Robins Japan

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 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...

The holiday is nearly done, we are busy with meeting many people and still im learning new things. For example Hoppy (ホッピー ) . We were at Yakiniku with old colleagues of my wife where I discovered that little bit unusual drink for me. It turned out to be some kind of light beer and you mix it in a glass with shochu(Japanese snaps). So I had half a glass shochu and mixed it with my hoppy and still much hoppy was left so I needed more shochu which then reminded me that I lately don't drink so much alcohol, so I got a little drunk. Funny drink. Also we could do a game for 500yen, where one of us could catch as much meat as possible with one hand to put it on the Yakiniku grill. I won the "who has the biggest hand challenge" on the table and was forced to do my best. がんばれ！(ganbare ) I managed around 300 gramm. Maybe not so much but also not bad. Anyway it was fun so thanks for forcing me :D The next day my wife was shopping in shinjuku and I was suddenly in akihabara in ...

These days in Tokyo its much about meeting my wife's friends and my father in law and sister in law. It's fun but also a hard schedule. Yesterday we were still in Tokyo but also far away from the inner city Tokyo life. First in a more suburban area around Akishima city where I learned a traditional game called Kendama. It's a dexterity game where you try to catch a ball on a string at the plates or the stick of the "ken" with which you hold the Kendama. It's hard to explain but if you're interested you can ask my friend Google. He also told me that in the edo area some geishas used that kind of game as a secret weapon if it was necessary. We basically just had a big laugh in trying it out :D Later that day we were still in Tokyo prefecture but the looking was more like the area of my father in law in tokushima. Much forests and mountains. The village is called hinoharamura. We were there to met friends and there was also a local festival with a lighti...

So, this is my seventh time in Japan and this time it's three weeks holiday. This time we will visit Tokyo, Okinawa and Fukuoka. The first day was actually surprising and interesting. While landing at Narita Airport we saw an airplane labeled with  "BvB" which is a big football club in Germany. I first thought they are in Japan.   After some research it turned out the club has a partnership with Mongolian airlines who are allowed to use that brand in boths interests. But still its nice to see unique painted airplanes. Later that day my wife wanted to go to her favorite hairdresser at jiyugaoka (自由が丘) there I found out that in Japan are much more male hairdressers then in Germany. But even more interesting was the Matsuri in front of the station we accidentally bumped in. They did traditional dances from the area. The dance is called Bonodori (盆踊り). Many people joint the dance on the street. So did we then and it was quite funny! After that heavy workout we really need...

So im back at home and finally there is time to write about my experience at my japanese wedding.  We already did all the official parts in Germany, so in Japan we only did the party which was exactly the " hiroen " party (披露宴). But lets start a little bit earlier.... The Preperation Finding a place At first you have to find a place where you want to make the party. Japanese people normally check many places, often Hotels or other Buildings where people do mainly weddings. But since we live in Germany we had not so much time for that and checked much beforehand at the internet and in our holiday we were visiting one place.  The Place we were visiting was gorgeous, actually it was like my wife was so excited and she liked it very much while i was very worried if we can afford such a place!  When we arrived we got picked up by the staff and everything seemed to be luxurious, we checked the prices and found out how to make it less expensive like ch...

So, I'm back to tokyo and a little bit I have trouble to write about new things couse many things I already discovered (I can't write about every karaoke session even if there are epic :D). But I'm staying in a different area than usual. This time I'm at a hotel near osaki station. I'm actually surprised. I expected nothing but a near place to my wedding. But at the station there is the "Ohsaki New City" (I don't know why the hell there they wrote it with "h" and at the station without) so actually at the new west and new east exit of osaki station you have a nice area with a mall, many cafés and restaurants. Also it's not so crowded and if you still want the crowd it's pretty close to shibuya too.

久しぶりです (hisashiburi desu) long time no see. Soon i will travel my sixth time to Japan and since im having a wedding party there and some of my folks comming too i finally found motivation to write a short How-to Tokyo! This How-To is highly based on my personal experiences and my way of doing things, so keep in mind there are probalby different ways of handling things. At the end of the article is a small summary with some main tipps. So far i hope you enjoy my tipps and i will write soon from again from japan! Where to stay There are several Hotels in Tokyo. Still its wise to book beforhand. Sometimes there are busy seasons especialy when the students apply for universitys many hotels are booked out. Its wise to not stay near to the airport. Which part of the city depends a little on your intressts but anyway from every part you can easily visit the other districts with the train. For me i liked the area around korakuen near tokyo dome the most couse of easy access and many ...

Today was my last day at my language school (Genkijacs in Tokyo). I really enjoyed it. I think i learned much and fast for the time i was there. I also booked my apartment over the school. That was a easy way to get a cheaper place to live. Then i started in a total beginners class even if i had japanese lessons for some months at a adult school. But you can't compare 90min learning a week with 4 hours a day plus homework and beeing in the country plus sometimes learn even more just couse you are motivated. So i think after 3 days or so we all were at the same level and i learned only new things after this. Also it was good that we were a new class. So everyone was new. That makes it easier to bond with the people. Even so i didn't met not nice people at the school. We all have the same goal and paid to be there. That makes learning another thing. It was a bit like school when i was younger. But here i had more fun and was motivated and my classmates also. So it was a good le...

Wohoo, welcome to tokyo to me :D After a great flight with really huge space (i even could transform my seat into a bed! ) i landed in Tokyo Narita. There i realized finally: my smartphone is too old. The thing is i wanted to by a data sim card so i can surf the net while im around (or navigate my self at home if i get lost). Last year there was no problem at all with this. If i had a newer smarteit wouldn't be a problem, too. But mine still uses a regular sim card and nearly all shops only had micro and nano... After an hour or so i found one with regular sim cards. But only for 7 or 14 days. Great thing that i stay longer. Im to special for them xD So if you travel here with an old smartphone,  buy yourself an adapter or something before coming here. It makes things easier. I also had the option to rent another smartphone. But fuck this. Im using my old friend and bought a 14 day and a 7 day card. There goes my money. Hours later i arrived at my apartment after a short heart...

So while it is not long till my trip starts, i bought some last things like these strange little travel shower bottles. Also some clothes have to be washed. So far, so normal. Then i rewatched "The Ramen Girl". It is really a great movie which is in english and japanese.  It transports how lost you can feel in tokyo while everyone is talking japanese and you understand nearly nothing! But it made me feel like i was there again. It was confusing but fun and feels like adventure. The thrill is to discover the things you don't understand. What made me really proud was that this time i watched the movie i really understand some japanese words! So hey, learning does help! I talked with a japanese friend of mine about the movie and it turns out that one of the co-producers of the movie is the principal of the school where she is taking drama classes. Seems again the world is small. And it made me feel more connected and anticipation for this small city im about to visit again...