Good bye Komaba

This is my last Sunday in the Komaba dorm and I'm having mixed feelings. It's gonna be so good to leave this small hole and move in together with N. At the same time, this 1½ year is for me a new record in staying at one place (since I moved out of my parents' house). So more than anywhere else, this has become my home.

I heard that even in Sweden spring is on the way. Well, here in Tokyo the magnolia is blossoming. Really amazing.

Magnolia

Flies. I wonder why they dance around in a pillar like that...

A pigeon. First time in my life that I found one of these birds beautiful.

Today I went to the wedding party of Nishimura, one of the assistant professors in the lab.

Cutting the cake.



The happy couple.

A very nice party. Motivating....

Ok, that's it. Next time I'll be writing from Sugamo.

Take care!

Springtime

Today was a such a nice day so I went walking for a while, randomly, just enjoying the weather. Clear blue sky, the only thing possibly covering it would be this...

It seems that winter is over already. The plum trees have even begun blossoming.

Well, I guess they are plum trees. I'm not a big fan of cold (unless I'm on a snowboard) and I like this mild season a lot.

A cat, hiding from me. Not connected to the above. Just like it.

Ok, that's it.
Take care.

I'm moving out!

Well, not right now... Actually, it's not 100% settled and it's not gonna happen until the end of March... But I'm so excited about it that I have to tell you anyway. ^^

The apartment is in Sugamo so I'll still be living close to the central parts of Tokyo. And it's much closer to the lab compared to where I live now so I might start biking instead of taking the jam-packed trains. I'm gonna have 2-3 times more space, even though that doesn't really mean that it's gonna be roomy. Here, in my dorm it's... cramped. Anyway, it's gonna be nice.

Yesterday I went to Funabashi (which is really, really close to Tokyo) to hang out with Matt. We saw the latest Bond movie, had some good yakiniku and went to the local onsen. Yes, a real onsen and it even had a salt sauna. Good times! Naturally, I couldn't take pictures in the onsen so instead I'm gonna post something I took a couple of weeks ago. Sunset behind Mt Fuji.



Sort of looks like it's on fire at the top, doesn't it?

Next weekend I'm going snowboarding with a bunch of people. Looking forward to that, sure do. And if anyone is worried about my safety, then let me assure you that I'm pro-active.

Helmet!

Ok, that's it.

Take care!

Happy New Year!

あけましておめでとうございます！

Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu!

Already 2009?! I can't really understand that we're at the end of the -00's. What was the style of this decade? Did it have a flavor? I haven't got it yet, it all went so fast. On the other hand, I'm still watching old episodes of Seinfeld so I guess I'll be stuck in the -90's forever...

Anyways.

I spent the whole winter vacation with Natsuko's family (Thank you so much!). Wonderful food, a little bit of activity but mostly just taking it easy... Exactly what I needed. I am very much ready for the new year! I do hope that I'll be able to take some nice pictures.

Natsuko and her mother.

手巻き寿司(Te-maki-zushi), Hand-Rolled Sushi is so delicious. And every dinner was a feast like this!

Gate to Chinatown in Yokohama.

Crowds in Chinatown.

Being in Chinatown kind of felt like being abroad... So where am I now?

Chestnut salesman.

Outside Yokohama Museum of Art. We saw an exhibition with paintings by Paul Cézanne. One of them was called "Effect of water reflection". I got inspired/copied it. ^^

Taiko drummers at train station in Yokohama. I really would like to try this someday.

Playing pool in Shibuya. I lost... again.

The moon. Can you see the craters?

That's it.

Take care!

Winter

I guess that's the season we have here in Tokyo now, even though the temperature was up at just below 20C last week. Not bad at all, I like it when it's warm and sunny!

This huge ginkgo tree on our campus turned all yellow last month. Very beautiful. But the leaves fell off so quickly!

I've been traveling a bit last weeks. I went twice to Nagoya; first time to meet up with Natsuko and her sister with husband and then one more time for a conference. Nagoya is growing on me. It's not too crowded and not so messy (like Tokyo or Osaka).

This building looks like a spaceship, doesn't it? Starship enterprise? Nagoya TV Tower in the background.

Some of us made cinnamon rolls...

... while others were playing videogames.

Nooo, just kidding! We all worked hard on those rolls and they turned out pretty nice. Gotta love homemade pastry!

And Mt Fuji came out of the clouds this autumn aswell. I see it every other morning as I go out from my apartment. Not a bad way to start you day!

That's it.

Take care!

Autumn colours

Last weekend me and Matt went to an Okinawan restaurant called Aiai to have some good food and a couple of Awamori drinks. He asked me how my "take at least one photo per week that I like - project" was going. The idea I had with that was to take pictures more continuously. I have to admit that I'm not very successful. But autumn seems to be the active season here in Japan and I got motivated by the colours.

Ginko trees, just about to turn yellow.

A woman painting.

People painting in a park.

Being inspected.

Fishermen.

Aoyama cemetery.

Cats in Aoyama cemetery.

I have also been taking pictures of Koi (japanese carp) for a while now and I made a slide show of some of them. Click the picture below to get there.

Ok, that's it.

Take care!

Long time!

Too long time! Haven't written anything here for more than two months. And that's really bad, because I've been doing a lot that I wanna write about.

Travel! Travel, travel, travel. Lately it feels like I'm going through life with a bag in my hand. My home is wherever I lay my hat. And I have had a lot of chances to take pictures. Very happy about that.

A weekend in the beginning of September I went to Izu peninsula with Matt, Tomo and Tsubo for an onsen trip. Our main target was Tsuribashi-so, a ryokan (Japanese inn) deep in the mountains with many waterfalls close by and offering variety of baths. Among them a green-tea hot tub! We spent most of the time soaking and because of that the number of pictures that I can publish is rather limited... But here are a few!

A sacred rock in one of the waterfalls.

Four guys in another (very cold) waterfall. I lost my balance just as the picture was taken...

Tomo enjoying a view of the pacific ocean, from an onsen high up on a cliff.

After that weekend I went to Osaka for a conference, met some friends from my time at Osaka University and had a few days of doing nothing in my apartment.

Then, my parents came over from Sweden! They spent a bit more than two weeks in Japan, but didn't seem to be the least impressed by Tokyo. Instead, they headed for the mountains almost immediately after getting here and I tagged along. First stop; Takayama in the middle of Honshu. For anyone staying a long time in the big cities of Japan this is a very good place to escape for a while. Fresh air, delicious beef and a nice small town feeling.

Mamma and pappa (trying Japanese sweets, dango)


Some red leaves (kouhyou) and pointy roofs made of grass.

A praying mantis.

After spending the weekend with my parents in Takayama I had to take the shinkansen back to Tokyo. But the next weekend I was on the train again, this time to meet up with them and Natsuko and Sayaka in Kanazawa. My third time there, and the city is really growing on me. Very liveable.

Natsuko and mamma inspecting fish at the local market.

Mamma and pappa enjoying green-tea ice cream.

I returned to Tokyo, and then my parents came here for their last weekend in Japan. We did some sightseeing and had dinner with Natsuko's parents. It was more sad than usual to say good-bye, because this time I really don't know when I'll be coming back to Sweden again.... wait, that's not true. I will be back in April 2010. But that's very long from now.

Gotta look ahead. Or rather enjoy now. Last weekend I went back to Osaka, and became a farmer... for an hour. I joined Natsuko's "Gardening Group" and went picking sweet potatoes.

As you can see, we got quite a lot. Naturally we made a big sweet potato party afterwards and I guess we ate about half of what you can see in the picture. Sweet potato soup, sweet potato stir-fry, sweet potatos boiled with rice and sweet potato cakes. A lot of potatoes...

Ok, that's it for this time. I'll try to write more often from now again.

Take care!