Robins Japan

Finally I was at the Pokémon Café at Nihombashi in Tokyo. The café opened last year in Tokyo but i didn't managed to go there last time cause you have to reserve a table beforehand! The website for reservation is only partly in english but I was able to reserve without further help. The café is located in Nihombashi inside a mall. In front of the café was a big sleeping snorlax (Relaxo in german and Kabigon in japanese). Also there was a big merchandise shop with all the things you also can find in Pokémon Centers like in Ikebukuru. At the entry was a timetable and everyone for an specific time got together inside. All where seated in the same area at the café. After seating you have 90min to spend in the café. The orders can be placed via tablet. We orders the Pikachu curry, Umbreon chicken burger (Nachtara in German and Buraki in Japanese) and a Gengar smoothie (in German and Japanese also Gengar). The Gengar smoothie was the best of those three. Even so it was more like i...

So we went to Karuizawa. Where is Karuizawa and why you ask? Karuizawa is in the Nagano prefecture. A little bit more than one hour with the shinkansen from Tokyo station. We went there cause we watched Terrace House, a Japanese reality TV show on Netflix. And the last season was in Karuizawa.  Maybe for the most people I have to explain Terrace House first. It's not like German or American reality TV. So don't expect so much trash there. In the Terrace House six young people are living together and get filmed through their daily live. So they talk, they work and they Date. Actually most stories are about the dates of the Terrace House members. Some of them have some goals they want to archive while staying in the Terrace House and move out when they reach that goal. Some just stay there the whole time. Some move out very quickly. There is no script and no forced games or something like that. But to be honest many of the members are models or actors. For the normal Japane...

It's my 10th time in Japan. Some things start to get normal, many things are still impressing. But there are still many new things and areas. I was in Kichijōji. Mainly cause we watched the drama "Hibana: Spark" on Netflix and the main character was living there and he was in that park sometimes (Inokashirakoen). Instead of musicians like in the drama we found silence and funny pedal boats in the park. So it was still nice. About Kichijōji I was very surprised how nice the area is. It's a little bit more outside of the Tokyo centers. But only a 20-30 min ride by train from shibuya. If you drive there, you get to see much shopping places and restaurants. So if you get tired of the crowded shibuya and all the other tourists, maybe you should check out Kichijōji. There are still many people but it's less crowded and you will find nearly everything there, too. What I found, while searching a restaurant, was a ツリボリカフェ(tsuribori Café). It's a place where y...

I did it, I was back at my language school in Tokyo. It just took me 3 years to do so. I had some extra holiday cause of changing my job, so it was my chance to come back. This time only two weeks. I was actually nervous cause I studied Japanese mainly by myself in the last years and didn't know which class I would fit. Beforehand I did an online test which already pointed out my weaknesses: grammar... At the first day at school I did another test plus an interview to check my level. So my vocabulary were good, my kanji knowledge, my listening and talking but my grammar pretty much sucked. I had the choice to enter two different levels. I chose the higher one and got additional homework to match up with my classmates. But even the higher Level was much lower what I studied in my current book. But it was good. Through the test I found out I cheated my way around many grammar rules and in the class I finally understood some important points. Apparently I was not the only one in...

So this year I'm in Tokyo in December and will return shortly before Christmas to Germany. First I thought, here I will feel less of a Christmas spirit then at home. I was soo wrong. So while in Germany we have of course the Christmas markets and much dekorations outside, the Japanese seem to enjoy the decorating even more. Nearly everywhere I go there is Christmas dekoration, the staff has Christmas accessories, there are special Christmas offers, special Christmas food and some places have really beautiful illuminations. Ah and don't forget that you will hear mainly Christmas songs in the cafés or departments. In some places there are even Christmas markets. But i haven't yet time to visit one due to of a busy schedule (I'm studying Japanese at a school this trip) and a cold. But my Christmas spirit feeling here is quite higher than I expected. We will not stay for actual Christmas here. While the decoration here is really good, the Celebration is different. Fo...

So I was in Vienna recently and it was a really nice trip. Vienna has many things to offer for tourists like castles, churches, driving horse buggies, a good train connection and food. Every time in Germany I am a little bit disappointed about trains here, just cause I know how good it can be in Japan. In Vienna they have that nice airport train called the City Airport Train (CAT). The CAT drives within 15 min from the Airport to the City and its clean and convenient . But the best feature was the city check-in which some airlines offer.So you can check in your luggage before even arrive the airport! So the train feels a little bit like Japanese service. What else feels like japan? Some restaurants! For some reasons in Vienna are Japanese restaurants who over more than just sushi. In Germany are of course also some restaurants in Düsseldorf where you can get more than sushi but still its sometimes quite limited. In Vienna we tried some restaurants and where surpri...

So today i was in the yamanote line while rush hour. That reminded me why i prefer a Japanese rush hour full train over a German full one. I say rush hour full because i think most Germans can't know how full a train in Japan can be. It's if never experienced hard to imagine. So here are my two short descriptions of German full and Japanese rush hour full trains. Germany : In Germany a full train is no fun. People are stressed. And they are not used to full which makes them expose their stress to the outside. Then u have the loud people who doesn't help at all in that situation. On the top of that if you want to go out, no one moves. So if possible long before your station comes you have to push yourself to the exit. Ah and by the way if you are to nice, the chance is high that people will ignore you and you are stuck. So sometimes even if you are friendly you have to be harsh then. Otherwise next station, next chance. Its not your station? Bad luck. If you made it...