Hanami March 30, 2007

Our first guest from Switzerland was Daniel San (not relative with Daniel San from Karat Kid). We spent five awesome days together and learned again a lot about Japanese culture. Simon and I we already have some favorite places in big Tokyo which we showed Daniel San. Today we want to give you a little impression of them with our photographs.
The Goverment Building in Shinjuku with his observatory platform in the 45th floor is one of them. Especially Simon San can’t stop taking pictures up there…please have a look at the selection.
When we are in Shibuya we have to finish the always exhausting, very noisy and of course crowded trip with enjoying a Chai tea latte hot(o) at Starbucks. The view of the busiest Zebra Crossing in Tokyo is breathtaking. This time Simon has to force me out of the cafe :-)
From the Ueno park (koen) we showed you already some pictures. So we like this place. But you can’t imagine how beautiful it is during Hanami. Japan is famous for the wonderful cherry blossoms they have everywhere. Cherry blossoms are called “sakura” in Japanese. To go and watch the Sakuras is called “hanami”. Hanami is like Carnival in Solothurn it is the 5th season of the Japanese and there is no season they like more. We couldn’t imagine how many Japanese go on a Thursday afternoon to Ueno park to see the Sakura trees. We spent almost 8 hours in the park, just drinking sake, eating sushi, talking to our japanese neighbours, taking pictures from the japanese with the japanese and for the japanese. We knew that the Hanami season is special but what we could experience the last day was beyond everything we could imagine. It was the most beautiful day we spent so far.

Once upon a time March 24, 2007

Who the fuck is King Smor?
The best comment (story) will receive a small present from us. There you go :-)

wrappings March 22, 2007

If you open a new package of… anything… in Japan, you never have to worry about the products getting all bad and loosing its crispness if you don’t use the whole package at once. Its always wrapped up again inside… at least once. Look at the chewing gums for example.

The japanese birds March 19, 2007

Look at the birds behaviour in the following picture. They are like the japanese themselves. There are the ones which are sitting on the piles in the water. They are enjoying the sight and the cool breeze. And then there are those on the shore, patiently waiting for their turn to come. They are neither complaining nor pushing. Just waiting.

A stroll in Ueno park March 19, 2007

After doing our groceries, Simon and I went to the Ueno Park today. Ueno is a center of Tokyo which is settled in the East. We live in Toshimaen which is in the West. So we travel by train (Seibu Line) 20 minutes to Ikebukuro and switch the train company there for another 16 minutes to Ueno.

In Ueno you don’t feel like in crazy Japan (more about that in DUDI’s upcoming corner with the weekly news of crazy Japan). Everything seems a bit more quiet and as you are in the park you also have the feeling to breath some fresh air.

As you can see on the following pictures we strolled slowly through the park. Passed some Shrines and Temples and even had an interesting chat with an elderly Japanese man who really could speak some English. He was very eager to tell us all about the Shinto religion. Actually it was the first japanese human being who started talking with us in English. Of course because we talk only in japanese…

さしこみ Power outlets March 17, 2007

Ok, time for the first curios in our apartment. Its only some 30m2 in size, but:

• We count 16 (!!!) Power Outlets (Steckdosen) only IN OUR LIVING ROOM, which is about 3×3m. In rest of the apartment, we discovreed another 14 plugs so far – makes 31 plugs in total. How crazy is that?
• Japanese washing machines are usually in the backyards of the house, and not in the basement, as most houses don’t have any basement. So is ours.
• Japanese build their houses tightly: Our front door leads directly to the street. DIRECTLY. There is no sidewalk. Fortunately, the street isn’t too busy.

ただいま Tadaima! March 17, 2007

Weehaa, we have arrived in Japan.
After a paperwork session yesterday at Sakura House office, we now find ourselves in our new home in Nerima-ku. You’ll see some closer views of our apartment in the future. Anyway, here’s our home adress:

Simon Kneubühl / Romana von Gunten
Sakura House
4-28-13 Nerima
Nerima-ku
Tokyo 176-0001
JAPAN

btw: “Tadaima” is what you say when you enter your own house, e.g. whey you return back home from a day of work. The ones already at home then answer “Okairi” or “Okairinasai”.

starter’s gun March 2, 2007

This will be the place where we comment our one year trip to Japan. We – this is Romana and Simon, also known as “mikadesign”. Why? – Visit www.mikadesign.ch.vu, and you’ll see.

Currently, we are preparing to fly to Japan on 15 march 2007 . This looks as follows