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Archive by category "Asia"

Fuji-san

Landscape from Mt.Fuji

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.
Night Climbing

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.
Sunrise (I)
Sunrise (II)
Sunrise (III)
Sunrise (IV)
Sunrise (V)

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. 🙂
The long queue

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

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

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)

Jiyugaoka
Jiyugaoka
Jiyugaoka
Jiyugaoka
Jiyugaoka Station

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

Mc also in Tokyo
Cafe Sands

But finally I decided to try some real stuff. 🙂
First japanese meal

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?

More cables

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

Daily Japanese

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:

Kitchen

Then, you take a look to the washing machine…

Washing Machine

… you find this in the door of the bathroom …

Bathroom

… and this next to the bath.

Bath

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

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!

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.

Wing

* 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. 🙂

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.

Cables

* 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)

Olive Oil

* 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. 🙂

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