woensdag 30 maart 2016

Epixx

Hello and welcome to another day of great Japan experiences.

Featuring today: The great mountains north of Tokyo.

So you saw the wake-up view. Well rest assured the day did live up to that expectation. I followed advice from the guesthouse owner to go to a shrine up in the mountains. About 600 meters higher in just 20 minutes...

 On my way to the top!

Beautiful views!!



I also came across a few animals!

a chimp!

a japanese goat or deer so I am told

and a peculiarly looking beetle 😀

On to some culture! Up the mountain was a beautiful and famous shrine with an 800 year old tree that is believed to possess great power. When I touched it I could feel it pulsing strongly (then again I am a treehugger..)


it's a shrine yo. 


After seeing the shrine and awesome tree I found an onsen and went naked.
That's right! Onsens are pretty much like wellness in Belgium, but they emphasize on hot baths rather then sauna.
There I met a nice guy, we started talking and ended up eating lunch together.

Hot sobasoup with mountain vegetables. Very tasty and unique to this region!
After a good talk he suggested to guide me around tomorrow in an authentique town on the way back to Tokyo. Perfect!!

Here are some final shots of a great day that ended in a typical dinner at the guesthouse.

japanese pancakes!!!

And top things - a romantefied version of an onsen for girls

Mhmmm... 😈




dinsdag 29 maart 2016

Back to ryukan

So the next morning I wake up late (which is rare for me in this country) and decide to followup on the advice the owner of the ryukan gave me the day before.

Turns out it is a 2h15m drive, with backpack on. But I'm feeling sharp! 

The first hour is just highways, very exhausting. But luckely the sun is bright, again no hypthermia, thank God!

The second part is amazing. Mountains everywhere.. I take a small pitstop after 1h30m driving to get some 'breakfast'.
In this country convenientstores have very tasty plastic wrapped food!
I got a cheese bacon sandwhich and omelet (yes plastic wrapped..)

When I drove on.. this:


It was a very sweet ride. As I got nearer to my location, my expectations kept rising. There was only one guesthouse/hotel in the area so this could go many ways...

So finally I arrive. I rode past it at first because it is hard to notice from the outside. I go inside, pay 3000¥ (like only 23€..) and get to see my room...
He explains to me that I am the only guest today so I get the best room!


And this is why it is the best room. This is the view from my window:


I was amazed by the beauty I ended up in...

Next I went back into town for food. In a small shop on the way to thesupermarket I met a nice lady who gave me some free food when I only bought one drink. She was so kind..

Back at the guesthouse the owners offered me some of this:

tasty squid with sojasauce

So we shared food and drinks and we had some good talks. They asked a lot about my profession and were enthousiastic about my working methods. They said Japan needed psychologists like me. I felt flattered!  😀

The next morning I woke up to this:


Thats the view from my bed.. 😃

Okay thats enough for today. More soon!!

turning sadness around!

This day was all wrong..

I looked up a hostel and another and another. Everytime when I got there it turned out I could not park my bike and had to wait real long for check-in.

So from 11 to 14 I wasted time looking for a place...
I guess not planning in advance will sometimes lead to this...
The I finally found an ok place. I parked my bike illegally because appaerently thats the only way to get rid of it (you can't even park in garages for cars....) and went for some food because check-in was not happening within the next hours.

I got a chickensteak, 'cause it sounded cool. Then I found a meeting app called Stout. The first girl that spoke to me was very direct. She asked for my facebook right away and then my skype.
Once we were on skype she wanted a videocall asap. Next thing she asked was "can i see your cock". At this point I feared a con, this was very strange...
So expecting her to leave I asked for something in return. She got fully naked right away....
This is where I realised something was not right. I twisted the conversation into -work hard, get some. And suddenly she gave up....

I'm glad I realised it was probably a con and didn't end up in blackmail situations....
Nice nakedness though 😅😉

Then when I finally got to my hostel I felt sad. Like a bit depressed.
Maybe because I missed Vicky, maybe just random sadness. It was annoying anyway...

So I asked for advice from people I met while being here.
Someone came up with the lumeous idea to search for Asahi dream. This is, according to her, a great seasonal beer.


So I started walking and find it in the very first store.... So much for a challenge...
Awesome beer though! I really enjoyed it.
I walked on and ended up in a traditional japanese restaurant. i made sure I had a conversation with every guest there 😆😆
It was great fun and they had awesome sake which came in a cup in a small crate.
They fill it up and let it overflow into the crate. you basicly get 2 shots 😁



Afterwards I went back to the hostel. I Had a talk with a fillipinean girl, a japanese girl and a belgian girl all trough chatting and voicing. It was very nice!
I felt like the whole experience was meaningful to me. As if I had made some steps towards a brighter future... Eventually I fell asleep.
My sad day turned into a glorious one. I was so happy...

back to Tokyo

So the next day I got up real early and took the shinkansen back to Mishima, where I left my bike. On the way there I made this awesome picture.


Instead of staying there I decided to drive all the way back to Tokyo to cheer up Vicky. This german girl I met my second night in Tokyo, had been sick for almost her entire holiday. I felt sorry for her and decided to take her for a ride on the bike. On the way to Tokyo I passed by Mt. Fuji again, it was much nicer then the picture above but I was on the highway so no pictures.. 😯.
We went to Ueno park where I got to see the Sakura much better.




There was a spring event as well. So it was crowded, lots to eat (i had hot potato with butter and salt.. yummy). There was even an orchestra, and you could stand in line to play maestro! There was also a lane with marked places like parking lots but for.. people.
You could claim your parking space and sit for drinks, food and social conversation.



Because she was so happy that I came back for her, she booked us a ryukan.
Which is basicly a very traditional japanese hotel. No furniture, and special matrasses to sleep on. It was very good, I was very grateful. So once again I had girl company. No complaints!


Her previous relationship also went south. So we had a lot to talk about. It turned out te be a great evening of talking and sake.

I should also mention the bikeride was a lot more fun. It was much warmer, so I did not freeze. I really enjoyed the ride.
Also, I finally understand why japanese people speed so much on highways and less in cities. All highways demand toll and thus are expensive. A result of this is that they do not give tickets for speeding here. You pretty much drive as fast as you like.

Rules dictate that you drive 60 or 80 km/h on highways. The reality is everyone drives 100-120 km/h. Like it is in miles.... 😂

And thus I conclude another day.


zondag 27 maart 2016

Japanese wedding

Taa ta ta taa
Taa ta ta taaa

Ofcourse the ceremony is nothing like ours...

So this saturday I ended up at a wedding. Thomas, a guy I met years ago during our first interim jobs, is getting wed to Haruka, a japanese girl he met in India. (Or another country... I forgat.. sorry T.)

It is a total coincidence I was in Japan when he is having his wedding. By texting him for sleepovers I got invited 😆

So. The wedding!!

The wedding started at 2.30 in a waiting room. Which was basicly sitting uncomfortably at a table till all guests arrived.

Then the ceremony started. It all happened at a shrine decicated to the emperor.
The couple was placed in the middle, familt and friends on the side. There was a lot of getting up and sitting down, japanese mumbling and a 'band' that played the flute in a most horrendous way. 😂

At some point there was like a traditional dance and the ritual drinking of a sort sake and a fish-tasting string to be shared with the one next to you.

 don't mind the baby being murdered there...


The ceremony was concluded with the vows. Then outside of the shrine candy was tossed at the young ones and lots of grouppictures were taken.




Then taxi's drove us to the hotel for dinner. I met some very nice (and pretty) japanese girls in the taxi. They were very friendly and seemed single. I later found out they were married. But in Japan only the one befriended to the couple get invited. Sorry spouses!

The dinnerpart is very similar to our western traditions with a lot of american influences. Like cakecutting and the pouring of champagne on a champangeglass mountain. The surprise act was a cabaret band entertaining the guests. There were many speeches and some tears. Thomas lost his father to cancer...
All the western guests were overcome with emotion, the japanes seemed untouched. The grandparents showed it later in the form of gratitude and the sharing of drinks.




It was a great dinnerparty. Felt good to talk to belgians and share my love for japan.

Troughout the day Haruka had many outfits:




The dinner stopped at pretty much exactly 21.00. At which point the wedding was over. All the western folk stayed and went downtown for a karaoke party. The japanese folk went home... very odd habit if you ask me.

Karaoke in japan is in private rooms unlike in Belgium. Usually interesting for couples because it is dark and private...
But with this big group of friends it was amazing. Lots of beer and highballwhisky, food and laughs. Still being sick my voice was worthless but that did not stop me 😆



At the end I lost the group. Bought some drinks for a few japanese guys. They were overwhelmed by this 'kindness' and simply didn't understand it. Had some more talk outside with random people and took a cab back to my capsulehotel. Even though it was well in the night I had some wellness to relax and have a good detox 😂

And thus a very busy day with loads of new experiences come to an end.





vrijdag 25 maart 2016

Nagoya

This blog starts yesterday.
After chinese food and empty chinatown I thought my evening had surely come to an end. So I went back to my hostel.
It is the smallest I have ever been too. Like most japanese, not a word of english...

So in the hostel at midnight I meet Brycey, an australian guy from Melbourne and Maru from USA, Mississipi.
We hitted off real nice, I loved 'em right off the bet. Mary even lives here and has a great businessplan goinh on.
They had great stories to tell. I learned a lot about a lot. 😁


Soo for today I had a great and ambitious plan: take the bike and drive 400km west to Nagoya. Because appearently a belgian friend of mine is getting married there tomorrow (I discovered this when I asked if I could crash at his place.. 😆). He has lived in Japan for over 2 years now.

So I get ready, dress as warm as I could and left. It would be about 4h driving.
So here is a pic of me after 1h30 driving:


Its a good thing pictures dont capture motion or you'dd see how I'm close to hypothermia.
Yes. It was COLD. Awesome bike, awesome view while driving. But feeling bodyparts slowly dying takes away 'some' of the romance...

It was so bad I decided to cut my trip short. The risk of very bad things happening was something I did not need right there.
So after like 7k ¥ of toll 8 more to buy shinkansen ticket. Which is basicly a bullettrain that reaches speeds over 300km/h.

I managed to arrive in Nagoya by 18h. Just in time to join my friend and his other belgian friends for dinner. They came over for the marriage ceremony.

So I mingled with them and had a great evening. (Apart from my voice slowly slithering into nothingness, intense pain when swallowing and still that same. wretched. backpain.)

We had great food, good laughs and ended in the hotel's onsen. Which is the japanese model of wellness. Sauna, washing, hot and cold baths.

Here we were playing paper, stone, scizzors to see who would have to eat the raw wasabicoated octopuss. The soon to be wed came up with game and lost 😁


In an attempt to conquer the pains I took backmassage and feet massage at the vapsule hotel.
I was very relaxed, but within the hour in more pain.

All around this day was intense. I had to drag myself trough it. But it was nice 😊

Wether a day was good or bad is all about perspective. My body is in hell, my mind in heaven. Sorta like Yin and Yang.
maybe.
Or not.

It is so nice to meet new and interesting people everyday. Not having plans also means there is no pressure, I go where the current takes me.

Tomorrow: a traditional japanese wedding!

Oh today I witnessed epic burger on sale and got a glimps at whats in a japanese fridge. Randomness 😅






donderdag 24 maart 2016

Today is D-DAY  !!
I was extremely excited for this moment.

I got up, still felt sorta crappy, troat, nose etc...
went downstairs and met up with the english and german girl from last night.
We had breakfast and lunch and talked about pretty much everything for 5 hours straight. My back started hurting again. Why? I did not listen to the doctor and had a few drinks last night... When someone tells you not to do something it's so much more likely to be doing it..... right?

Eventually we parted ways and I went out to get ... my motorcycle!!!!!
I arrived at the place around 16:00

Everthing seemed in order until I had to pay. They don't take cash (which is rare in Japan). I gave my mastercard, entered my pin, ...ERROR

From the gestures and japanese mumbling I could make up that my card did not have high payment enabled. That or my pin was wrong...

It took a long time, many pin enterings. I started worrying about my card getting blocked... so I looked up deutsche bank tokyo and found out they had an office 5km from here. Next thing I know, she is calling someone and giving all my mastercard information.

I wait some more...
She comes up to me - yes everything in order!!
In terrible english she explained that she had the limit raised (I think)

I was like superrelieved. Imagine not having the bike I always dreamed I'dd ride.........

So finally at around 17:00 I'm driving trough Tokyo.
Or rather.. crawling... the traffic jams were terrible.
Driving trough the middle in a strange country where right is left?
No way (not much anyway 😃)

So around 18:30 (!!!) I'm right outside Tokyo, my fingers, nose and lips frozen.
But still with a big smile. This bike is everything I dreamed of and more.
Such a smooth and pleasant ride 😆



The original plan was to go straight too Nagoya to meet a Belgian friend who is appearently getting married there...
This plan was an absolute no-go without dinner and better cold-protection.
So I spend over half an hour looking for good and cheap places to stay near where I was and in the direction of where I was going.

Yokohama central hostel was my best bet! I booked the wrong night (lol) and went there to drop my stuff and find some great chicken, beef and nuts in chinatown.
Then, finely, I updated this blog!!



Thanks guys for following my blog, I hope it's a good read.
Please feel free to leave comments. I'll gladly respond 😆

Expect some more pictures of my kickass ride 😎

***Warning*** this blog-entry contains extreme forms of explicit and offensive material.
Proceed at your own discretion.

Gomennasai!

Because of lack of batteries and abundance of social interaction, updates are slower then usual.

Lets catch up! Why english all of a sudden?
By popular demand. By one person. Yes, it is a girl. 😅

So yesterday I got up early, because my back hurt badly..
I went to the reception to ask for an adress to meet a physician or chiropracter.
They made an appointment for me and gave me directions.

Following the advice of a London girl I met in the hostel the other night, I decided to go to the gamer's district and found out about Japanese Hentai (which is basicly japanese porn in comic-form).. It.. I... Uhm..
See for yourself:
is this... children's.. porn?!

uhm..

I guess the closed nature of japanese peoples makes fantasies more... extreme.

Moving on...
She also pointed me to a tiny shop with a big load of really really old games and gameconsoles. It was nice to be reminded of the good old days 😊





Around noon I went back to the hotel because i felt worn out. The backpain was still as strong as day one and my troat and nose still hurt a lot.
So i decided to respect my body and rest/slept for 3 hours with Shpongle-music in my ears. When I woke Manami texted me that she went to the hospital with the same symptoms as me. They told her she had a fever and most likely the flu.
Yea... that explained why I felt so terrible, haha!

So finally I went to the chiropracter. And boy was I glad I did. He explained to me how my bad posture caused my frequent neck and shoulder pains, and how my lower backpains are related to my hips not sitting in their rightful place.
so he pushed and cracked a bunch of things, told me about good posture and pressure points and gave me excersices to avoid these pains in the future. He continued to explain I should avoid alcohol for a few days, which seemed easy, because I only drank 4 units for my entire stay, plane included.
I was in shock and aw at the great deal I got here...

this haircut of mine... *embarrassed* as the japanese would say 😁


This was until I wanted to pay....
Since my parents raised me to be very careful with cash abroad, I checked my cash right before I entered the chiropracter's room.

'That will be 8000¥ (65€) please, would you like to pay by creditcard?'

I open the pocket with my money, passport and other valuebables to find out everything was scrambled and the money... missing (68.000¥....)
My mind started racing for a good strategy.
How will i get them to give my money back?

I realised I had to give them opportunity to put it back and I knew they would play the dumb card. So I decided to look my doctor strictly in the eyes, giving the assistant space to set things right. I kept repeating how I was a 100% sure I came in with the cash and mentioned that calling the police was my best option.

After a while of back and forth talking, him asking me how much I had with me (thank god I had a good idea), checking my pocket again and checking the crate where I had to put my stuff, he suddenly asked to check all my other pockets. (I have a strict each pocket has certain purpose system for the sake of not losing things.) I checked the other pockets and ... voila: my cash nicely folded.

I was stunned, wad it there form the beginning because I somehow screwed my pocketsystem? Did the assistant actually put it back while talking?

One thing is for sure, I was extremely embarressed. After all I may have made wrong accusations..

Glad that I wasn't robbed, I went back to the hotel where I was invited to eat Takoyaki. Which is eggbased.. something. Sorta like panckes but in a ball.




Here I met some cool germans, a canadian guy and an argentinian guy.
Great stories, good fun. Near the end of the evening a core group remained.
Lateron a yopparai japanese guy joined in and made the eve all the more fun.
we shared music and had many laughs. It was hilarious to see how the german girl (who also felt ill) had to literally find cover to avoid getting kissed.. Some guys fail to grasp to concept of subtle flirtuation... or they were just drunk. Maybe both.




There, since you guys did not receive updates for 2 days, I decided to make this one more thoroughly. Hopefully the wall of text was endurable!

Tune in for more... in like 30 minutes 😂