Lukas and Martina in Japan//japan.lukas-prokop.at/blog/2017-02-27T20:20:00+09:00Arima Onsen2017-02-27T20:20:00+09:002017-02-27T20:20:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2017-02-27:blog/arima-onsen.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses our Arima Onsen visit on 27th of February 2017.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I planned to meet with my Karate friend since christmas time. He left university after 3 years and stopped attending Karate lessons (like me). Yesterday he texted me and we brainstormed ideas. He neither has been to <a href="himeji.html">Himeji Castle</a> nor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arima_Onsen">Arima Onsen</a>. Going to an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onsen">onsen</a> with a Japanese is a very good opportunity. Depending on the onsen, language translation in English might not be available and the onsen customs are different to other cultures. The first one does not hold for the very famous Arima Onsen for 90% of the texts. Once, you have been in some onsen, feel free to go to any other. You will be familiar with the customs. Many videos on onsen customs exist (like the one by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgM-OpImRec">Notes of Nomads</a>).</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>All videos on onsen start with "You will be naked. Don’t go there, if you feel uncomfortable in front of other people naked". I agree. Though I cannot relate to this being raised often bathing naked publicly in Austria.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><strong>Requisites:</strong> Most onsen don’t provide towels for you. So take one for your hair and one for the body with you. A bottle of water is also recommended, if you don’t like Japan’s tap water, like me. To carry your wet towels home, take an appropriate bag with you. I took a bag made of fabrics with me.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We met at 11:00 in Kobe to go to Arima by train together. I lost track of time and my surrounding because we chatted all the time. First, we talked a lot about his current life situation. Because of his debt due to tuition fee credit (compare with <a href="http://www.kobe-u.ac.jp/en/study_in_kobe/tuition/index.html">Kobe university tuition data</a>), he has to find a job until April 2018. He is currently targetting one specific company and he just returned from the company visit for 3 days (I am not sure why he called it <em>internship</em>; to me it’s something different). While chatting, we switched trains 2 times to reach Arima Onsen. We reached Kita-ku (the corresponding district) approximately at noon (costs: 930 Yen).</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="Arima Onsen location in Japan" src="images/arima-onsen-location.png" width="400">
</img></span></p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In this map, Arima Onsen is colored red (top-left), my place of living is colored blue (bottom-left, part of Kobe) and Osaka is colored purple (middle-right).</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In Kita-ku, I showed him the link:/gallery/2017.01.02 - Arima Onsen Irizomeshiki/#/17[foot bath] and next to the foot bath, kinsen ( 金泉 , きんせん, gold spring) is located. Also called "kin no yu" ( 金 の 湯 , きんのゆ). At Arima Onsen, you can choose between a bath in "golden" water (more like brown, like in the foot bath photo) or "silver" water (more like transparent). We went to the golden spring first.</p></div>
<div class="olist arabic"><ol class="arabic">
<li>
<p>
Take off your shoes as usual. Put your shoes into a shoe locker. Depending on the onsen, you might need a 100 Yen coin. At kinsen you don’t need a coin.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Buy a ticket at the machine (costs at kinsen: 650 Yen).
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Go into the dressing room. Blue indicates the room for men, red indicates the room for women. From now on, men and women are separated.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Put your belongings into the locker. Get naked. In general, you don’t need to take a towel with you. If you take it with you into the bath, you have to balance it on top of your head all the time.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Read the many, funny warnings in front of the bath door. For example, you are not allowed to poop or pee in the bath.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Enter the bath. It will be very steamy.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Go to the shower area. You need to sit down (reason: you don’t splash so much sitting). Wash your whole body. Shampoo and body lotion are provided. Often Japanese fill the bowl with water and pour it over their body. A separate area features two standing showers as I am used to in Austria.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
At kinsen, you can choose between 3 areas. To the right of the entrance, the bath has a temperature of 44°C. The bath in the back has a temperature of 40°C, if I remember correctly. And the bath to the left is the coldest with about 37°C. Children have spent their time there.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Be sure not to overdo it. High temperatures are exhausting for your blood circulation.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Leave the bathing area as you like. Try to dry yourself as good as possible.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Dry yourself with the towels from the locker. Hairdryers are provided.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Dress yourself. Leave the dressing room.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
My Japanese friend told me Japanese usually drink milk afterwards. You can buy raw milk, coffee-flavored milk and fruit-flavored milk at the vending machine (costs: 150 Yen).
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Take your shoes from the shoe locker and leave.
</p>
</li>
</ol></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In the dressing room, I read some Kanji and my friend confirmed my readings. An elderly man pointed me to the English translation, which I saw of course before. I need to point out, that a Japanese people typically looks for Kanji right away, because in their mindset it is the "simple" script. However, as an Austrian, I immediately look for Latin characters as they are "easy" to me. So the characters, attracing our attention, are different ones. Anyhow, the elderly man used the Kanji reading to start a discussion. He asked me for my origin. After correcting Australia to Austria, he introduced himself as someone who visited Innsbruck and he switched to German. He got few inflections of verbs wrong, but his German was very good. He gave me his business card and he is actually a Professor Emeritus from a university in Osaka. What a funny experience.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We left and went to get a cake right in front of kinsen. カフェドボウ (Café De Beau) offered a small Arima cake for 250 Yen. Actually my friend wanted to get some <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramen">ramen</a> first, but he mixed up the restaurants. The second restaurant was 青龍居 . I don’t know how to pronounce the restaurant’s name, but probably something like aotatsui (あおたつい). We ate some ramen (costs: 750 Yen) and my friend ate the meat of my ramen (being a vegetarian in Japan). Our chats ranged from places, where we have been, to our thoughts on Kobe university and our future.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We went for a walk in Kita-ku and not unintentionally, we soon reached ginsen ( 銀泉 , ぎんせん, silver spring). This is also called "gin no yu" ( 銀 の 湯 , ぎんのゆ). The same procedure like above has to be performed with costs of 550 Yen entrance fee and 150 Yen for another milk, I bought. There is only one area and the water has a temperature of about 38°C. This was very comfortable. I prefer fruit-flavored milk over coffee-flavored milk. My friend looked up the next bus to go home. At the station, they told us that the last bus left already (at about 16:30). So we took the train instead (costs: 930 Yen again). I told him about Austrian hot springs, what sports we like and showed him some photos of my past. I waved him goodbye at Kobe-Sannomiya.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>So, what was the experience like?</p></div>
<div class="olist arabic"><ol class="arabic">
<li>
<p>
The temperature is higher than in Austria. Austrian hot spring typically feature 35°C to 38°C as far as I remember. This is also because of a missing outside zone. The entire bath is in one big room (separating men and women by a huge wall). So the heat stays inside and maybe also the water is naturally just hotter than in Austria.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
One room also means the onsen is actually tiny compared to Austrian hot springs. In Austria, I am thinking of <a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogner_Bad_Blumau">Bad Blumau</a> which features areas which are <a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogner_Bad_Blumau#/media/File:Hotel_Therme_Rogner_Bad_Blumau_Nacht.jpg">very huge</a> and many people can be in the bath at the same time. In kinsen, the hot 44°C bath can take up to 8 people. Then it gets crowded.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
The most extraordinary experience, in my opinion, was taking the shower seated. But it is nothing difficult.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
I like the fact that my body got very warm compared to my ever cold room in the residence.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Unlike in Austria, chatting in an onsen bath is generally uncommon. I am not a fan of this. But we chatted with a low voice anyways.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Arima Onsen has many nice snacks available. I knew them from my previous visits and my friend was not interested. So did not consume anything from the booths near the street.
</p>
</li>
</ol></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I liked it. Unlike my Japanese friend, I think 550 Yen is not too much, if you can stay inside (technically) the whole day. But public transport of 1860 Yen in both directions from Kobe is expensive. If you consider it as a short trip after work, bathing in a Japanese onsen is a pleasant experience. If you want to spend a night at an onsen (or ryokan) and relax for a few days, I definitely prefer the Austrian style.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Thanks for being there with me, friend!</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="Arima Onsen river" src="images/arima-onsen-river.jpg" width="500">
</img></span></p></div>
</div>
</div>
Seijin no Hi2017-01-09T18:40:00+09:002017-01-09T18:40:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2017-01-09:blog/seijin-no-hi.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ Seijin no Hi was celebrated on 9th of January 2017 (second Monday of January).</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>"Seijin no Hi" ( 成人 の 日 , せいじんのひ) is translated as "Coming of Age Day" and stands for one of the 16 public holidays in Japan. Wikipedia says:</p></div>
<div class="quoteblock">
<div class="content">
<div class="paragraph"><p>This national holiday was established in 1948 as a day to congratulate and encourage people who have reached the age of maturity (20) during the year. Cities and towns throughout the nation hold ceremonies for these people. Originally held on January 15, in 2000 it was changed to the second Monday of January in accordance with the Happy Monday System.</p></div>
</div>
<div class="attribution">
— https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_holidays_in_Japan
</div></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>On the one hand, on this day young people misbehave and do not respect the law while partying (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UKSz1zwSNw">for example in this traffic situation</a>) and on the other hand, it’s another opportunity to see people in beautiful dresses (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimono">Kimono</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukata">Yukata</a>). I recognized, by hearing the sirenes, that the police was more busy this day than the other days of the week.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Felix raised a good question, I could not answer via chat: Which legal ages associated with maturity are there in Japan? Using data from Wikipedia, I will compare them with Austria:</p></div>
<table class="tableblock frame-all grid-all" style="
width:100%;
">
<caption class="title">Table 1. Comparison of legal ages between Japan and Austria</caption>
<col style="width:33%;">
<col style="width:33%;">
<col style="width:33%;">
<thead>
<tr>
<th class="tableblock halign-left valign-top">Legal age </th>
<th class="tableblock halign-left valign-top">Japan </th>
<th class="tableblock halign-left valign-top">Austria</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock">of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_majority">majority</a></p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock">18</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock">20</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock">of drinking alcohol</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock">20+</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock">mostly 16+, but its 18+ for distilled beverages in 6 federal states</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock">to attain a driver’s license</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock">18+ (though depends on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driving_licence_in_Japan#Categories">the car’s category</a>)</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock">18+ (17 with special training)</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock">of smoking</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock">20+</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock">16+</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock">of marriage</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock">20+ (18 for males and 16 for females with parental consent)</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock">18+ (16 with parental consent but the other partner must be 18+)</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock">to have a (hetero-)sexual relationship (i.e. age of consent)</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock"><a href="https://www.quora.com/Why-is-the-age-of-consent-so-low-in-Japan">13+, 18+ or 20+</a></p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock">13+</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock">for criminal responsibility</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock">14+</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock">14+</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock">for candidancy for a political office</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_candidacy#Japan">25+ or 30+</a></p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock">18+ (general) or 35+ (presidential election)</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock">to leave school (de jure)</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock">15</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock">15</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock">to vote</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock">18 (changed from 20 in 2016)</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock">16</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock">to work</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock"><a href="http://www.jref.com/forum/threads/what-is-the-minimum-age-to-work-in-japan.35252/">13+, 15+</a></p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock"><a href="https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/GeltendeFassung.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=10008632">13+, 15+, 18+</a></p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock">of gun ownership</p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock"><a href="http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/japan">18+</a></p></td>
<td class="tableblock halign-left valign-top"><p class="tableblock"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overview_of_gun_laws_by_nation#Austria">18+</a></p></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</col></col></col></table>
<div class="paragraph"><p>… and as usual, a good article by tofugo covers <a href="https://www.tofugu.com/japan/underage-drinking-in-japan/">Is Underage Drinking and Smoking a Problem In Japan?</a>.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><strong>Remark:</strong> On 31st of March 2017, it was announced that Austria will increase the minimum legal smoking age from 16 to 18.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
Austrian Neujahrskonzert2017-01-04T22:32:00+09:002017-01-04T22:32:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2017-01-04:blog/neujahrskonzert.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses the 1st of January 2017.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>When I was little, my mum used to tell me, that the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_New_Year%27s_Concert">Vienna New Year’s Concert</a> is broadcast to many countries in the world. Indeed,</p></div>
<div class="quoteblock">
<div class="content">
<div class="paragraph"><p>Das Konzert wurde in 93 Ländern der Welt ausgestrahlt</p></div>
</div>
<div class="attribution">
— https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neujahrskonzert_der_Wiener_Philharmoniker_2017
</div></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In English, the quote says "The concert was broadcast in 93 countries worldwide". I don’t like the Neujahrskonzert for its history. I like the Neujahrskonzert, because it is really a highlight in the classical music calendar.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_orf_tvthek">ORF TVthek</h3>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="Austrian Neujahrskonzert in ORF TVThek" src="images/neujahrskonzert-tvthek.png" width="400">
</img></span></p></div>
</div>
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_neujahrskonzert_in_action">Neujahrskonzert in action</h3>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="Neujahrskonzert on channel NHK-E in TV" src="images/neujahrskonzert-tv.jpg" width="400">
</img></span></p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="Neujahrskonzert is reviewed during the break between part 1 and 2" src="images/neujahrskonzert-review.jpg" width="400">
</img></span></p></div>
</div>
Kitano-Chou, Part 22017-01-03T23:59:00+09:002017-01-03T23:59:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2017-01-03:blog/kitano-chou-2.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses the 30th of December 2016.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>The <a href="kitano-chou-1.html">previous trip to Kitano-Chou</a> was nice, but I didn’t get an overview of the houses and certainly there is more to discover. So I had to return. Martina was not motivated, so 2 days later, I was on my own. I started with Kitano-Chou, where I left of last time.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Starting from Sannomiya, I headed to Ikuta Shrine. It was quite a time ago since <a href="kobe-jinjas.html">my last visit</a> and I wanted to see preparations for tomorrow. On New Year’s Eve, a lot of people are expected at Ikuta Shrine. In conclusion, they were busy building up some structures and booths. Plenty of boards got attached to the shrine though I don’t know what they kanji say (I assume they are prayers). A tree was in front of the shrine and ropes connect the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torii">Torii</a> with the tree. On these papers, handwritten wishes can be found.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="Ikuta Shrine Torii with tree in front" src="images/ikuta-shrine-torii.jpg" width="300">
</img></span></p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In front of the Kobe Baptist Church (on the border of Yamamotodori and Kitano-Chou), a cat was sitting on the sidewalk in the sun. I could enjoy petting her for a while. Then I reached the houses.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_irish_house">Irish House</h3>
<div class="paragraph"><p>A little bit unexpected, but the main theme of the Irish House was hunting. Stuffed bears, elks and deers were shown together with hunting equipment. They also collected donations for <a href="luminarie.html">Luminarie</a>.</p></div>
</div>
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_french_house">French House</h3>
<div class="paragraph"><p>The main theme of the French House is dining. The layout of the table, wine and cheese was presented with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqLqlJ114lk">Amélie as background music</a>.</p></div>
</div>
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_denmark_house">Denmark House</h3>
<div class="paragraph"><p>The Denmark House did not have a main theme in my opinion. It rather shows a simple style of living. A piano, a chess board and simple cooking equipment were on display. Of course some clothing is always part of the exhibition.</p></div>
</div>
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_netherlands_house">Netherlands House</h3>
<div class="paragraph"><p>The Netherlands House issued the Vikings. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clog">Clogs</a> were shown in front of the House, but inside it was all about the life of Vikings (clothing, household items, food, house architecture, etc.).</p></div>
</div>
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_former_chinese_consulate">Former Chinese Consulate</h3>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Next, I visited the Former Chinese Consulate. I displayed decorated stone turtles next to the entrance, a Chinese dining table and a bathroom. The bathroom featured a bath tub not connected to a drain, a basin and a wooden construction to cover your body when undressing. It was interesting to recognize that many items were either made of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marble">marble</a> or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porcelain">Porcelain</a>. Vases and images of emperors are also recurring items. A larger vase with a dragon on it can be found in the garden. I like Chinese painting patterns (e.g. tradition style of painting the animals of the Chinese calendar).</p></div>
</div>
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_kitanotenman_shrine">Kitanotenman Shrine</h3>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Kitanotenman Shrine has quite a few of steep steps in front. If you finish them, you reach a platform with a nice view on Kobe (though some trees block the view) and on the next level, the Shrine is placed. I wondered how much space Japanese Shinto Shrines take up in the country. In Austria, it is famously known that the Christian church owns the largest portion of area compared to other single organizations or companies. But I failed to find data for Japanese Shinto Shrines.</p></div>
<div class="quoteblock">
<div class="content">
<div class="paragraph"><p>The number of Shinto shrines in Japan is estimated to be around 100,000. This figure may, or may not, include private shrines in homes and owned by small groups, abandoned or derelict shrines, roadside Hokora. etc.</p></div>
</div>
<div class="attribution">
— https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinto_shrine
</div></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I came to conclusion, that Shinto Shrines require less space than churches, but there are more Shrines in one Japanese city than churches in a European city. I still think that the Shrines' area does not outnumber the area of their European equivalent.</p></div>
</div>
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_weathercock_house">Weathercock House</h3>
<div class="paragraph"><p>The next destination was the Weathercock House. The brick layout on the facade is very distinguishing. Does it belong to a country? No, the Weathercock House is just some distinct architecture some English trader living in Kobe came up with. Inside the main theme is the weathercock and some English items were on display. Nothing particularly interesting, but the souvenirs in the shop inside were more fancy than on other locations (cookies, chopsticks, etc. with the weathercock drawn onto it). It was the only house where the room design and staircases provided as much space as I am used to from European houses. The ceiling was higher and two people could go upstairs/downstairs simultaneously without touching each other.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="The Kitano-Chou Weathercock House with a trumpet player sculpture in front" src="kitano-weathercock-house.jpg" width="400">
</img></span></p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Finally I went to the Moegi House. Outside it looked very nice, but taking a peek inside through the window, it seemed boring inside. I did not care to go in.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In conclusion, I traversed Kitano-Chou from east to west (just to clarify: but the houses are not in a line). The houses are not very interesting for Europeans, but I guess I got a clearer picture how Japanese people image European style. 500 Yen per house would be way too much to me, but for free it was a decent experience. By the way, some streets are very steep. Take care, if you go there with elderly people. In the following, I wanted to find an entrance to a path leading to the Venus bridge.</p></div>
</div>
Kitano-Chou, Part 12017-01-03T23:59:00+09:002017-01-03T23:59:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2017-01-03:blog/kitano-chou-1.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses the 28th of December 2016.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Kitano Chou is a district of Kobe City featuring many houses of foreigners. So individual houses represent the housing traditions of a certain culture. European cultures are represented the most, because the Dutch were the first foreigners arriving at Kobe.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_kitano_street">Kitano Street</h3>
<div class="paragraph"><p>First, we made our way to Kitano Street. This street is often pictured, because several houses at this street can be found in one line and their country’s associated flag hangs outside. It also helped us for orientation, because overview maps are given at several intersections. Martina lost interest. She is not interested in sightseeing that much, was hungry and European houses are especially boring. I tried to convince her to check out the British House and the Austrian house. Then I would be willing to go home.</p></div>
</div>
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_british_house">British House</h3>
<div class="paragraph"><p>The British House features a pub design with many comfortable chairs. Whiskey is represented by a wide range of bottles and the other major theme was Sherlock Holmes. As an adolescent, I was a big fan of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and I recognized the references in the exhibited items. In the garden, they even built a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Underground">tube</a> station, because Great Britain had the first underground railway system in history. An old car was also shown and visitors could dress up in Sherlock Holmes clothing (a brown, checked clothing and cap).</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Visiting every individual house at Kitano-Chou seems to cost 500 Yen. This is ridiculously expensive in my opinion. Every house is simply an exhibition of some items. They also don’t feel necessarily authentic. The houses are tiny as in Japanese tiny. So I had to take care of my head and the staircases (or alike) are very narrow. I guess I need to consider that most visitors are Japanese, but 500 Yen seems awful lot to me. I think a price like 1500 Yen for all houses would be more fair, but I didn’t check the options in detail. Kobe University gave us a Kobe pass, which allowed us to enter these houses without paying anything. In the following I didn’t care to consider it further.</p></div>
</div>
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_austrian_house">Austrian House</h3>
<div class="paragraph"><p>The Austrian House is uphill. Briefly we saw the Weathercock House, which in my opinion is the most interesting house at Kitano-Chou. In front of this building, a juggler and a magician were performing. Martina took photos of me with the saxophone player statue.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>The major theme of the Austrian House is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Amadeus_Mozart">Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart</a>. Whenever someone asks me for famous people from Austria, I think of Mozart first:</p></div>
<div class="quoteblock">
<div class="content">
<div class="paragraph"><p>Me: Osutoria<br>
Jap: Osutoraria?!<br>
Me: Osutoria… Europe<br>
Jap: ?!<br>
Me: No kangaroos<br>
Jap: Ah, no kangaroos<br>
Me: But Mozart<br>
#AustrianInJapan</br></br></br></br></br></br></br></p></div>
</div>
<div class="attribution">
— https://twitter.com/meisterluk/status/797448839313506305
</div></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Often I continue to make references to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Schwarzenegger">Arnold Schwarzenegger</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietrich_Mateschitz">Dietrich Mateschitz (Red Bull)</a>. All three (for the last one: the brand) are well-known in Japan.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Back to the house: The nine federal states are represented with nine flags. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empress_Elisabeth_of_Austria">Sissi</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Joseph_I_of_Austria">Franz</a> are shown. Traditional garment is visible in a glass case and upstairs (accessible through a different building), Mozart has a dedicated room. I should mention images show the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_Boys%27_Choir">Vienna Boys' Choir</a> and bedding traditions are also explained. "Servus" is mentioned as "unique Austrian welcome".</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Afterwards we headed back home to make some food. Overall experience? Kitano-Chou is boring, especially for Martina, and the hike was nice. We need to extend it next time.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>You want to know one funny thing about my Kitano experience?
In my last Kanji class I was sitting for 3 minutes just thinking about which Kanji is associated to houses. The answer is <a href="http://jisho.org/search/%E5%AE%B6%20%23kanji"> 家 </a>, but I could not come up with it. Being in Kitano-Chou, famous for its foreign houses, guess which Kanji I could find all over the place 😉</p></div>
</div>
Christmas Eve2017-01-03T22:50:00+09:002017-01-03T22:50:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2017-01-03:blog/christmas.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses the 24th of December 2016.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In Austria, Christmas Eve (the 24th of December 2016) is the day, when family gathers together, they join in some activity together and finally exchange and open gifts. Our family met during the day, ate in the afternoon/evening and discussed issues. At night, we went upstairs to the christmas tree and opened the gifts found under the tree. Singing or playing instrument might be part of the ceremony in front of the christmas tree. In the morning or the days afterwards, grandparents are visited and cookies are an integral part in order to have some snacks while chatting. Though most of our family members are without religious denomination, we celebrate the same tradition most Austrian families do.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>The first thing, I learned in Japan, is that in the international Christian community mostly opens Christmas presents on 25th. So one Christian was confused when I offered him to study verbs with me on 25th.</p></div>
<div class="quoteblock">
<div class="content">
<div class="paragraph"><p>In most parts of Austria, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Switzerland, presents are traditionally exchanged on the evening of 24 December. Children are commonly told that presents were brought either by the Christkind (German for Christ child), or by the Weihnachtsmann. Both leave the gifts, but are in most families not seen doing so. In Germany, the gifts are also brought on 6 December by "the Nikolaus" with his helper Knecht Ruprecht.</p></div>
</div>
<div class="attribution">
— https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_Eve
</div></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We did not have any special plans for Christmas. On the one hand, we attended the <a href="kokui-christmas-party.html">christmas party at Kokui residence</a> and on the other hand, being in Japan as an atheist means I am more interested in understanding Shinto culture than Austrian traditions. Martina talked to Shoko about our missing plans and Shoko spontaneously asked us on Tuesday before to come to the restaurant, she is working part-time at.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>The restaurant is located close to Rokko-michi station. So in some way close to university, but much closer to the sea. The name is 翔龍 (しょうりゅう, shoryuu) and focuses on Chinese dishes. Shoko was serving us in German and her boss was cooking for us. I got some spicy, thick soup with thin noodles. Martina got vegetables on top of a pile of thin noodles. We were told both dishes are Chinese and also our dessert, almond jelly in a honey sauce, follows Chinese traditions.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Afterwards we got home again. The gallery shows some photos of a bakery on our way home. But we didn’t buy anything. Dewin played Shogi with me at the residence. So for me, it was the first time of my life. By the way, American <a href="https://www.hersheys.com/reeses/en_us/home.html">Reese’s</a> (brand name for peanut butter cups) are very good.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>It was a nice evening and if the servant speaks German or English, it is so much easier to find a vegetable dish. My dish was very saturating. Nice!</p></div>
</div>
</div>
Aikido Trained the Austrian and Japanese Way2016-11-27T23:45:00+09:002016-11-27T23:45:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-11-27:blog/aikido-training.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This text was a recent submission by Lukas in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essay">essay</a>-writing for our class "Academic Writing". Lukas is not attending this class any more.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Aikido is a traditional martial art developed by Morihei Ueshiba in Japan. It employs a defensive approach using the attacker’s energy against himself. The techniques typically terminate with a throw or a joint lock. Today, Aikido is practiced in many parts of the world including Austria and Japan. Let’s take a closer look at the apparent differences in the training styles between the two countries.</p></div>
<div class="olist arabic"><ol class="arabic">
<li>
<p>
First of all, training in Austria is done with less structure. People greet each other when entering the Dojo and warm up together. They also offer to work together formally. But in Japan those greetings and wishes are expressed more often. Specifically before every individual attack, people express their gratefulness. The greetings and wishes shared is generally much larger.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Secondly, Austrian teachers use their sense of humor to express their thoughts. They like to share a good laugh in class while proceeding with their explanations. They try to establish a focused, but happy, atmosphere. In contrast in Japan, Ukes and Toris show little feelings and focus on Sensei’s opinion. The Sensei strictly sticks to a formal style, where the explanation is given after demonstrating the technique twice. No audience interaction is intended. Therefore the training seems more robotic, but people also stay focused on the techniques practiced.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Finally, the differences are also visible in clothing. In Austria, people wear casual clothing if the Gi (Aikido clothing) is currently not available. People train in T-shirts transforming the group into a less uniform one. Additionally, The Hakama is a black trouser worn by advanced Aikidokas. They protect the knees better, but especially acts as a symbol for the advanced status of the practitioner. In Austria, Hakama are worn beginning with the 5-th Kyu. Japanese practitioners need to fight hard for their right to wear a Hakama. They are allowed to wear it beginning with the first Dan.
</p>
</li>
</ol></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In conclusion, differences in Austrian and Japanese training styles are apparent in the training structure, the use of humor and also clothing.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
Volleyball training in Japan and Austria2016-11-23T22:09:00+09:002016-11-23T22:09:00+09:00Martinatag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-11-23:blog/volleyball-training.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This text was a recent submission by Martina in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essay">essay</a>-writing for our class "Academic Writing".</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>There are three major differences between Volleyball training in Japan and Austria.</p></div>
<div class="olist arabic"><ol class="arabic">
<li>
<p>
First, in Japan more time is invested into training. For instance, Japanese club members meet four times per week to practice, while in Austria they only meet two to three times. Furthermore, in Japan each training session takes three hours, whereas in Austria it only lasts for two hours.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Second, due to cultural customs the attitude towards training differs. For example, in Japan all club members try to participate in every practice session. Even if the are sick or hurt, they come and support the other members’ exercise. In contrast, in Austria members might skip their training when they are busy with work or studying. Additionally, in Japan teammates sometimes come late because they have classes they cannot skip. Still, they undoubtedly show up and join the practice. Whereas in Austria, if a member cannot manage to arrive at the practice starting time, they most likely skip the whole practice.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Lastly, the goals of practice in both countries contrast. While in Japan, the target is to hit the ball as hard as you can, in Austria the focus is on tactical play. Austrian exercises vary from session to session to achieve as many possible attack styles as possible. Furthermore, in Japan due to a fixed training schedule, where everybody does the same exercises, players practice the basics of all field positions. On the other hand, the training for Austrian players focuses mainly on improving their individual strength in their assigned position.
</p>
</li>
</ol></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>To sum up, Volleyball practice in Japan and Austria differs in training schedule, motivation for participation, and the objective of the training.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
Course registration2016-10-29T22:50:00+09:002016-10-29T22:50:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-10-29:blog/course-registration.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses the 17th of October 2016 and before. I am a mathematics student (Faculty of Science) at Kobe University.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>A university teaches students by holding courses. Because a university focuses on specialization, students have different <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_(academic)">majors</a> and choose their field of interest. For the university, it is important how many students attend a certain course, so they can allocate resources accordingly. This is the abstract view on course registration. And these processes differ between University (of Technology) Graz and Kobe University.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sect1">
<h2 id="_university_of_technology_graz">University (of Technology), Graz</h2>
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>At University of Technology, the same procedures apply as for "University of Graz". They share the same information system software.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>You get registered as a student at the respective university and followingly get a PIN to register in TUGrazOnline or UniGrazOnline. This information system allows you to check your curriculum/syllabus, search for courses and register for exams. As such the important tasks related to the course is represented in a digital form. At the beginning of the semester, you look the curriculum/syllabus of your studies. Specially you look at your respective semester to determine which courses you are suggested to take. You can check all dates for the course and if you think it fits your schedule, you register. To register for a course, you click on "Course registration", select your studies and confirm it. Then you are done. Be aware that most courses have a specific time frame within course registration is possible. If there are 3 assignments in some practicals, you cannot join right before the third assignment is due. Hence, you should check which courses you want to register and apply for them.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sect1">
<h2 id="_kobe_university">Kobe University</h2>
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>At Kobe University, you are registered at a specific faculty and therefore the faculty is responsible for registering you.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>At the beginning of the semester, you have roughly 2 weeks at university to try out courses; at least on my faculty it was 2 weeks. One week is suggested as soft deadline on the Faculty of Intercultural Studies with a hard deadline after 2 weeks. The 2 weeks help you a lot if you just arrived as exchange student and had only little opportunity to attend classes in the first week. You might be busy with setting up Health insurance, residence registration or alike. Also professor’s might be still absent for a conference and classes might be cancelled for one time. All of this was true for me.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>To the best of my knowledge, <a href="https://beef.center.kobe-u.ac.jp/login/index.php">BEEF</a> is used as an e-learning system to share teacher’s documents with students. <a href="http://www.office.kobe-u.ac.jp/stdnt-kymsys/student/student.html">URIBO-NET</a>, on the other hand, is actually used for course registration. You can register for a selection of courses. At this point in time, I cannot state how many courses you can actually register. First, because the majority of the content is available only in Japanese, I can only read parts of it. You can also see on the website how much content is embedded in images, making it impossible to copy and paste it into a dictionary. Secondly, the search interface (to actually find the courses) is incredible inconvenient. You can compare this with <a href="https://kym-syllabus.ofc.kobe-u.ac.jp/campussy">Syllabus</a>, where searching is very difficult.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Let us make a small test: Assume we want to find the course "Elementary Japanese Listening and Speaking", I am attending this semester.</p></div>
<div class="olist arabic"><ol class="arabic">
<li>
<p>
Click "display English" in the <a href="https://kym-syllabus.ofc.kobe-u.ac.jp/campussy">Syllabus</a>.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Click "Search (Keyword etc.)"
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Enter "Elementary Japanese Listening and Speaking" as "Course title"
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
I won’t tell you the Department, instructor or timetable code as you won’t know them by the first time you hear of this course. Leave them blank.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
At the beginning, I was not sure, but now I can confirm that leaving all possible semesters, days and periods is fine. First, I thought I didn’t get any results, because I didn’t tick those 20 checkboxes. Leave them unticked.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Click "Search".
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
"No data found of your condition class. Please change search condition" will appear in red font.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Remove "and", hence enter "Elementary Japanese Listening Speaking" as course title.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
A set of courses such as "Elementary Japanese Listening and Speaking B" will be found.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Recognize that "Elementary Japanese Listening and Speaking" is as close as "Elementary Japanese Listening Speaking" to "Elementary Japanese Listening and Speaking B".
</p>
</li>
</ol></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In the end, I filled out a sheet of paper with all my courses listed per period. I submitted the form on the day of the deadline (Monday, 17th of October 2016) and the office lady was busy the following days to register me for my courses. I need to point out I was already registered for my bachelor thesis course.</p></div>
</div>
</div>