Olemiswebs

Gonpachi

2008-08-23T14:43:00.002+02:00

If you have seen the film "Kill Bill", you will probably recognize this location. It is a restaurant called Gonpachi, which inspired Quentin Tarantino as scenario for some of the scenes. I haven't seen the film yet, but the place impressed me very much.

Don't cross

2008-08-22T14:39:00.000+02:00

How many lines of defence can you see?

Why is it always like this...

2008-08-22T05:40:00.002+02:00

... bad weather during the weekend.

Ready to get wet!

Clouds

2008-08-21T14:27:00.001+02:00

Yukata

2008-08-20T14:19:00.000+02:00

Two nice japanese with the traditional yukata (summer kimono) posing for the gaijin photographer.

It's really common in summer to see women wearing these beautiful dresses, especially during the weekends. Also men wear their yukatas in the weekends, but in a quite lower number.

Fukagawa Hachiman Matsuri

2008-08-19T14:05:00.001+02:00

One of the most important festivals in Tokyo take place around 15th August. One of the main attractions is this parade were people carry these statues and the rest throw water to them. The pity of this year's festival was the weather. It rained the whole weekend, so throwing water when it's raining it's not that funny.

By the way, don't ask me what all this event is really about, because I have no idea... For me it was like the Semana Santa, but in summer and a bit more abstract...

Churros

2008-08-18T16:21:00.001+02:00

In the same market as in a previous post, I also found a stand where they sell since 1988...

Churros!! The same shape, the same ingredients... the same name!

It's a pity that he did not speak anything but Japanese. It would have been interesting to ask where the name came from.

Popular Market

2008-08-17T16:00:00.000+02:00

When I went to the fireworks, I found out some kind of market where you could find many things to eat while looking at the fireworks. Here you have some of the things you could buy there:

...yakisoba...

...corn...

...squid...

...and the dessert, bananas covered with chocolate with different colours...

Morning

2008-08-16T15:49:00.000+02:00

I live this everyday and I still do not get used to the silence in the morning and everything in order: no race, no shout, no one speaking by phone, talking... not even praying... Nothing. Just calm, order and introspection: newspapers, books, nap, english course,... And, of course: one after the other.

Akihabara: 1st Edition

2008-08-16T15:12:00.000+02:00

Where would you start a visit to Tokyo? Exactly, anywhere but in the electronic quarter... Where did I start? Yes, you are right... Akihabara, the area where you can find all kind of shops with all kind of electronic devices. You can find there:

...sirens... (quite a niche market)

...a pink stand with a pink laptop... (and probably they do sell it)

...and of course, a superhero...

...and friends...

Metro

2008-08-14T15:56:00.000+02:00

One of the fears I had at the beginning was the infography in the metro. Someone told me everything was written with Japanese characters...

Fortunately, the situation has changed, and now you can always read names of stations you can understand...

I love the flash on the labels... ;(

Tokyo does not sleep

2008-08-14T14:15:00.000+02:00

Last friday was my first night out in Tokyo. It started with a dinner of a new dish I had not tried before: okonomiyaki, which is something similar to a tortilla (ok, this similarity might not be clear for other eyes...), with different vegetables in it.

After that, we went to a karaoke, Japan's national entertainment. This was quite fun, but I will elaborate more on the karaoke concept some other time, because the idea we have in Europe of a karaoke is quite different from the japanese style.

After karaoke (around 4.00 am), my party colleagues went to a disco, but I preferred waiting for the first train (5.00) to go home. So, what could I do? I went to a place called Don Quijote (I might be wrong with the spelling, but it's how it sounds, and it is a well known brand in Tokyo), which is a sort of department store where you can find almost everything at a good price, and bought a futon for my forecast guests. Yes, after 4.00 am.

I think we can include without problems Tokyo in the list of cities in the world who do not sleep, together with New York and Benidorm. :P Tell me in which other place you can buy a mattress at 4.30 am without moving from the pub area.

By the way, just imagine me carrying the mattrasse back home in the metro... I was even photographed...

Sushi

2008-08-12T16:16:00.002+02:00

Many people think, Japanese eat sushi every day, but it is not like that, and it is even difficult to find places with good sushi. Today, I found one on my way home, and I decided to buy some for dinner...

... and just for 9 euros. Not expensive at all, right?

Afterwork

2008-08-12T14:52:00.003+02:00

Last week, we had an afterwork dinner some of the people who are in the project. It was in the japanese way: a place close to the office, with lots of food and drinks, and a way to talk with your colleagues in a different environment.

According to what I had read, people in this kind of events normally speak more about work, but in an informal way. But, in this case, we talked about work (of course), but also about other stuff, like similarities and differences about cultures, languages, companies, etc.

Very interesting experience, apart from being an excellent teambuilding activity, always needed when starting, and a new oportunity to taste exquisite food and try the famous sake.

By the way, in the restaurant we went, I faced something a colleague from Spain told me.., Going to the toilet, and find these two doors:

Which one would you choose? My colleague told me: "you'll have to wait until someone else enters, so you know which is for you"... He was right: I didn't wait and I chose wrongly the first time.

Summer Festival

2008-08-06T00:01:00.000+02:00

Or at least, that's what I think it was what I found last thursday when I arrived to my station. The "main square" full of people dancing like this:

After 10 minutes of looking and listening to this music, I came back home whistling this... I will try to get the MP3. ;)

Fuji-san

2008-08-05T12:00:00.002+02:00

Interesting experience. I had heard about it, as a must for long-term stays in Japan/Tokyo including summer: climb Mount Fuji and observe the sunrise from there... together with 10000 more people. What??? I thought we were climbing a mountain... 10000 people hiking up? Two ideas came to my mind at this point: either the figure is an exageration or it is not that hard... I was completely wrong. 10000 people is a good figure for that kilometric queue hiking towards the summit during the night... and it was not that easy.

We had to climb from 2305 m to 3776 m. So, around 1500 m, quite a lot. At the beginning, everything is ok, not many people, wide paths, and softer slopes... But, after a while, the paths are thinner, the people who were waiting in the different stations join the way up, the oxygen reduces (and you do notice the difference), and the sunrise is closer. Not everybody reaches the summit before the sunrise, but it is quite ok if you are already around 3500 m as we were.

The worst part was after the sunrise, when everybody who had stopped decided to go up at the same time. It took us a couple of hours to reach the summit, but we did it. And, after eating something up there (good business) and taking a look to the crater of the volcan, time to go down, which was even harder than ascending... At the end, 30 hours without sleeping, and the proud to have reached the ceiling of Japan... and this is just the beginning. I still have more than 5 months left here. :-)

Any way, I agree with the japanese. It's a once-in-a-life experience. There will be no second time, that's for sure. ;)

7 days and growing

2008-08-01T18:34:00.007+02:00

Today is my 7th day in Tokyo, and the balance is positive so far. I have adapted to the daily life faster as I expected. In the late years I have escaped from my previous problems with "strange" or "new" food, and therefore I am also doing well in that sense here.

And, of course, I have already been working here for one week. I guess I am really going to like this assignment, where I will be in more operative tasks than in the previous ones, and in a very interesting mix of nationalities (Japanese, Swedes and Australians are the main groups, but there are also some Chinese, Hungarian or Spaniard).

In that sense, after reading a lot about Japanese culture, and its application into the work, it is completely true that every country has its particularities regarding work, but some big multinationals as mine, make you feel at home anywhere in the world. Ok, here it seems the work days are longer than in other parts of the globe, but apart from that, the culture is the same. I guess I would be much more shocked if I worked for NEC or any other pure Japanese company.

And tomorrow is time for Mount Fuji. Yes, we are going to climb the highest mountain in Japan, which is pretty close to Tokyo, and it is a tradition to climb it in summer, during the night, in order to see the sunrise (if you are lucky and it's not cloudy or rainy or...). I will probably tell you more about this some time next week.

First day in Tokyo

2008-07-27T14:14:00.003+02:00

First full-day in Tokyo, completely free for walking around and trying to realize where I am. :)

Before coming, I collected some useful information about Japan from some friends. I remember Inda told me that in Tokyo all life is focused around the train stations, and when you are far from them, they are normally peaceful residential areas... and he was completely right. :)

I live in that part of the neighbourhood, the peaceful residential area (apart from the big avenue behind my building)... and then when you start walking to the station, you start finding more and more people, as well as shops... until you get to the station. (see pictures as follows, all taken in the same street)

Close to the station, I found our friend Mc (my first visitors will love it :D), and Caf� Sands. Maybe they are my relatives and I had no clue about that. :)

But finally I decided to try some real stuff. :)

Today I liked what I saw quite more than yesterday. But I still think it's quite chaotic, without any order... But that mess looks nice... apart from the cables. I see cables all around the place. Is it just me?

Tomorrow it's time to start working again... I am even eager to that. O_o

Daily Japanese

2008-07-27T13:36:00.004+02:00

I promised you some daily life japanese... Ok, here it goes.

Imagine you arrive to your new apartment, and you start moving around checking everything. You go to the kitchen and you find this:

Then, you take a look to the washing machine...

... you find this in the door of the bathroom ...

... and this next to the bath.

And last, but not least, this is the controller of the WC!!!

I am on my way to study the different user guides I found under the TV. That is something I could ask to be removed. I have 12 channels, and all of them are in perfect Japanese. =) I hope the Olympics can be watched using the original infography. :)

Konichi wa!

2008-07-26T16:44:00.004+02:00

I am in Tokyo!! :) I only had time to arrive to my apartment, unpack everything, buying some stuff for the apartment and going to have dinner in my same street, and now back "home" to write a few lines and early to bed to profit tomorrow's day. :)

* The trip went pretty well. I flew through Frankfurt so I could practice some German in the first flight. The flight from Frankfurt to Tokyo has been really long. Fortunately, I could sleep a little bit, not as much as I would have desired, as I did not have the chance to take an aisle seat, so I was pressed between the window and my seat neighbour. But three films, the dinner and the breakfast entertained sufficiently.

* I flew in a 747 today (yes, today this kind of aircraft is on the news), and I am really surprised that someone even imagined to make that enormity could ever fly (and I am looking forward to be able to "try" the A380.

* I wrote in a company blog some time ago, that I think border control as we understand it today should have future. We need a visa (which you apply with a lot of papers, later on, in the plane, you need to fill in a couple of forms justifying why you are going to Japan, and so on, then you go and explain what you have written to an immigration officer, and later on to a customs officer. At the end, almost 30 minutes of queuing.

* In total, it took me about 4 hours since the aircraft landed until I got to my apartment. It's true it's quite far from the city, and that I took a bus instead of trains, but it is still a lot. Oh, sorry, it was not a bus, it was a limousine. :)

* What's your impression about Tokyo? Two things come to my mind: first, the humidity. It's really tough to be outside (or inside with open windows). The image I have seen from the bus, and after a short walk in my neighbourhood, it is a bit chaotic. Old and new, small and big, colourful and grey houses together, small streets that look like the entrance to a house, lots of cable everywhere, streets and railways cross at different heights, etc.

* I like globalization. I like being able to find olive oil in the closest supermarket to my place. I just did not like the price. (1000 yen = 6 euros)

* Language is a real problem. I still don't know how I managed to know the time the supermarket closes (23.00), because no one spoke English there. The same happened with the taxi driver, or in the restaurant. The worst thing is that I say some times to them "tack" or "hej"... Hehe.

* By the way... Tomorrow, I will show you some Japanese in the daily life...

* Ohhh! And Carlos Sastre just won Tour de France!! Perfect timing. :)

Breaking News

2008-07-24T00:15:00.002+02:00

One day to take a flight to the capital of Japan...

Powerful quake hits north Japan

... using a well-known and reliable airline as Lufthansa...

Lufthansa cancels more than 500 flights as pilot strike at subsidiaries continues

And I was not checking news at all! My brother told me about the first one, and a friend commented me the other one in a casual e-mail...

Sem�ntica

2008-07-23T01:18:00.004+02:00

Ayer me encontr� esta vi�eta en El Mundo.

No s� si ser� porque, desde que he vuelto de Suecia, soy p�blico f�cil para los publicistas, humoristas, etc., pero me ha hecho gracia esta situaci�n llevada al extremo.

Eso s�, a veces es muy �til eso de centrarse s�lo en lo positivo, y olvidarse de las cosas negativas... Centrarse en ellas para arreglarlas, vale. Pero, si no, �para qu� fijarnos en las cosas malas?

Y, obviamente, no estoy hablando de Zapatero ni del doping del Tour. :P

July

2008-07-15T22:52:00.003+02:00

The weather is not being as good as it should be for July. But it's still nice to be close to the sea, and enjoy the time with the family...

Holidays

2008-07-07T23:49:00.004+02:00

Two weeks without writing a single line here... But it's been two long weeks.

First, it was time to say goodbye to Stockholm. Time to pack (I hate this part), time to say "see you" to the different people I met... Some of them will be there when I come back next year to wrap-up my programme, but some others will not be there, and who knows where and when we will meet again. Of course, I was already used to the city, and some sort of laziness appears when you realize you are moving again...

But before moving to any new place, I have already been in Spain for roughly a week, and I have enjoyed my family again, Spain's victory in the European Cup, the beach in Alicante, the swimming pool, the hot weather everywhere, Madrid with its people, driving, Valencia in the weekend, friends who are moving to new cities, companies or countries, a whole day in the beach, a walk in Valencia, drinking the best horchata in the world, talking and chatting with friends... Everything. :)

Now, it's time to start preparing for Tokyo... Less than 3 weeks...

Midsommar

2008-06-22T15:34:00.002+02:00

Today, I'll write in Spanish. Sorry for my non-spanish-speaking friends.

Ya estamos en verano. Una diferencia incre�ble: nublado, lloviendo y fresco. Pero parece que esto no es novedad. Siempre hace malo el d�a de Midsommar... Que es precisamente de lo que quiero hacer un par de comentarios, porque me parece bastante curioso.
Como en much�simos otros pa�ses, el solsticio de verano es un d�a de fiesta en Suecia. De hecho, hasta hace un par de a�os, cualquier sueco te hubiera dicho que es el d�a de la fiesta nacional, y todav�a hoy sigue teniendo m�s importancia incluso que la Navidad.

La fiesta en la actualidad consiste en irse a alguna casa de verano, generalmente en mitad de la naturaleza y, si puede ser, cerca del agua (me ba��!!). Como en todas las fiestas grandes, hay comidas t�picas (arenques en distintas recetas, ensalada de patatas y pastel de fresas) y bebidas t�picas (creo que ya he hablado alguna vez de los licores de estas tierras). Y, por supuesto, hay tradiciones. Y aqu� llega lo curioso.
Una de las tradiciones dice que las j�venes mujeres solteras deben recoger de �reas cercanas 7 tipos de flores diferentes la noche de antes. Estas flores tienen que ponerlas debajo de la almohada y, seg�n reza la tradici�n, esa noche so�ar�n con su futuro marido. Al d�a siguiente, con las mismas flores, se supone que se tienen que hacer una corona que llevar�n durante todo el d�a.
Ya durante el d�a grande, entre todos hay que hacer un Midsommarst�ng, que es b�sicamente una cruz de madera, cubierta de flores y con dos anillos colgados. Seg�n parece, el origen de esto es bastante incierto, pero todo apunta a que en un principio, la cruz no era tal, sino un simple palo, y que la Iglesia en un intento de cristianizar la fiesta, lo convirti� en cruz.

Pero no se queda ah� la historia. Una vez se construye la cruz, se planta, y es el centro de las celebraciones. Y lo de centro es literal, porque las celebraciones consisten en unas cuantas canciones-juegos, en los que, cual Corro de la Patata, todos los participantes del evento dan vueltas alrededor adoptando c�micas posiciones.
Adem�s de simular el lanzamiento de un cohete espacial dando palmas y saltando (no comment), lo m�s t�pico es una canci�n llamada Sm� Grodorna, y que dice as�:

Sm� grodorna, sm� grodorna �r lustiga att se.
Sm� grodorna, sm� grodorna �r lustiga att se.
Ej �ron, ej �ron, ej svansar hava de.
Ej �ron, ej �ron, ej svansar hava de.

Kou ack ack ack, kou ack ack ack,
kou ack ack ack ack kaa.
Kou ack ack ack, kou ack ack ack,
kou ack ack ack ack kaa.

Que viene a ser:

Las peque�as ranas, las peque�as ranas, son divertidas de ver.
Las peque�as ranas, las peque�as ranas, son divertidas de ver.
Ninguna oreja, ninguna oreja, ninguna cola tienen ellas.
Ninguna oreja, ninguna oreja, ninguna cola tienen ellas.

Kou ack ack ack, kou ack ack ack,
kou ack ack ack ack kaa.
Kou ack ack ack, kou ack ack ack,
kou ack ack ack ack kaa.

La parte final no es m�s que el sonido de la rana, y viene acompa�ado de saltitos de rana alrededor del Midsommarst�ng. Y esto lo hace todo el mundo... Asombroso. Un par de v�deos de Youtube. El primero en un Midsommar multitudinaria, y el segundo, alguien lo grab� con mi c�mara hace un par de d�as... pero afortunadamente est� muy oscuro. :)

Creo que va a haber que incorporar algunas de estas cosas a nuestras hogueras de la noche de San Juan, que al fin y al cabo tienen el mismo origen. Aunque seguro que no pasa como ayer...

Sabiendo que est�bamos en Suecia, adem�s de la mesa al aire libre, preparamos un plan B, consistente en una pseudotienda, por si empezaba a llover. Y como era de esperar, empez� a llover. R�pidamente metimos todo debajo de la tienda, y justo entonces empez� a soplar viento fuerte. Est�bamos haciendo c�balas sobre como hacer la tienda un poco m�s resistente, cuando se desquebraj� el techo. As� que hubo que improvisar un plan C: dentro de casa... Pero para cuando hab�amos metido todo dentro de casa, ya hac�a sol otra vez y volvimos a salir. Eso es lo que pasa cuando haces cosas al aire libre, en sitios con tiempo inestable.