From September 2002 to June 2003 i 've spent an exchange study year in my beloved city, Madrid. Back then i wrote a kind of diary email to my friends back home about once a week. Publishing these emails was the starting point for this blog. They were written in German, so sorry, folks, this'll be a partially German blog. After publishing my Madrid mails i now continue it with whatever i feel like.
Cheers.
A Russian name, but in Japan: Okhotsk. That's where i am right now, a region in the north of Hokkaido, in the very north of Japan.
Basically a rural area, meaning small towns, all spread out in a snowy landscape. Enjoying yummy food and improving my Japanese, staying with a local family.
I am writing this from my mobile phone, attaching some photos. Hope they turn out allright. Main reason to write this is to wish you all: よいをとしお！ (once again, that'd mean "Guten Rutsch!" in German)
I guess i will be in the new year hours before most of you, hehe. (^-^) Cheers!
Yeah, it's that time of the year again. I know it's not a popular thing to say, but i am no fan of it. Anyways.
Funnily enough, x-mas is not a family celebration for the Japanese. You know, they have no Christian background like people e.g. in Europe, they just took this opportunity to celebrate because they liked it and adapted it in their way. Which means that x-mas here is more something for couples, a time when you go for a fancy dinner in a restaurant with your girl-/boyfriend. X-mas spirit in tha house.
A nice video, classic, in German, about "Weihnachten":
And a picture from today's lunch in Todai's cafeteria:
Looked yummy behind the display window. When i bought the ticket to get this Ramen the friendly lady behind the window was a little worried and made sure that i really want this "kurisumasu ramen" (get it?) because it is with milk. Was actually quite tasty! And it did not remind me of any kurisumasu-taste i knew so far :)
So, happy celebrations, everyone! よいおとしを！ (that'd be "Guten Rutsch!" in German)
I'll be in Hokkaido, far up in the north end of Japan, for the next two weeks, so, see you next year (またらいねん！）!
See what I've done there? The title is a slight hint that I am not the biggest fan of theatre (yup, no typo, that's British English). Nevertheless, you know, moving to other countries for me is also about getting to know the culture of those. Plus, they offered traditional Japanese theatre shows for free for students, so I've already been to two shows here. Hah, if you thought I'll only blog about shopping here, let me prove you wrong ;-) even though shopping is a very important activity for young Japanese people.
So, here we go. The first theatre show was called "Jiuta-mae" and it was actually traditional Japanese dance. Two musicians playing on traditional instruments, and once dancer. At a time. All in all there were about five different dancers. In full make-up, meaning that their faces were completely white, special hairdo, and what i guess are kimonos. Gracefully doing their thing, i.e., dancing. Here are some blurry pics:
As you can see - a t least a bit - it's a wooden stage, with a wooden roof. The whole thing built inside a bigger hall. I imagine that in 'the old days' these kind of stage were built outdoors, in villages, and people sat under the sky, kinda open-air.
The stage looked the same for the second show that i saw in a different place: Noh theatre. For hundreds of years, this traditional form of Japanese drama has been performed by male actors. Interestingly enough, there were female actors in this one. It was the show of the Todai theatre group and it took place here. I was happy to see that even with this very, very traditional form of theatre, nowadays both women and men can play it.
Anyway. It reminded me of classic Greek theatre - choir and all. Quite similar setting, choir in the back and few actors in front. Well, plus some musicians. And unlike the first one, this was a full play, plot and all. It was the classic Atsumori. Fortunately they provided the text, in both Japanese and English. We got that in my language course, the day before. One of my teachers told me that sometimes even she reads the English text, since the Japanese is a bit old-school and can be hard to understand even for native speakers. And another teacher told me that she doesn't like to go to Noh because it makes her fall asleep :D sweet. Some pics:
One of the first scenes. Many actors, choir in the back, drummers/singers on the left.
Atsumori's ghost doing his thing with a sword. Wearing a mask since he appeared in his ghost form.
To give you a better idea of the atmosphere, here's a video:
Especially note the two guys on the left. Doing the "oooh/wooh/ooih" thing, followed by a clap on their wooden drum. They did that during the whole show.
The luxury 'seats' in the loges. Actually Tatami mats with some pillows. I wouldn't be able to sit comfortably like that, so i would not pay more for these seats...
The nice group of people from my department who were in the theatre with me.
After the theatre i went to a vernissage where i knew one of the artists. So i had a cultural Saturday last week, you might say :)
if you know me well, you know that i love going to the cinema. A week ago, i went to the cinema the first time here in Japan. Well, no big surprises here. It basically looked like any "megaplex" cinema I've seen so far. Went to see the most recent Harry Potter movie - was as expected, looking good because there is a lot of money put into the special effects, but the plot still seems quite randomly stuck together at many moments. Anyways. Two things worth mentioning about cinema in Japan:
it's damn expensive. More than 16 Euros for a regular ticket (1800 Yen), two Euros more for 3D movies
funny: all people sat through the whole credits. That has never ever happened to me in Europe. Here they don't even turn the lights on as long as the movie credits are still running. And everyone was still there when the credits ended.
Even though it's so damn expensive, i plan to go again this week to see Tron 2.0. A movie I've been waiting for, the trailers looked pretty damn cool (didn't watch the last one, to not see too much already). And it seems i am lucky: the movie was released last Friday here in Japan. Thought it'd be a worldwide same-day release, but now i saw that people in Austria will have to wait until the end of January. Well, well. Here's a pic of the posters that you can find down in the metro right now:
Nice, huh? The Dude, geeking it out. Keep watching.
As already mentioned: here in Japan they have vending machines for drinks (water, softdrinks, icetea, coffee hot and cold) at almost every corner. Lots of them. But what i saw last weekend's a new record:
That's 15 machines next to each other! If you count only 14: the 15th is not visible because it was a little thinner and is covered by the one you see on the left. Anyways, that was the best shot i could get. I mean, fifteen! It is very usual that two to five of these vending machines stand next to each other in one place, but 15's a bit extreme. After all, at least every third machine is selling the same kind of drink. Oh, and just for completeness: yes, some of them are also selling icecream. Found this accumulation of vending machines a bit outside of Tokyo, in a street where lots and lots of tourist are walking by. Near a shrine. A week before i was there a certain Obama (this one, not that) had visited that shrine which led to numerous blocked roads etc. for the local population. Aw, celebrities. Luckily, when i was there, everything was accessible again. Just regular tourists around me :)
And now, two random pics from an architectural city tour i did today:
when you come to Asia and you already know how to eat with chopsticks, be prepared to meet a lot of impressed local people. Still surprises me, i mean, it's not like eating with chopsticks was a big deal. Anyways.
If you really, really, can't figure out how to hold chopsticks, this product might be something for you:
I guess the Japanese text says something like chopsticks for inept Gaijins. Here's how you hold these:
Supposedly the same as regular chopsticks, with holding aids and rings. I think i would actually have trouble eating with those. The rings etc. kind of restricted my movement. I definitely prefer normal chopsticks. Well, i guess I'm not a chopstick dummy :D
In case you still want to buy some, i found them at Tokyu Hands Shibuya. Big department store with all kinds of stuff. Besides the usual Hello Kitty-anything, massage devices, erasers or iPhone protective covers in the form of Japanese food, things to keep cats and dogs off your premises (in case the traditional filled water bottles put on your fence or around your house surprisingly won't work), Frosch Reinigungsmittel imported from Germany, here's some more funny stuff i saw there:
Scotch tape that looks like poo. "cappuccino" sounds better but doesn't make it look better, IMHO. Guess that product is also sold in other countries, but whatever.
Humping sake bottle and cups (on the right). The cup has pink cheeks to display a more emotional expression.
My new favourite webcam. Not that i had a "favourite webcam" before, but that one's wonderful. A TIE fighter to clip onto your screen, playing big brother. Not that i had any use for it, my laptop has a built-in camera, but still. Nice.
New forms of Rubik's cubes, in case the classic forms in its 2-, 3-, 4- or 5-variety (were on display left of what is shown in the pic) are not enough to keep you busy.
Assortment of bicycle horns, mostly in the shape of animals. Also mind the Sumo in the middle/right.
i haven't told you yet that i got a bicycle. Nice and practical. When you get a bicycle here in Japan it is very important that you also register it. Meaning that you have to pay 500 Yen and register it to your name. If you buy it in a shop, like i did, the people selling you the bike will/have to take care of that, you just pay and show them your ID. If you get it from a private person, you need something proving that you are the legitmitate owner and register it at the police (?) yourself. There will be a sticker with its registration number on your bike.
The reason why this is sooo important is mainly that when the police stopps you, you might/will get into trouble if the bike is not registered to your name. So here's what happened to me today: riding home from the supermarket, i passed a contruction site with a police station close to it (gotta blog about those lightsaber dudes as soon as i have a good picture of one). So, much personnel standing around, waving with their lightsabers. I also saw some policemen getting on their bicycles while i was waiting to cross train tracks. Anyways, i pass by the contruction area and some meters further two policemen suddenly are next to me on their bicycle and wave somehow, gesturing me that i should stop. All very friendly and smiling. I stop and they stop in front of me. All smiling and speaking in a very friendly tone. I actualy understood most of what they said :) but not completely. Third line of them was the question if i understood Japanese, to which i answered a little. Given the Japanese way that you would never say you are really good at something - maybe unless you are an absolute master - they might've assumed that my Japanese is already better. Didn't really matter, i could see from what they were doing that they just tried to read the number on my registration sticker. And one of them asked me if it's my bicycle, i think. While i was trying to tell them in Japanese that yes, it is mine, one of them was already talking on his radio set, telling the number to someone. Then he asked me for my name. Guess whoever checked the number in the registration system told him the same name, because they were very content. I almost wanted to get on my bike and ride on, when the one on the radio very politely, almost embarrassed, asked me if i could also show him any ID :D they both looked very curiously at my alien registration card and said something like "oooooh, オーストリア"(oosutoria=Austria) and one of them asked me if i was a student. I told them that i was a student at Tokyo daigaku and pointed in the direction of the nearby campus where i live. That seemed to please them. Well, in the sense that they seemed happy. Like you can encounter many times here in Japan: people are very curious and happy to talk to foreigners, and their asserting ways while listening to you seems like they are really interested in what you say. No matter what you say.
So, that's that. Much ado/text about almost nothing, my first and rather uneventful encounter with the Japanese police force. Very Japanese (friendly and smiling).
And by the way, about the legal alien thing: yes, i am a legal alien again. And since i am working as a language assistant at the international friday lounge (sounds fancy, huh?) that i already mentioned somewhere in this blog, i had to get an アルバイト=arubaito. German speakers might recognise this word here: Arbeit =) in Japanese it means part-time job, and is mostly abbreviated to just baito.
short entry: I've seen a lot of interesting things (including Fuji-san, finally!) last weekend, will write more about it later. Just this pic now: i couldn't read what this is, looked like some intestines. Found it in the fish section of a supermarket. My knowledgable friends who were with me at the time were also a little surprised when they read and translated for me: this is wale! I have no intentions to try it, much less to support Japanese wale hunting by paying for it.
Oh, and it looks quite bäh! Maybe that'd get better after someone with the proper cooking skills prepares it.
Since i arrived in Tokyo, i really appreciated that they take really good care of us at university. Trying to support us with all things we might need, and they are very kind and open to help whenever needed.
There are also the proper helping channels in place in case something goes really, really wrong. I got the feeling that in case things go bad, i got the relevant contact places to go. Fortunately i never had to use this support so far.
Another fact about Tokyo in general is that there is Hello Kitty everything. Really.
Anyways, i was quite surprised when i saw this:
I know it's not really Hello Kitty, but it was quite surprising to see such a cute design for such a serious thing. Maybe it's supposed to help victims to overcome their inhibitions and seek help (hope that's correct English, i tried to translate "Hemmschwelle"). Which would be, of course, a good thing. Strange card, nonetheless. Even for Japan, where you find Hello Kitty everything.
Unrelated to that, i also had a medical checkup at university. It seems that Asia is the country where i have the most medical checkups ever (e.g. in China i did at least three for getting visa and going on my first job). Well, this one here in Japan was pretty standard, and another service of the university, trying to take good care of its students. Anyways, part of it was a "Mental Health Check Sheet". I know these things are also very serious and there to help people with serious issues, nonetheless some questions amused me.
Look at questions 15 to 18:
Have you ever heard voices other people cannot hear?
Some people believe in mind reading or being psychic. Have other people ever read your mind?
and my favourite: Did you have messages sent just to you through the television or radio?
Possible answers: 1.no, 2.yes, probably, 3.once, 4.more than twice. From now on, i will listen to the radio more carefully, just to be sure. Someone might try to tell me something...
Oh, one more thing of interest happened a week ago: my first earthquake in Japan. Read about it here. 4.7. Fortunately no immediate injuries or damages reported. And personally i can't report feeling anything. At the time i was having dinner with some colleagues in the biggest refectory at Hongo Campus. Which is an underground refectory. Some people from our research lab called us. Up there - 3rd floor - things were shaking. Oddly enough, on the morning of the same day i woke up two hours too early and had the feeling that my bed was shaking, quake-like. But i haven't found reports about any earthquakes at that time, so let's blame it on the mind being something else when waking up at unusual times. Anyways, good thing i got through my first quake here without any problems.
short post: i started to upload some videos i made here in Japan. Nothing special. I'll upload more once i have more and need to embed them here. As for now, you can head over to my videos and watch two short ones i recorded around Harajuku. Search youtube for more videos if you want to see more of that stuff, I'm sure there is lots.
weee, I'm almost through my first month in Tokyo. Didn't get to blog as often as i wanted to, sorry. Will let you know more once i get to do it (already started to write more posts).
For now, two pictures will have to do.
You might've heard of fugu. Or at least seen the early Simpsons episode where Homer eats fugu and is told that he has only 24 hours left to live. Obviously you can get fugu here in Japan. But it's expensive and 'just for the thrill of it' not worth it for me. Nevertheless i consumed some unexpected fugu: fugu Sake. Some colleagues from my research lab at the university had it and shared it with me and the other labmates last Thursday. As you can see it has a comic little fugu painted on top of it. Of course there was a bottle inside this carton box, but the box was more interesting so i took a photo of that. As for the taste: well, it was Sake that tasted a little fishy. Won't become one of my favourites :-P
Another pic from university: taken at last friday's edition of the weekly International Friday Lounge where i am helping out as one of the official language assitants. Since Halloween stuff can be bought here same as in Europe - meaning there is no tradition of Halloween but thanks to global commericalization they have it, too - the theme of the day was Halloween and ghosts in general/in your home country. The sensei brought some Halloween decorations including this hat, which she asked me to wear. "Silly Hats ONLY!"
That's it for today, so I'll leave you with this: I'm a banana!
ps: if you don't know what the last lines were about, watch this. But be advised, it might be a little disturbing. And funny.
ATM: if you plan on using a Maestro card to withdraw money, good luck :-P your best bet is to find a 7-Eleven and use its ATM (they all have one inside) or a Citibank. Not common. If you don't see a Maestro logo on, it won't give you money. Really nice how many unwanted receipts i got printed from ATMs telling me that my card is not valid with that particular machine. In short, have a back-up plan.
public garbage bins: they (almost) don't exist. Get used to it. Your best chance might be looking for a kombini=convenience store, they're everywhere and most of them have garbage bins in front - for their customers, assuming they buy stuff and eat it in front of the store hence the bins.
take your shoes off when you enter someone's home. Most likely there will be a place to put them, and a little step after entering marking the 'starting line' of the no-shoe area. Oh, and home can also mean someone's car, or the plastic blanket they bring for sitting upon while picnicking :)
if it looks like cheese in its package, it most likely isn't. Experiences so far:
looks like Feta: Tofu (that was easy to guess, even without anything in English on it)
looks like processed cheese packed in little sausage-form-thingies and right next to the little snack-sausages in the supermarket: some kind of fish-paste. Bäh.
public toilets: when in need, and somewhere inside the metro, use the toilets down there. I wouldn't do or recommend that back home in Europe, but here in Tokyo public metro toilets are clean, safe and available (once you're in the metro system, mostly not accessible outside of the ticket-area). In case you need to take a dump, you might have to squat, though.
if you simply want to go for a beer with the lads, find an izakaya. They even like tapas with their drinks. Well, not the same kind as the Spanish have. But good as well. Don't forget to try Edamame.
if you want to know what it's like to live in Tokyo and wander through the city, and you understand French: i highly recommend you the book Tokyo sanpo by French graphic artist Florent Chavouet.
go left. I mean, they drive on the left side, but you should also tend to go on the left side while walking. Like, when someone comes straight at you while walking in the street, go a bit to the left. And on stairs, stay on the left to let people pass on the other side. That's generally also true when you're inside the metro system, but there are exceptions. When down there, simply keep your eyes open for arrows on the ground or signs on the wall and you'll know on which side you should walk.
be sorry all the time. Really. It's ok to say "sorry", if you want to do it more Japanese say "sumimasen". No matter what happens, be sorry before, after, and during it. Or at least say so. No matter if it's your fault, someone else's fault, or there is no fault at all (out of your view of the world).
don't worry too much - Japan is a safe and clean place. And people are generally friendly towards foreigners, even trying to help you if you look lost and they don't speak anything but Japanese. Respect them.
So, be humble and thankful. And come prepared. And don't forget to smile and nod a lot :)
Note: so far i haven't seen much more than Tokyo and its surroundings.
From my first guidance for new students session, which i had during my first week here in Tokyo: what to do in case of an earthquake:
protect yourself (0-2min)
prevent fires (2-5min)
secure safety of family (5-10min)
cooperate with neighbours&non-Japanese friends (10min-12hrs)
be prepared to survive on your own (water, food, shelter etc.) (12hrs-2weeks)
Time in () is time after the earthquake. ad 1.: e.g. get under a table. There are places where emergency supplies are stored in each community, but one should also prepare supplies oneself. I'm also attending a lecture called "Earthquake Engineering", quite interesting. After one of the big quakes, it took them only three days to get electricity back, but sewage system took two weeks. Fortunately there was a river near which was used as a temporary, uhm, disposal of personal excrements facility :)
Just had a session here where my research mates introduced us to Japanese geography. Some facts:
Japan has 6852 islands, out of which about 400 are inhabited
its area is about the same as Germany, and about 1/10 of China
2/3 of land is forest, 3/4 is mountain
"Nihon alps" are similar to European alps :)
If the earthquake introduction didn't scare you, there's more:
volcanic activity: lots and lots, same reason as for quakes. Saw a nice pic of gas/ash cloud coming down a mountain. >1000 degC, moving with 700 km/h. Blaster!
if Fuji-san explodes, Tokyo will be in deep, deep trouble...
floods: 98% of all Japanese cities have had more than 10 floods. In the last 10 years!
All in all, a great place to study disasters ;) and now i also understand better why disaster management is emphasized a lot in the lectures here at the civil engineering department that i am a part of now.
yesterday I've done something quite Japanese. And promised to blog about it ;)
Met friends of mine at Shibuya station. And they told me they would take me to pelicula because they thought after my last blog entry that might be a funny thing to do, completely Japanese. Got me curious. Especially since pelicula means movie in Spanish. So, after some strolling around we went into an establishment, how to say, unlike things we have in Austria. Very colourful and filled with strange music, or actually more a cacophony of many different machines. In the entrance area all of those were these thingies where you can control this kind of robotic arm that after putting it into some position it will drop down and grab with its three fingers. And if you're lucky it will grab some item for you. Looks like this:
But back to the actual purpose of my visit there: movie-pelicula. Those are machines mainly for schoolgirls. But as a foreigner nobody stops you from using them. You go inside a bright white box to make pictures of you. All the while having to make decisions on a big touchscreens for all kind of backgrounds with crazy environments. No idea what the difference between the different machines is, but they had around 20 of them. And at all of them there were people (girls) queueing. My friends selected one and the three of us got in after some waiting. Our Japanese teammember did the selecting, and we made a lot of funny faces for the camera. I thought that was it, but you move on into the box next of the first, to edit the pictures. They have algorithms in place who will make your eyes ridiculously large, you know, enlarge your pupils like you were an anime character. But you can add all kind of stuff to the pictures, like stars, hearts, kana writings...
In the end you can load it to your mobile phone - if it's a Japanese one and have this kind of bluetooth they have here - and print the pics on photo paper. Here's what i got: one third of that photo paper.
Hehe, now i have a truly Japanese bookmark.
Oh, one more random Shibuya shot, with a bit more people crossing then on the last pic i posted. Still not many, though.
so, i have arrived in Japan. Some of my first impressions, quite random:
waiting at the gate at VIE, the usual crowd. 1st Japanese experience on board: when i was already seated in the plane, an old couple entered, with their street shoes in their hands, wearing slippers. Like when entering somebody's home. They put their shoes on again in front of me. Dunno why (peer pressure?). Fortunately there was lots of space in front of me during the flight ("fußfrei") thanks to using a good airline changing my seat last minute - when boarding - because i had asked for an aisle seat at check in (at that time all of those were full).
1st Japanese experience on the ground, i.e., Narita Airport:
The buttons read something like "spray" and "stop" and at the wall there was explanatory text. English version starting with "Equipment to cleansing the buttocks with warm water". Whatever, i thought it funny at the time, after one or two days without really sleeping.
general impression after my first hour in Japan: everything feels very clean and well organised - not surprisingly. And friendly including customs officers. Not sure if he asked me for my major (study field) out of curiosity or to check if I'm a student for real (age!).
I missed one bus and had to wait one more hour to leave the airport thanks to ATM complications - but they also gave me friendly receipts for not giving me money :-P
waiting for the airport bus a guy came up to me, speaking only Japanese, looked at my bus ticket and took my luggage. Trusting Japanese i rightfully assumed that he was personnel for 'check-in luggage' for the bus, with number ticket and all.
bus into Tokyo cost more than 30 Euros, 2h10min drive to my station. I felt very much like sleeping but kept my eyes open to see everything. Felt fresh. I also felt like having a shower really soon (was going to happen) and sleeping a lot (was not happening too soon). I saw three baseball fields with people playing and watching - it was Sunday morning and the Japanese love baseball - and quite some interesting bridges. Then i got off at the wrong station (five minutes after my station) but managed to walk back to my meeting point. Already had three people asking if they could help me, some of them not speaking any English :D
1st big faux pas: when entering my friend's flat, i stepped in two steps, without taking my shoes off! Realised it immediately, stepped back, took my shoes off :)
Some more random impressions from my first day, with pictures:
the national sport in the metro: sleeping. My first metro ride here (technically not metro), me still very tired, but not that much:
all restaurants have the food they offer on display, all in plastic replicas that already look delicious:
first local meal: raw fish. In Enoshima, at the seaside (I'm from a landlocked country, sunshine and seaside always wonderful for me!). Lots of very tiny little fish, my raw fish bowl being the one on the right - the left one is the same, just that the fish is cooked and not part of my meal. All other things belonged to my meal.
got off the train at "HA SE" station, haha. That means bunny/rabbit in German.
On to see a big Buddha: Great Buddha - Daibutsu in Japanese - near Kamakura. Not the biggest Buddha statue I've seen in Asia, but the most impressive: still huge, and: almost 900 years old!!!
my first dinner in Japan: small and quite original BBQ place. Raw meat might look unusual for your usual European, but was really yummy! After bbq-ing it, of course.
That's the enthusiastic owner of the place. She loves Gaijin and made us teach her some words in our mother tongues (French and German) and wrote it down to remember it. During our meal we even got a free beer, "because the barrel was about to end anyways". That's quite unusual, I've been told, with one "Krügerl" costing more than five Euros. Not that i needed more sleep encouragement at that moment, jet-lag and all. But the Sapporo from the tap was good :)
first morning, in the metro: luckily i could avoid the rush hour by one hour, carrying my luggage and all. Metro was just "pretty full" according to Austrian standards. Right next to me was this guy:
Drawing caricatures off other passengers with a pen. For his own enjoyment. After a couple of stations he started talking to me in perfect English, asking if i was travelling (because of the luggage). Since i had shown interest in his drawings he took out another notebook, showing me how he coloured his drawings later on. Nice!
after the cartoonist had left i noticed a young guy next to me reading a book. Training my Katakana reading i read the author's name: To-MaSu BeRuNHaRuTo. Holy shit! My first morning metro ride in Tokyo, and a guy next to me reads a Japanese translation of my favourite Austrian author: Thomas Bernhard! After realising this i saw that next to the Japanese title it said "Alte Meister" in small type. Hehe. Couldn't help but telling the guy that i was also Austrian like the author of his book :)
during my first full day here i passed through Shibuya crossing about five times.There are better pics and videos off people walking all over the place after the cars stop. Google it or watch a recent movie playing in Tokyo :)
on my way to registering:
1st lunch inside Tokyo:
DoN KiHo-Ra (Don Quijote). A big shopping house with all things needed to start your household
including these pillows, directly next to the ones with comic motives for the kids: (not Japan-specific, just surprised me)
Tommy Lee Jones is right now on every second or third drink vending machine - and there's lots of them everywhere - advertising some kind of coffee (and yes, they sell closed cans of hot coffee!)
yellow area in the metro is reserved for people in need. And please turn your mobile completely off there (see sign even on the handles)
the picture gives away that it might be chocolate banana milk, but the Katakana also reads Chyokobanana :) must be Donkey Kong's favourite brand...
one more food pic: I'd heard of this Japanese chocolate brand, so i had to try it:
I also already got a commemorative brochure for the 25th birthday of Mario on my first day. Hehe. And my first Manga: my Japanese is way too poor to read it yet. I didn't buy it: these are cheaply s/w-printed, quite thick (format is almost A4!) and people (usually office folk commuting) read it on the metro. And after reading place it on top of garbage bins, so other people - like me - can pick it up. Don't know much about Manga yet, but i had already heard of the one on the cover :)
Puha, that's it for now. Thanks for reading my blog! More will follow (not from the first day, i promise).
