Bye bye Sweden

These last 6 weeks were great, I've had the chance to see so many people and the summer in Stockholm has been wonderful. Thank you all for meeting up! It really means a lot to me.


I'm going home/back to Tokyo tomorrow morning. This was the last trip before my Japanese scholarship ends, which means I won't be back here until April next year.

The plan after that is to stay in Sweden for a year, finish my PhD, and then return to Japan in April 2011 for work. Not sure about what kind of job that would be or for how long... Oh well. Any ideas/comments/bashes are more than welcome!

Ok, that's it.
Take care!

Stockholm, I love you

I've been home for almost a month now and it's been wonderful. Stockholm is best in August, with the sun and the warmth. And I'm not the only one here who enjoys those things... The people of Stockholm (and all of Sweden?) likes to get tanned and always has a habit of getting pretty much naked as soon as the weather allows for it.

This guy is not embarrassed to show some skin.

Another thing that's the same is the subway. How can it be so crappy? Last week I had to walk half the way to work (Slussen-Teknis, for those who know where that is). Not a completely bad thing, because it was a beautiful morning. But still. And the price for a monthly pass just keeps on getting more expensive for every time I return home...

Can't get on this train.

Something that's new though is tattoos. Big ones. Visible on arms and necks and faces. Every third person I see on the street has one. Or two or five. After spending two years in Japan this looks scary.

Girl my age with stuff on her arms.

Obviously I asked before taking the picture. Totally screwed up the aperture and ISO settings and it got blurry. But you see my point, right? Big tattoos for everyone to see.

The best thing about Stockholm is sailing in the archipelago. I had one weekend this year and got so lucky with the weather. Perfect wind and not a lot a waves.

Pure happiness.

I've been taking pictures like crazy but I'm running out of (free) space on flickr so I might wait with posting there for a while. Gotta get things sorted out first.

Ok, that's it.

Take care!

Pakistan mangos in Stockholm

I'm back home! It's been a year since last time... Too long, I missed Stockholm.

I had a good flight. Spent most of the time talking to my neighbour, Thomas, from Germany. He was in the middle of a divorce from his Japanese wife and was now taking his two sons, 7 and 12 years old, to Hamburg for vacation. The boys had spent 5 years in Japan (separated from their dad) and the youngest one only spoke Japanese. So there we were, 4 Europeans, chatting away in our common language: Japanese.

Today I met for a lunch with my friend, Annika, and as we were digging in to our pasta salads a truck stopped next to us full of Pakistan mangos! I love Pakistan mangos!

So many boxes!

Naturally, the drivers of the truck started laughing at me for taking pictures of their load. Sure, I may have looked like an idiot, but they were amused and gave us samples!

Annika with our gifts.

I've been taking a lot of pictures lately and put some of them on my flickr page. Here are some, just click them to see more on in the photo stream.

Shinjuku - the gray city.


Shinjuku - where kids sleep on the street.

A fennec puppy. Cute, huh?

There are a lot more in the stream, so feel free to take a look!

That's it.

Take care!

12 meals

I've been taking pictures of what I eat. At first it was more like a project just for myself. 10 years from now I want to look at these photos and remember what places I used to go to for lunch and dinner.

But then I thought that it could be a nice thing for the blog. So here it is. In no particular order.

1

Maguro Ichiba or "The Sashimi Place". Raw fish on rice!

Maguro Ichiba: Bakudan Don. Tuna, squid, egg and natto. Yes, I can eat natto!

2

Keisuke or "The Black Ramen Place"

Keisuke: Black Ramen. Extra large bowl and rice on the side for free!

3

Oishiiya or "The Chinese Place"

Oishiiya: Jaajaa-men. Miso sauce on cold noodles. I never eat the egg soup in the back....

4

Morikawa. This is my favorite. Fried or simmered fishes. :P

Morikawa: Today's fried fish. Probably red snapper (tai) but I don't know.

5

Pig. Steaks and hamburgers!


Pig: Sirloin steak with butter on top!

6

FamilyMart or other convenience stores (konbini)


The Konbini Triple: Sandwich, onigiri and juice.

7

Kamira or "The Cabbage Rolls Place" (though I almost never have the cabbage rolls)

Kamira: Tonight's (bangohan). 2nd favorite after Morikawa.

8

Mumbai or "The Indian Place"

Mumbai: Chicken curry, naan and mango lassi.

9

Toogarashi or "The Korean Place" or "Bibimba"

Toogarashi: Bibimba, and this is the only thing I order here. So good, so cheap.

10

Yaa-yaa-ya or "The Other Ramen Place"

Yaa-yaa-ya: Ramen with an egg.

11

Kodawariya or "The Chicken Place" or "Kara-age"


Kodawariya: Grilled chicken breast (Amiyaki suteeki).

12

Yamaneko or "The New Place"

Yamaneko: Anchivy and olive pizza. Yes, there is good(!) pizza in Japan... and it will make your stomach full and wallet empty.

Ok, that's it.

Take care!

Say hello to my little friend!

I got a DSLR!

It's a Nikon D70s, which means that it's an old camera. 5 years, or almost ancient when it comes to DSLRs. I didn't really choose it though. Long story. Let's just say that it sort of fell into my hands.

Anyways, I'm having a lot of fun with it! Especially together with my new lens, a Nikkor 50mm f1.4. With it I can take pictures with very narrow depth of field. See below!

Natsuko playing the guitar.

The focus is only on her left hand. Actually, only on her index finger. A little bit too narrow perhaps? Gotta be careful.

But still, photography isn't about equipment, right? It's about seeing something funny.

Tomo showing his strength.

How can he do that?

Ok, short one today.

Take care!

Fear and Japanese Pickles

Cute bear, right? It's an alarm. Pull the string at the bottom and it goes wiiiiwiiiiwiiii! A woman got stabbed the other week by an unknown guy about 500 m from our apartment and now I carry this little guy for protection... Sort of takes away that feeling of complete safety in Japan, doesn't it? Maybe I was naive to believe in that?



I'm making tsukemono (Japanese pickles) these days! It's the easy version, where you just put vegetables in salty water and press them under a heavy glass weight for a day.



Cucumber. Looks a bit slimy but it turned out pretty good.




Komatsuna (Japanese mustard spinach). This became way too salty! Got to rethink the recipe...



Went rafting in Gunma-ken with Tomo, Matt and a bunch of other people last weekend. Good times! It's so good to get out in the nature. I wish every weekend was like this.




Wetsuit crew! Believe me when I tell you that they were needed. See below to know why.



Gunma-ken is up in the mountains and there was still snow left on them, melting in the summer sun. Naturally the rivers were freezing.




BBQ in the evening and Go-san is warming his hands over the fire after a long day in the water.




We're trying to grow some vegetables on our balcony now. Here's an aubergine.

And some tomatoes. Still green though.... Maybe another week or two and they might look more tasty?

I've posted a lot of old pictures on Flickr. Here's a link to my Japan set.

That's it.
Take care!

Hakone and Ghibli Museum revisited

We spent last weekend going sightseeing with our friends Christine and Adrien. Ch has been here for an internship and Ad came for holiday.

It's been a while since I went to Hakone. The area is very nice and well worth a visit if you're in Tokyo but want a day away from the concrete.

Got the Hakone Free Pass; return ticket, free rides in the area, maps and guides.





Three companions.






Hakone Open-air Museum. A walking flower and Man & Pegasus by Milles.

Hand.







Adrien on Lake Ashi.

The day after we went to Ghibli Museum. It contains a lot of art related to the movies by Miyazaki Hayao, and also exhibits that explain how to tell a story through animation. If you're a fan of Miyazaki then you should try to go there. I say try, because it's a bit tricky to get tickets. Can't take any photos in the museum... The following snaps are from the Inokashira park were we had lunch afterwards.

Ad & Ch under a tree.





This what I look like nowadays.

That's it.

Take care!