Lukas and Martina in Japan//japan.lukas-prokop.at/blog/2017-07-03T17:54:00+09:00Quote from Der Standard2017-07-03T17:54:00+09:002017-07-03T17:54:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2017-07-03:blog/quote-from-der-standard.html<div id="preamble">
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<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses an article by <a href="http://derstandard.at/">Der Standard</a>, an Austrian newspaper, from January 2017.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In January 2017, <a href="http://derstandard.at/">Der Standard</a> published a booklet "Reif für die Inseln" (engl. "Ready for the island"). I will do my best to translate the German text to English and want to reflect on one interview specifically. This interview was given by Megumi Ito moderated by Michael Hausenblas and is also accessible online on <a href="http://derstandard.at/2000050556557/Megumi-Ito-Japaner-sind-sensibler">derstandard.at</a>:</p></div>
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<div class="paragraph"><p>Was können Österreicher von Japanern lernen? Warum begegnen Japaner Alltagsobjekten mit mehr Wertschätzung?</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Was können Österreicher von Japanern lernen? Warum begegnen Japaner Alltagsobjekten mit mehr Wertschätzung? Wie anstrengend ist die japanische Höflichkeit? Dies und noch mehr fragten wir die Designerin Megumi Ito, die seit 25 Jahren in Wien lebt, anlässlich eines Japanschwerpunktes im RONDO.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><strong>STANDARD:</strong> Wenn Ihre letzte Mahlzeit, also sozusagen Ihre Henkersmahlzeit, eine japanische sein sollte – was würden Sie bestellen?<br>
<strong>Megumi Ito:</strong> Eine schön geformte Schale, gefüllt mit Reis und Umeboshi, das sind in Salz eingelegte Früchte ähnlich der Pflaume, dazu grünen Tee und schwarzen Pfeffer.<br>
<strong>STANDARD:</strong> Und wenn das letzte Mahl eine österreichische Speise sein sollte?<br>
<strong>Ito:</strong> Gansl mit Rotkraut, Kartoffeln, Preiselbeeren und irgendein Dessert mit Mohn – auch wunderbar.<br>
<strong>STANDARD:</strong> Wie ehrlich ist die berühmte japanische Höflichkeit?<br>
<strong>Ito:</strong> Meistens ist sie ehrlich, sie ist aber auch anstrengend. Es gibt im Japanischen verschiedene Arten, Wiederholungen und Stufen der Höflichkeit zwischen Begrüßung, Konversation und Verabschiedung. Das ist in Österreich viel unkomplizierter. Hier sagt man, "Danke und auf Wiedersehen", das war’s. Wir sind sensibler.<br>
<strong>STANDARD:</strong> Woher stammt diese Höflichkeit?<br>
<strong>Ito:</strong> Ich glaube, das hat mit der hohen Bevölkerungsdichte zu tun. Menschen haben durch sie gelernt, sensibler und höflicher zu sein, Takt zu entwickeln. Es hat auch mit Religion zu tun, mit dem Shintoismus.<br>
<strong>STANDARD:</strong> Die katholische Kirche ist also unsensibler und härter als der Shintoismus?<br>
<strong>Ito:</strong> Nicht härter, anders. Wir haben unglaublich viele Götter, vergöttern die Natur. Es gibt Götter an jeder Ecke: die Luft, das Wasser, die Erde. Deshalb müssen wir im Alltag besser aufpassen. Und was dazukommt: Wir müssen nicht einen Gott mit vielen teilen. Das macht uns ebenfalls sensibler.<br>
<strong>STANDARD:</strong> Was fehlt Ihnen am meisten an Japan?<br>
<strong>Ito:</strong> Viele regionale und saisonale Arten von Gemüse, Obst und Pilzen. Vor allem gehen mir die vielen Bittergemüse ab. Hierzulande ist der Spargel schon ein Highlight. Und natürlich vermisse ich auch die warme, offene Art der Menschen.<br>
<strong>STANDARD:</strong> Was vermissen Sie am wenigsten?<br>
<strong>Ito:</strong> Die Hektik, den Umstand, dass sich die Leute wenig Zeit nehmen. In Japan wird man ständig mit Informationen bombardiert. Das beginnt schon mit den Schildern auf der Straße. Die Supermärkte sind rund um die Uhr geöffnet. Man kommt einfach nicht zur Ruhe.<br>
<strong>STANDARD:</strong> Das heißt, an Österreich schätzen Sie, dass es gemütlicher zugeht?<br>
<strong>Ito:</strong> Ja, ich mag die Gelassenheit, die Großzügigkeit und die Flexibilität. Ich denke, das liegt an der Geschichte des Landes.<br>
<strong>STANDARD:</strong> Das müssen Sie jetzt aber bitte erklären.<br>
<strong>Ito:</strong> Es liegt daran, dass Österreich einst so ein unglaublich großes und mächtiges Land war. Da ist noch immer ein Stück weit diese K.-u.-k.-Mentalität zu spüren. Durch sie lehnen sich die Menschen weiter zurück als andere.<br>
<strong>STANDARD:</strong> Was geht Ihnen hierzulande auf die Nerven?<br>
<strong>Ito:</strong> Die unsensible Art, mit Gegenständen umzugehen. Ein Beispiel: Wir stellen eine Tasse Tee behutsam mit zwei Händen auf den Tisch. Der Österreicher knallt sie wie einen Bierkrug auf den Tisch, um es etwas übertrieben auszudrücken. Das hat mich schon in meiner Anfangszeit hier sehr verwundert. Wir haben mehr Respekt gegenüber Objekten.<br>
<strong>STANDARD:</strong> Auch Verpackung hat in Japan einen viel höheren Stellenwert als in Europa. Warum?<br>
<strong>Ito:</strong> Wir haben eine sehr alte Papierkultur. Auch wenn wir nur eine winzige Kleinigkeit verschenken, verpacken wir sie liebevoll, und seien es nur ein paar Karotten aus dem Garten, die wir dem Nachbarn rüberbringen. Es handelt sich um eine Wertschätzung gegenüber dem Beschenkten, aber auch gegenüber dem Objekt.<br>
<strong>STANDARD:</strong> Was kann ein Japaner von einem Österreicher lernen?<br>
<strong>Ito:</strong> Individualität, Flexibilität und schnelle Entscheidungen zu treffen. Wir sind oft viel zu umsichtig. Weiters nützen die Österreicher ihre Freizeit besser. Viele gehen um 17.00 Uhr aus dem Büro, treiben Sport oder sitzen einfach am Wasser. Die Japaner sind den ganzen Sonntag müde von den Anstrengungen der Woche. Viele Japaner arbeiten von acht oder neun Uhr morgens bis neun oder zehn am Abend.<br>
<strong>STANDARD:</strong> Was kann sich ein Österreicher von einem Japaner abschauen?<br>
<strong>Ito:</strong> Sensibilität, Genauigkeit, Esskultur und natürliche Heilungsmethoden, mit denen wir schon im Kindesalter umzugehen lernen. Ferner kann er sich abschauen, weniger Zucker zu konsumieren und sich massieren zu lassen. Ach, und noch etwas: ein Bad zu nehmen, bevor man ins Bett geht.<br>
<strong>STANDARD:</strong> Sie leben in der Wiener Innenstadt, wo es viele japanische Touristen gibt. Was denken Sie sich, wenn Sie an einem solchen Schwarm vorbeikommen?<br>
<strong>Ito:</strong> Ich genieße es, schleiche mich an, lausche und freu mich, weil ich alles verstehen kann und heraushöre, woher sie stammen.<br>
<strong>STANDARD:</strong> Sie haben in Wien seinerzeit begonnen, Lampenschirme aus <a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimono">Kimonostoffen</a> zu designen. Wie haben Ihre Landsleute auf diese Arbeiten reagiert? Ist das nicht ehrenrührig?<br>
<strong>Ito:</strong>* Gar nicht. Ein Kimono besteht aus einem Teil Stoff und wird nicht aus verschiedenen zusammengenäht. Wenn ein Kimono nicht mehr als solcher verwendet wird, macht man verschiedene Dinge daraus: Untersetzer, Tischtücher etc. Das ist in Japan eine Form der Nachhaltigkeit, die es schon sehr lang gibt.<br>
<strong>STANDARD:</strong> Sie sind vor allem für Ihre Lichtobjekte bekannt. Japan wird auch "Land der aufgehenden Sonne genannt". Haben Ihre Landsleute ein anderes Verhältnis zum Licht?<br>
<strong>Ito:</strong> Ja, ich habe das Gefühl, dass wir das Licht der Dämmerung mehr genießen, als dies Europäer tun. Die Lichtfarben dieser Stunden haben es uns angetan, und wir sehen sie als Belohnung für den Stress des Alltags. Es gibt in Japan keine Sommerzeitumstellung, also weniger Abendlicht.<br>
<strong>STANDARD:</strong> Möchten Sie in Wien bleiben oder eines Tages wieder nach Japan zurückkehren?<br>
<strong>Ito:</strong> Ich würde gern noch eine Zeitlang in Paris leben. Nach Japan gehe ich dann im Alter zurück.<br>
<strong>STANDARD:</strong> Soll Ihr letztes Stündlein also in Japan schlagen?<br>
<strong>Ito:</strong> Ja, im wunderschönen <a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamakura">Kamakura</a>, woher ich stamme. Dort gibt es viele Tempel und Schreine – und das Meer.<br>
(Michael Hausenblas, RONDO, 28.1.2017)</br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></p></div>
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<div class="paragraph"><p>And here comes the English translation:</p></div>
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<div class="paragraph"><p>What can Austrians learn from Japanese people? Why do Japanese people interact more carefully with daily objects?</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>What can Austrians learn from Japanese people? Why do Japanese people interact more carefully with daily objects? How cumbersome is Japanese politeness? We asked these and other questions designer Megumi Ito, living in Vienna for 25 years, on the occasion of the Japan focus of this Japan booklet.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><strong>STANDARD:</strong> If your last meal is a Japanese one - what would you order?<br>
<strong>Megumi Ito:</strong> A beautifully shaped bowl, filled with rice and umeboshi, these are fruits similar to plums pickled in salt, accompanied by green tea and black pepper.<br>
<strong>STANDARD:</strong> And if your last meal is an Austrian one?<br>
<strong>Ito:</strong> Goose with red cabbage, potatoes, cranberry and some dessert with poppy seed - wonderful as well.<br>
<strong>STANDARD:</strong> How honest is the famous Japanese politeness?<br>
<strong>Ito:</strong> Mostly, it is honest, but it is also cumbersome. In Japanese, there are various forms, repetitions and levels of politeness between greeting, conversation and goodbye. This is much easier in Austria. Here, people say "Thanks and bye", that’s it. We are more sensitive.<br>
<strong>STANDARD:</strong> Where does this politeness come from?<br>
<strong>Ito:</strong> I think this is related to the high population density. This way people have learnt to be more sensitive and polite; be aligned with other people’s life. But it is also related to religion; shintoism.<br>
<strong>STANDARD:</strong> Therefore the Catholic church is more insensitive and strict than Shintoism?<br>
<strong>Ito:</strong> Not more strict, but different. We have so many gods, we idolize the nature. There are gods on every corner: the air, the water, the soil. That’s why we need to take better care in our daily lives. And additionally: We don’t have to share one god with many. This also makes us more sensitive.<br>
<strong>STANDARD:</strong> Do you miss most about Japan?<br>
<strong>Ito:</strong> Many regional and seasonal kinds of vegetables, fruits and mushrooms. Especially the many kinds of bitter vegetables. In this area, asparagus is already a highlight. And of course, I miss the warm, open personality of the people.<br>
<strong>STANDARD:</strong> What do you miss the least?<br>
<strong>Ito:</strong> Well, I like the calmness, the courtesy and the flexibility. I think, that is based on the history of the country.<br>
<strong>STANDARD:</strong> Please elaborate.<br>
<strong>Ito:</strong> It originates in the fact, that Austria used to be an incredible large and powerful country. You can still feel a little bit of the k.u.k. mentality. By this, people tend to relax more than others.<br>
<strong>STANDARD:</strong> What annoys you in this country?<br>
<strong>Ito:</strong> The insensitive style to interact with objects. One example: We put a cup of tea carefully on the table with two hands. The Austrian smashes it to the table like a beer mug; to exaggerate a little bit. This irritated me since the very beginning of my time in Austria. We have more respect for objects.<br>
<strong>STANDARD:</strong> Also packaging has much more value in Japan than in Europe. Why?<br>
<strong>Ito:</strong> We have a very old paper culture. Even if we gift tiny things, we package them affectionately. Even if they are just some carrots we gift to our neighbor. It is some kind of appreciation of the gifted, but also of the gift itself.<br>
<strong>STANDARD:</strong> What can a Japanese person learn from an Austrian?<br>
<strong>Ito:</strong> Individuality, flexibility and making decisions fast. We sometimes look into too many directions. Austrians also use their leisure time better. Many leave the office at 17:00, do sports or just sit next to rivers and lakes. The Japanese people are tired the whole sunday from the endeavors of the week. Many Japanese work from eight or nine o’clock in the morning until nine or ten at night.<br>
<strong>STANDARD:</strong> What can Austrian learn from a Japanese?<br>
<strong>Ito:</strong> Sensibility, precision, eating habits and natural health techniques, which Japanese learn beginning from childhood. Furthermore, they can learn to eat less sugar and take a massage. And another thing: Taking a bath, before they go to bed.<br>
<strong>STANDARD:</strong> You live in Vienna’s downtown, where many Japanese tourists come across. What do you think when you see such a group?<br>
<strong>Ito:</strong> I enjoy it, I sneak up, listen and enjoy, that I can understand everything and can recognize where they come from.<br>
<strong>STANDARD:</strong> Back then, you began to design lamp shades made of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimono">kimono</a> fabrics. How did your country’s people react? It this scurrilous?<br>
<strong>Ito:</strong> Not at all. A kimono is made of a single sheet of fabrics and is not stoated. If a kimono is not usable such as anymore, various things can be made out of it: trivets, tablecloth etc. This is some kind of sustainability in Japan, which exists for a very long time.<br>
<strong>STANDARD:</strong> You are especially famous for your light objects. Japan is also known as the "country of the rising sun". Do you country’s people have a different relationship to light?<br>
<strong>Ito:</strong> Yes, I feel like we enjoy the dusk more than Europeans. We love the light colors of these hours and consider it as a reward for the day’s hard work. In Japan, we don’t have Daylight Saving Times and therefore less light in the evenings.<br>
<strong>STANDARD:</strong> Do you want to stay in Vienna or do you want to, some day, return to Japan?<br>
<strong>Ito:</strong> I would like to live some time in Paris. When I get old, I want to return to Japan.<br>
<strong>STANDARD:</strong> So you want to spend your final hours in Japan?<br>
<strong>Ito:</strong> Yes, in beautiful <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamakura">Kamakura</a>, where I come from. There are many temples and shrines - and the sea.<br>
(Michael Hausenblas, RONDO, 28.1.2017)</br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></br></p></div>
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<div class="paragraph"><p>I want to point it out, because it was an intriguing interview for me. I recognized some of the patterns she mentioned. And she made several points, I began to pay attention to to make up my own mind. So I want to reflect on them now.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>The discussion regarding "honest politeness" is, in my opinion, ambiguous. What does honest mean? Are Austrians honest, because they smash tea like beer mugs and show that they don’t care about it? Are American waiters honest, because they truely want to raise their tip they rely on? Japanese people are raised with a very distinctive sense of politeness from a young age. They try hard to treat you nicely. If they don’t feel like they want to be nice to you, they will still use the corresponding politeness levels in their language and actions, because they are used to the paradigms and conventions. Maybe this is what some people call dishonest, but the same holds for an Austrian waiter. They will still treat you with the same procedures like other guests even though their partner just texted them that they will break up with them (to mention some situation of emotional distress). So in my opinion, the discussion is about routines and procedures. And not so much about conventions and culture. You would determine honesty much better in uncommon situations where no routine is given.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I got a strong opinion towards politeness. Japanese politeness in the language is incredibly crazy. I don’t enjoy German’s distinction between "du" (casual) and "Sie" (polite), but Japanese takes it to a whole new level. As a customer, they will use some different verbs for you to raise your status (called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honorific_speech_in_Japanese">Keigo</a>). This makes it awkwardly difficult to understand them if you already know some basic Japanese. This actually excludes certain groups from interacting. I claim that this situation is much more impolite than the significance of politeness words. Therefore <em>I generally only consider politeness on a level of actions, not on a linguistical level</em>. Don’t forget that linguistic politeness can be culturally misunderstood. You might consider it as a polite expression, whereas people with a different cultural background will see it as offense.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In terms of warm and open personality, I was kind of curious. I think both cultures are warm and open in some way. We have certain ways to express affections, but these are very different from Japanese ones. For example, for Japanese people it is always strange, if I kiss my girlfriend in public. However, as a European, I think it is strange, if someone falls asleep on the train and puts his head on his neighbor’s shoulder. That is very intimate for us. So I think there is a big cultural difference, but Japanese as well as Austrians can be warm and open-minded. I totally enjoyed this part about my time in Japan.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Austrians are certainly more flexible and calm. If a new situation occurs, Austrians come to new conclusions very fast and try to make suggestions whereas Japanese people still think about the politeness form to pick in this situation (sorry, I had to make this exaggeration here). Austrians avoid to make too much noise in public places and no loudspeaker sounds tune through the residential blocks. There are many places where you can enjoy the sounds of the nature in Austria. In Japan, this situation is often accompanied by advertisments and notifications.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I consider the environmental issues related to Japanese packaging approach as a serious threat to the environment. Japanese people use so much plastics and I don’t see any kind of improvement. Austrian people are much more aware of possible consequences in this regards. I think the European Union helped a lot to raise awareness and establish certain protocols.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Leisure time and work time is certainly different. This interview actually hides the actual causes of issues. Yes, Austrians work less and enjoy more leisure time. For Japanese people, it is the opposite. But what are causes? Can we simply ask Japanese people to take more holidays?<br>
The difference is: Austrians don’t like their work very much. They don’t identify themselves with the work, they do. They try to avoid it and get it done quickly. At least, this is something I perceived. Japanese people in general like their work, but they have hundreds of conventions making business environments a difficult place to survive. For example, one awkward behavior is that we go together towards the appointment and the Japanese people start to run the last few meters, when seniors can see us. Why? Because they want to make seniors to feel like they have been running all the time and putting some effort into coming quickly to the place. These sort of things illustrate how different they perceive time and work. Austrians are masters in quickly sitting down, relaxing during a chat and proceeding with work. They are good at relaxing and are therefore not so tired so often.</br></p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>On the other hand, this hard-working attitude leads to dedication and precision. Japanese people want to submit perfect work, before they finish. For Austrians, an economical consideration is always implied and action stops, when it becomes to cumbersome. So Austrians work more efficient, but Japanese people often master precision and detail.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Yes, there are a lot of differences and I think you can master them, if you really care about it. But Japanese culture is more different from other cultures, than any other one, I think.</p></div>
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Visiting the Kobe University Medical Center2017-06-08T20:30:00+09:002017-06-08T20:30:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2017-06-08:blog/kobe-university-medical-center.html<div id="preamble">
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<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses an event from Thursday, the 8th of June 2017.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Unlike Austria, universities in Japan have a medical center on their own. If you are a student of the university and feel sick in any way, you have to go to the medical center. Also as a resident of the dormitory administered by the university, if you feel sick, you have to contact the universities' medical center.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Since the training camp in May 2017, my knee hurts. However, I decided against going there and preferred to rest my leg as good as possible. Right now, it hurts only little and on Saturday, I will try doing Aikidō again. After my first exam this week (Japanese composition on Tuesday), my throat began to hurt. Today the rainy season began and people are turning on and off the air conditioner often, because the high humidity makes you feel sweaty and at the same time, the air is actually cold. So people have a different opinion on the perceived temperature. Anyhow, during the exam the air conditioner blew extraordinarily hot air and I was the last student finishing. So my throat got dry and ever since that, my throat hurts a little. I think this is actually just a consequence of a recent lack of sleep. In average, I sleep about 5-6 hours per day, which is below my Austrian average of little less than 8 hours.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I decided to go to the doctor. On the one hand, I was a little concerned, because the throat only hurts on the left side (to my knowledge, this is uncommon) and on the other hand, to get an idea how the Medical Center works. You have to enter at the north entrance, unlike the west entrance we used for the <a href="last-oct-week.html">yearly Medical Checkup</a>. After entering, you push the button to get a ticket just like in an Austrian or Japanese governmental building. A staff member immediately responded and asked me for the matter. I replied with "My throat hurts". She gave me a surgical mask and a clinical thermometer. She asked me for my student card, which she returned very soon. After one minute, 37.1 degrees have been measured. It seemed very professional.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I was asked into a small room. The doctor was sitting in front of the computer and asked me to sit down. After conveying that I prefer English over Japanese, he continued in English. I told him the symptoms and he took a close-up look at my throat. He pointed out that it was red inside and I have a "common cold". "I will give you some drugs. Please wait outside". So apparently that was it and I went back into the waiting area. I got some pills and they informed me about the pill’s schedule. Goodbye.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Overall it took less than 20 minutes and I was wondering about the performance. The beginning was really fine, but the doctor potentially came to premature conclusions. I was not even asked about allergies or other medicines I take. I think these are compulsory questions before prescribing some pills.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>The Japanese health care system is considered stable, but a little bit out-dated according to <a href="http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/02/19/national/japans-buckling-health-care-system-crossroads/">japantimes</a>. It’s main advantage is that the vast majority of people in Japan are covered by health just like in Austria. One well-known difference between Japan and Western countries (Europe and especially the US) is that foreign prescribed medicine is typically much stronger than Japan’s. So painkillers, for example, are weak and the American continued to suffer from toothache after taking the drug. On the other hand, one foreigner with mental health issues was put on extremely heavy drugs to control his anxieties at night. He said he felt like he was drunk all the time and recognizably, he moved much slower. Every movements of his was exhausting to perform for him. I will leave it to the reader to judge on this, but I think the treatment of mental health issues is very different in Japan and other countries.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Coming to a conclusion: The infrastructure is professional, but the medical attention comes very short. From just one encounter, I cannot draw any further conclusions. For students, it is of course convenient to go to universities' Medical Center. Regarding Austrian students, you need to go to the hospital by public transport or if it is not possible, you can call the ambulance.</p></div>
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Sightseeing in Kobe2017-05-31T23:25:00+09:002017-05-31T23:25:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2017-05-31:blog/sightseeing-in-kobe.html<div id="preamble">
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<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article sums up my favorite sightseeing spots of Kobe after living there for 7 months now..</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>As <a href="a-long-time-passed-by.html">pointed out</a>, my dad and brother came to Kobe and I showed them around. So which places did we visit?</p></div>
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3日30月
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Between <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sannomiya">Kobe-Sannomiya</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikuta_Shrine">Ikuta Shrine</a>, the downtown is located. We checked out the downtown and also Ikuta Shrine. We visited <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyu_Hands">Tokyu Hands</a> (a department store) to buy a handkerchief. In Japanese toilets, you often won’t find any devices to dry your hands. Japanese people carry a small towel to dry their hands and sweat with them.
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3月31日
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<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akashi,_Hy%C5%8Dgo">Akashi</a> is to the west of Kobe and outside the city. The castle is a nice site, but you should probably only visit it for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanami">Hanami</a>. At this particular date, we have been too early by about 4-7 days. Back in Kobe, my relatives and Martina ate <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobe_beef">Kobe beef</a>, the beef Kobe is famous for. Afterwards, we went southwards to Higashiyuennti, the East park next to Kobe City Hall. We went along the Port to reach the Port of Kobe Earthquake Memorial Park. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meriken_Park">Meriken Park</a> is a nice place to visit and relax. For 700 Yen, we took the elevator to the seventh (IIRC) floor to get a nice overview at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobe_Port_Tower">Kobe Port Town</a>. The money is worth it, if the weather is not too bad (which was not in our case). The nearby MOSAIC mall is a night-life amusement zone, but we didn’t visit it. We continued to the North. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobe_Chinatown">Chinatown, also Nankinmachi,</a> is located south of Motomachi station. This place is definitely worth a visit. You will see a lot of Chinese motives and designs. However, Kobe beef is advertised at every corner. Afterwards, we went back towards Kobe-Sannomiya and finished our day.
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4月1日
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<dd>
<p>
In the morning, we went from Kobe-Sannomiya to Shin-Kobe (you can also take the subway). We took the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shin-Kobe_Ropeway">Shin-Kobe Ropeway</a> to reach the top station and we went down the mountain to the middle station crossing the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nunobiki_Herb_Garden">Nunobiki Herb Gardens</a>. By the way, the ropeway was built by the Austrian-Swiss <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doppelmayr_Garaventa_Group">Doppelmayr company</a>. It was the perfect time to visit the place, because all flowers were blooming and it was a delight to take pictures in this sunny setting. At the top station, you can do some herb shopping (I bought Rokko beer and wine) and smell different scents from small bottles. It is also the starting point for a hike to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Maya">Mount Maya</a>. In the Herb Gardens, a herb cafe is located. To stopped there, got an all-you-can-drink ticket for herb tea and my brother and dad ate a snack. Using the ropeway, we got back from the Middle station to Shin-Kobe and went by foot to the west. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitano-ch%C5%8D">Kitano-Cho</a> is in my opinion not really interesting for us Europeans, but admittedly the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitano-ch%C5%8D#/media/File:Kobe_kitano_thomas_house07_2816.jpg">Weather Cockhouse</a> is nice to look at. Further to the west, we climed up to the Suwayama Park and reached Venus bridge. This is a wonderful sightseeing spot to see across Kobe. Afterwards, we briefly visited the Kobe Masjid Mosque and returned to Kobe-Sannomiya.
</p>
</dd>
<dt class="hdlist1">
4月2日
</dt>
<dd>
<p>
This day was actually about Osaka. My dad visited Osaka in his youth (back in 1974) and was interested in some spots. To keep it short: We visited <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osaka_Castle">Osaka Castle</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinsaibashi">Shinsaibashi</a> district, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C5%8Dtonbori">Dotonbori</a> district, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namba">Namba</a> district and the <a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namba_Yasaka-Schrein">Namba Jasaka shrine</a> (I link to the German Wikipedia, because there is no English article in Wikipedia about it). The day was finalized by a visit to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umeda_Sky_Building">Umeda Sky Building</a>.
</p>
</dd>
</dl></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>So this was my trip with my dad and brother. How about my Austrian friend also visiting in April?</p></div>
<div class="dlist"><dl>
<dt class="hdlist1">
4月19日
</dt>
<dd>
<p>
We met in Osaka to visit the area around the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ts%C5%ABtenkaku">Tsūtenkaku tower</a>. We went to the park around Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts and spent some time there looking around. To be honest, the area around the tower was not very lively in the afternoon and the park was nice to look at once. But it was not really interesting to me. I left by train at Tennoji station back to Kobe.
</p>
</dd>
<dt class="hdlist1">
4月22日
</dt>
<dd>
<p>
We began very late and visited Ikuta Shrine at about 15:00. We visited the Kobe Downtown and used the observatory at the Kobe City Hall. Just like with my brother and dad, we went southwards to the Port. We reached Kobe Port Tower, but we did not go up to the upper floors. We continued in direction of Chinatown and my final goal was the Venusbridge after sunset. We ate dinner in some tiny booth close to Kobe-Sannomiya and went northwest-bound to Venusbridge. This was a great decision. It was actually my first <a href="https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=kobe+10+million+dollar+view">10-million-dollar-view experience</a>. By the way, at GPS coordinates "34.692766,135.190512" south of Ikuta Shrine, there is a public foot bath. It is definitly worth a visit, but it was under construction in April.
</p>
</dd>
<dt class="hdlist1">
4月23日
</dt>
<dd>
<p>
Entering from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashiyagawa_Station">Ashiyagawa</a>, we climbed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Rokko">Mount Rokko</a>. We brought lunch and ate it before reaching the summit. The summit has a height of 931 meters and in general, the path is neither easy nor difficult. You should wear proper shoes and be prepared for weather changes. The first half of the trail is quite exposed to sun whereas in the latter half we often enter the woods. After the summit, we left Mount Roko towards the north and reached <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arima_Onsen">Arima Onsen</a>. After spending some time in Gin No Yu (the golden hot spring water), we left and got tired on our way back to Kobe.
</p>
</dd>
</dl></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>So? Time for a conclusion. What are the place, you should visit?</p></div>
<div class="ulist"><ul>
<li>
<p>
Downtown northwest of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sannomiya">Kobe-Sannomiya</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikuta_Shrine">Ikuta Shrine</a>
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meriken_Park">Meriken Park</a> including the Port of Kobe Earthquake Memorial Park and Kobe Port Tower
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Kobe <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobe_Chinatown">Nankinmachi</a> (Chinatown)
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Take a footpath in the Kobe downtown at "34.692766,135.190512"
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Venusbridge is the best at night, but it is also dangerous if you don’t have light and don’t know the location. You don’t have to climb there, but be sure you don’t get lost or trip in the dark.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
For sports-loving people, I definitely recommend the Mount Rokko hike. On public holidays, Japanese people are traverse this way and it will be easy to ask someone for the way. Otherwise you have to read Kanji at the guideposts.. You can finish at Arima Onsen, but in my opinion Arima Onsen is not the best onsen. You can find better ones in Japan.
</p>
</li>
</ul></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Yeah, this is my personal recommendation list skipping some sightseeing spots, I don’t think are interesting enough.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
Tokyo Tower, Zojoji Temple, Meiji Shrine, Asakusa, Narita Airport2017-04-07T02:35:00+09:002017-04-07T02:35:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2017-04-07:blog/tokyo-tower-zojoji-meiji-asakusa-narita.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses our sixth and last day in Tokyo, the 22nd of March 2017..</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>As planned the day before, this day had a busy schedule. We wanted to finish everything on our current bucket list for Tokyo.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We left the hostel early, though we had to finish packing. We left the luggage at the hostel. After a long walk, we reached <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z%C5%8Dj%C5%8D-ji">Zōjō-ji</a>. This buddhist temple is located in front of Tokyo Tower. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kshitigarbha">Jizō</a> stone statues are particulary beautiful. They represent unborn children and parents can pay for such a statue and decorate it. They looked beautiful on that day with beautiful weather:</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="Martina in front of Zōjō-ji Temple" src="images/zozoji-martina.jpg" width="400">
</img></span>
<span class="image">
<img alt="Unborn children statues right to Zōjō-ji Temple" src="images/zozoji-statues.jpg" width="400">
</img></span></p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>For 900 Yen, we took the elevator to reach the observatory of Tokyo Tower. This was also really nice. You get a nice overview and in the south of the Tower, streets are said to look like Tokyo Tower. Have a look:</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="Tokyo Tower" src="images/tokyo-tower.jpg" width="400">
</img></span>
<span class="image">
<img alt="Streets resembling Tokyo Tower" src="images/tokyo-tower-street.jpg" width="400">
</img></span></p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>The left foot of the tower is resembled by a curvy street, but besides that it is a funny similarity. Lookdown windows are small gaps in the floor made of glass. So you can watch pedestrians walking along the streets. However, the windows are small, a metal grid is underneath it for security reasons and you only see the pedestrians very close to the Tower. So the angle is pretty acute.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We sat down in a park close to Tokyo Tower. We wanted to eat our chips. Some elderly ladies came together to play <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gateball">gateball</a> there. Gateball is the Japanese version of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croquet">Croquet</a>. It was totally fun to watch them playing as they interacted with each other, were enthusiastic about the outcomes of hits and on their hands, they had a little gadget. This was apparently used to track the points and who comes next. I liked the strategic nature of the game. It was not only about hitting the ball into the gates.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>From Akabanebashi, passing Aoyama-itchome, we reached Omote-sando train station. Our first try to reach the <a href="imperial-palace-shibuya-yoyogi-koen.html">Meiji Shrine</a> failed. So we gave it another shot. From Omote-sando to Harajuku, it is just 1km, but the streets are busy and we thought we will find something for lunch. Next to Harajuku station, we entered "Italian Tomato". They offer a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mochi">mochi</a> variation of Pizza Margherita, a "mochigerita". I ate one and ordered some apple juice. Martina ate some pasta. As a dessert, we got some small pancakes with bananas. It was a little expensive, but okay.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>After lunch, we accessed Meiji Shrine from the right side (which is Harajuku station). As usual first, you go through a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torii">torii</a>. Then a large number of sake barrels is displayed on the right and a large number of whine barrels can be found on the left. After passing another torii, you will reach <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meiji_Shrine">Meiji Shrine</a>. One of the most important things to remember about Japanese history is the Meiji Restauration. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edo_period">Edo period</a> spanned from 1603 to 1868. At the end of the Edo period, Japan was completely isolated and recognized that it lacked many technological advances that can be found in the west. When the Meiji period started in 1868, Japan opened its borders, introduced international relations and international trade. This lead Japan to a capitalist, imperial world power under <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Meiji">Emperor Meiji</a>. The Shrine, we visited, is dedicated to this Emperor. Again, parts of it were under construction. Presumably, because of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Summer_Olympics">Tokyo 2020</a>. In the end, I think so many people coming to the Shrine and the path through the woods is actually more interesting than the Shrine itself.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>It was about 14:30, when we finished. At 17:13, we wanted to catch a train in Asakusa in order to go to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narita_International_Airport">Narita Airport</a>. Our flight from Narita Airport Tokyo to Kansai International Airport (KIX) was scheduled for 19:30. The train at 17:13 was the last train to be there in time. Before, we also had to pick up our luggage from the hostel. So we decided to do another activity, which we came up with on <a href="asakusa-sensoji.html">Sunday</a>. We went to Asakusa. On a side street of Nakamise-dōri, artists are located which draw caricatures ( 似顔絵 , にがえお, nigaeo in Japanese). We went there and asked for a painting of the two of us. It took him about 30 minutes to draw us and it was about 40 minutes in total we spent inside the shop. Very fast in my opinion. Anyhow, you can find these caricaturists at various tourist spots, but their style is a little bit different. I liked the style of our painter and specifically, he added the Kaminarimon in front of us. This was a nice feature. It costed 6372 Yen, an amount of money I like to spend on some creative artist. Will I show you the image? I don’t know. So far I don’t have a proper scan of it. So you need to visit me to see it 😉.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We were perfect in time to catch the train at 17:13 in Asakusa. The train from Asakusa to Narita Airport costed 1290 Yen. Narita Airport is located outside Tokyo in Chiba prefecture. So it took about 1 hour to reach it. We checked in at VanillaAir and they asked us whether switching to an exit seat would be okay. In case of emergency, we have to help other passengers to get out. But in front of the emergency exit, you are not allowed to have your luggage next to your feet, but you have more space for your feet. The last property turned out to be quite advantageous for us.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="Terminal 3 at Narita Tokyo Airport" src="images/narita-to-kix.jpg" width="400">
</img></span></p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>After the checkin, we ate some pommes and went through the security check. Apparently we have been quite late and they already closed the gate while we went there. However, we have not been the last passengers. The flight was quite comfortable, took about 100 minutes, but Martina ordered some pasta, which was much smaller than displayed on the menu.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We arrived at KIX and went to the trains. Using a JR train, we went to Tennoji, took the Osaka Loop Line to Umeda and a JR train brought us back to Kobe Sannomiya. This train trip costs 1720 Yen. It was annoying to carry that much luggage between the trains, but we were glad to arrive.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><strong>Conclusion of the day:</strong> The tight schedule was great. We finished some remaining sightseeing spots and Asakusa became my favorite sightseeing spot of Tokyo. Zōjō-ji and Tokyo Tower are both nice locations, Meiji Shrine is beautiful and the caricature was fun.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><strong>How was Tokyo?</strong> It is indeed a different experience from Kansai. The people talk a bit <a href="kansai-ben.html">different</a> and because they speak English better, it is more suitable for tourists. We went to major sightseeing spots in our week in Tokyo and we enjoyed it.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Thanks for doing this with me, Martina.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
Odaiba2017-04-06T09:50:00+09:002017-04-06T09:50:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2017-04-06:blog/odaiba.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses our fifth day in Tokyo, the 21st of March 2017.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>This day, we were unmotivated to leave the hostel early. It was raining and this did not help us to get started. So it was not until 13:45 that we started our journey. Our goal was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odaiba">Odaiba</a>, an artificial island</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>From Asakusabashi with an intermediate stop in Shinbashi, we reached Odaiba by train. The first thing, you will recognize at Odaiba is that there are also multiple levels. You will have to pass a lot of stairs, there are a lot of elevated areas and the buildings always have multiple floors. The most famous building in Odaiba is the DiverCity Tokyo Plaza. We entered the building and a map gives you an overview. However, I immediately left the building again. In front of the south-east side of the building, a Gundam sculpture is on display. Gundam is an anime series starting in 1979 and still going on. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gundam">Gundam</a> anime centers around <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mecha">mechas</a>, mobile suit enhancing human bodies by robotic suits. However, the display is currently under construction. I think it is another example for renovation efforts before <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_2020">Tokyo 2020</a>.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We entered the DiverCity building and ate a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretzel">Pretzel</a>. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bavaria">Bavaria</a>, a Southern part of Germany, is famous for its Pretzel and Austria’s culture is based on Bavaria’s culture. So you can often buy a Pretzel at festivals or as a snack in Austria. We bought one for 250 Yen at a shop called "Anne & Aunties", but it was not anything special. On the outside it was a little bit more greasy than I was used to.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Next, we looked for an opportunity for lunch. In Odaiba, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKNY2d8T_WQ&t=39s">self-deep-frying</a> is popular, but we went to eat <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sushi">sushi</a> instead. There are various forms of Sushi in the world. In Europe, you can find "Running Sushi" which means a conveyor belt is carrying sushi dishes and you just pick the dishes you want to eat. Unlike a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffet">buffet</a>, you don’t need to stand up, because the conveyor belt is operated next to the table. In Japan, I haven’t seen this so far. In our case, we had a mobile tablet device and ordered the food, we want to consume. Instead of a conveyor belt, you have a train which arrives to bring you the dish, you are interested in. As usual, you can get free water and optionally put <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matcha">matcha powder</a> (Japanese green tea powder) in beforehand. Of course, soysauce is provided as well. The color of the plate distinguishes the dishes in terms of price. So just like in Europe, the waiter/waitress counts the number of plates in groups multiplied by their price. In Sushi restaurants, you will find many tricks to keep consuming. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hOpP3brwtY">Life Where I’m From</a> points out that a small gambling game can be played after finishing 5 dishes making the kids to eat always 5 more dishes. In our case, you couldn’t find the total price on the tablet. So you only knew the items, but had to look up the prices yourself to determine the intermediate total price. I didn’t like that, but it was nice to eat sushi once in Japan.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="Odaiba Sushi" src="images/odaiba-sushi.jpg" width="400">
</img></span></p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We traversed the building, because it had many interesting shops. WABI×SABI was one of them. I bought a body towel and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bento">bento</a> towels. Though they are meant to be used for bento, I plan to use them for decoration. We also tried nana’s green tea shop. We got an iceshake with matcha flavor and flakes topping. It had the unique taste of matcha (which I neither love nor hate), but was very cold. So it took us some time to drink it.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In the meanwhile, it turned dark outside. So we planned to return soon. We dropped by at the Fuji TV building, but expectedly everything was shut down already. We just took a look at the distinctive architecture and returned towards the train station. We planned to have a tighter schedule tomorrow, on our last day in Tokyo.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
Ginza and Tsujiki2017-03-29T20:30:00+09:002017-03-29T20:30:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2017-03-29:blog/ginza-tsujiki.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses our fourth day in Tokyo, the 20th of March 2017.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginza">Ginza</a> is a district famous for its luxurious shops. Jewelry, hand bags and shoes are the most displayed goods in show windows.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We visited other Japanese friends this day and we met close to the main station. It was 14:00, because this is the time, when the street is close and pedestrians can roam the streets. This is a governmental initiative to encourage shopping in this district. We used the morning to sleep long, tidy up a few things and prepare for the day. Before we met, we also ate for lunch. A family restaurant offered Japanese-Chinese dishes. Afterwards we began to traverse the district.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>The district is full of luxurious shops. Actually, we did not want go inside. In every shop there were plenty of employees and very few customers as can often be seen at expensive locations. Sometimes you can observe art in the show windows, which can also look nice.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We finally arrived at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabuki-za">Kabukiza</a>. It is an important theatre of Japan to represent <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabuki">Kabuki</a>, the classical Japan dance-drama. To give you an idea of Kabuki, you can watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQtjJj6Uw8g">one example Kabuki on youtube</a>. I asked our Japanese friends whether they have watched one Kabuki in their life? They answered once. They explained it is difficult to follow the plot and the language. They don’t like it very much.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Our next goal was the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsukiji_Hongan-ji">Tsukiji Hongan-ji</a> Temple, a Jodo Shinshu Buddhist temple in Tsujiki. Tsujiki is adjacent to Ginza. This temple was remarkable, because the representative inside the temple was very chatty. He asked where we come from and what we do in Japan. I took some photos from the inside, but the outside was more interesting. The front of the temple is very beautiful though the right side was under construction.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Tsukiji is most famous for its <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsukiji_fish_market">fish market</a>. I associate Tsujiki fish market with an article of the Austrian national broadcast: "<a href="http://orf.at/stories/2373855/">Japan: Thunfisch für 609.000 Euro ersteigert</a>" (translated "Japan: Tuna auctioned for 609,000 EUR"). This particular Tuna was bought in an auction at Tsujiki fish market. The Austrian broadcast correctly points out that Japan is criticized for its fishing policies. The "Atlantic bluefin tuna" is one threatened fish species, but Japan keeps hunting them, because fish and sea food is so popular in Japan. Demand creates offer in capitalism.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>As Wikipedia points out, Tsukiji fish market is "the biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world and also one of the largest wholesale food markets of any kind". As a tourist, you can only access the outer retail market. The inner wholesale market with its auction is restricted to fishermen and vendors. Remember that the market is the busiest in the morning and we visited it in the afternoon. Basically we saw a lot of fish and seafood. The crabs were extraordinarily large and are kind of scary when they are still alive. We went along the streets with the booths of retailers, when we came across the following booth:</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="Whale ice cream" src="images/whale_ice.jpg" width="400">
</img></span></p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>They sell whale ice cream. This got my attention, because of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whaling_in_Japan">political situation concerning whaling in Japan</a>. The current situation is that Iceland, Norway and Japan refuse to ban whaling. Often the following rationale is provided: Whaling is integral to their own culture and therefore banning whaling means losing cultural identity. In recent years, whaling is justified with scientific purposes and hunting is implemented with scientific programmes. Its implementation and purpose is under heavy criticism by organizations such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Shepherd_Conservation_Society">Sea Shepherd</a>, which got a lot of publicity, because the organization was covered in the series "Whale Wars" airing in 2008. In 2014, it was proven that Japan hunts for commercial, and not scientific, purposes.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I wanted to investigate the question, whether there is any whale species Japan can hunt legally. But our Japanese friends continued walking. To this day, I think there is no such whale species and what I saw is breaking laws according to the International Court of Justice (UN’s judicial branch).</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We went into Tully’s Coffee to consume a snack. There we chatted a lot. One of the most interesting fun facts, I learned, is that Japanese girls often go to dye their hair after high school graduation. Why? Because they are not allowed to do so before. School uniforms are a big deal in Japan and besides the uniforms also the hair style is defined. Girls are not allowed to dye their hair.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>After we went to the beach briefly, we met with another Japanese person at an Okinawian restaurant in Asakusa. I need to admit that I liked the restaurant a lot. The fruits and dishes were quite different and interesting to try out. Also the final caramel peanuts were amazingly good.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We said goodbye and left Asakusa to go home. Conclusion? We had initial problems to chat with our Japanese friends, but the whale ice cream made the day interesting accompanied with a bad, political taste. I think Ginza was quite boring, but Tsukiji was okay.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
Asakusa and Senso-ji2017-03-29T12:30:00+09:002017-03-29T12:30:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2017-03-29:blog/asakusa-sensoji.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses our third day in Tokyo, the 19th of March 2017.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>This day we met some other Japanese friends. Together we scheduled to explore the Asakusa district, the Senso-ji temple and Nakamise-dori this day. Optionally, we wanted to go bowling.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Asakusa is the only place in Tokyo allowed to operate jinrickshaw ( 人力車 , じんりきしゃ). The first Kanji in its name is a person/human. These rickshaws are operated by humans and therefore "pulled rickshaws". They certainly look like a lot of fun, but they are also expensive. For two people and 10 minutes, this is about 3000 Yen. Take a look <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rickshaws_-<em>asakusa</em>-<em>japan</em>-_Oct_25_2015.ogv">Wikipedia’s video file</a> to see it in action.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>A friend of our Japanese friend works as a jinrickshaw guide. He shared some tips for sightseeing. We visited Kaminarimon, the Thunder Gate. This gate is the entrance of Sensōji Temple. In the center of the gate, a huge <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_lighting_equipment_of_Japan#Ch.C5.8Dchin">chōchin</a> is displayed. It gives the gate a unique resemblance.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="Chōchin of kaminarimon" src="images/kaminarimon.jpg" width="400">
</img></span></p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We entered the temple grounds along Nakamise-dori, the shopping street. It connects the gate with the temple. On this street, you can buy many tourist goods, but also nice snacks. Martina bought Volleyball key straps, I took a look at some <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z%C5%8Dri">Zōri</a>. At the end of the street, we arrived at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sens%C5%8D-ji">Sensō-ji</a> temple. In front of it, a large pot of sand was available for tourists to put <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incense">incense</a> sticks inside. It smelled sooo good. Inside the temple it is amazing how many people pray at this location. We joined in. In general, you wash your hands first in front of the Shrine. Then you enter the shrine and throw some money into the wooden box. Then you are allowed to swing the large rope resulting in ringing a bell. Then you pray with the procedure clap-clap-bow-clap-clap. However, at Sensō-ji temple there is no rope to swing. Because there are so many people, they cannot get in front of the Shrine to pray. So they stay aside or behind and throw the money above people’s heads into the extraordinary large wooden box. This was amazing.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Orthogonal to Nakamise-dori, another street guides tourists to shops. I asked our friends to go there as well. It features similar shops, but probably more food booths than Nakamise-dori including restaurants. One shop featured caricaturists drawing pictures of people. I liked the drawings very much.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We went to eat lunch at a nearby and very old tempura restaurant. We had to wait about 30 minutes to get a seat. Our friends tried hard to find something vegetarian, but this is very difficult in Japan. I suggested <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempura">Tempura</a>, because sometimes Tempura is made of vegetables. However, it is more popular to make it with seafood. So most of the tempura, I ordered, was non-vegetarian and Martina helped me out eating it.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We went back to Nakamise-dori and in a side street, we saw a group of children in costumes promoting their <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabuki">Kabuki</a> theatre. We also came across the ROX dome batting stadium. Batting is an important part of Baseball and therefore skills are important. Inside a hall, a machine throws a ball towards you and your goal is to bat the ball to a homerun (hence batting is towards a plate in the air about 12 meters away from you). The speed of the ball and its height can be configured by some buttons. I had lots of fun.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="Batting at ROX dome stadium" src="images/batting.jpg" width="300">
</img></span></p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We drank a McDonald milkshake and another Japanese friend joined in.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Finally, we went bowling at Ivy Bowl Mukojima (outside Asakusa). One friend was very good at spinning the bowling ball before it hits the pins. First, I used my usual straight technique, but then we tried to learn the technique as well. After two rounds, my overall performance was not that great, but I was happy to try something new.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>To finalize the evening, we went to <a href="https://www.dominos.com/index.intl.html">Domino’s Pizza</a>. On the homepage, you will find a large list of countries hosting Domino’s Pizza branches, but we don’t have it in Austria. So this was a special event for us though it is not the first time I ate a pizza of this company. I have to point out that the pizza is very thick and a lot of varieties are offered, but it is also very expensive.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We said goodbye to each other and returned back home.<br>
Conclusion: Our Japanese friends are super-nice and had lots of ideas and thoughts to share. Thank you for this awesome day in Asakusa!<br>
Also in general: Asakusa is a must-visit place in Tōkyō!</br></br></p></div>
</div>
</div>
Imperial Palace, Shibuya, Yoyogi Park2017-03-29T09:08:00+09:002017-03-29T09:08:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2017-03-29:blog/imperial-palace-shibuya-yoyogi-koen.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses our second day in Tokyo, the 18th of March 2017.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In the morning, we usually get up at 07:00. The hostel provides a breakfast, but it is not particularly fancy. Sandwiches (white bread, you can put into a toaster), butter and 4 differently flavored jams are provided. You can also eat hard-boiled eggs (which maybe accidently soft-boiled eggs). In terms of drinks, you can choose between 2 tea flavors and coffee. Sugar and salt is also available. The best combination, Martina found, was toasted sandwich with butter, apple jam and cinnamon sugar. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matcha">Matcha</a> sugar sounds very Japanese, but was not particularly appropriate for breakfast in my opinion.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Our first destination this day was Chiyoda. This ward covers the area of the Imperial Palace (also called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edo_Castle">Edo Castle grounds</a> successively Tokyo Castle grounds), where <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_of_Japan">Tennō</a> resides. Remember that Japan is the oldest monarchy of the world. At the entrance, you get an admission ticket. You don’t have to pay any money, but it seems this ticket keeps track of the number of people inside the area. So no-one is lost when the park closes at night. First, we visited <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Imperial_Palace#/media/File:Imperial_Palace_Tokyo_Map.png">East Gardens</a>. The area is very relaxing and the bushes and flowers are well-maintained. On this sunny day, the temperature rose to 9 degrees Celcius. The resting house, located in the shadow, was colder and certainly serves its purpose in summer.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="Imperial Palace Garden" src="images/imperial-palace-garden.jpg" width="400">
</img></span></p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Inside the East Gardens, the west half of the garden contains two circles, you can traverse. A fun fact: In Japanese, circle is called "maru". In the Castle’s Wikipedia article, you will find many areas of the castles named with "maru". If you search the Kanji for "maru", you will find two characters: <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E4%B8%B8#Kanji"> 丸 </a> and <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%86%86#Japanese"> 円 </a>. The second is used to denote the mathematical object. At the same time the character is famously known as symbol to denote the Japanese currency (compare with <a href="http://japan.lukas-prokop.at/gallery/2017.01.22%20-%20In%20the%20supermarket/IMG_20170122_141725.jpg">this image of price tags</a>). So in my mathematics courses I often hear the name of the currency, but actually a circle is meant. By the way, the currency is pronounced "en" in Japan, not "yen".</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>When we went to the two circles, something very funny happened. I spotted a German-speaking couple. In a glimpse of an eye just before the man passed, I recognized him. I failed to react properly and talk to him, but I looked up his schedule in his weblog and it confirmed my theory: The professor, who examined my master’s degree in September before I came to Japan, visited Japan for a conference. I wrote him an email and he responded that he had to laugh heartily. Yes, he suspected me under the mask, I still wear after <a href="harugasshuku-2.html">the Aikido spring training camp</a>. What a coincidence! Thanks for this awesome moment.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Our next goal was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edo_Castle#Nij.C5.ABbashi">Nijūbashi</a>. This bridge is one of the two main bridges leading the emperor from his residence to the streets. I don’t think they are particularly beautiful. Just a very famous sightseeing spot. I think <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edo_Castle#Tatsumi-yagura">Tatsumi-yagura</a> is more beautiful (the second image is a historic image):</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="Tatsumi Yagura" src="images/tatsumi-yagura.jpg" width="400">
</img></span>
<span class="image">
<img alt="Old image of Tatsumi Yagyura" src="images/tatsumi-yagura-old.jpg" width="400">
</img></span></p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>After lunch, we went to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibuya">Shibuya</a>. Shibuya is most famous for its scramble intersection. It was featured in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssc5eLjLoMQ&t=1h49m57s">Olympic Closing Ceremony 2016</a> and also Wikipedia’s article on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedestrian_scramble">Pedestrian scramble</a> features it. It was indeed amazing. You see a lot of people crossing the intersection. Then you think that now the crowd is gone, but a few seconds later the same number of people gathers again and waits for green traffic lights. After taking photos and filming it, we went into one of the building next to the station. We listened to Japanese music and looked at magazines and DVDs available in the store.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>After shopping, we got a little bit tired and went into Tulley’s coffee. I ate a donut and Martina drank a Cocoa. After that break, somebody at the street asked us whether it is okay to interview us. As the interview was in Japanese, Martina was in charge and she answered all questions. I was amazed by her progress in Japanese. The interview was about customs regarding shoes in the house. In Japan, you have to put off your shoes in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genkan">Genkan</a>. In Austria, it is the same, but there is no step and the shoes are put on the left or right side inside the entrance area. Because Japanese households are so small, a lack of a shoe box often means chaos inside the Genkan.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Our next destination was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoyogi_Park">Yoyogi Park</a>. It is north of Shibuya. We briefly saw <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harajuku">Harajuku</a> (a Youth culture district) from distance, but did not want to put time into this district for now. We entered the park north of Yoyogi National Stadium. It felt like a common park. We saw many foreigners and the Japanese people were in average young. We walked around and sat down. In the meanwhile it got cold and dark. We found a wallet on a bench. We thought about returning it to a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%8Dban">Kōban</a>, but we didn’t know one nearby. So we decided to leave it there and I am not sure whether we reacted correctly. It became dark, we wanted to access the Meiji Shrine anyways. Apparently, you cannot access Meiji Shrine from the south directly. We are not sure whether you can access it from the west or north either. But as it turns out the official entrance is in the south-east next to Harajuku station. At this hour, we decided not to go this long path, but visited Yoyogihachiman Shrine, a small shrine west of Yoyogi Park.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Using the train, we went from Yoyogikoen station to Roppongi. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roppongi_Hills_Mori_Tower">Roppongi Hills Mori Tower</a> is a famous observatory spot. You have to go up 2 floors to enter the building. It was not even sure the towers were still open. I think it closes at 19:30 and we arrived at 19:50. In the end, we decided not to pay the entrance fee of 1800 Yen for the observatory. At the night, you cannot take good pictures, we will visit the Tokyo Tower Observatory anyways and finally, we have been tired.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>When going home, we went into a restaurant, to eat some Japanese food. I was very hungry. So I took some ramen and a rice-based dish. Martina only took one dish. I handed over the food ticket to the chef. She discussed it with another staff member and returned one ticket: "This is too much". She argued that both dishes contain rice. I was very hungry, but somehow I got my money back for one dish. So we ate our dishes and I left the restaurant hungry. I am not sure how to think about this incident, but I had some peanuts in the hostel.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Long day, good night!</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Conclusion: Imperial Palace has nice gardens, Shibuyia crossing is fascinating and Yoyogi Park is just a common park to relax.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building & Shinjuku2017-03-20T11:53:00+09:002017-03-20T11:53:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2017-03-20:blog/shinjuku.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses our arrival in Tokyo on 17th of March 2017.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We took the night bus from Kobe to Tokyo. The night bus by the <a href="https://willerexpress.com/en/">Willer express</a> company has a separate waiting area. We arrived in the waiting area (which in some side streets in the center of Kobe Sannomiya) and a staff member guided us to the bus stop close to the street. 5 minutes before departure, you should go directly to the bus stop at the street. The bus departured at 21:45.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>The seats are actually very comfortable and my legs had enough space. However, a cover above your head protects you from the light of the bus, so you can sleep better. And this cover was too low for me. So my head rubbed the top of the cover all the time and it was difficult to sleep. I woke up several times during the trip. On our trip we also had an intermediate stop in Osaka and at 3 roadhouses.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We arrived in Tokyo, Shinjuku, at 06:35 in the morning (hence the duration was 8 hours and 50 minutes). Very tired, we went to the tourist information. We grabbed maps and asked for luggage storage options. They offer to store luggage for 800 Yen per day per item. We stored our two large bags and began our journey. By the way, we made an expensive decision. Our luggage would have fit together into one of the 300 Yen lockers per day; instead of paying 1600 Yen. However, the tourist information center was a convenient offer for our luggage.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In Tokyo, you can find many <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starbucks">Starbucks</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tully%27s_Coffee">Tully’s Coffee</a> stores. We went to Starbucks close to the train station. These coffee houses generally have very little space, because they are so popular and more customers bring more money. However, in Japan, this is taken to the next level. Your luggage has no space at all. I consumed a drip coffee and "American chocolate scone". Martina drank a cocoa. We wandered around in the south of the station. We decided to visit the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building first. On our way to this building, the government buildings nearby clearly showed how proud the Japanese government is of hosting the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (TMG) is famous for its observatory on the 45th floor. It gives a nice view over Tokyo. It is free, but you need to pass a luggage check. I really don’t get why Japanese people like luggage checks, but I guess terrorism justifies as many things as you like. In the obseratory, we started to learn that Tokyo is much wider than Kobe or Osaka. It is also more flat, but more skyscrapers can be found in the downtown. Before it is a famous place for tourists, this floor also offers many tourist items such as snacks or T-Shirts for various prefectures of Japan. The visit was worth it and a good start.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Niagara Falls - in general - can be found on the border between Canada and the US, but in our case it refers to the park with waterfalls next to TMG. We visited the park, because the waterfalls looked nice when we peeked from the observatory. We observed some elementary school graders. I think it is quite commonly known, that in Japan kindergarten and elementary school students use the same caps when they go on a school trips. For example, this is visible in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5jwEyDaR-0&t=1m55s">TED talk by Takaharu Tezuka about "The best kindergarten you’ve ever seen"</a>. I think this is convenient to identify children that belong together if you are in a public space. Some young people (probably at the age of 17) were rehearsing some play. They changed between discussion and agressive behavior, which made us uncomfortable until we recognized they practice for an acting class.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>After taking a peek into Kogakuin University, we looked at Cocoon Tower. They are all located nearby, making the district a quick and convenient sightseeing spot.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>At lunch time, we got hungry, but we skipped lunch for now. Instead, we headed for our next goal: Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. The garden is quite large and you have to pay an entrance fee of 200 Yen. These yen were worth it. The park is well-maintained. We saw quiet place in the shadow as well as green areas to take photos at or play small games. I think the garden is considered as a place of relaxation among Japanese people. Just like many other foreigners we took photos of the first blossoms in spring and we also had fun to pose in front of the smartphone camera:</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="Shinjuku Gyoen" src="images/shinjuku_gyoen.jpg" width="500">
</img></span></p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>To retrieve our luggage, we had to go back to Shinjuku station. On our way to the Park, we saw several <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soba">Soba</a> restaurants. On our way back, we picked one of them and ate some Soba. This was also the first experience, that people in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kant%C5%8D_region">Kantō</a> are more used to tourists and the (elderly) staff members spoke fairly good English. In <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansai_region">Kansai</a> it is often difficult to get along with English.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We retrieved our luggage and went to the Hostel. The <a href="http://www.j-hostel.com/asakusabashi/">Anne Hostel Asakusabashi</a> is located close to the center of Tokyo. We booked about two weeks in advance and they expected our arrival at 16:00. As in many hostels you can find information about popular sightseeing spots inside. The staff speaks perfect English and Japanese. The foreigners tend to interact a lot. But one uncommon rule was important in this hostel: No drinks and no food allowed inside the rooms, except for plain water.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We put our luggage in our room and bought water and snacks for the following days. In the evening, we met one of Martina’s Japanese friends. She was coming from work and we ate in a Chinese restaurant. After dinner, we went to sleep as we were very tired because of the last night.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Do you want to know an interesting difference between Kansai and Kantō? Japanese people drive their car on the left side, but people in Kansai stand on the right side of the escalator. In Kantō, people stand on the left side on escalators. The blog post about <a href="https://osakainsider.wordpress.com/2009/12/01/the-escalator-conundrum-osaka-right-tokyo-left/">the Escalator Conundrum by Osaka Insider</a> discusses this issue.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
Kobe Harbor2017-01-15T16:50:00+09:002017-01-15T16:50:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2017-01-15:blog/kobe-harbor.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses Sunday, 15th of January 2017.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Yes, we had snow yesterday. That does not occur that often. Well, there is a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT8IACNOg9c">kids-playing-in-Kobe-snow video of 2013</a>. However, at sea level and with increasing climate temperatures it is just becoming more and more unlikely. Some international students have been on Onsen trips during the winter and visited Onsen at higher sealevel. There, they saw monkeys joining them in Onsen. There are plenty of videos about them online (e.g. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txDR1y1drl0">"Snow monkeys soak in hot springs of Japan" by Guardian</a>.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I had to take care in the city. Staircases were slippery.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="Snow-covered staircases in Kobe" src="images/snowy-kobe.jpg" width="300">
</img></span></p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I started off in the morning after warming myself up in bed. Yesterday in the afternoon we briefly noticed snowflakes for about 10 minutes. In the evening (after sunset), it snowed for quite some while. The reported snow height was about 2-3cm. This sunday, I went to Sannomyia by Portliner and went south. I guess I could have left the train one station before, but I preferred the long walk. The general outline of this event day was a casual walk along the coast with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobe_Port_Tower">Kobe Port Tower</a> as last destination.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>First, I saw Higashiyuenchi Park ( 東遊園地 ), which I already <a href="visiting-sannomiya.html">visited once</a>. I saw some pots with frozen water, but water fountains with moving water were kept ice-free. I continued south passing the Kobe Customs Museum. At the Harbor, I observed working people. Trucks were bringing goods to the ship. I still have to point out that few people were there and it seemed like a quiet day. I followed the paths underneath the highway to reach the next port.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>A huge metal fish is on display when entering the next port from north. We know this fish. My Kanji teacher and Martina’s Japanese teacher on Friday is part of a dance group. They meet regularly to dance to traditional music and invite (international) students to join. This fish was pictured on the map illustrating the meeting point for the dance session. Next to the fish, a house is designated for a dance studio. I assume our teacher is affiliated with this dance studio.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Close to the fish, a memorial site can be found. Remember that the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Hanshin_earthquake">Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995</a> hit Awaji Island and therefore the Harbor of Kobe was closest to the epicenter. The harbor got majorily destroyed and the <a href="http://japandailypress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/BeJ0b8jCAAACvEC.jpg">toppled Harbor highway</a> is the image associated with this event in my mind. The "Port of Kobe Earthquake Memorial Park" shows pictures of the event and the reconstruction afterwards (e.g. temporary harbor sites during reconstruction). It also referenced <a href="luminarie.html">Luminarie</a> which I attended in December. Also recognize that <a href="http://japan.lukas-prokop.at/gallery/2017.01.15%20-%20Kobe%20Harbor/#/31">picture #31</a> shows the same site like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Hanshin_earthquake#Damage">Wikipedia</a>, but towards south, not north.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I continued westwards to reach Kobe Port Tower. I need to point out that it was really cold and taking the hands out of my pockets to take photos hurt. At this port many families were outside and going along the harbor. It was funny to recognize that I associate huge scarfs (size of blankets for your upper half of the body) worn by Japanese women with Japanese fashion. But it really is a just a mean to protect yourself from the cold in- and outside houses. The Kobe Port Tower has 3 floors at the ground. They are freely accessible and provide an air conditioned view outside. For 700 Yen, you can also go the top. The view is certainly more beautiful up there, but first I didn’t bring my glasses with me and second at night the view might be more interesting. In the east of the tower, the Kobe Maritime Museum can be found. For 1000 Yen, you can enter it. I wasn’t interested enough into this either, but I took lots of pictures of its white grid-like roof construction. In the west at the next port, I saw the Ferris Wheel. This Ferris Wheel is illuminated at night and can be seen from Portliner when we go back from university.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>South of the Port Tower is the Meriken Park Oriental Hotel. I expected to go the Meriken Park first, but it is currently locked up. They seem to be renovating and the grasses condition also does not seem great. The Hotel is very distinctive. The roof resembles (in my imagination) a wave. At the ground floors, cars can be parked whereas the top floors provide hotel rooms. In front of the Hotel a "Marine Hall" can be found. Based on its shape I thought it is a small church, but the name indicates otherwise.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I finished my walk by taking a picture of the huge poles of the Harbor highway and the entrance of Chinatown. Ah right, I haven’t been to Chinatown yet. Anyways, it took me ~25 minutes to go from the Hotel to Sannomiya and I went back home. Martina waited with a warm lunch for me. Great!</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="Kobe Port Tower and Kobe Maritime Museum" src="images/kobe-port-tower.jpg" width="70%">
</img></span></p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Conclusion: A pleasant walk in fresh air!</p></div>
</div>
</div>
Awkward Hankyu ticket behavior2017-01-05T00:54:00+09:002017-01-05T00:54:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2017-01-05:blog/awkward-hankyu-ticket.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This issue happened on 2nd of January 2017.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>On the second of January, we had to go to Arima Onsen. In order to get there, I looked up the best routes on <a href="http://www.hyperdia.com/">HyperDia</a>. It returned the following result:</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="Arima Onsen connection" src="images/arima-onsen-transportation.png" width="444">
</img></span></p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>From Minatojima to Sannomiya, we had no problems (Portliner). Then we went to the ticket machine for Hankyu Line. To the best of my knowledge all the individual paths given at this schedule are operated by a Hankyu subcontractor. That’s also why Hankyu list one overall price and not individual prices for every subpath. I bought one ticket for 710 Yen. Martina got one for 500 Yen on the Blue Line.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Martina’s rationale: She is not sure whether she can pay all subpaths now and therefore takes a ticket of lower price. Before exiting, you can do a fare adjustment and pay the remaining 210 Yen. The Blue Line should be the one we take.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We both went from Kobe-Sannomiya to Shinkaichi. On the platform we had 2 exits - East and West, where both of them are distant in the same way. I decided to go for the East Exit, simply because more people left this way than by picking the West exit. We had to find the "Shintetsu Arima/Sanda line for SANDA" train. So we reached the East Exit and we wanted to leave passing the ticket checking machine. Martina plugged in her ticket. Accepted. Of 500 Yen, she only used ~210 Yen. As far as the remaining ticket is not returned, she lost some money this way. I plugged in my ticket. Denied. What the heck? I returned to the Fare Adjustment machine and plugged in my ticket. It spit the ticket out immediately; so no adjustment necessary. I tried again. Denied. I tried again. Denied. I did not care anymore. 3 minutes (in order to catch our next train) have passed and we didn’t even find the gate for the next train. I illegally hopped over ticket checking machine and we continued. The surveilllance camera has footage of me, but no staff member was there. The checking machine said "call intercom", but no phone (except an old commercial coin phone) was there and no staff member. After a short walk, we saw another ticket machine for entrance. "Arimaguchi" was one of its destinations, so we decided to take it. As far as I didn’t correctly leave the train platform, my ticket is expected to reject me using it for entrance. Indeed. Denied. So I bought another ticket for 640 Yen to go to Arimaguchi. Martina as well. As it turns out, we hopped on the train which went straight to Arimaguchi. So if we would have caught our train, we would first take a different train from Shinkaichi to Suzurandai, but in the following would have taken the same train. So overall we were in time. At Arimaguchi we changed train. At Arimaonsen, I left the platform using my 710 Yen ticket, which rejected my exit previously and Martina made a fare adjustment.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Okay… what is the conclusion?</p></div>
<div class="olist arabic"><ol class="arabic">
<li>
<p>
Tickets basically store a binary flag whether you are inside or outside the train platform. You cannot change/manipulate that.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
If you buy an expensive ticket, but leave earlier (hence at a lower destination price), you lose your ticket. This means you cannot take a short break at an intermediate station.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
This also holds true even though Fare Adjustment machines exist, which should adjust the ticket to your needs.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
I think my ticket knew that I was going to a different destination. Therefore it did not allow me to exit here. I guess we should have picked the West Exit. Then we could have changed trains without leaving the platform. However, no signs (whatsoever) indicated which is the "correct" exit for us. If so, the ticket decides on its own, whether you are allowed to leave here.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
I should take the same ticket like my girlfriend in order to run into the same problems.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
I would recommend to pay every subpath individually or adjust your fare before leaving the platform, but it takes its time to buy new tickets. This can be a problem if you have 3 minutes to change trains and you don’t know where the other gates are.
</p>
</li>
</ol></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>When I got here, the railway ticket system seemed… foreign. I didn’t know it before. Then it turned out to be pretty straightforward and convenient. But considering the behavior above, I reject to call it easy… a claim made by some people on reddit. I guess it makes sense if I am aware of the possible attack vectors in terms of fraud. But so far, I cannot tell you whether you will surely be able to exit a platform legally even if no staff member is around.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Strange. For this day, I (we) paid 640 (1280) Yen more to Hankyu then necessary.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
New Year’s Eve2017-01-04T18:11:00+09:002017-01-04T18:11:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2017-01-04:blog/ikuta-shrine-new-years-eve.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses the 31st of December 2016.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>New Year’s Eve is a big deal in Japan. Our current holidays at university (formally 2 weeks) are given due to the coming of the new year.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_in_austria">In Austria</h3>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In Austria, people celebrate New Year’s Eve in various kinds. Some people go for a drink with friends into the city. Some people gather at public places in the center of the city to celebrate collectively. Some people stay at home, do some <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molybdomancy">molybdomancy</a>, watch <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinner_for_One">Dinner for One</a> at TV and dance to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Danube">the blue Danube</a>. Sparkling wine (in some countries called more generically <em>champaign</em>) is a common drink after midnight. Some people enjoy the fireworks from distance and hike on a hill/moutain close to the city. Stargazing can following romantically this approach. These activities are <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year%27s_Eve#Japan">different in Japan</a>.</p></div>
</div>
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_in_japan">In Japan</h3>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Before this day, you can buy chicken-themed New Year’s cards in many places. 2017 is the year of the chicken according to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_calendar">Chinese calendar</a>. Fireworks are not popular, though fireworks are organized in Tokyo (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVHeC8IZuf0">video on youtube</a>). At Shibuya, the large intersection in Tokyo, New Year is celebrated by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk703WCfmT8">collectively counting down</a>. At Zōjō-ji, a Buddhist temple near Tokyo Tower, they <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOqcqTRgMyA">release balloons</a> when the countdown has finished. But most of the families stay, of course, at home and just like in Austria there are popular TV shows like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%8Dhaku_Uta_Gassen">Kouhaku Uta Gassen</a>. Celebrating the end of the previous year and welcoming the next year is reflected on the next day in funny events like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukubukuro">Fukubukuro</a>. NHK reports,</p></div>
<div class="quoteblock">
<div class="content">
<div class="paragraph"><p>People have flocked to department stores in Japan to buy New Year bargain packages known as lucky bags.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>A store in Osaka opened earlier than normal on Monday morning. 7,000 people were waiting outside before it opened its doors. Staffers had prepared 50,000 lucky bags.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Beside only selling goods in the bargain events, department stores have been working hard to sell bags that let buyers have various special experiences.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>A bag that sold for almost 700 dollars includes tableware for a baby’s first meal, clothing for its first shrine visit and a photography session. Another with a price tag of more than 5,000 dollars features an imported camera and the photo session with a traditional female entertainer in the ancient capital of Kyoto.</p></div>
</div>
<div class="attribution">
— https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20170102_13/
</div></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>As far as our time in Kobe is concerned, we wanted originally wanted to be in Tokyo during the holidays. 3 days in Tokyo, followed by 1 day in Kyoto during New Year’s Eve. It was told that near the Imperial Palace, many local people are going to celebrate at midnight. Going to Tokyo by Shinkansen is expensive (10000 Yen) and therefore we considered the night bus (around 3200 Yen). Other international students did so. But planning the hotels and sightseeing points takes its time and I am also currently out of funds for such events. So we didn’t put enough effort into organizing this trip and stayed in Kobe. Because of that, I wanted to finish some Kobe sightseeing points from my bucket list. I blogged about these points in my last posts. Staying in Kobe, we didn’t leave the residence during the day. In the evening we headed towards Ikuta Shrine at 21:00. There were only 3 people in the train going towards Sannomiya from Minatojima.</p></div>
</div>
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_videochat">Videochat</h3>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We were told the most interesting spot for New Year’s Eve is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikuta_Shrine">Ikuta Shrine</a>. This large shrine in the center of Kobe represents the door in Kobe’s name. Remember that 神戸 consists of two Kanji, where 神 (こう, kou) stands for "god" and 戸 (べ, be) stands for "door", hence "God’s door". And Ikuta Shrine basically defined the location of Kobe.</p></div>
<div class="quoteblock">
<div class="content">
<div class="paragraph"><p>Kobe did not exist in its current form until its founding in 1889. Its name comes from "kanbe" ( 神戸 ), an archaic title for supporters of the city’s Ikuta Shrine. Kobe became one of Japan’s 17 designated cities in 1956.</p></div>
</div>
<div class="attribution">
— https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobe
</div></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We went there and found many food festival booths. As it is New Year’s Eve, we wanted to do something special. Just like every other week, my parents wanted to have a video chat session with me. This week they were at my brother’s. So I was able to see my brother, his wife and children after a longer time. Unlike the previous times where I was at the dormitory, I was in front of the Shrine chatting with them. It was kind of fun though we had no clue how it would affect our 2GB mobile data limit. In the end chatting with them for about 75 minutes resulted in to ~700 MB traffic via <a href="http://appear.in/">appear.in/WebRTC</a> which is unexpectedly little in my opinion. Also my other brothers joined in and it was a nice conversation. The video chat took roughly an hour.</p></div>
</div>
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_new_year_8217_s_eve_at_ikuta_shrine">New Year’s Eve at Ikuta Shrine</h3>
<div class="paragraph"><p>At ~23:20 we investigated the ongoing activities at the Shrine. During our video chat, people organized themselves in front of the Shrine. Before midnight, the Shrine is locked up. People gather in front in a queue and wait for entry at 00:00. When they enter they can go to booths, buy <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omamori">Omamori</a> (amulettes and charms) and make their first prayer of the year. I was told the queue was extraordinary long ranging several blocks inside the city. The police took care to control the traffic. The booths in front of the Shrine (accessible before midnight) include all kinds of food like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candy_apple">Candy apple</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mochi">Mochi</a> (I love these!) and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_candy">cotton candy</a>. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldfish_scooping">Gold fish scooping</a> ( 金魚 すくい, きんぎょすくい) and <a href="https://duckduckgo.com/?q=shooting+gallery+carnival&ia=images">shooting galleries</a> are also popular, available games (watch this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpmL2szf6s0">video by Ronin for a goldfish scooping introduction</a>).</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I was never allowed to eat cotton candy in my childhood, so I bought some for 500 Yen. They had a Pokemon design. This coincides with me playing Pokemon Yellow edition in the last few days (Hey, I am already in Vermilion City!). I think this was the second time in my life I ate cotton candy (the first one was at <a href="https://events.ccc.de/congress/2012/wiki/Main_Page">29C3</a>). Martina bought some <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chestnut">chestnuts</a>. In the city, we thought we had to bake them first, but at home we found out that you only have to make a hole and squeeze them to get them out. In Austria, they are always partially cut.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Martina got cold and we decided to go back home even before midnight. So we experienced the year switch in the train and obviously there were very few people in the train again. I guess we could have done more, but it’s something.</p></div>
</div>
Venus Bridge2017-01-04T13:56:00+09:002017-01-04T13:56:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2017-01-04:blog/venus-bridge.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>Without Martina I was more flexible, but on the other hand Venus Bridge is a sightseeing point for couples. Venus Bridge is located 151 meters above the sealevel in the mountains. It’s in the north of <a href="kobe-jinjas.html">Sorakuen</a>. And where the heck is the entrance in order to climb up the hill to Venus Bridge? <a href="http://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=15/34.6850/135.1951">Openstreetmap</a> shows the location of venus bridge:</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="Map reaching from my residence at Minatojima to Venus Bridge" src="images/venus-bridge.png" width="441">
</img></span></p></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_getting_there">Getting there</h3>
<div class="paragraph"><p>After reading some blog posts (for example by <a href="http://janneinosaka.blogspot.jp/2010/06/venus-bridge.html">Janne in Osaka (and Okinawa)</a> or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKwqLqRM018">@stercraze06 on youtube</a>), I could not figure out how to directly reach Venus Bridge from Kitano-Chou. The answer is the closest way is starting from the グリーンハイツ 諏訪山 building. Behind the Kobe Migration Museum, Oku-Saido Drive Way can be found leading to Venus Bridge, but this is unpleasant as a pedestrian.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>First I reached Suwayama Park. I saw a Japanese children’s playground (though the scenery is a little bit scary if no people are there) and visited Suwa Shrine ( 諏訪神社 ) and Suwayamainari Shrine ( 諏訪山稲荷神社 ). I liked the stone statue (illustrating a dog) in front of it. Then I headed towards Venus Bridge. Beginning here it was not difficult to find the path as signs indicated the path in Katakana.</p></div>
</div>
<div class="sect2">
<h3 id="_venus_bridge">Venus bridge</h3>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Venus Bridge is a spiral bridge leading to a platform. The bridge and the platform give a beautiful view over Kobe. Furthermore there is a metal construction in order to allow young couples to tie a lock onto it to mark their relationship. Equivalent locks can be <a href="https://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g190432-i211169150-Graz_Styria.html">found in Graz</a> as well. Being there allowed me to take some nice pictures of Kobe. It was a quiet day and only few people were there. I enjoyed the sun (though it was a bit cloudy) and fresh air.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="Metal construction for locks at Venus Bridge" src="images/venus-bridge-locks.jpg" width="400">
</img></span></p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="View on Kobe with Venus Bridge in front" src="images/venus-bridge.jpg" width="400">
</img></span></p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Yes, totally worth it and I enjoyed the small hike. It sent Martina a picture and told her I will return now. I dropped by at the supermarket and got home. I was a little bit tired but continued studies and work at the residence.</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>
Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan2016-12-28T21:25:00+09:002016-12-28T21:25:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-12-28:blog/osaka-kaiyukan.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses the 23rd of December 2016.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>After <a href="buikukai-aikido.html">the Aikido Buikukai Performance</a> and our visit of <a href="osakajo.html">Osaka Castle</a>, we went for lunch at a Soba Noodle Restaurant ( 守破離 ). Martina joined us again. The restaurant was a recommendation of a friend of hers. As a group of three, we went by subway from Tanimachiyonchome Station to Osakako. After a 5 minute walk - <a href="osaka-chikko.html">we already know</a> - we reached Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>2300 Yen is a pretty expensive price in my opinion, but I raised my expectations therefore and was not disappointed. In the Aquarium we left some luggage in the lockers (the prices range between 200 and 700 Yen depending on the size) and checked out the shop. Martina and Jo wanted to buy some merchandise when exiting the Aquarium.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>First of all, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_of_Fire">Ring of Fire</a> defines a guiding element in the route. Several species from areas along the Ring of Fire are shown in pools. This includes <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otter">otters</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_lion">sea lions</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coati">coaties</a>. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puffer_fish">Puffer fish</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eel">eels</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_penguin">king penguins</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salamander">salamanders</a> can also be found. In the following, the route goes around a huge aquarium from floor seven to the first floor. The aquarium features huge <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingray">stingrays</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shark">sharks</a>] and to the best of my knowledge, a small kind of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_shark">whale shark</a>. The long and dangerous tail of stingrays reminded me of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Irwin">Steve Irwin</a>, who got fatally stung by a stingray 10 years again. His death hit me hard back then.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/16/world/what-in-the-world/japan-inemuri-public-sleeping.html">Japanese napping culture</a> kicked in as well. A man was sleeping on a bench in front of a pool. This would not be possible in Europe/Austria.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In between the stations, a café offered softdrinks and small snacks. Afterwards, a special exhibition hall themed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finding_Nemo">Finding Nemo</a>. Jo had a lot of fun in this room as his two kids are fans of Finding Nemo. However, this phone battery was already drained, so I took care of taking photos for him. However, taking photos inside the aquarium is very difficult. The final station was a petting zoo. We were allowed to pet sharks at their back and sting rays at the center of their back. It was interesting to see that a bright stingray was extraordinary soft whereas the dark stingray felt like leather.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We were very happy with the aquarium. It is versatile and they seem to take good care of the animals. Martina and Jo bought the merchandise and returned back to our residence in Kobe. What a productive day! 😊</p></div>
</div>
</div>
Osaka Castle2016-12-27T23:00:00+09:002016-12-27T23:00:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-12-27:blog/osakajo.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses the 23rd of December 2016.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osaka_Castle">Osaka Castle</a> ( 大阪城 ) is a classic sightseeing point in Osaka. The castle is beautiful to look at, but it also features a moat around the castle and within the area of the moat there is plenty of space for sport activities and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanami">hanami viewing</a>. Of course, the <a href="buikukai-aikido.html">Shudokan training hall</a> is also located there.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>After the Aikido performance, we went to Osaka Castle. The moat provides a good element for photography. We headed to the entrance. 600 Yen is not much and we bought two tickets. Inside a large cannon greeted us in front of the castle. It illustrates how armor and weapons were stored inside the Castle for defense against intruders.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>The most interesting story in history happened around 1600: Toyotomi Hideyori was in charge of the castle. Tokugawa Ieyasu won the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Sekigahara">Battle of Sekigahara</a> and attacked Toyotomi Hideyori 14 years later beginning the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Osaka">Siege of Osaka</a>. Tokugawa had twice the number of infantry, but Toyotomi was successful in defending the castle. In 1615, Tokugawa attacked Toyotomi again and successfully took over the Castle. This way, the famous Tokugawa family came into power. With the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokugawa_shogunate">Tokugawa shogunate</a> in charge, a long period of piece followed and Edo (now called Tokyo) was established as a center of governance.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>The battles between the shogunates is illustrated in exhibitions on floors 2-4. On floor 5, a platform provides a nice view over Osaka. On floor 3 and 4, Samurai equipment is presented, but no photography and videos are allowed at all (which I think is very sad). Typically you go up to floor 5 with the elevator and descend down to each exhibition floor. Outside the Osaka Castle, the area is enjoyable for leisure time, but besides for photography, I think the moat is not that interesting. We have to wait for Sakura season to see something beautiful.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>A nice experience. Great to do some sightseeing in Osaka.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="Osaka Castle" src="images/osakajo.jpg" width="500">
</img></span></p></div>
</div>
</div>
Luminarie2016-12-14T15:30:00+09:002016-12-14T15:30:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-12-14:blog/luminarie.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ Luminarie is an annual event we visited on 9th of December 2016.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>On Friday, Martina and I met in the evening to visit Luminarie. This light festival commemorates the Great Hanshin earthquake. It is visually appealing and furthermore festival food (in booths) is provided. This was our event day this week, because on Sunday I was busy writing my bachelor thesis.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobe_Luminarie">Kobe Luminarie</a> is light festival taking place every year since the Great Hanshin earthquake 1995. Written in Katakana, the event is promoted as 神戸 ルミナリエ. It took place between 2nd and 11th of December 2016 in Kobe City. The <a href="https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%A5%9E%E6%88%B8%E3%83%AB%E3%83%9F%E3%83%8A%E3%83%AA%E3%82%A8">Japanese Wikipedia</a> gives some nice photo impressions of the past years. However, I want to show you my own photos:</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="Illuminated construction as main attraction at Kobe Luminarie in Kobe City" src="images/luminarie-1.jpg" width="350">
</img></span>
<span class="image">
<img alt="Illuminated <em>150 years Kobe Port</em> sign" src="images/luminarie-2.jpg" width="350">
</img></span></p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>The route of Luminarie is <a href="http://www.kobe-luminarie.jp/cont-10.htm">one-way</a> and you need to enter to the west of Sannomiya (one station with Hankyu Line). If you enter, you walk slowly with a large crowd of people. As far as you are not supposed to stop, it is very difficult to take pictures. I did my best anyways. The main attraction is shown above. It has the largest number of lights and the crowd congests at this point, because everybody keep taking photos. After the main attraction, you can choose between several small places. At each of these places, you can get festival food such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takoyaki">Takoyaki</a>, cotton candy or fruits covered in a layer of sugar. As a vegetarian, I was stuck with pommes and waffles. Some of the food is displayed at <a href="http://www.luminarie-fountain.jp/">luminarie-fountain.jp</a>. More information is available at <a href="http://www.kobe-luminarie.jp/">the official homepage</a> and its <a href="https://twitter.com/FeelKOBE_Lumi">twitter channel</a>.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="Martina in front of the light installation" src="images/luminarie-3.jpg" width="350">
</img></span></p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In the end, it was a nice event. Many people take a visit of the 7th floor at the City Hall afterwards, but a friend of ours was with us and already very tired. I even think such an event would be beneficial for a city in Austria. The light installation itself is even provided by an <a href="http://marianolight.it/">Italian company</a>.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
Himeji Castle2016-12-07T14:27:00+09:002016-12-07T14:27:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-12-07:blog/himeji.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses Sunday, 4th of December 2016.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>On Saturday we have been on an international student event. We introduced our dish to one tutor and he organized all ingredients for the event to come. At the event we assigned one role to every person; a "sensei" (teacher) or "gakusei" (student, participant). Sensei teach how to cook a dish to their gakusei. Nobody told me about the sensei-gakusei concept and I showed up with a large bag with cooking equipment to teach them how to cook an Austrian dish; a "<a href="http://lukas-prokop.at/recipes/kaiserschmarrn.pdf">Kaiserschmarrn</a>". This was fun (though Japanese people hesitate to speak English making it difficult) and I had the opportunity to eat foreign dishes (Korean, German, Romania, USA).</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>On Sunday we went on a trip for event day despite the event the previous day.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Himeji Castle is one of the finest pieces of Japanese Castle landscape. It was the first Japanese site declared as UNESCO World Heritage Site. Wikipedia introduces it as follows:</p></div>
<div class="quoteblock">
<div class="content">
<div class="paragraph"><p>Himeji Castle ( 姫路城 Himeji-jō) is a hilltop Japanese castle complex located in Himeji, in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. The castle is regarded as the finest surviving example of prototypical Japanese castle architecture, comprising a network of 83 buildings with advanced defensive systems from the feudal period. The castle is frequently known as Hakuro-jō or Shirasagi-jō ("White Egret Castle" or "White Heron Castle") because of its brilliant white exterior and supposed resemblance to a bird taking flight.</p></div>
</div>
<div class="attribution">
— Wikipedia's Himeji Castle article
</div></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>It was built in 1333 and extended several times. Being an ancient castle still standing upright means that it also proved earthquake resistance. Wikipedia remarks,</p></div>
<div class="quoteblock">
<div class="content">
<div class="paragraph"><p>In January 1995, the city of Himeji was substantially damaged by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Hanshin_earthquake">Great Hanshin earthquake</a>, but Himeji Castle again survived virtually undamaged, demonstrating remarkable earthquake resistance. Even the bottle of sake placed on the altar at the top floor of the keep remained in place.</p></div>
</div>
<div class="attribution">
— Wikipedia's Himeji Castle article section History
</div></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We went there on a Sunday. We were aware that on this day rain was forecast. We arrived in Himeji after a 970 Yen trip with JR (Japanese Railway) from Sannomiya (Kobe). Himeji Castle is close to its train station (roughly 1.3 km). The street leading from the train station to the Castle is very broad. It was interesting to see the shop on both sides of the street. Furthermore momiji viewing is still a thing and I could take a wonderful photo of some autumn leaves (not sure which tree):</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="Yellow tree leaves in Himeji" src="images/momiji.jpg" width="300">
</img></span></p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We saw some Freestyle BMX bikers doing some tricks and watched them as part of a large audience. In between we went to the toilet and checked out the booths nearby. They offered small snacks and Martina bought French fries. We went back watching the bikers. Sadly one biker lost control of his bike and the bike rushed into the audience on its own. A small child got hit, but as far as we can tell no ambulance was required. Besides that incident it was an entertaining event. We continued to go to the Himeji Castle.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We entered the site and bought combined tickets for Himeji Castle and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koko-en_Garden">Koko-en Garden</a> (1040 Yen). Koko-en Garden is located outside the moat surrounding the Castle. We decided to visit it later. First we visited the Long Connecting Corridor (Hyakken Rouka) and were introduced to the history of Himeji Castle. We saw an ancient rice "cooker" and previous states of the site. It is also interesting that several point provide Augmented Reality features. First you need to download <a href="http://www.himejicastle.jp/sp/en/ar.html">an app</a>. Then you start the app and select the self-guided tour menu item. In front of designated AR points, the camera will recognize the stand and switch to a different view. Typically it shows a video, but inside the Pagoda, it also shows the contours of the pillars supporting the pagoda. It helps you to visualize the supporting pillars, but you can screw up the visualization easily by moving too fast. This AR experience was a nice feature of the site.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Continuing through all the different gates featuring tiles with feudal family crests on top (visible in <a href="http://inouetakahilog.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-203.html">a blogpost by inouetakahilog</a>), we eventually reached the Main Keep (pagoda). It has six floors and a basement. Going up the stairs is difficult, because the steps are very steep, you are accompanied by a large crowd of people and you need to take care of your head. I found the weapon racks interesting. They are used for guns and swords. Furthermore some rooms were specifically designed for ambush in case somebody tries to take over the castle (which never happened). We finished our visit of the Main Keep and went outside again. Now it has begun to rain. We lost motivation to spend much more time there. We watched workers renewing parts of the Castle and checked out the Sangoku-bori Moat. We didn’t visit the gates and towers in the East of the site. We left the site and also skipped Koko-en Garden. Martina wanted to continue her studies and the view was foggy anyways.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We spent 4 hours in Himeji in total and 2 hours inside the Castle site. I think the design of the Castle is really remarkable, but because of the rain it feels like we missed some part. We were wondering whether we will return again.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="Lukas in foreground with an umbrella and Himeji Castle in the background" src="images/himeji.jpg" width="450">
</img></span></p></div>
</div>
</div>
Osaka Chikko2016-11-30T16:00:00+09:002016-11-30T16:00:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-11-30:blog/osaka-chikko.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses Saturday, 26th of November 2016.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>For our trip to <a href="rokko-meets-art.html">Rokko meets Art</a> last week, we bought tickets by Hankyu Line. Four of those tickets were for any travel by train (2 people, 2 directions) and we didn’t use them. They expire after this weekend. So it is time to save some money and go to Osaka this weekend. Additionally, because next week mid-term examinations take place, we preferred to have event day on Saturday (instead of Sunday) after our club sessions. This way Sunday is left for our studies.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Martina started with her club activities in the morning. At 09:00 she went to Sumiyoshi (south-east of our university, 30min by foot). Because she hurt her back in a previous training session, she didn’t train with her colleagues. But she wanted to watch the training anyways. She was finished at lunch time, went for lunch and did some shopping in Sannomiya. Whereas on Saturday I have Aikido training at 13:00 regularly. It was the first time I participated in the Saturday training. So I went there by 12:30 and a colleague of mine informed me right before arrival that training today starts at 14:00. So I waited one more hour at university. We practiced some <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aiki-j%C5%8D">Aiki-jō</a> outside, before continuing on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatami">tatami</a>. The weather was very beautiful on this day.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>On 17th of November 2016, I injured my knees at Aikido because we trained a lot in Suwariwaza (kneeing position). The top layer of my skin was ripped off and on the first 3 days afterwards this burned like hell. So I did not participate in Aikido practice last Saturday and last Wednesday because of this. I was back in the dojou this Saturday and hoped my band-aid will soften the burn. Yes, it did, but we started right off in suwariwaza again and the guys trained recognizably serious. They were very fast, very focused and many sensei were watching our backs. As it turns out they are practicing the last time before the next examination the day after. After 3 hours I felt exhausted and texted Martina where/whether she wants to go.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Martina was still motivated and we met in Sannomiya. We used our Hankyu tickets and took a train to Osaka. We arrived at about 18:20 in Osaka and initially I suggested 3 options:</p></div>
<div class="olist arabic"><ol class="arabic">
<li>
<p>
<a href="http://www.kaiyukan.com/">Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan</a>
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osaka_Castle">Osaka Castle</a>
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumiyoshi_taisha">Sumiyoshi-taisha Shrine</a> & <a href="https://battera.co/sightseeing/namba-yasaka-shrine-to-see-the-giant-lion/">Nanba Yasaka Shrine</a> (you might recognize: the latter is represented as image at <a href="http://japan.lukas-prokop.at/">japan.lukas-prokop.at</a>).
</p>
</li>
</ol></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>At this hour the castle and the shrines will be uninteresting. The sun set at about 17:30. In the dark those points of interests are not very attractive. We go for the only remaining option: Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan. Okay, but it will also close its doors sometime, right? We looked it up and recognized the last visitors will get a ticket at 19:00. So it was really necessary to hurry up. Using the subway, it took us about 35 minutes to go from Osaka Umeda to Osaka Chikko where the Aquarium is located. But it is followed by a ~10 minute walk to the Aquarium itself. We ended up to reach the ticket booths of the Aquarium at 19:10 and we didn’t get tickets any more.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Osaka Chikko is one of Osaka’s islands in the Bay. It had many small restaurants and a shopping center was close to the Aquarium. We decided to look for one shop with vegetarian food and get some dinner. The restaurant - we picked - looked traditional Japanese, but it was the first time we got an English menu. I got some Yasai itame (fried vegetable) as part of a set menu. Martina took some set menu too. The dish was not astonishing, but good. We went back to the Aquarium, because next to the Aquarium was a huge Ferris Wheel. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempozan_Ferris_Wheel">Tempozan Ferris Wheel</a> holds up to 480 passengers and provides a ride for a quarter of an hour. It started to rain (therefore no good photos), but we enjoyed it. Remember the <a href="osaka-kita-ward">article, where I mentioned a Ferris Wheel</a>? I think this one was fancier and Martina wanted to go to the other Ferris Wheel this day before we knew about Tempozan Ferris Wheel.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>So in the end, it was a disappointing day where we could not make it in time to the Aquarium. But the dinner and Ferris Wheel were romantic. When I got home, I got sick. Due to the long Aikido training, I dehydrated and my body was dried out. After a night and day with drinking lots of water, I was fine again. Lucky me, I was fine for the mid-term examinations the upcoming week!</p></div>
</div>
</div>
Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area2016-10-31T11:50:00+09:002016-10-31T11:50:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-10-31:blog/horyuji.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses the 29th of October 2016.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In my Japanese class "Japanese Culture" on Monday, we briefly discussed UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Japan. I looked up all of them and found a <a href="http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/indepth/scenic/worldheritage/index.html">nice list</a>. "Buddhist Monuments in the Hōryū-ji Area" is kind of close to my place and therefore I decided to go there for event day. It features the oldest wooden architectures of the world. <a href="http://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=11/34.6888/135.5205&layers=H">This map by OpenStreetMap</a> shows the location:</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="Map ranging from Kobe to Hōryū-ji Area" src="images/horyuji.png" width="400">
</img></span></p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I started around lunch time again. Martina stayed at home. I was a little bit scared whether I can find the destination. <a href="http://www.hyperdia.com/">HyperDia</a> showed one possible, direct route from Sannomiya (provided by JR), but all information at Hyperdia is provided without Kanji. So reading the same trains might be difficult. 1080 Yen is a bit more than my previous travel costs, but I assumed it will be worth it. I started my journey and actually the train’s direction and its time was written in Latin script. So it was not difficult to find the train. I sat down and had a pleasant journey. The chairs are very comfortable and I made an old man’s day by helping him with his luggage. He thanked right after I helped and additionally before he left the train… in English. This was nice.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I left the train. I was confused. There was no sign giving me the name of this small station. Is this Kyūhōji station (and I need to take the next train again) or is it Hōryūji station (where I want to go)? I went up the stairs and saw a promotional poster "Welcome to Hōryūji station!" with some images of the temple. Apparently I was at the right place, but I got confused by the station name I heard when leaving the train.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I takes less than 15 minutes to go from the train station to the temple by foot. I read online there is also a bus, but I was not interested. You immediately recognize the special roof tiles, they use close to the temple. They are crafted beautifully. From a map, I understood the basic structure of the ground and I discovered the ticket office. I wanted to know what parts of the area are public and which required a ticket. So I started with the public parts and basically went from West to East. Not a lot of people were on the Site in the early afternoon (I arrived around 14:00), but this changed at 16:00, when the sun wasn’t covered by any cloud anymore.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Horyu-ji grounds consists of the following buildings:</p></div>
<div class="ulist"><ul>
<li>
<p>
Saiin Garan, with its significant Gojū-no-Tō (5-story pagoda)
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Daihōzōin, with its gallery
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
Tōin Garan, and I personally considered Tōin Shōrō most interesting
</p>
</li>
</ul></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>You can see them on this map:</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="Ground map of Hōryū-ji Area" src="images/horyuji_ground_map.jpg" width="400">
</img></span></p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Basically I traversed the whole area first without a ticket, hence missing the inner parts of Saiin Garan, the gallery of Daihōzōin and Tōin Garan. As far as a ticket at Saiin Garan costs 1500 Yen, Daihōzōin 500 Yen and Tōin Garan 300 Yen, I thought it sums up to 2300 Yen. Spending 23 Euros on visiting those temples is certainly too much. So I only paid the 1500 Yen ticket afterwards and it turns out that this is a collective ticket for all halls. After recognizing this, I traversed the whole area again with the ticket. I was happy about the actual price, but I was annoyed that you are not allowed to take photos within the galleries.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="Toin Shoro at Horyuji in daylight" src="images/horyuji_toin_shoro.jpg" width="300">
</img></span></p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Whereas it was very sunny at 15:00, at 16:30 many areas were already covered by the shadows of buildings. So it was getting cold and I left the area. I ate Tsukine Udon at a restaurant close to the temple. Then I took JR line back to Kobe. However, at Osaka I had to change trains (just like when I got here), but no train on the track headed towards Kobe. I wondered why. I recognized a red warning color for the stations behind Kobe with a note "Level Crossing Check". Of course, it might be a Level Crossing Check, but it is unsual in my opinion that regular trains are interrupted for that. Often people commit suicide with trains and therefore this might be the reason. I was getting cold in my shorts and I exited the JR line at Osaka even though I bought the ticket for Kobe. I joined Hyanku line. I guess they share the same tracks, but I wanted to give it a shot. It was worth it. I took a local train to Kobe, so one hour later I arrived at Sannomiya, Kobe. I tested whether I can enter Hankyu line with my Osaka-Kobe ticket and leave it with my university pass. This does not work. Hence, my university commuter pass stores at least one boolean flag.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In conclusion, the Horyuji area is worth its recognition as UNESCO heritage site. Beautiful wooden architectures. There are comparable sites in China (as it was pointed out to me by a Chinese person showing photos), but I cannot judge on that. On the other hand it is sad, that you cannot take photos inside the galleries.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
Jidai Matsuri in Kyoto2016-10-30T23:40:00+09:002016-10-30T23:40:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-10-30:blog/jidai-matsuri.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses the 22nd of October 2016.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Kyoto is Japan’s former capital city of Japan. It served as Emperor’s residential place until 1868. During <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meiji_Restoration">Meiji Restauration</a>, Japan opened up to the Western world and relocated its capital city to Tokyo. Kyoto remained an ancient city offering many traditional place to remember of the old days. If you want to go sightseeing in Kyoto, it is commonly suggested to stay at least 3 days. We agreed that it is a beautiful city to discover with many interesting places.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jidai_Matsuri">Jidai Matsuri</a> is one of the three large annual events in Kyoto. In the parade people dress up in authentic costumes representing Japanese eras chronologically. The event is held since 1895.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p><span class="image">
<img alt="People in costumes pushing a wagon with a drum on it" src="images/jidai_matsuri.jpg" width="400">
</img></span></p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Because Mitchell took care of the organization, we actually started with event day in the early morning. We left the residence at about 7:45 and picked Hankyu line to go to Kyoto. 690 Yen is less than I expected. We left at Kawaramachi Station, which is already pretty close to where the Parade will start. We recognized very soon the increased amount of people wearing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimono">Kimono</a>. Oh yes, they can be very beautiful!</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Because we expected the Parade to take place between 12:00 and 14:30, we decided to pick up some food from the conbini beforehand. We ate it and watched people going along Kamo river. We headed towards the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Imperial_Palace">Imperial Palace</a>. We saw more and more people heading towards the Parade. We also saw many closed streets with blocks of seats and allocated space for the Parade. If you reserve some seats for ~2000 Yen, you can have a place assigned to you and watch the people passing by, in costumes, while sitting in the front of you.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We waited until 12:00 for the Parade to start. Many foreigners and also locals with family gathered to watch the event. Especially at the beginning many people waited for it to begin though it was not that crowded. They waited behind the boundary line for it to start. Small kids not being allowed to go to the front were obviously bored. I enjoyed watching them. I think Japanese kids are more active but make less noise (less shouting, less crying).</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>And finally the first group of Parade participants came along the path. They started with the most recent costumes and ended with old garments. Because my Japanese is not good enough and the loudspeakers were no hearable at our position, I couldn’t follow which era they represent. People with reserved seats got a flyer with additional information, but I wasn’t able to get such a flyer. But certainly it was nice to see historical Samurai garments and the clothes looked impressive when the person was riding a horse. We approximately one hour our friends changed position and we followed them towards the Imperial Palace where groups start to march. At this position we were closer to the Parade people and could also hear the loud speaker. Though it was exhausting to stand all the time, if you switch positions, take some rest for short times and do small walks, it is endurable. I was glad, that the weather was fine (cloudy but warm). However, it was at that time our friends lost us and they didn’t recognize we changed position together with them (as they explained us later).</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>When the last group left, people immediately started to discard the boundary lines and switched from one side to another by foot. We considered following the last group by foot. However, it got very crowded and we got trapped in a vast crowd pushing in opposite directions. At an intersection we gave up. Originally I wanted to see the Imperial Palace (where groups start) and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heian_Shrine">Heinan shrine</a> (where groups end), but it was impossible to go close to Imperial Palace (as groups dress up there and it is shielded therefore). Considering the large crowd of people pushing us in certain directions, it was too annoying to follow the last group for an estimated hour. We gave up.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We went back to Kamo river, enjoyed the afternoon eating some Pringles and took the train back to Osaka. We wanted to find some sport shoes for Martina’s volleyball training. We didn’t know any specific shop in Osaka, but I remembered shopping centers I discovered previously. As it turns out, we found many shops offering handbags, shoes and clothes. But we didn’t find any shop for sport shoes which we assumed can be found in sport equipment shop. We gave up on this issue as well after visiting many places in Osaka. We were very tired on our train ride back to Kobe, but we continued our search in Kobe as well. However, we were not really motivated and aborted our search very soon again.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Without sport shoes but nice memories of Kyoto, we returned back to the residence. It was a nice event day full of colorful garments and people wearing Kimono. Yes, it was the first time I really missed Felix' camera with its 30x zoom. We walked approximately 10 km within Kyoto.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
Tottori earthquake2016-10-30T13:07:00+09:002016-10-30T13:07:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-10-30:blog/tottori-earthquake.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses a happening on 21st of October 2016.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>On Friday, 21st of October, I have been at Kanji class after lunch time. Kanji is the third writing system of Japanese which is based on Chinese characters and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_unification">mostly shares them</a> with Chinese script. Chinese students have an advantage when learning them, because they don’t need to study the shape and stroke order. However, the pronounciation and especially meaning is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanji#Native_reading_.28Kun.27yomi.29">mostly different</a>. Kanji class is always an important event of the week, because I study Kanji regularly to be prepared for the weekly test. In Japanese class, we don’t get tested on vocabulary on a regular basis. We were discussing 15 Kanji, which includes</p></div>
<div class="ulist"><ul>
<li>
<p>
the stroke order
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
relation to other Kanjis
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
On’yomi and Kun’yomi readings
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
meaning when combined with other Kanji
</p>
</li>
</ul></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Kanji are IMHO, by far, the most difficult topic about learning Japanese.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>When our sensei was explaining some basic Kanji to use, suddenly all Japanese phones went off. Even though most students are exchange students using their mobile from their home country, some of them purchased them from previous students, purchased them in Japan in the first week or the phone is from East Asia. I think generally East Asian phones support this alarm warning system. If I remember correctly, the sound is similar to the one shown <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPDvAYF8Q-I">in this video</a>. It was very loud and first I thought it was coming from the loudspeaker.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>When I came to Japan, I thought the Richter scale is still the measure for earthquake energy. Apparently, scientists use the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moment_magnitude_scale">Moment magnitude scale</a> today. An earthquake of magnitude 3 set in less than 10 seconds afterwards. The earth was shaking and we all watched outside as the trees were shaken and we could observe how the alignment of the university building changed relative to the trees outside. I estimate it lasted about 10-15 seconds. We all got educated on how to respond to an earthquake at the <a href="camera-lost">International Students Orientation</a>. However, in our room no-one hid under the desk as proposed by common earthquake guidelines. In Martina’s class they did. Someone also phoned a student located at the residence at that time. She described the building shook really strong, but the building is very stable. The residence, unlike the university, was built after <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Hanshin_earthquake">1995</a> and is therefore especially robust. You can see multiple structure additionally supporting the building making it very earthquake-safe. But the residence at Minatojima is at sea level whereas the university is located ~150 meters above sea level (hence tremors will be damped more).</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>As it turns out, the earthquake’s epicenter was in Tottori Prefecture. Several building got destroyed, but no-one got seriously hurt. 150000 households had no electricity. Via media, we got asked to watch our for further earth quakes in the upcoming week. Whereas earthquakes got registered in Tottori during the next 3 days, no earthquake was registered at Kobe. In general, you can look up <a href="20161030-01-tottori-earthquake.adoc">earthquakes at JMA, the Japan Meteorological Agency</a>.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>So in conclusion, it is exciting because of the alarm and you can clearly see how the earth is shaking. On the other hand, we survived and it is just a unexpected event during the day.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
Osaka Kita Ward2016-10-24T11:00:00+09:002016-10-24T11:00:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-10-24:blog/osaka-kita-ward.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses the 15th of October 2016.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In the morning, all tables at the residence were dirty. Yesterday evening, a student from Finland organized the "International Students Welcome Party". For 500 Yen, you could join in, drink some beer, eat some snacks and chips and play <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_pong">beer pong</a>. After class, we joined in with a delay (19:00 versus 20:20). I preferred to focus on the social component and so I talked to Japanese, Chinese, German, Austrian and British people. We talked about Japanese religion, ordering Austrian absentee ballots and university organization. In general, I think it was a pleasant evening and totally necessary in a residence where many new people meet.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>The Finnish organizer cleaned all desks while I was looking at the map of Osaka. Today, I wanted to visit Osaka for the first time. For the first time, I am leaving Kobe via train and certainly it will be difficult to navigate within Osaka. I consider the lack of a phone with Android apps and mobile data more and more of a problem. I took some screenshots of the map and left the residence. Martina wanted to stay at home and study. So I was on my own. I started at 14:00.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I used a JR train for the first time. I estimate that it took close to 40 minutes. To go from Kobe to Osaka with JR costs 410 Yen, which is in global comparison very cheap in my opinion. I get more and more used to trains in Japan. It is annoying/confusing that there are two providers for the route from Kobe to Osaka (JR or Hankyu), but I guess this is how competitive capitalism works.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I reached Umeda, Osaka. Osaka has more tall buildings than Kobe. Certainly more people live here than in Kobe. It really can be a challenge to go from place A to B very fast as almost all people are rushing and you are always surrounded by them. However, with my size I can still get a good overview. Fukushima is a ward in Osaka. Osaka, like Kobe, is split into several individual wards with their own management and organization. Fukushima is one of them. The name Fukushima should ring a bell and remind you of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_Daiichi_nuclear_disaster">the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011</a>. However, the name is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima">used several times in Japan</a>.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Basically I was just walking around and searching for some food. I got attracted by a supermarket. It offered many European goods, specifically French ones. Of course, I was not looking for a European shop, so it was actually interested in their combination of Japanese and French food side by side. I grabbed various snacks and a slice of pizza. They were strikingly good. Packing everything together, I went back to the station. I recognized that I went to the south of Umeda, whereas my initial goal was the north. I had one specific goal: I wanted to reach the sea. I planned to use Tokaido Main Line for reference of direction. Technically I was following it into the wrong direction when I went to Fukushima though I neither followed a train route nor this line consciuously. When I got back I mixed up Tokaido Main Line and Osaka Loop Line and therefore went into the east instead of the north. My maps/screenshots were not accurate enough and I recognized that I lost track. Therefore I simply followed the train route. As far as there are buildings of multiple floors side-by-side full of shops and I also came across a shopping street in Yamazakicho, I consider Osaka as a good city to go shopping. I am generally attracted by food and clothing, but I also found shops for entertainment, electronics, restaurants, barbers and supermarkets. In Umeda, the HEP FIVE shopping mall features a small Ferris Wheel on top of it. One person, 500 Yen. Two people, 1000 Yen. I decided to postpone it and do it with Martina at a later point of time. It is more fun with her. Also kind of fun was to find a bridge which allowed pedestrians to pass underneath. However, if you are above 1.8 meters, you need to duck down; not to bump your head.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I reached the sea (at least a branch of the delta) and went back a similar way. I took the Hankyu line (I also use for university) back home. I estimate that it took close to 1 hour by the local train. "Local" means it will stop at every small train station (15 stops from Sannomiya to Osaka). This is different from the JR train I used previously. But with only 320 Yen, I also paid less at Hankyu Line.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In the end, a nice day to get to know Osaka as a shopping city.
Google Maps claims I walked approximately 10 kilometres this day.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
Sign language2016-10-09T17:00:00+09:002016-10-09T17:00:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-10-09:blog/sign-language.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses the 9th of October 2016.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>During the night, my coughing worsened. I woke up and lost my voice. It hurts a lot to speak and eventually leads to coughing. So I did not show up in the study room as planned to meet Martina and stayed in my room. Time to tidy up things and write the remaining blog articles. At 12:30 Martina got hungry and visited me at my room. I told her in sign language about my problem. The question raised, whether there is some special Japanese sign language. Indeed, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Sign_Language">there is</a>. Later on, right before christmas, I even saw Japanese people interacting with sign language.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We decided to go towards the train station. Martina discovered a restaurant nearby and we wanted to try it out. On Sunday, it seems to be closed. So we headed for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7-Eleven">Seven-Eleven</a> conbini. I was curious whether my account balance increased with the money transferred from Europe 3 days ago. Nope, the balance stayed the same. Even though we got some lunch, we were unsatisfied. Finding a clothes line for both of us was a necessary requirement. So we continued our search at the supermarket. Unsuccessful again, we found some dinner. We headed back home again. We came across a sign showing "Minatojima Shopping Center". We got curious which kind of shops there are on this island. As far as I know, besides IKEA, a few supermarkets and a few conbini, nothing of interest can be found on this island. Next time we will check it out. While eating lunch we discussed Japanese courses and how I/we can make some progress. We recognized that we didn’t buy water. We will check out the Shopping Center this evening. We might be able to find a clothes line we are still looking for.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In the evening we met again and went back to the sign. It indicated to go upstairs some stairs we didn’t know so far. We ended up in a nice shopping center. On the left and right side we found shops such as a Fast Food chain, a barber, a phone company, a shoe retailer and a supermarket. As I didn’t plan for a dinner specifically, we went for dinner at the Fast Food chain DomDom. The food was presented in an American style and contained many fat, sugary and fried products. However, the packages are smaller and equipment was still Japanese. It was a funny experience. I ate some fries and Martina got some Cheese Nuggets. I drank Coca Cola and Martina got some toxic-green artifical-tasting drink. I don’t remember its name. I like my fries, but didn’t like Martina’s food.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We continued our journey at an 100-Yen shop. It offers many small gadgets and household products. We were mainly interested in a clothes line. Martina found some <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genk%C5%8D_y%C5%8Dshi">Genkō yōshi</a>; a paper defining a particular structure where to put characters on a paper. Furthermore it defines squares to put Kanji into. This way students learn to stick to a certain size when writing Kanjis. Martina needs the paper for her Writing class. I joined in, because of my interest in typesetting I was familiar with Genkō yōshi from the Wikipedia article and where is a better place to buy some than in Japan. I found some hashi. In the supermarket before lunch, I bought a set of 100 cheap chopsticks. Those chopsticks are meant to be used one time and thrown away. Depending on the quality, wood might chip off cheap chopstick. Good chopsticks (as in ramen restaurants) are mainly built from plastics and feature rough end to avoid food slipping off when grabbing it. So I had 100 cheap chopsticks and bought them to ensure that I have always some at home. But I was actually looking for 1-2 plastic hashi as I have just found. So I bought 2 hashi and now had 101 chopsticks available (I used one pair for lunch). Furthermore both of us got a bowl of plastic to eat some cereals, noodles or alike. Finally we found a solution for our clothes line dilemma: We found a simple rope strong enough to hold our clothes. 30 meters was 15 meters longer than required, but it enabled both of us to dry our clothes outside. I washed my laundry on Friday for the first time and Martina was about to do it today. It was a hazzle without a line on Friday. Our balconies have some supporting elements, but the line was missing. As far as the washing machine and dryer is concerned, unlike we were told at the Residence Orientation, we cannot insert coins directly, but necessarily need to buy cards for 1000 Yen.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Afterwards we visited the supermarket in the Shopping Center. I started to recognize that conbinis are more expensive and have a smaller product palette, but feature extended opening hours. Supermarkets on the other hand have a much larger selection of products and at lower prices. We went through the shop mainly to understand what is available. We both bought water and also Kellogg’s cereals for the morning.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In the end, it was a day with lots of shopping. But we discovered a new part of Hiratojima. Also I start to feel like I learn how to handle food supply and generally buying products for daily life.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I am sorry, if anyone was waiting for me online this evening. Because I have no voice and I was still at the Shopping Center, I was not in the video conferencing room. I also did not inform people. I need to work on my information policy.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
First event day: Jinjas in Kobe2016-10-09T15:00:00+09:002016-10-09T15:00:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-10-09:blog/kobe-jinjas.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses the 8th of October 2016.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>To access the internet, we currently use two connections: Martina’s eduroam account (mine does not work at all after an initially successful phase) or a temporary username + password combination provided by the International Student Center. Eventually we should get our own password, but apparently this did not happen within 8 days we are at the Residence. Therefore Martina discussed it with her advisor (as a minor question). She got informed that there are technical difficulties and we should expect our credentials in the mid of next week. Her advisor was also worried whether "Academic Writing" interferes with her intensive course. Apparently, he must also have found "Academic Writing" in a different session. Anyways, it sounded like her advisor is really trying to help her whereas I didn’t get informed. My conclusion is that information you receive really depends on your advisor and tutor (remember translation issues at the Bank and the incident related to National Health insurance).</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>It is Saturday and therefore Event day. So like every week, we leave the Residence and do something tourist-like. This week: Jinjas in Kobe.
Python users might know <a href="http://jinja.pocoo.org/">Jinja</a>. Its logo shows a shrine and this way you can remember <a href="http://jisho.org/search/jinja">Jinja is Japanese for shrine</a>.
We got a map showing some jinjas in Kobe. Researching its locations, we found out that the map is very accurate and Kobe with its long coast does not fit onto a DIN A4 page. Therefore distances were very wrong. I was glad we prepared our goals.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Because I was coughing badly and wanted to go into public, I decided to test some surgical masks. We dropped by at a conbini and bought some masks. One package containing 7 one-way masks costed 246 Yen.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Certainly my first and major goal was the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikuta_Jinja">Ikuta Jinja</a>. It is located close to Sannomiya and I use a picture of it on the <a href="/">homepage</a> and as background image on <a href="https://appear.in/meisterluk">appear.in/meisterluk</a>. An appropriate final destination seemed the Okurayama Park. So at 12:00 we started off at Sannomiya and went to Ikuta Jinja. It is our first contact with Shintoism. The most interesting point of Japanese religion in my opinion is its combination of old traditions and sociological progress. If you look at Austria and its religious representatives, you will find a conservative group of traditionalists. As far as I can see this is different in Shintoism. People are proud of their old traditions, but separate it from political issues. At shrines you will find many people sticking to their traditions. First, you need to clean yourself by washing both hands by pouring water over them. In front of shrines, you will find boxes where you donate some money and wish for good health (or alike). Then you are allowed to ring the large bell to make the wish become true. Charms are small widgets offered for ~300 Yen which should bring you luck in a certain part of your life. This is another way to get luck or donate money. Inside a shrine, photographs are not allowed. I was wondering about that and many people took photos at Ikuta Jinja. It seems like you are not allowed to take photos inside the shrine building, but from outside it did not seem like a problem. Ikuta Jinja is really a beautiful shrine and worth looking at. It comprises a typical Japanese design. In terms of photography, I had difficulties photographing it. Because of the curvy roofs, many parts below the roof are in shadow which gives poor quality for my photos. I need to improve upon it.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Our next destination was the NHK main building in Kobe. NHK is Japan’s public broadcasting company. However, we discovered a ramen restaurant (Japanese noodles) beforehand and went into it. A nice chef greeted us and due to Martina’s Japanese skills we found some appropriate ramen. This was the first time I felt saturated after a meal, because meals are typically smaller than in Europe or America. At the ramen restaurant, the TV was running and we watched some melodrama while eating our ramen. Our hashi skills (chopsticks) got trained as well.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We only saw the NHK building from the outside and it was not spectacular at all. We immediately headed to our next goal: Kobe Mosque, the first Mosque in Japan. When taking our first photo, a man in a car mentioned we could go inside to look at the Mosque. We decided not to but looked at the Mosque from outside. It was a very nice building to look at.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Our next destination was Sorakuen; which I expected to be a general garden. We were asked to pay 300 Yen entrance fee and wondered whether it would be worth it. First we passed some palms and the Kodera stable; it features a German design. The Hassam House was designed as fusion of Eastern and Western design elements. Currently, they are construction sites inside, because they are preparing for an exhibition. So far I thought that was not worth 300 Yen, but then we found the second part of the garden. It has a pont where we found some koys and turtles. Some kids were throwing stones at them and Martina teached me that "Dama" is used to shout, making them stop. At the pont, a typical Japanese boat house - with golden decoration - and a tea house - reconstructed after war - can be found. I totally wanted to see a Japanese garden and wondered why it was not considered a Japanese garden in one of the tourist websites I found. The 300 Yen were worth it and we proceeded to our next destination which was a Catholic church.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Again we did not enter the church, but we recognized that we can spot several building in Japan made of red brick. This is something I commonly associate with Great Britain. In the following, we briefly saw the Chuo Police Department, which was a tall building and as often, a single man in the front took care of surveilling it. We headed towards the first protestant church in Kobe. This building reminded me more of Austria than the red brick Catholic church. Because fire cars in general look cool, we went to the "Chuo Fire Department of Yamate Branch". The fire cars looked indeed very cool, but we did not find the departmet initially. So we traversed the streets consecutively. I mentioned that cars in average are narrower than in Europe. This also holds for Japanese fire cars. We continued through some small side streets and wondered how people can actually drive into their parking spot. In the first floor they park their car and go up the stairs. In the second and third floor, they are living on narrow space.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Finally we arrived at Okurayama Park. It consists of a large baseball field. People use it for jogging around. In the rear, the area has many trees and people actually practice their instrument there. A woman was practicing an etude for flute lessons. I guess when living in a small Japanese house with several family members, this seems an admissible alternative for practicing the instrument. Because insects kept biting us the whole day (and especially in this area), we were sped up and finished our journey. We went to the next train station. We dropped by at the bakery within Sannomiya train station. I got something I would describe it as "Zuckerreinkerl mit Schokolade statt Honig" in German. In English I describe it as dough of multiple layers. In between there are raisins, sugar and chocolate. It tasted delicious, but I ate it at home.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Enough for the day. Considering I felt sick with my bad coughing, it was an eventful day we spent together, even though we mainly walked around (about 4.5km) and litte action was involved.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
Our first supermarket2016-10-03T04:30:00+09:002016-10-03T04:30:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-10-03:blog/our-first-supermarket.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses the 2nd of October 2016.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>On Sunday, nothing special was planned. I had lots of planning and work ahead of me. Martina was tired beginning from the morning.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>I got up and went to the study room to use the eduroam connection. Sadly it did not work at all. After a few hundred trials, I gave up. I met up with Martina and wanted to do some shopping. We were still lacking soap, trash bags, toilet paper and other equipment in our room. So for the first time we planned to visit a supermarket; not a convenience store. A supermarket like a convenience store is very close to our residence.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We discovered interesting items. Including products by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knorr_(brand)">Knorr</a> or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggi">Maggi</a>. Martina took care I don’t consider "something that looks like a soap" as a soap, but a kitchen cleaner. She interpreted my wrong Katakana correctly and hinted me to the right decisions. I got some bread with Jam (for lunch), some nuts (as afternoon snack), some fruit in jelly ("dinner") and a sandwich (breakfast). Martina only grabbed some Jelly. Furthermore we found trash bags for the first time. Martina didn’t buy bedding equipment the previous day. So she has more cash left. I made debts for ~1500 Yen for the first time to make sure I have enough money to eat tomorrow. Hopefully we will get our bank accounts soon.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>On our way home, we recognized that Martina bought almost nothing to eat for her. I guess I have used her as a translator too much. I need to take better care of her.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>At home we shared food. The nuts turned out to be non-vegetarian (containing fish) and actually we both didn’t like that much jelly.
Martina showed me that her TUGraz eduroam connection works. So I switched from Uni Graz to TU Graz eduroam and it also worked. Being online, I was happy again and working productively to get my things done. But at ~22:00 I lost my connection again and I was left without internet. Work regarding this weblog and homepage does not require an internet connection, so I was left busy anyways.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Apparently I started at roughly 17:00 (excluding a shower, video chatting with my parents and dinner) and it is now 04:53. I need to get up in less than 3 hours again. Good night!</p></div>
</div>
</div>
Visiting Sannomiya2016-10-03T04:00:00+09:002016-10-03T04:00:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-10-03:blog/visiting-sannomiya.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses the 1st of October 2016.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>So it is our first Saturday in Kobe. We visited the convenience store in the morning to got some sweets. In the following, we headed towards Sannomiya.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Sannomiya is the center in Kobe. As it will turn out, the municipal office, the City Hall, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wards_of_Japan">ward</a> office and other important building are close to the station. We started our ride with the Portliner to travel the opposite direction of the previous day; from Kita Futo to Sannomiya. It is very funny to sit in the Portliner and look across Minatojima from above. If you look at my pictures, you might recognize that the trains don’t have a human driver. At Sannomiya I felt that I was in a big city. If we look at the data, we have:</p></div>
<div class="ulist"><ul>
<li>
<p>
270,000 inhabitants in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graz">Graz, Austria</a>
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
1,853,000 inhabitants in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna">Vienna, Austria</a>
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>
1,536,499 inhabitants in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobe">Kobe, Japan</a>
</p>
</li>
</ul></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>making Kobe, the fifth-largest city of Japan. It is smaller than Vienna in terms of number of inhabitants, though you need to point out that space is much more compressed in Japan. Houses of many floors are usual and the tram is built into the air to use space more efficiently. This means that on an average train station in Kobe, you will see more passengers than in Vienna.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Walking around in Sannomiya, I added the goal to visit <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikuta_Shrine">Ikuta Jinja</a>, but Martina correctly pointed out that we went in the opposite direction. We sticked to our main goal to find a suitable restaurant where we can eat something more nutritious than the previous days. We stopped in front of a Japanese restaurant and because we didn’t know what to expect, we were excited about this next challenge.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We sat down between a pair of Japanese women and a young couple. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oshibori">Oshibori</a> were laid down immediately when we sat down and water to drink was offered as well. Unlike most Japanese menus, this menu did not feature picture to represent what is going to be ordered. We peeked to the other desks to see some wonderful plates of sushi and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sashimi">Sashimi</a>. We settled down to interpret the menu. Thanks to Martina’s skills, we were able to get a general idea of the menu and iterated over the items multiple times. Apparently, the women must have wondered about us and eventually asked us whether we are fine. We asked them to translate a few items. Thanks to the woman, we were able to order some noodles with onion salad for me and Martina got a mixed plate including <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempura">Tempura</a>. In total we paid roughly 2,100 Yen which corresponds to 18 Euros in the EU. The taste was definitely above the average. Martina conjectured that the women got a free drink by the serving lady, because they helped us ordering. When leaving the restaurant I recited a new phrase I learned by Martina: "Oishii katta desu" (It was delicious), the past tense of "Oishii desu" (Delicious!).</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>After this awesome experience, we went through the city without particular goal. But Higashiyuenchi Park ( 東遊園地 ) was just beautiful, so we stayed there for a long time. We watched Japanese people in daily life passing by. We say parents playing with their children in the grass. Lukas was fascinated by a small kid which excited about the Hanshin Awaji Monumentum, which reminds people of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Hanshin_earthquake">1995 Kobe earthquake</a>. It drops water on a glass plate. Below this glass plate, a monumentum is built with names of all victims. The kid ran excitedly towards the water, made gestures with its hands and ran back to the bench close to its mother. On our back home we recognized other people taking a photo of a butterfly and I joined in. Furthermore we learned that the golden statue holds the clock stopped at the time of the earthquake, because originally it fell down due to the earthquake and stopped working.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Considering a wonderful meal and a nice trip to Kobe City, we went back to the residence. I tried to take photos of our street comparable to the one of Google Street View, but failed with the first attempt. I ended up writing blog articles.</p></div>
</div>
</div>
Going to IKEA2016-10-03T03:15:00+09:002016-10-03T03:15:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-10-03:blog/going-to-ikea.html<div id="preamble">
<div class="sectionbody">
<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses the 30th of September 2016.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Yes, IKEA is really the (only?) choice to get furniture at the island. So with measurements of my bed in mind, we went to IKEA.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Unlike the afternoon, no lady was standing in the entrance area and offering you an IKEA bag. Very few people were left and we learned that 25 minutes are left before the lockers were emptied. 30 minutes afterwards the store will close. We took the challenge. I already felt a bit sick. I was not feverish, but I didn’t want a dinner to avoid vomitting. We going through the store, my body temperature rised a bit, because it was exhausting to me. At IKEA we bought Daim sweets, a pillow for Martina and bed protectors for both of us in the afternoon. In the evening, we bought blanket and pillow for me. I spent 12485 Yen at IKEA as estimated (with 10000 Yen) by a blog I found online beforehand. For dinner, Martina ate a hot dog (I don’t remember the price, but they are said to be cheap) and I only drank some water. I felt sick now. We got curious about ice teas offered at many places, but we saved it for later. On our way home, we again bought water at a convenience store and it got dark in the meanwhile.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>At home, Martina helped me to go to sleep and I slept for 14 hours (!!!). I drank several times during the night. I recognized that maybe I was just dehydrated from carrying all the luggage to the residence in the morning. In the morning I got up and felt fine again.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>IKEA was a nice experience and it is funny to see how the swedish furniture company adapts its products to minimalistic Japanese housing style.</p></div>
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Visiting Minatojima2016-10-02T16:00:00+09:002016-10-02T16:00:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-10-02:blog/visiting-minatojima.html<div id="preamble">
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<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses the 30th of September 2016.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Minatojima is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Island">Port Island</a>, we live at. It seems like a mixture of a residential and industrial area. Many large buildings with either a company name on it (industry) or individual units on each floor (residential). The train helps people to get to the mainland and there is the problem we experience now: there are no restaurants and lively areas on the island.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Without a breakfast at 14:00, we were hungry and Lukas had no bedding equipment at all (no sheets, no blanket, only a small pillow). Time to go shopping! Talking to a Finnish resident (who confirmed that staying 1 year abroad is much better than 6 months), we asked for restaurant recommendations. He hesitated to mention anything specific and recommended restaurants at the mainland. But we just arrived from the mainland and wanted to discover Minatojima. Martina and I started going along in a random direction.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Seven Eleven is one popular convenience store for foreigners, because the ATM machines work with foreign ATM cards. We looked at it, but wanted to find a restaurant. We gave up after some more 10 minutes. We recognized that we won’t find a restaurant at this island. Going back a similar way, we came across Seven Eleven again and grabbed some snacks (2 rise balls and a bread with corn) with water. Whereas I consumed my items immediately, Martina was required to warm up her rice ball first. We also reached IKEA. Yes, the swedish furniture company is also popular in Japan. We saw the IKEA store already from the train. We wanted to get some bedding equipment and decided to do it immediately. As it turns out we did not know the measurements of our bed and Lukas hesitated to estimate them (which was the right decision by the way). But we got a general idea what IKEA offers. I jokingly said "Well, IKEA offers something to eat in Austria" and, yes, in Japan too. We considered it for dinner. We headed back to the Residence and put our remaining items into the fridge.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>At 16:00 one of three orientations per day for arriving students take place. We joined at 16:00; together with 2 girls and the German we met at the train station. We got information on how to write our address, open the post box, do the laundry and how to handle garbage. We also got an idea of the important rooms in the building. Yes, the water is clean and drinkable, though I need to point out that you can smell and taste chlorine, which I am not used to as Austrian. No, visitors are not allowed though if we ask beforehand he might make an exception.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>It was the first time, I said Hi online, because accidently my eduroam configuration from Austria works in Japan as well. We will receive our own WiFi password on Monday.</p></div>
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Going to our residence2016-10-02T08:15:00+09:002016-10-02T08:15:00+09:00Lukastag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-10-02:blog/going-to-our-residence.html<div id="preamble">
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<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses the 30th of September 2016.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>A few days before, we were asked whether we want a tutor to help us finding the residence. Because we started at the Hostel and didn’t know when we will be ready in the morning, we decided to handle it on our own. As it turns out, we were one of the very few people to do so. But with Martina’s experience with reading Kanji, we successfully used public transport for the first time.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Waking up at 9:30 at the hostel, we recognized that we suffered from a jetlag. I was very dry and needed something to drink (and eat for breakfast). Because of our journey in the neighborhood at the previous day, I already knew where to find a convenience store. I grabbed some water (a very expensive one as it turned out) and brought it our hostel. At the hostel, I also found some maps for Kobe for free, which turned out to be helpful. Studying our path to go to our designated Kobe residence for International Students, we recognized that we would take two trains. However, finishing our room and studying the material took some time and we started at 11:00. We expected to start earlier and therefore decided to skip breakfast.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>We headed immediately to Shinkaichi station and bought tickets. 260 Yen don’t seem much, but paying each direction individually accumulates to a high price. For now it was fine, but the Student Commuter Pass helps a lot to reduce costs when going to university. Once you had the tickets, we pushed them into the machine and it will register your initial point of travel. It will spit out the ticket again 1 meter in front of you. Don’t dare to loose this ticket, because when leaving the train, you need to push it into the machine again. It will determine whether you paid correctly.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>The Hanyku line towards Osaka dropped us at Sannomiya. Sannomiya can be considered as center of Kobe. We left the train, pushed our tickets (yay! we paid correctly!) and tried to find our next train. It is called Portliner and takes passenger either to Kobe Airport (for domestic flights) or general destinations at Minatojima (the Port island). We paid 250 Yen for the Portliner. Because no train was available for the latter, we took one heading towards the Airport and left at Shimin Hiroba station as suggested by the loud speakers. Waiting a few minutes at the station, the next train took us to Kita Futo which is the closest train station to the Kobe University International Students Residence. At the station, Martina went to the toilet and I started a chat with another foreigner. He was from Germany and also just arrived to go to the same Residence. He had a tutor with him and as a team of four, we went to the Residence by foot. It takes roughly 5 minutes to go there.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>At the residence 2 officials waited to register arriving students. We got our key, sheets of paper with instructions and an explanation how to go to our room. Martina and I are in different buildings, so we split up and put our luggage into our rooms. As it turned out, Martina’s room wasn’t cleaned. The floor was very dusty, the bathroom had many stains and the freezer was really gross. We decided to report it and the official tolds us the room will be cleaned on Monday again. Later he checked and confirmed that the freezer proves that the room was not cleaned. As it turned out, Martina was not the only one with an uncleaned room though a cleaning fee is paid by every resident, when moving out.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>In conclusion, it would have been very difficult to find the right trains without Martina and registering at the Residence was not without troubles, but fine.</p></div>
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Arriving in Japan2016-10-01T23:21:00+09:002016-10-01T23:21:00+09:00Martinatag:japan.lukas-prokop.at,2016-10-01:blog/arriving-in-japan.html<div id="preamble">
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<div class="paragraph"><p>※ This article discusses the 29th of September 2016.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Our arrival in Japan was well planned. We arrive (by the latest) at 18:40 at Kansai International Airport, go through the passport control, get our <a href="">Residence Card</a>, and finally claim our luggage. The next step would be to take the <a href="">MK Skygate Shuttle</a> to go to the <a href="http://yumenomad.com/">Yume Nomad hostel</a>. Of course, both services were already booked from Austria at the end of August.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>The first few steps went smoothly. The dinner and breakfast at the plane was fine. We even got our first towels - Japanese people use - to clean our hands before eating. The plane landed without troubles, we filled out some forms (Japan government loves its forms), got through the passport control after some waiting, and received our Residence Card right away.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>Obviously, we were the last passengers of our flight due to this long procedure. We looked for our luggage on the baggage lane, but could not spot it. A few moments later an airport employee approached us and guided us to our suitcases. They were standing next to the lane and two other employees watched over them. If I had not experienced this on a previous trip to Japan, I would have been really surprised by this.</p></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>No challenge so far. But from now on, all our wits were needed.</p></div>
<div class="dlist"><dl>
<dt class="hdlist1">
Challenge 1
</dt>
<dd>
<p>
Find the counter of the MK Skygate Shuttle. The e-mail said "After passing through immigration and customs, please come to the MK counter next to gate H on the first floor of the airport as soon as possible."
So we went as fast as possible from the ground floor to the first floor. Up there we looked around for the counter or gate H, but could not find either of them. Lukas went to the information counter to ask, where we need to go. And that was the moment we got reminded that in Japan the ground floor is called first floor and the first floor is called second floor and so on.
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</dd>
<dt class="hdlist1">
Challenge 2
</dt>
<dd>
<p>
After we finally found our shuttle, we travelled quite relaxed to our next destination, the Yume Nomad hostel. This should not be a problem, since the MK Skygate Shuttle takes people "right to the door". Unfortunately, the Yume Nomad hostel is in very small side street of a shopping street (no cars allowed). The driver even bothered to get out his car and showed us the way to our hotel. We only noticed that this was the wrong location when he was gone already. Walking around, we tried to find the hostel on our own. Our approach to show the address of the hostel to some people around us did not work out. One local pointed out, that this address is "1 hour foot walk this direction". Actually, it was close by 2 minutes by foot at this point in time. The Japanese address system is quite complicated and maybe we would have been more successful if we had asked for the Yume Nomad hostel instead of its address. During our short journey around the Shinkaichi area we found different food shops, a Patchinko hall (gaming hall) and a train station. Just when we unsuccessfully checked the whole shopping street for our hostel, a nice Japanese guy approached us. He recognised immediately where we wanted to go and took us to the Yume Nomad hostel. This will not be the first and only time Japanese politeness helped us out!
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</dd>
<dt class="hdlist1">
Challenge 3
</dt>
<dd>
<p>
We finally managed to arrive at our booked hostel. But since we arrived at Shinkaichi close to 10pm and this is the deadline for check-in, we were already too late. There was a phone number given on the door and we decided to call it. But my mobile phone did not work. It still does not. Luckily, Lukas' mobile phone worked without problems. We managed to call and we could still check-in. The staff was really nice.
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</dd>
</dl></div>
<div class="paragraph"><p>This was our first day with actual Japan feeling. Polite people, Lukas' first ride on the left side of the street, thin cars compared to American SUVs, we applied Japanese slipper conventions in our hostel and Lukas bumped into the low ceilings.</p></div>
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