My White Lover

In Hokkaido, there is a very special souvenir called “Shiroi Koibito”, which means “White Lover”.
This is a form of sweet, that is sold mostly in the winter season, and only in Hokkaido.
When I went to Hokkaido, I had to buy some of these as a souvenir for my family, and everyone loved it.
It’s a certain form of sweet biscuit that hold a filling of white chocolate, which melts on your tongue.
The taste is sweet but not repulsively so. It’s very delicious with the soft crunch of the biscuit and the soft white chocolate that melts on your tongue.  It also comes in a milky chocolate version, which I have not tried, since the white version is the “original” and I could only afford one kind.

On a trip to Osaka I found that they ALSO have a version of the “Shiroi Koibito” and so I bought a package of it, because I thought it was kind of funny that they also had it, and I was curious as to whether it would be the same content as the one from Hokkaido.
Later that same month I went to Odaiba in Tokyo, and there I found another type of the “Shiroi Koibito” specially made for Odaiba tourism. Once again I ended up buying a pack of them, with a promise in mind, that I would go home and taste the three kinds, and do a blog about them.
A month went by and I didn’t open the packages, I was planning on bringing them all back to Denmark with me, when I go back in September, but I noticed that they would go bad before I would be able to go home.

Thus I decided now was the time to try them out. And so I decided to do that long awaited blog about these sweets.

First, let us have a look at the wrappings and boxes.

The boxes

From the left: Hokkaido , Odaiba Tokyo and Osaka.
The one from Hokkaido comes with a matching plastic bag, and is wrapped nicely in special shiroi koibito gift wrapping. The ones from Odaiba and Osaka are both just wrapped in plastic and there is no nice matching bags for either. Already the Hokkaido scores points on the wrapping.

All 3 unwrapped

All the designs are different, personally I think the original version from Hokkaido is the most interesting one of them all. Here is a picture of each of them, so you can compare.

The original from Hokkaido

Osaka version

Odaiba, Tokyo Version

When you open the boxes, there is also some differences.
The one from Hokkaido, has a luxurious feel to it. The lid opens with the removal of the small seal in the bottom, and then it opens like a book or a card.
Inside, the  chocolates are wrapped one by one in small packings, and has 3 pieces wrapped together by a see through film around the middle of the sweets.

Hokkaido version contents

Close up of the original version

The Osaka version and Odaiba version opens the same way, you remove the lid of the box, much like a puzzle box or a board game box would open.
Both have the sweets wrapped up one by one, but the placement is a little different in each type.
Take a look at the pictures below.

Osaka version contents

Close-up of the Osaka version contents

Odaiba, Tokyo version contents

Close up of the Odaiba, Tokyo version

Now to the good part, tasting it!
First compare each wrapping in size. Judging by the wrapping, the Osaka and Odaiba versions are slightly bigger than the Hokkaido version.  In my opinion, the one with the best looking wrapping, is the one from Odaiba, it looks like a miniature version of the box.

Comparing the 3 kinds

But, when you open them up, you will find that the biggest one is in fact the one from Hokkaido, and the smallest one is that from Odaiba. The Odaiba and Osaka ones look much alike, yet the Odaiba version has a little less filling than the Osaka version. The biscuit of Odaiba and Osaka are very much alike, and thicker than the one on the Hokkaido version. the Hokkaido version is not only bigger, but also have a lot more filling and a thinner biscuit.

Comparing the contents

When you bite into the Hokkaido one, it feels like it is melting on your tongue, and the taste of the white chocolate is very full and round. The biscuit  has a nice crunch too it, but it quickly melts like the chocolate when you start chewing. A very fine and delicious taste.
The Osaka and Odaiba ones are not as melty on your tongue. The biscuit is thicker and the filling lesser, and thus you get a different sensation.
The Odaiba one was rather disappointing, and nearly tasteless.
The Osaka one had a bit more taste to the chocolate, but the biscuit was a bit too much I think.

All in all, I would say the original Hokkaido version is the best out of these 3.
It has the better box wrapping, the box looks better, and it tastes a lot better than the other two.
Another plus is, you don’t have to gift wrap it before giving it to the receiver, since it has already been wrapped up.

The Osaka version comes second, because of the taste, though the box and wrapping is rather uninteresting.

The Odaiba version looses on the taste, but has a better looking wrapping than the Osaka version, though in my opinion, it is the contents that counts, and not what it looks like. That is why the Odaiba one is the looser.

Go for the original!

I am hoping to find more different kinds of the Shiroi Koibito.
In the near future I will be travelling to Okinawa, Nagoya, Kyoto, Nara and some of the small islands outside Tokyo bay. I will look for them, and if I find some, I will definitely do a blog about them as well!

I hope you enjoyed this, and I can only say, that I recommend you to try the Shiroi Koibito from Hokkaido if you get the chance! It is really worth the money!

HELP HOMELESS AND STRAY CATS IN JAPAN!

Please HELP us HELP homeless and stray cats in Japan, by donating!
How to donate to the Japan cat network, is written on our homepage:
http://japancatnet.com/blog/donate/

We also need volunteers living in Japan. please help!

There are so many stray cats in Japan and they are all in need of care, feeding and a new home. we are trying to help by setting up homes for the strays, until they get a new owner, and by capturing and neutering stray cats! This way we can keep them from breeding and let new kitties out into the world, only to meet suffering and hunger.
THEY NEED OUR HELP!
Please, do all you can to help us, help them!

Otaku House Cosplay competition!!

PLEASE vote for me in this world wide cosplay idol competition!!

Liuwina (aka. Katsuko) as C.C from Code Geass
www.otakuhouse.com/cosplay-idol

Thank you so much!!

How to vote:

Go to facebook, search for “OTAKU HOUSE” and LIKE their page!
Then open the photos and look for the folder named “EUROPE (C)” and find my picture there!!
I really hope people will help me get votes!!

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!

Love

P.S: This is my picture that I entered in the competition!

C.C from the artwork "Witch and Warlock" from Code Geass -CLAMP-

The Golden days… part 2

Coolest train eva!

On the 3rd day we went to Universal Studios in Osaka.
It’s my first time ever going to an Universal Studios theme park, so I was very excited! The first surprise was when our train to the Universal studios station arrived. It was completely covered in drawings from Marvel etc.
It was SO COOL!

Arriving at the park entrance, we saw that a lot of people had already gathered to stand in line, though it wasn’t as extreme as Tokyo Disney World…I am guessing, even though it was a holiday, people had chosen to go to other places that day, because there really weren’t that many people.

Rollercoaster!!!

After standing in line for around 30-40 minutes, we finally got to the ticket counter, and then came another surprise..the entrance price! 6200 yen ZOMG! That hurt!
Well, after swallowing the pain of having to pay 6200 yen for the entrance (That’s the same price as the bus from Tokyo to Osaka >_<; *cough*) we finally made it inside!

Sandy and I

After walking for a bit, curiously looking here and there, we finally decided to try the “Back to the future” ride! There was 30 minutes waiting time, which was rather fair considering the day. The ride was pretty funny. You get this prestory of how Biff break an entry to Doc. Brown’s lab, and steals the DeLorian. In order to catch Biff, we -the audience- are sent out in another timemachine that Doc made, which he can remote control, he himself was locked up by Biff and thus cannot follow suit.
8 people at a time is then sent into the car, where you then see the adventure unfold, while Doc is controlling the machine, you are merely a spectator.
You follow Biff as he jumps through time first into the future, and then you start going back in time, and even come by giant dinosaurs that try to eat you.
A very lively 4D movie, and the “car” that you sit in, really moves according to the video. It’s nicely done!
I recommend!

It's the DeLorian!!

Next up was “Jurassic Park”. We had to wait in line for almost an hour (which still is nothing compared to the often 2-3 hours wait at Disney World..) but it was sure worth the wait. During line up, I saw a lot of people wearing raincoats…and that…turned out to be a good idea, which we ought to have followed…
Jurassic Park is a waterslide ride, you sit in a boat that takes you through the marvel of Jurassic Park, but suddenly something goes wrong, a Dinosaur bumps the boat you’re in, and it’s turned off course, and straight into an area, where audience normally isn’t allowed.  Then you see that the raptors’ cage has been compromised, and that the raptors have escaped.
It really gives you a true eerie feeling, and the half unseen raptors a really scary!! Of course you know it’s not real, but if you have a little bit of an over active imagination, you’re going to be sucked into the story completely and that’s really cool!
The best part is when you come up a long slope, and then you see him, the T-Rex, standing all mighty and dangerous, as you draw nearer you do not notice that a huge drop is about to happen, and just as he launch at you the huge steep drop opens up and you’re splashing into the water below, coming out completely drenched if you’re sitting to one of the sides, I got quite wet on my sleves and thighs, also my hair too. But not as much as my friend, who sat to the side, he was completely drenched!
They also take  a photo just as the boat drops, so be sure to give your best smile or coolest pose..because I looked like an idiot honestly!  I didn’t know about the picture, so I was screaming my heart out! That drop really took me by surprise!
My advice to this ride is: wear a raincoat! you’ll be happy you did!

Welcome! To Jurassic Park

Raptors on the loose!

Here we go!

Of course at each ride, there was a souvenir shop, where you are able to buy a variety of goods, for example this wonderful headband…

Get it off me!!

After this thrilling ride, we went to the biggest coaster in the park, it is called “Hollywood Dream – The ride”.
Basically it is a huge ass coaster, where you are seated and a bar is closed tightly over your legs, then, you can choose which background music you want for your ride, on the panel in front of you. I chose “Eminem- Loose yourself”, as I didn’t really know any of the other songs.
As the ride shoots off, you are blasted with your selected music, and it’s just so cool, yet kind of disturbing that the only thing holding you down, is the thing over your legs! I felt kind of uneasy about that the first 3 seconds, but soon forgot about it, and just enjoyed the several high drops and sharp turns!
It was FUN!

Tip: Go to the lockers before queuing up! since you cannot bring your bag with you on this ride!

Hello Kitty!

It was also possible to purchase accessories like Hello Kitty ears Clip ons, and I had to get me a pair of those! They are just too cute 😛

((To be continued… ))

The Golden Days of Freedom

is over…!
“Golden week” came and went, but the memories are still there.

I had so much fun, it was great to get out and about in Japan again, I really have missed travelling!
Osaka had more to offer than I first thought, for example, they have a place called “ROUND 1”, it’s a game paradise! You pay for x hours and play as much as you want without paying extra. You can play games like arcade games, dance dance revolution, guitar hero etc. or you can play darts, have a game of bowling, or sing karaoke. This one even had massage chairs and even better, an onsen (hot spring). Though I never got to try the hot spring, because I sat down in a massage chair, and kind of just didn’t move for an hour! haha!

A cute dolphin

We also went to the Kaiyukan Aquarium, they have  the worlds largest fish on display, the whale shark. Though my favourite was the dolphins, I just simply love them. How they frolic around playfully. They are absolutely beautiful!
For those interested to know more about the Kaiyukan, here’s a link to their homepage http://www.kaiyukan.com/language/eng/
The day we went there, was absolutely crowded, but who could have expected otherwise on a national holiday?
We had to fight our way through the crowd just to get a glimpse of the animals behind the glass.
If you ever go to Osaka, and want to visit this place, you should make sure that it isn’t a national holiday, OR a weekend day, because the place will be swamped.

Tempozan

Right next to the Kaiyukan, is one of the largest Ferris Wheels in the world, Tempozan, with a total height of 112,5 meters and a diameter of 100 meters.  The ride takes about 17 minutes and you can see a nice view of Osaka bay and surrounding areas.
It offers a spectacular view around sunset, though I did not get the chance to see the sunset, since it was cloudy that day.
Under Tempozan, there is a huge mall, with a lot of different shops and stores. There is even a  petting zoo, where you can go pet a cat(?) or maybe a woolen llama.  You can also get a hand peeling done by some small eager fish…no they’re not piranhas..

Pettingzoo cat

The place also offered an animal show, where they had trained their dogs, cats, llama etc. to do tricks. and they involved the little children.
The “house of cats” was a place where people could go in, and pet a REAL CAT….*ahem*
I felt sorry for the cats there, they wanted attention from the people who worked there, but not from the people who came visiting the place. Some of the actually tried escaping the hands of the strangers, by climbing up as much as they could. They didn’t look very interested or happy about being petted by total strangers, who obviously knew nothing about cats or how to treat them. Most people just kind of sat there, staring at the cats or trying to take pictures of them.

Unko-chan...yes, it's a golden turd!

The Japanese have a strange fondness for Kin no Unko.. aka the golden poop.  They are sold as lucky charms at souvenir shops around Japan.
I find this a little bit disturbing, yet also very funny. You can now gift your friends and family with this “holy shit”.  Who wouldn’t see the fun in that?
Actually there is a story behind this little fella. The name “Kin no Unko”  plays on the fact that the Japanese word for poop (unko) starts with the same “un” sound as a completely unrelated word that means “luck” (Un), and also the ending “ko” is usually used in girls names, and means “little one” or “child”.
Japanese enjoy this kind of pun, traditional storytelling is full of them,  which may help explain why more than 2.5 million of the lucky little poops have sold in the last seven years. I even got myself one!

Golden Week

It’s a national holiday week in Japan, and the Japanese are doing their favorite sport “queuing” !
In Japan, there are very few vacations for the people working at companies, the so called “white collar workers” BUT there are a LOT of National Holidays instead! On these days, everyone who has a day off (it’s mostly all companies, except for almost any kind of store, restaurant and amusement parks) has their mind set on only one thing “going somewhere”.

This results in a massive chaos throughout the countries highways and freeways; even though they have a really great train system, where you can go almost anywhere in the country by train, like shinkansen or local train lines like J.R, everyone seems to want to be going by car, at the same friggin time.
And if you feel like going somewhere during these holidays, I have one advice for you, don’t go anywhere, that would be fun..because it will be crowded AS HELL!

I made that mistake not only once, but twice during the time I’ve spent here in Japan.
I once went on a trip to Kawaguchiko near Fuji, it is in the Fuji-Five lake area in Kanagawa. We took the earliest bus from Shinjuku at 7 am, and was supposed to arrive a little before 9! The bus drove about 10 km an hour on the free/highway, because of the long queues. We arrived some 4 hours later, pretty tired and pretty pissed that we missed our tour of Fuji area!
Next mistake was going to Osaka by bus, on a night before a national holiday.
I thought that leaving by nightbus, would be a great idea, since I supposed that people would have all gone to bed around midnight, and definitely not be driving around in their cars on the freeway. But oh, was I wrong…
First off, when we left Shinjuku and out on the freeway, it was so crowded there, that the bus didn’t really move for the first 2-3 hours, then we finally got out on open road, but only to find queues at every major junction.
The bus was supposed to arrive around 8 am at Osaka, but at 8 am we had only just passed Nagoya.
At 12 pm we arrived at Kyoto, and decided to get the hell off that bus, and go by local train to Osaka, it would only take like 30 minutes, instead of the dreaded 2-3 hours that the driver had estimated it would take on the bus, because the streets was really crowded.

Other than that, I have enjoyed the sight of the marvelous  Osaka castle, and also enjoyed the company of the worlds most clingy homeless cat I’ve ever met.
She was absolutely adorable, and yet there she was, a cast away little thing in a park. Desperately looking for love from a human being.
When I saw her, I had to try and pet her, and she just sniffed my hand and then let me pet her head, after a couple of minutes, she crawled up onto my friends lap who was squatting by her side. He then put her down after a little while and then she practically jumped into my lap, and just crawled halfway up my chest and put her paws firmly around my neck as if to say “don’t leave me” and she just put her claws a little bit into my shirt to hold on to me, after a while, when I just held her and petted her, she relaxed and fell asleep in my arms.
I’ve never seen a cat yearning for human contact that much before! She just didn’t want to let go, every time I put her down, she hurried back up onto my lap so that I wouldn’t move!
I so wish that I could have helped her! She was absolutely beautiful! The fur still looked so clean, and her claws had been cut too. It seemed like she was a house cat, that had been left by the owner, at the Osaka Castle park.
This poor thing was looking like she was so hungry, and like she was begging me to bring her with me. I wish I could have.

I stayed with her for a long time, then I tried to leave, and she tried to follow for a bit, but then stopped, and I went down to a nearby stall to see if I could get a bit of food for her! I figured it was the least I could do.
She was still there, where I had left her, and I gave her the food, which she happily accepted and started to eat immediately.

How anyone can leave an animal to such a cruel fate, is beyond me.
Why are human beings so extremely heartless and thoughtless when it comes to animals? Domesticated animals are never to be released into the wild like that. They’d have so much trouble surviving.
She seemed so starved, when she was walking, she bent her back up a little, and walked as if every step hurt her. The poor one, she was probably not much more than 1 year old. As if the owner just decided to get rid of her, because she wasn’t a kitten anymore.
The cruelty! It is unbearable!
I wish I could help her! I still feel like going back there and bringing her with me.

She just fell asleep in my arms like this

She really wanted to be held, and taken care of, you could tell by her desperate behavior, when I tried to put her down. I felt so cruel to just leave her.
I wish I could have done something, more than just giving her an extra meal.
She needed to see a vet, to get medical care, and proper nutrition, and then she needed a loving home, to give her all the love and warmth and security that she could ever need! If I could, I would have brought her home with me, but pets are not allowed in the dormitory at all, and I have no idea it if is allowed to import pets to Denmark from Japan.
I would have done it though! Without a doubt! If only I could!
I wish a nice and cat-loving person will come along and find her, and take her home.

Wild cats in Japan needs help!!
I wish I could find a way to help them!
And to improve the rules about pets in Japan, to make better animal welfare!
I wish I could do that all over the world…

I love cats, and I love animals. I wish I could help them!

Gone too soon…

On April 22nd. 2011, the world lost another brilliant light.
Mao Tezuka, a bright and wonderful girl, decided to put an end to her life.

For a long time, she had been having trouble, a depression had been holding her down, and making her unable to study properly for the entrance exam to Law school.
It was her dream to become a lawyer, to do good, and help others. She always helped others, and cared more about others than herself.
She lived with her mother and sister, at her uncle’s house. Both the mother and the sister, had a depression, and Mao felt that she had to take responsibility for everyone else, and thus did not tell her family about her problems, or her depression. She was afraid that she would only become a further disappointment to the family.
So she kept silent, about how she cut herself with a knife, whenever she felt things where just too much. How she again and again tried to kill herself, but always failed; and how much she always cried at night and the thoughts that went through her mind, thoughts that scared her more than anything.
She confessed her troubles to me in January, I tried all I could to be there for her, but soon she was fired from her job, because she was too depressed to go to work.
She tried to search for a new job, but the mother’s disapproving way of acting towards her, made it hard for her to believe that she was wanted.

Truth is, this girl was amazing. She was so smart, intelligent, sweet, cute, helpful, caring and always there if you needed help. But she herself, felt that she was worthless, useless, and in the way of everyone else. She felt it would be better to just rid this world of her being.
I tried, so hard, to tell her that she was loved, and so did everyone else who knew her. We all tried, we all told her, how much we cared about her, and how we would be destroyed if she did kill herself.
I remember the last time I saw her, she was looking kind of melancholic, tired, yet she smiled at us..we had been watching the beautiful sakura tree blossoms in Kamakura, her hometown, together. She had seemed happy, and yet kind of sad…as if the depression lurking just underneath, was ready to make her cry at any moment.
I just wanted to hold her, but we had to go back, we had to get ready for school..

I just wish she would have called out to me, when she felt the hopelessness sneak upon her…
I just wish she would have told me…
I just wish I had been there…

But she was alone, in the house, and decided to hang herself, she felt it was the best way to be sure to die..
She was on the phone with a common friend of ours, and he tried to tell her not to do anything stupid, but she put the phone away, and hanged herself..
He heard a sound like that of a chair falling… he called her immediately again, and she did not answer, then he called me, and I tried calling her, but she didn’t answer, then he called the emergency services…and asked them to go there immediately and help her, but they REFUSED to go, because her name wasn’t registered at the address, and we did not know the name of the uncle, to whom the house belonged..
So they did not go to the house..instead they called the phone registered to the house, at that moment, the mother had come back home, she answered the phone, not yet knowing what had happened to Mao. They asked her, if a girl named Mao, was living there, and what she was doing right now..the mother answered she didn’t know, she had just come back home from visiting her mother at the hospital. This was only 10-15 minutes after Mao had hung herself…
The mother went upstairs to look for Mao, and there she was in the bathroom, hanging… She tried to get her down, body still warm, trying to do CPR..but little did it help.
She called the ambulance, they took her to the hospital, but it was too late, she was gone…

if only…a few minutes earlier…she might have been saved…

The news hit me like a knife to the chest, my dear dear Mao, gone..never again would I hold her hand or see her smile and laugh at my jokes..
never again would we talk about climbing mount Fuji…never again would I be able to hold her in my arms and tell her, that everything would be alright!
I couldn’t stop crying…
It was awful..it still is…

such a waste…such a young life…
she has indeed left this world too soon…
I miss her…
That wonderful human being, who gave me so many cherished memories..
Mao…why?

Here I am, a non believer in heaven or hell, wondering what will become of her…
Did she find happiness? Did she get reborn? Did she find what she was hoping for on the other side?
Is it just darkness? nothingness?

Mao, there were so many things, I wanted to share with you, so many memories…
Now we will never sky dive  together, or climb the Fuji mountain… even though you promised me..

I know, I know how hard it must have been for you, I know..I was there once too..
So why, why didn’t you trust me, when I told you, that things, life, would become better soon…
why didn’t you…believe in me?

I guess the darkness within you had taken over completely, it pushed you over the edge, made you do this ever so STUPID thing…killing yourself..
I just wish you’d have called ME, but in the end, you stopped calling me didn’t you…you stop telling me when something was wrong..
Why did you think, I didn’t want to help you anymore? Why did you think, that I would have left you?

My dear Mao…I love you and you will be in my heart forever…
I just wish, you would have at least given me the chance to say goodbye properly… I want to see you again…I miss you.

I dedicate this song to you:

~Michael Jackson~
*Gone too soon*

Like A Comet
Blazing ‘Cross The Evening Sky
Gone Too Soon

Like A Rainbow
Fading In The Twinkling Of An Eye
Gone Too Soon

Shiny And Sparkly
And Splendidly Bright
Here One Day
Gone One Night

Like The Loss Of Sunlight
On A Cloudy Afternoon
Gone Too Soon

Like A Castle
Built Upon A Sandy Beach
Gone Too Soon

Like A Perfect Flower
That Is Just Beyond Your Reach
Gone Too Soon

Born To Amuse, To Inspire, To Delight
Here One Day
Gone One Night

Like A Sunset
Dying With The Rising Of The Moon
Gone Too Soon

Gone Too Soon

Returning to the scene of the crime..

I have returned to Japan yet again, I was told that it would be safe enough to travel back and to live in Hiratsuka.
I didn’t really want to return to be honest, but I decided it was better to go back, and start up with everyone else, than to arrive later when the semester had already begun.
On another note, I wouldn’t be getting my scholarship either if I didn’t return, and I really couldn’t afford that!

I miss my boyfriend, so much I cannot stand it! This time, it was so hard to say goodbye, because we knew we’d not be able to see each other again until September 30th.  The first couple of times, it wasn’t that hard, we knew we’d only have to wait for a couple of months to see each other again…also in the last month or so, we spent every day together, and we’ve certainly grown closer to each other, it’s like we need each other now, more than ever…it’s so hard to leave someone behind, whom you love so much.
My love, I miss you so much..

But I had to go, I had to leave, and the day came faster than expected.. and my trip had been moved to an early departure, due to the plane having to make a stop at Seoul (Korea) before continuing to Japan. The plane had to get refueling and catering on board, also new personnel…Why they change personnel, I have no idea…
The trip itself there, went fine, though I was so tired, from not being able to sleep properly in the last couple of days before I left, because there was so many things I had to take care of before leaving. First I had to go from Denmark to Germany (Frankfurt) and change flights. In Frankfurt, I nearly missed boarding because I fell asleep on a chair…once boarded, I sort of passed out right before take-off, because I was so tired..and I woke up about an hour later.

Then I started watching movies, first I watched the movie “Burlesque” which was fine, if you like Christina Aguilera. It was sort of like a musical, about this talented girl from a country town, who goes to L.A. to become a singer/dancer. And she stumbles upon Burlesque, a sort of nightclub, with dancing entertainment (not a strip joint, but the girls working there are not overdressed to say the least). She completely falls on love with the acts, and after being turned down by the owner (Cher) she takes the job as a waitress and starts learning all the moves for every number on the stage.
It’s a nice movie, with some nice intrigues in it too. But to be fair, not the best movie ever. It’s kind of like watching a long music video feat. Cher and Christina Aguilera.

The next movie I watched was Tron the legacy, which was a little bit..vague I think. The story itself could’ve been played out a little better, it’s like some parts have been skipped or written out of the manuscript, so you end up sitting at the end thinking, “wasn’t something missing”?
The movie is about this boy, whose father disappeared suddenly, and nobody knows where he went off to. The father owned a game company, and he had invented the game Tron, which was about this place called “the grid” kind of like the internet I presume, he tells his son about his adventures there, and how he had been in the world once. Then he disappears and the young boy grows up to become a young man, and some guys at the company owned by his father, is trying to make the company profitable by making a new OS to be sold at a high price. While this young man should have taken over the company, he has chosen to just let the “board” decide for the company, though he does try sometimes to give this board a hard time. like stealing the software and putting it up for free on the internet.
Then a guy from his fathers work, who was a very good friend of the father and also doesn’t like the board much, comes to the young man and tells him that he got a page from his father’s old office, but the number had been disconnected for years. And so the young man goes to the office and there he finds a secret door, and accidentally opens a portal to “the grid”.
Not the best movie in ages, and I am glad I didn’t pay money to watch it.

I then tried to go to sleep, but sleeping almost upright is impossible for me, so I didn’t sleep very well, and only for a couple of hours. When I woke up again, we where getting closer to Korea, and I tried doing some studying, but I really couldn’t concentrate.
After almost an hour of waiting in Korea (just sitting on the plane) it was finally on it’s way to Narita-Japan, I thought I’d try watching “little fockers”, but unfortunately I didn’t get to see the ending, as the “entertainment system” ended just 10 minutes before the movie would end…annoying…now I have to rent it on DVD !!

At Narita, I went through the immigration without problems and picked up my trunk, went through the customs also without problems. Then I went straight to the “takkyubin” office (a company that will transport any package or even your luggage for a fee that differs, depending on the size of your package.) Japanese usually uses this service to get their luggage delivered to and from the airport, so they do not have to travel with huge luggage on the always crowded trains. I’ve used the service before, in 2008 when I was travelling around Japan, they have a same day delivery if it is sent out early enough.
So I got them to send my biggest trunk to me at the dorm, so I could travel more easily.

The trains where running again, well not all of them but about 50% of normal departures.
I was lucky to walk straight on to train that departed only 1 minute later. I got off at Nippori, where I got on the Yamanote line to Shinjuku, from Shinjuku I went straight to the tracks for the Odakyu line, and again I was lucky to find a train that departed only 2 minutes after I got on it, lucky because had I not made it, I would have had to wait for a long time until the next train to Tokaidaigakumae station would arrive.
I arrived at the dorm around 3pm, only 5 hours after my arrival in Narita, I even made it by the supermarket on my way home.
The supermarket looked almost normal again, only they had put up a sign by the milk, telling customers to only buy 1 milk pr. customer.
I guess it was a precaution they had to take, after the first week, where people would be hoarding the milk excessively.

After arriving at the dorm, the landlady was all happy to see me, and flung her arms around me welcoming me back home. It was kind of overwhelming, but that woman really cares for me. Last semester, when I was ill, she’d give me cakes and stuff..she’s really nice.
I went to my room after getting my mail, and unpacked my small suitcase, went online to talk to my boyfriend, and we soon decided to go to sleep because neither of us had been sleeping much, he’d stayed up all day and night to follow my trip, and to be able to talk to me when I landed and once I got back. He wanted to make sure that I got back safely.

I think I went to be around 4 or 5pm, and I slept until maybe 7pm where I had to use  the bathroom (I have to use the one on the 3rd floor now, because the 4th floor toilet has been closed, for some unknown reason…) and I think at one point I heard them calling my name over the speaker system, and that my luggage had arrived, and I just fell asleep again, at 2.30 am I woke up and had to use the bathroom yet again, and went back to sleep. My boyfriend wrote me at 5am, and I wrote with him a bit, before falling asleep again and waking up at 10 am.
I figured I’d best get up, and get my luggage, and eat something, because I really didn’t have much to eat before I went to sleep (only an egg sandwich).

Today I have to go to the office for foreign students, and I have to get someone to tell me what the mail I received was, because it’s all in Japanese and I can’t read it!  >_< official documents and such is a pain, too many unknown kanji.
Also I have to see if I can get my scholarship money for April, that would be nice.

There has been some new arrivals here at the dorm, but it seems a lot of the girls I know from last year, has not yet returned. Some of the German girls don’t want to go back, because they think it is too dangerous to be here.

Judging from the week I spent here in march, which was absolutely horrible, the situation now has really changed for the better!
The trains are running almost normally, except for the blackout hours, and the food situation is also back to normal, or at least to a state where it is not impossible to find food in the supermarkets.
It seems more organised now, and more “normal”.
And the best thing is, in these last 24 hours that I’ve been here, I haven’t felt a single earthquake.  Which means also the after quakes have calmed down in the last 2 weeks. That is really great, I was afraid I’d get absolutely no sleep, because of earthquakes every night…

The radiation readings from Tokyo are at a level so close to the normal, that it’s not even worth mentioning.
All in all, I think that everything seems more normal now, and I don’t feel scared at all.

Tomorrow it’s time for the placement test. *sigh* I am NOT prepared at all!! >_< oh well..

GANBARIMASU!

This world cannot be real..

Sometimes I believe that this world, and everything surrounding us, is indeed not real. This “world” has got to be some sort of an alternate universe, a game or maybe even just a dream.
Because some times, the most fucked up things happen, and it’s just too weird to be reality!
Take yesterday for an example, my boyfriend and I was walking down the street, just walking casually hand in hand, talking about nothing really. Suddenly I hear a voice from behind us calling out, “Hey, hey! are you a couple or married?”, both of us stopped and looked around and saw this guy, strangely familiar, coming up behind us on a bicycle, stopping next to us and repeated the question. Both of us rather perplexed by the question from this odd stranger, and then we asked “but why are you asking?” and he said “well, that’s because, on youtube, there’s a movie called “cool runnings” about that Jamaican bobsleigh team, and there is also Arnold Schwarzeneggers movie “Commando”, the whole movie!!” both of us got totally confused and just said “oh…okay” and he said “yeah!, cool runnings! just search for it!” and then he was off again…

What the h….??????
What in the world did his first question, have to do with movies on Youtube???
I mean..WHY??
This has to be some sort of malfunction in the software, can it be explained otherwise?
I really am starting to believe that this world cannot be real…
Think about it, did you have a strange encounter like this before?
Strange things happening that you feel you’ve already experienced before?
I am sure, this has to be some sort of a virtual reality, with some minor programming errors…
*lol*

Disaster…

I realise that my blog has been an absolute failure lately…
The reason why I haven’t written a thing since, forever, is because I have been so utterly and extremely exhausted every single day since I started studying at Tokai University.
I ended up in a class, that had school activities Monday thru Saturday! This being VERY unfamiliar to me, was too much for my weak body and health to handle. Too many sleepless nights, and too much stress had me out for the count several times throughout this semester.
I had so many days, where I could barely move out of my bed.

I guess it was just a little bit too hard.
But I did all I could, to hang in there, to get good grades, to do good…I really just wanted to do my best, which is all I really can do.
So I fought the entire semester and ended up with a B…Which is fair..but, according to myself, not good enough.
I guess I’m just a little too hard on myself.
In japan you can score S, A, B, C, D and I think fail is E…
so a B is fairly decent, regarding the amount of days where I was absent from school, because of being sick.
As always I can never praise myself, just tell myself that I should’ve done better. I should’ve tried harder… well, it’s easy to say..

The first semester ended with a sort of a party, where we all was supposed to sing a little song, in japanese…
My class ended up performing the song “Ue o muite, arukou” by Sakamoto Kyu. It’s a nice song indeed.
Somehow I ended up singing lead. ^_^;;;

During this year I’ve experienced a lot of things, both pleasant and unpleasent, but nonetheless knowledge about life and about living in foreign contries.
I am sure it has made me grow as a person, and changed some of my perspectives on life.
The next semester is going to be more pleasant I think, now that I have gotten used to the way of life on my dorm (still hate the place though, that didn’t change), and also found some friends among the students at Tokai.
I hope I will be able to attend a higher level class, but I doubt that I will be able to now, after such a long break.
School ended on January 28th (officially) and then the vacation began.

First I just took some days off, just relaxing.
Then it was time to say goodbye to a good friend, who was leaving Japan after only one semester. A sad day indeed.
Good thing we have the internet and facebook to keep in touch!

On February 7th I went to Sapporo for the first time, it was rather cold, colder than I had expected it to be.
The pair of wollen long stockings beneath my jeans didn’t help much against the biting -10 degrees Celsius!
But the snow, oh my the snow, it was absolutely wonderful, and there was so much of it even. I loved it there! Oh, had I only bought some warmer clothes, how I would have been playing in the snow.
The very reason for going to Sapporo, was to see the annual “Sapporo Yuki Matsuri” or in english, The Snow festival.
“Breathtaking and spectacular”  are words that immediately comes to mind when presented with the gigantic snow and ice sculptures displayed along Odori park.
Absolutely amazing was it, to see all these sculptures which much have taken days and weeks to build and carve out of the ice and snow blocks. What a work it must have been. I felt extremely inspired by all of this. But I know the best I can do is a 3 balls snowman, with a carrot for a nose and some coal for eyes, like the ones I used to build as a child. I could never do anything this amazing..
You’d see anything from popular anime figures to famous buildings, in scales you’d find it hard to imagine.
Let me show you a few examples below

Iced Dino!

A famous building, made entirely out of snow!

All in all I had a very cold yet amazing experience in the north of Japan.
In Sapporo I had my very first “onzen” experience, aka. we went to a natural hot spring public bathhouse. It was absolutely wonderful.
They had an outdoor pool, with 39-40 degrees Celsius water and the air outside was approximately -10 degrees C.
The combination of the extremely hot water, and the cold air was absolutely perfect. I find it hard to describe how odd it felt, to be sitting outside and see the snow falling while you felt warm and cozy at the same time. Oh how I long to go there again.
Natural hot spring = pleasure!

After spending 3 days in the cold north, I went back to Hiratsuka, in order to prepare for my return to Denmark. The vacation in the spring lasts from end January to the beginning of April, and thus I had decided to go back to lil’ ol’ Denmark, and work a bit.
It was nice being home again, but I was indeed looking forward to go back to Japan and explore Okinawa and Kyoto with my dear friend coming all the way there from Denmark with me.
Our travel plans was to go to Okinawa on March 20th, the day after she was supposed to arrive in Tokyo, we had booked a hotel near Haneda airport, from which we were supposed to departure very early in the morning on the 2oth. We would then stay in Okinawa until the 25th, going back to Tokyo awaiting the arrival of her mother and younger brother, who then would accompany us to Kyoto. In Kyoto we would stay until April 1st, where I then would return to the dorm, and they would continue their holidays near Fuji five lakes, where I would then come by one of the days to join them.
It would have been the trip of the year…no of a lifetime! Alas it never came to be…

I was supposed to go back to Japan on March 14th, arriving in Japan on the 15th…
Yet on the 11th of March, a horrible disaster shook Japan. I suppose everyone knows about the huge earthquake that shook Japan roughly and a bit out of place, and then created a huge tsunami that whiped Sendai off the face of Japan, along with a number of other coastal cities in the northern area of Japan.  Several thousands of people, dead in an instant.
I watched the news in despair, fearing the worst for my friends still in Japan. Immediately trying to contact everyone I knew through facebook and e-mails. Yes, I was scared, horrified…how could this happen? Why now?
The worst disaster in over 140 years, in Japanese history, and it had to hit now, this year, where I *could* have been there, hell I should have been there…I wasn’t supposed to have gone back to Denmark during the holidays, it was only something I had decided suddenly. To think that I could have been there, when all this happend.
I was shocked, certainly, but I didn’t really think that all this, would have any real effect on my going back, and the trip to Okinawa/Kyoto.

As the hours went by, following every bit of news there was on TV and on the internet, I slowly began to fear for my return to Japan. Was it going to be ok?
The Fukushima powerplant then blew up, and everyone got really really scared, could this be another Chernobyl? Would it affect the area I was living in? Would I even be able to return?
A lot of worries flew through my mind, my friends seemed alright, but the European girls at the dorm, couldn’t  stand all the after quakes that continuously  hit Japan. They all decided to go back home.  Monday the 14th came, and I was supposed to travel back to Japan, I checked again and again with the foreign ministry, would it be OK to leave? would it be safe? would the trains still be able to take me home?

I heard so many bad things about people hoarding food and the trains not running in Tokyo.
How was I supposed to get over 200 km’s from Narita to Hiratsuka without the trains running?
But the embassy and the foreign ministry told me that it was safe for me to return, as long as I didn’t go near Sendai or Fukushima. Staying to the south of Japan, was the best solution, and since Hiratsuka is south of Tokyo, they figured it would be safe for me to return.
I reluctantly got on the plane back to Japan, my family also reluctantly accepted that I had to go back, since SAS didn’t want to change my return flight, unless I paid for a whole new ticket…So in a way I was forced to back.

When I came back, I met a chaotic scenery at the airport.
As expected, there where no running trains from the Airport, and thus my friend could not get to the airport to pick me up.
I then had to figure out how in the world I could get back to my dorm, which really wasn’t easy, since the only way I know there, is by train.
I saw people sleeping at the airport on blankets provided by the airport personnel, people desperately trying to get the hell out of Japan, while I was trying to go back in..it felt a little awkward, like, I wasn’t supposed to be here at all.
I finally found a bus that could take me as far as Shinjuku, the station from where I normally take the train back to Tokaidaigakumae station (my nearest station), but I was told, that no trains from Odakyu line (the only train line towards Tokaidagakumae) would be running that day.
And of course the battery died on my Japanese cellphone, and I had then no way of communicating with anyone.

Then the most amazing thing happend, a lady, approximately 50-60 years old, asked me if I was going to Sagami-Ono, she had been sitting behind me in the bus, where I had asked a guy about some Kanji I could not read, those kanji where Sagami-Ono (a city approximately 35 km away from my dorm). I had been checking whether I could get back from there or not, since I had been told the trains would only run as far as Sagami-Ono.
This lady though, told me that the trains wouldn’t go, and that she had another route back to her place in Sagami-Ono, and that I could go with her if I liked, she helped me carrying my stupidly heavy luggage, and we then went along on a long train ride to somewhere I don’t even remember the name of, then we got into a cab, that took us to her house. As we arrived there, she hurried into her house with her stuff and then came back out, and opened her car, put in my trunk and then asked me to jump in. She told me, since I looked so tired, that she would give me a ride back home. I was amazed at the kindness of this woman. She didn’t know me at all, and yet she helped me so much, for no obvious reason.

She was a true angel, I even tried handing her money for the gasoline, but she wouldn’t hear of it. She said to me “you need that money more than I do”, and just smiled..all I had, was some chocolate from Denmark, that I gave her as a thank you, she said she’d be savoring the taste as soon as she would get back home.
She didn’t ask for anything like my contacts or my name, she just said goodbye after driving me over 35 km., and then she drove back.

I guess true angels do live on earth!!

Tired as hell, I dragged my trunk up to the 4th floor (I moved to the uppermost corner of the building, as far away from the right side as possible, since there is an archery club to the right of the dorm, where they have a habit of shouting annoyingly loud during their practice, which seem to be going on from around 16.00 to 21.00 every good damned day…so I lost my temper and complained about it, which had them move me to the most quiet part of the building. That is of course one way of solving a problem like that, though I would have found it easier just to tell the idiots down there to STFU, but this is Japan…) and back to my room, I unpacked my stuff, and had a little something to eat, before finally collapsing on my bed…only to be woken up a few hours later by a small earthquake..

The “small earthquakes” continued throughout the night, so I hardly had any rest, since every time I fell asleep, another earthquake started shaking my room up again.
within 24 hours, there had been 7 earthquakes..slightly annoying.
One woke me up, at 5.30 in the morning of the 16th. I got up, because I felt it was pointless to continue sleeping and thought it would be good to go buy groceries. Around 6.30 I got up and got ready to go to the 24hour open supermarket down by the station. I took my bicycle and swiftly went down the hill towards the small town. Arriving  at the store, I noticed that certain groceries seemed to be missing… especially bread, milk, eggs, bottled water and canned food was nowhere to be found.. though there was plenty of “raw” foods like fruits, vegetables and meat. Unfortunately I really need my milk, so I had to go search for it, I went to every single convenience store on my way back, but no luck, milk was completely sold out. I then went to the other supermarket in town, only to find that I was there too early, it wasn’t opened yet. I saw a store cleric and asked her what time the store would open, and if they had got any milk left. She told me, they would open at 10.00 am and that they still had some milk, but not that much, so she would recommend, that I returned when the shop opened.

I went back to the dorm with my already bought groceries, and waited until the clock turned 9. Then I went towards the store, I was there around 9.40 and already 50 or more people had queued up in front of the building.
this being Japan and all, everyone was neatly lining up, and they even had a person standing at the end of the line, telling people to line up from there.
Only minutes later, at least 50 more people had  joined the queue, and when the doors to the store finally opened, people slowly and nicely went inside..only me, the crazy gaijin (foreigner) was running as fast as I could to get to the milk, before anyone else could go there. and I managed to secure myself 2 liters of non-fat milk. Then I slowly paced around the store, looking for other interesting or useful goods.
Though I didn’t really find anything that interesting and eventually just paid for my milk and went back home.
Noticing on my way out that people where buying excessively large amounts of toilet paper..and that all the bottled water had been completely sold out.

The rest of the day I just spent in my room, waiting for a black out that never happend, because it was cancelled..
I fell asleep rather late, and woke up around 14.00 the next day, freezing..the planned black out for that day was on, and thus the heater was off, leaving my room unheated..the temperature was well below 13 degrees and since I had no electricity, I couldn’t use the internet nor make food, so I just decided to go back to sleep, after dressing myself in warmer clothes.  I woke up around 18.00 again, and the power had come back on.  I turned on my computer and found my inbox bombarded with messages from a very worried friend, the very friend who was supposed to come to Japan and travel around with me.
She had been extremely worried, since there was news of Fukushima getting into a worsened state, where they where now advising people NOT to travel to Japan unnecessarily  and to evacuate if you where within 80 km’s of the Fukushima nuclear plant.

I having slept the entire day, knew absolutely nothing about what was going on, and besides I was over 200 km away from Fukushima anyway, so I didn’t feel any need to panic. Actually I hadn’t really felt scared about anything after reaching my dormitory and seeing that my room looked almost excactly the way I left it, only some of my furniture had moved a little bit due to the massive earthquake, but there had been nothing toppling over, nor any books sprayed around on the floor..
Also the tsunami had not been anywhere near my place, so I didn’t really feel any need to be afraid.

Though my family and friends all where afraid, they where very afraid for my safety! They feared the worst could happen, and they just wanted me to come back to Denmark as fast as possible..but I was still strongly wishing to go to Okinawa and Kyoto. But as I talked to my friend, she and I tried to still keep up our spirits about the trip, hoping that eventually it would turn out okay, even though now it was already thursday. They day before I had booked myself into a hostel near Narita, so that I could stay from friday night until saturday morning, when she would arrive at the airport, from there we where supposed to go on to our other hotel room near Haneda.
As we sat there talking about what to do, I looked around on the internet, to see if I could find any clue to whether the plane to Okinawa would actually leave or not. I could find no such clue, and the uncertainty started to dawn upon the two of us..maybe we should call the whole thing off?
Maybe I should just go back to Denmark again?
I had my boyfriend call Austrian Airlines,  to check whether they could change my flight to Saturday or Sunday, it turned out that they could get me on a flight Sunday at 12.25, and I said yes. At that moment, I started cancelling everything, hostels, plane tickets etc. for our trip to Okinawa and Kyoto, my heart was filled with sadness, at the thought of our perfectly planned trip, was never going to happen.
My friend thought it was the best solution, she had been starting to feel bad about going to a country that was still in a state of shock and emergency, she was afraid, that if something bad really happened, we’d just be to stupid tourist’s caught up in the middle of everything, not knowing what to do.

Of course it was better this way. Everyone else at the dorm had already left, only a few Japanese and Tai girls had stayed back, and it seemed also they where about to move out. The otherwise lively dorm was suddenly all empty..only 8 people left at the dorm including myself, the last day I was there.
Friday morning I set out early, to catch the first train of the day. It wasn’t very crowded to begin with, but slowly filled up. It was so cold in there, I imagine they hadn’t turned on the heating system in the trains to save on energy or power.
There was a shortage on electricity because of the problems with the Fukushima powerplant, so every possible measure had been taken to save on energy, including doing rolling blackouts across mid japan, and halving the trains going in and out of Tokyo. Even the trains to the airport had been stopped temporarily.

So I had to go to the airport by “Friendly Airport Limousine”…yeah, that is the name of the busses…
A ticket with that bus cost 3000 yen, which is roughly the double of what I can usually go to the airport for by the local trains. But since they weren’t running, I had no choice but to get on the bus.

It felt so strange, to be going back home already, I had only been in Japan for one week. Honestly I felt rather stupid. It had been better if I had never gone back to Japan in the first place, and just swallowed the price of changing my return ticket from Denmark in the first place.
Still, it was ok to be able to bring back a lot more of my stuff, limiting the amount of things to carry back home, once I go home in September.

Now I am back in Denmark, waiting to hear news from the school, hoping that everything will be OK, that I can return safely to the school before the new term starts.
I hold a ticket to return to Japan on April 2nd., but as of yet I do not know if it will be safe to return.

For now I am just holding up, waiting…hoping, that everything will turn out allright…
wishing that the horror will end soon, so Japan can go back to being itself again..

I wonder how long it will take for Japan to get back up?
Will she be able to get up, after this enormous amount of suffering?
She got up after WW2, she also got up after Kobe, I am sure that she will be able to get through even this…

>>In memory of all who fell to the disaster of 11.03.2011 <<