Homestay

So, the weekend Oct 5-6 was my Homestay! I got to meet the Murakami family.

I did not know what to expect from this weekend, because I don’t think that it’s as common in Europe to have this kind of homestay program. But it was a lot of fun, and I got to meet more families than just my own homestay family. So many happy people!

First we all gathered at O-okayama to be introduced. Some had already met their homestay family at the orientation during the previous weekend, but the Murakami family could unfortunately not be there. So this was our first time meeting.

Thereafter we moved on to a Hippo Club house where we shared some food and played some “language games” as they usually do.

When this was over we went on home to our respective families. But first we had to go to a grocery store. They wanted me to teach them how to cook some Swedish meatballs, and they wanted to show me how to cook some japanese おこのみやき (okonomiyaki). Also, some more people joined our dinner - not only my homestay family.

We ate food and shared some stories. I was the only foreigner there, but English worked just fine for the most part. I shared with them some pictures from my travels in Europe, and the daughter in the family, Kaede, shared some pictures from her recent trip to California.

Next morning we headed on over to IKEA in Yokohama, where we had a “traditional Swedish breakfast” with meatballs, fries, rice, pasta, jelly and more. Haha.

Then we proceeded to take a tour through the store. They bought a few items and I pointed to a lot of them, explaining the English/Japanese translation of all the Swedish names of everything. Apparently IKEA is quite new here and has only existed in Japan for a few years. A lot of people though. Buying soft ice-cream, hot dogs, lingonberry jam and also some furniture.
I decided to buy some saffransglögg and some fläderblomssaft as a gift to them.

After the IKEA adventure we went back to their neighborhood in Futako-tamagawa where we visited a shrine. Beautiful shrine with an underground passage that was 100m long. Where 30m was in complete pitch darkness. Along the walls in this passage were a lot of buddha statues. There were also these bowls which you hit lightly with a tiny wooden stick to make them sound. An interesting and unique experience for me.

Then it was time for lunch! Just down the street they found an Udon-place where we decided to fuel up before heading over to karaoke.

Karaoke seems to be very popular among many of the generations, especially the younger ones.

The day was coming to an end, so we went back to play some cards and finally went to the Futako-tamagawa station where we said goodbye to one family. Then my homestay family and I had our final meal for this weekend. Just by the station was this building where they had a few restaurants. I chose an Indian restaurant. A great end to a great weekend.

Thank you so much, Murakami family. I hope to see you again soon!

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Adventure with Fujita lab members

On 2013-09-29 we went to Shinjuku first, where we went to eat ramen. After that we went back to the Harajuku station, and from there we headed into Yoyogi park where they had a large shrine. This day was together with Vesa-san, Funada-san, Sugimoto-san and Miyazawa-san.

Yamauchi-san could unfortunately not join us.

You were supposed to wash your hands before you entered the shrine which was situated in a large forest like park. Also, beneath a tree in the square people hung little wooden bricks on which they had written their wishes.

When we felt that we were done inside the park, we walked back to Harajuku station and from there started walking towards Shibuya. So many people outside. And the first time I really see a lot of tourists. Since we live in Yokohama-shi, just outside of Tokyo, we don’t see a lot of tourists around. But in central Tokyo, and places like Harajuku/Shibuya, they are everywhere.

While regretting that I wore a black shirt on a sunny scorching day, we went up through a fashion store to a Starbuck’s atop a building. It was very beautiful up there with a bunch of greenery. Funada-san told me about how they have to CO2-compensate for the buildings in the large cities and that is partially why so many buildings have trees and greenery on the rooftops.

We kept walking through town towards Shibuya station. Tokyo has so tall buildings. And many people everywhere. I’m looking forward to some day planlessly walk around in these cities without being on a schedule.

At the Shibuya station there’s a famous pedestrian crossing. Right next to the crossing there was this statue of an, apparently, famous dog called Hachikō.

Then we took the train from this station to Harajuku. Another place where there are so many people. Many tourists, but also many japanese people. They have a lot of game machines, electronic stores, anime shops and much, much more.
We went into a large electronic store, called Yodobashi, and while there I decided to buy a new SLR camera. My Canon EOS 400D has been with me a long time and I felt it was time to switch it out. That was a great way to end our adventure.

Vesa-san and I headed home to Shofu Dormitory, and the other guys disembarked on their station. Somehow you still feel kind of like a tourist, but I guess that’s partially because I haven’t been here for too long, and partially because we did such touristy things today. I do not believe that anyone of the japanese people had been to the meiji shrine before.

It was a good day.

Second post from Japan

I guess I'll write something here now.

I've gathered some random thoughts that I've written over the last couple of days, just remembering what the first few days were like.

For the first couple of days I was extremely jet-lagged. I arrived in Japan in the morning, and a whole day went on. Everything felt surreal.
I am so happy that Yamauchi-san came to greet me at the airport.

He guided me to my dormitory - a long way with buses and trains and everything. 

Thereafter he took me to a restaurant close to the Aobadai station. Ever since then I think I have had rice for maybe 90 % of my meals, and the rest have been with noodles. A bit of an adjustment for the western stomach.

There are so many people on the train. Even late in the evening. Though the train is very punctual and everything works fine, and it only costs us like 21.000 yen (1400 SEK) for 6 months (with student discount). We can then travel between two stations for free. It’s called a commuter pass.

Many people sleep on the train and it is very quiet inside. One really annoying thing about the Stockholm subway is that it is very noisy during Friday nights and other party nights. Everyone is talking on their phone and talking louder and louder so as to overpower the next group of people talking to each other. Here phones are not allowed in some seats. You are also asked to keep your phone in silent mode and refer from speaking on it while on the train.

In my laboratory we are two YSEP students, me and Vesa-Ville from Finland. We will be working on somewhat related subjects.
Most people are very polite and happy here. The people from our laboratory (The Fujita Laboratory at O-okayama Campus) are very kind and include us in most of the activities. Many days everyone goes to lunch together, and we have joined them for a few activities.

Last week they were going to celebrate some people graduating and getting their Masters degree. So we all went out to a restaurant and thereafter some went on to a karaoke place.

That was a night to remember.

Another example of how happy and friendly everyone is, is the one night Homestay orientation at O-okayama campus at TITECH. So many happy families with their children and friends. The people who make this homestay possible is the Hippo club. They are people all over the world who are interested in language exchange. So everyone there was very happy to hear everything you had to share - and it was very easy to ask them any questions.

The Homestay is actually this weekend, on Oct 5-6. Hopefully I'll get some new pictures and post them on my Tumblr.

Will probably write something on here as well.