Music of the day!

"Pretty Fly" by The Offspring



And then the same song covered by the amazing band from Helsinki "The Leningrad Cowboys".

Japanese diary. Vol. 2 "Breakfast, Osaka".

Got woken up at 8 am by a gentle knock on the door.

The first thing on my mind; “Where am I?”

I found myself on a futon on the floor, lights coming from a narrow gab between the curtain and the window frame, and then it knocked once more, this time a bit more persistent.

Oh yeah, now I got it, I’m in a hotel in Osaka, Japan and yesterday evening we’d ordered Japanese breakfast in the room at 8.

I got up, threw on my shorts from where I’d stepped out of them on the floor next to the futon the evening before and managed to get to the door without stepping on Catriona, who had dug herself deep under the duvet, on her futon on the floor just next to mine.

Outside the door I was meet by a bowing Japanese lady standing in front of a push wagon containing 3 different trays with a number of black plastic bowls, small and big. She mumbled away in Japanese and entered our room while balancing one of the trays –also without stepping on Catriona, who still was covered up under the duvet- and then placed the tray on the low table in the room. Still speaking away in Japanese she went to collect the next two trays, which she also arranged on the table. Then she left walking backwards, still bowing and talking, towards the door and left.

Now Catrionas face peeped out from underneath her cover and it was obvious that the smell from the trays on the table was gently dragging her out by her nose, and soon we sat there, on the floor at a low table in a Japanese style room, ready to try a Japanese version of breakfast.

What was it then?

Well, first of all there was a big bowl of plain rice, some Miso soup, slices of grilled salmon, some white imitated fishcakes, omelette roles, different kinds of pickled vegetables and a marinated salted plum. And of course, a pot of tea.

That was a really good start to a long day, spent walking around the streets in the Osaka city center.

Japanese diary. Vol. 1. Osaka

The first impression of Japan was in Osaka as it was the first stop on the Japan 2011 tour.

Being the 3^rd biggest city in Japan, here the impression of the crowdedness of the large Japanese cities was evident.

After getting installed in our hotel in the southern center of the city –a typical Japanese room, a ryokan, with rattan on the floor, a low table and two futon’s rolled out on the floor- we headed out to investigate the closest neighbourhood and find a bite to eat.

The difference from the crowdedness we know from Hong Kong was obvious. Hong Kong has less space for much more people, which forces the buildings in the air, here in Japans 3^rd largest city, they seem to have more space so the buildings were much lower and laid out in small narrow streets. But like in Hong Kong, the major roads and train tracks were constructed like elevated bridges over –and between- the houses.

On street level the traffic was much less so that pedestrians and bicycles had an easy time in the narrow lanes. My first thought was, that it reminded me a lot of Holland, with small cramped houses and loads of bicycles zigzagging in and out between pedestrians and cars.

It was nice just stroll through those narrow streets and breath in how the life went by in an Osakan neighbourhood. Loads of small restaurants, eateries and bars were in the area around the hotel, and all over there were people going in and out. Outside the eateries there were written menus, but these didn’t help us much as they were mainly in Japanese. What did help were the big displays many of the eateries had in their windows, of the different dishes made of plastic. In that way the hungry visitor can visualize the dish they might feel like eating. For me these plastic “sculptures” of food had the exact opposite effect, and was rather repulsive.

Maybe it was the large number of options or was it rather our insecurity about this whole new experience that made us rather too indecisive to go anywhere of the places, but ended up in a little inn, that served typical “Osaka” octopus balls.

After that we literally hit the floor.

We need some music!

Bad Religion: "Sorrow"

First pictures from Japan!

Back in Hongkers and trying to get our heads sorted after the Japan experience and forward to the house move which will have to take place in about 2 weeks.
Here the first little treat. The Mortensens in Kyoto.
And one of the amazing "Shinkansen" bullet trains -we called it "the duck train"- we'd been using a lot in the last weeks. A terrific means of transportation, which took us with over 300 km/h from city to city in Japan.
Osaka - Fukouka - Nagasaki - Hiroshima - Kyoto and back to Osaka. In between we used other trains on smaller lines to smaller cities, but that has to wait for a little bit, now we are starving and there is nothing in our house, so we have to face it and leave to town to find some food.

Our last hours of Japan

We are back in Osaka, it is the last evening of this years summer trip. Our Friend Kimiko has come from Kyoto to say goodbye to us and take us to a sushi restaurant just close to the hotel, thank you for that Kimko.

It has been a very nice experience to travel around in Japan and just now I feel a bit sad that it is over for now, but anyway, for us in Hong Kong Japan is not far away and we can always come back to explore more.
For others who wants to visit Japan on a trip, the best advice I can give is to apply for the Japan Rail Pass. This gives you unlimited access to most of the Japanese rail system, and to the fantastic "Shinkansen" trains, which connects most of the major cities.
They are comfortable and very fast, about 300 km an hour. When I get home I will post the link where you can apply. Only visitors living abroad can apply and get this train pass and you need to show your visiting visa stamp in your passports to get it at the station.
The prize can seem overwhelming when you see it for the first time, but I can assure you; it is worth it.
There will be more when I am back home, first I have to digest the best sushi experience I have ever had.

Japan 2011

Good morning everybody. Are currently in Kyoto in Japan on Holiday but will be back in Hongkers on Monday the 25th of July. It has been a kind of stress full start to our summer holiday this year. As we finally got the holiday, we had a meeting with our landlord about extending the lease on the house where we'd lived for the past 4 years. I didn't turn out that good, he wanted a 45 percent rise on the rent. 45 percent! We offered him a 25 percent rise, even that was also a lot, but he was persistent - that greedy man - on the 45 percent, so we declined and suddenly found us in the situation that we had to find a new place to live before we could go on holiday.
Thank god that we'd been a bit lazy and hadn't booked the trip yet, and so we spend the first holiday week on house hunting. And as it was looking the most desperate, we got a lucky stroke and found a place not that far away from where we are now, the same kind of apartment with a roof top and a view onto the water, and the best thing; to the same rent as we have been paying for the last 4 years.
With that settled, we could start concentrating on the summer trip to Japan.