of glass so we had a great 360-degrees view. The name of the theme park comes from the fact that it is really close situated to Fujisan. So while enjoying the roller coasters we really had a great view. I like Fujisan very much so this made me very happy :) A little past 5PM we went on the bus again back to Shinjuku. After that we continued to a restaurant in Ikebukuro where they have a "Japanese food tabehoudai" which my friend recommended. The food was great. Different types of rice, karaage, tofu in various forms, vegetables etc. They actually even had whale so I tried a little piece. The meat is rather dark and the taste is pretty strong. I did not like it very much, I much prefer karaage :) We had a great time today!

6 months in Japan & sushi in Ginza

Ginza...

...by night

Superb...

...sushi...

...!!!

Feeling very content :)

070309, Friday

Two friends took me to Ginza where we went to a sushi tabehoudai. Last time we saw eachother was in November so it was very nice seeing them again :) The restaurant they recommended was a hit, the sushi was indeed very good! It was very fresh and during about 2 hours we ate as much as we possibly could hehe. Since it was a tabehoudai it enabled me to try different types that I do not usually order. The tai and toro were very tasty :) After this we walked around a bit, digestion mode hehe, before we had a cup of macha tea at a cafe. It was also very good. We had a great evening and I hope to see them soon again :)

Reflection: Today I have lived 6 months in Japan!!! It is truly unbelievable. Time really flies by :( During my journey so far there are a couple of highlights. For instance:

1) Seeing my relatives including attending one of my cousin's marriage
2) Going to school and meeting people from all over the world
3) Getting into the kenpou club and enjoying all the fun that comes along with the workout and tournaments
4) The baseball game between Waseda and Keio
5) Shorter trips to places like Kamakura, Nikko and Enoshima
6) Travelling to Okinawa, Hokkaido and Taipei

Maid's Cafe

Akihabara

There are many stores

Superb maguro don!

070307, Wednesday

Our Taiwanese friend came back to Japan two days ago so today the same five people who enjoyed Taipei together met up again. Today our destination was Akihabara. One of my friends has been wanting to go to a Maid's Cafe for a long time so that is where we went. It is like a regular cafe except that the working people are dressed in a maid outfit and are extra polite when they speak to you. It was a new experience though it felt a bit strange. After having had good tea and cake we went to have delicious sashimi don!! We then checked out some different stores before going back home.

IKEA

IKEA in Yokohama

Swedish meatballs, Ballerina cookies, elderflower drink and sallad

I bought some Swedish "skorpor" and chips

"Goodbye"

070306, Tuesday

I went to IKEA in Yokohama with my cousin's wife and their two kids. Since I have almost been living in Japan for six months (already!!) it felt very strange for me when I first saw the IKEA sign. Entering the building it looks just like the IKEAs in Sweden. Strange! We walked around and looked at the different items being sold. Then we had lunch and of course I had to try the meatballs. I have never had the meatballs at IKEA in Sweden but still I am pretty sure that the taste is about the same. Having enjoyed delicious Japanese food for a long time it felt strange eating this. It was good but I certainly prefer Japanese food!!! No doubt about that :) After a couple of hours we went back to my cousin's home so I could play more with the kids :) Later in the evening I went back home and enjoyed the chips hehe.

Taipei

070227. Cute "Hello Kitty" food on the airplane

070228. The green man walks and then runs :)

"Taipei 101", the tallest building in the world with 508 meters

The stabilizing pendulum

Great view

On the very top :)

Lunch at "Teppanyaki"

Delicious food

Tea pots and cups

Nice company

070301. The Taipei National Palace Museum

The nightmarket "Danshui"

Example of the food that is sold at the nightmarket

Great view

"Lover's bridge"

070302. On our way to the temple

Graves

Fushan temple

Tasty food

"Stinky tofu"

We had a great view while enjoying delicious tea

Jasmine tea

Delicious cakes and tea

Another temple

Colourful interior

Two guards guarding the door

Having a great dinner together

Delicious Xiao-long-bao!!!

Pig lanterns

070303. On our way to have breakfast

Lungshan temple

Impressive interior

A huge balloon

The sky was filled with balloons

070304. Tasty dumplings at the airport

The cutest airplane ever :)

070227-070304

070227, Tuesday
In the afternoon I met up with three of my friends to go to Narita Airport. A little past 8PM our flight took off. I have to say it was the cutest plane I have ever seen. On the outside it was decorated with "Hello Kitty" pictures and some of the food was even shaped as "Hello Kitty" hehe. After about 3 hours, 1030PM local time (1130PM Japanese time), we arrived in Taipei. Our friend from class, who comes from Taipei, waited for us with her dad at the airport. The dad then drove us to their beautiful apartment where we spent the night.

070228, Wednesday
Since the tallest building in the world, "Taipei 101", is in Taipei we had to go there! The name comes from the fact that the building is situated in Taipei and that it holds 101 floors. It is 508 meters tall and has the fastest elevator in the world which moves with impressive 1010m/min! Using this elevator we were able to go to the observatory on the 89th floor in a couple of seconds. From there we had a beautiful view of the city. To be able to stand against strong winds there is a tuned mass damper (pendulum) made of 730 ton steel in the building. Earthquakes occur now and then in Taiwan but the building's frame should be flexible enough to absorb the energy from an earthquake. Later on we decided to go to the very top. Unfortunately there are no glass here, like in the observatory. Instead there are metal bars. The wind was pretty strong up there and it was a bit difficult to get a good view because of the bars :( After buying some souvenirs we left the building and went to a big department store which is just close by. There we went to the restaurant "Teppanyaki" (type of Japanese cooking). I had steak sirloin and they actually prepare the dinner in front of you :) It was good. In the department, among all the stores, is the biggest bookstore in Taiwan. Because it is cheaper in Taiwan than in Japan we bought some books. A friend of our Taiwanese friend and another friend from our class (who also comes from Taiwan) joined us when we went to a restaurant up in the mountains. Our friend's dad was already waiting for us at the restaurant and together we enjoyed delicious food and a lot of tea. For instance we tried fried pork in sweet and sour sauce, chicken in ume sauce (plum sauce), bamboo shoot, fish and tofu in a spicy sauce, something that ressembles an omelette and spring rolls. We drank a lot of a tea sort called "Oriental Beauty". When drinking tea here, you drink from a very small cup and there is a special procedure in making the tea. While waiting for the tea to get ready you pour hot water on the tea pot. When the poured water on the pot has evaporated a certain amount of time has passed. This is the way of knowing when the tea is ready. It was fun watching my friend and her dad preparing the tea for us. It differs quite a lot from the tea bags I usually use :) Along with the tea we had snacks like chips and nuts. We even had a snack with the nickname "Chicken popcorn" which is deep fried chicken, calamari and fish which you dip in a bowl with spices. It is very good. Today it was probably about 20 degrees :) After this lovely evening together we went home late in the evening to sleep.

070301, Thursday
Today we went to "The Taipei National Palace Museum". During about 6 hours we learnt about different dynasties by using an audio guide and a "real" guide while looking at paintings, porcelain, jade, calligraphy etc. The museum actually holds the largest collection in the world of Chinese artwork! I bought a little souvenir to remember the place :) After this we went to the nightmarket "Danshui" which is by the port. Expecting it to be crowded it was actually rather empty when we arrived. However, we did not let that disturb us. Food that is sold is for instance stinky tofu, fried shrimp and squid. I tried some fried fish on a stick with a spicy seasoning, which was good. I even had a drink made out of almonds. It was a bit too sweet for me though. At this nightmarket eating food is not the only way to enjoy yourself. There are even games to play, like shooting hoops, break balloons with darts and pinball games. However, we did not participate in that. Instead we went on a boat trip. After a couple of minutes we arrived and took a stroll on the lit up "Lover's bridge". Then, while having a beautiful view of the port, we enjoyed some drinks. I had a "Fruit tea" which to my surprise apparently is served with pieces of fruit in the tea. I thought that it would only have the taste of different kinds of fruits but there were pieces of apple and lemon in it :) It was good. We then went back home. Like yesterday it was probably about 20 degrees today.

070302, Friday
Since our friend had a lot of coupons for MacDonald's we had breakfast there hehe. I had tasty pancakes with syrup. After our breakfast for champions :) we went to "Fushan Temple" which is located up in the mountains. On our way to the temple we saw a lot of graves. They differ a lot from the Japanese ones and they almost look like small houses here. Arriving at the temple it struck me that it really looks typically Chinese with a lot of red in the interior and lots of incense. After this we had lunch at a nice restaurant. We had soup, rice, fish, beef with bamboo and vegetables. It was good and the price was 300 gen/person. (Multiply it with about 3,7 and then you get the price in Japanese yen). Along with the food I had delicious "Orange tea". After this we checked out a lot of stores where they sell food and souvenirs. I tried a cookie with a sticky filling. I have no idea what it was, but it was good hehe. Walking around for a while we decided to go to another restaurant to have a tea lesson. We chose the tea sorts "Oolong cha" and "Jasmine tea". The later one was rolled into a ball, allowing its flowers to fold out when pouring hot water onto it. It looked very nice :) While enjoying the delicious teas and some cakes we had a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean. The weather was great today. During daytime it was no problem with wearing a shirt with short sleeves. Taking the bus (there are TV screens in the buses!!) and the train back, we came to another nightmarket (they have quite a lot of nightmarkets here). We then queued to get into a very popular restaurant. They even handed out numbers to all their waiting guests. Now that is a popular restaurant! After waiting for about half an hour we could enter. Since our friend know what food is good we let her in charge of ordering our food. We had "Xiao-long-bao" with different kind of stuffings. For instance meat, crab and a third sort which is a dessert with sweat brown beans. It was delicious!!! We also had gyouza with spinach and another one with shrimps inside. Very tasty! So far in this journey this was the best food, without any doubts!! Feeling very content with the food we went to the place where a lantern festival will take place on the 5th. Since we will leave on the 4th we will unfortunately not be able to see this festival, but still we went there today and we were not alone :) Our friend's relatives had provided us with lanterns that we folded in the shape of a pig, since it is the year of the pig. Doing this we walked around with our lit up pigs hehe. After checking out the area we went to yet another nightmarket where we had dessert. We had a "red bean soup" with odango. Inside the odango was two different kinds of fillings; a sesame paste and a peanutbutter paste. It was good. Now, feeling really content with the food we went home at about 00.

070303, Saturday
Considering the fact that we had breakfast at MacDonald's yesterday our friend wanted us to have a Chinese breakfast today. We had fried pork, soup with mushrooms and meat, beef with vegetables, plain rice and rice with meat on the top. It was good and quite filling. Then we headed of towards "Lungshan Temple". It is a rather big temple with a lots of lanterns hanging from it. To my big surprise some of the lanters actually have the shape of Winnie the Pooh, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Doraemon and Hello Kitty. Later on we went to "Ximen" which is like Japan's Harajuku. When we arrived it was very crowded. Apparently a famous Chinese artist was there. We walked around a bit and checked the different stores. Today was the warmest day on our trip. I could walk around in short sleeves during practically whole daytime. Nice to be able to do this in March :) We went back to the apartment and rested for about an hour before we took off again. Since the lantern festival soon will begin people would gather today to release their own balloons. Our friend's dad drove us to that place so we could join them. The balloon is huge and we all wrote down our wishes on it before releasing it to the air by lighting it up. When we let go of it, it ascended quickly and became like a star in the sky :) Afterwards we went back and had a late dinner together. We had fried bread, sesame bread with egg inside, nikuman and hot soya bean milk to drink. For dessert we had ice chopped into small pieces, with strawberries, strawberry ice cream and condensed milk on top of it. It was good. We then went home to watch a movie and sleep.

070304, Sunday
This being our last day in Taipei we had planned to go to a jade market and a garden in the morning. Unfortunately the others were very tired and overslept so we did not have the time to go to these places :( Instead, we packed our things in the morning and made a quick stop at our friend's mom's parents who live just close by. They were very sweet and gave us tea, cake and even a present (a wallet). Since we did not have too much time left we had to go after a short while. I am happy though we got a chance to meet them. Saying goodby to them we got our luggage and went to the airport where we arrived at about 12. Before saying goodbye to our friend we had lunch together at the airport. I had delicious dumplings :) Our friend left and the four of us waited for the airplane to take off at about 3PM. We were all excited to see that it was the "Hello Kitty" plane again! haha. At about 7PM local time we arrived at Narita airport. We had a great time in Taipei thanks to our friend and her dad who took us to various places!! Even though the trip was great, it is always nice to come home again, so I have to admit that I was happy to be back in Japan again :)