JAPAN FINALLY !!!!!!!

Wow, Im finally here !!! I cannot believe it at times !! First of all, is it anything like I imagined ? Yes and No ! Yes, because I imagined something mysterious lying over this country which there is. And No because there are things you really need to experience to be able to judge and believe in it !

Ok, let us start from the beginning:

Friday 22nd of August
1. I did not sleep at all, I got some things fixed and just loaded my mp3 with music, I was a bit nervous about my luggage even though I only had 2 kg overweight ^^
5.37 Train leaves Vxo for Gothenburg airport
9.00 Arrived at Landvetter airport, luggage checked in and myself prechecked in, everyting OK!
12.30 Boarding airplane for Helsinki
15.15 Arrived at Vantaa airport, wandered around, tried to get free internet with my laptop but failed so payed 3 euro for 30 minutes, it was worth it ! I read Elle and just chilled.
20.00 Checkin and boarding
20.20 Airplane left for JAPAN !!

On the plane, good food, good service, sat next to 2 Japanese girls who seemed nice. Only "problem" with the flight; there was no tv screen in front of you. There was one in each isle so they showed movies at night and you attached your headphone for sound, I watched Nim`s Island with Little Miss Sunshine star Abigail Breslin, it was cute.

Saturday 23rd of August
11.30 Landed at Kansai International, went to the big line for passport and visa checkpoint
12.20 Done and OK, fingerprint scanned and entered Japan boarder ~~
12.30 Got my bag, met up with Yumi in the humid and rainy weather and we drove off for Osaka and lunch !
15.30 Finally we found a Kaiten sushi after Yumi having argued with her GPS system and the crazy Osaka traffic ;) By the way, cars in Japan are wider and more squared than other cars (picture proof coming soon)
16.30 KAITEN SUSHI !!!!! wow, I had 14 pieces for ONLY 60 Swedish Kr, It costs 100 yen per plate which is about 6 SEK and one plate consists of 2 pieces !!!

Kaiten Sushi = Basically sushi plates on a conveyor belt that goes around the restaurant, you pick your preferred sushi plate and eat, you already have Gari (ginger), sushi and green tea at the table. The waiter later counts your plates, writes a reciept and you pay at the door when you leave. Really cheap is my comment and quality good !

After sushi we headed for Kobe, where Yumi' sister lives. , arriving around 20.30, still very hot and humid weather, but it finally stopped raining.
Hitomi san works for Ikea in Kobe and lives in a modern flat with a cool lock which uses an electronic pad to open. I showered and then we headed for a izakaya, which had a meal for about 100 kr including 1 drink. I had umeboshi, which is plum wine, it is really delicious and sweet.
Izakaya is a good place for that first date ;) . Im saying this because at the table next to us were a group of 4, 2 guys and 2 girls, it seemed to be their first date, group date, and the guys kept joking around and getting loud and ordering drink after drink and the girls kept giggling.

Izakaya = a pub that serves small dishes of food with drinks, such as yakitori (grilled chicken skewers, sashimi (raw fish filet). Cheap prices so you can sit and drink and eat for hours.

I did some Skype with my parents to let them know I was alive and then repacked a bag for the upcoming days...

Sunday 24rd of August
Woke up early, at 7 o clock, to go to Kyoto !! Haruka came from Tokyo and we wrote down places to visit and things to eat in Kyoto. We headed for Kyoto by car around 10 and went to Fujimi Shrine, which is known for people going there to pray for wealth. Kyoto itself used to be the capital of Japan and is known for its wellkept shrines, temples and old monuments. It is really beautiful. We went through some orange gates called Torii which are the entrance to shrines. You can see the Fujimi Shrine torii in the movie Memoirs of a Geisha.

We managed to climb up many stone steps, but it was too humid to continue and very steep. So we headed back down in time to meet up with Masako who came from Fukouka. We had some Ramen, which is nothing like instant ones we buy at home. This place had you get a number and sit down outside for your turn, it was that popular ! We had a bowl of ramen in a broth with meat for around 45kr. For those of you who do not know of ramen, NOODLES ! Enough said !

Then we went for a beautiful park, at the Ryoanji temple, aka the Temple of the Peaceful Dragon. There was a main temple with wodden floor, stone garden and a beautiful pond next to it. It was so peaceful just sitting there and taking it all in. The temple is from the 1300:s.

Then dessert time, we went into Kyoto`s entertainment district Gion for some delicious matcha parfait. Matcha is green tea and you can make ice cream and cake with the matcha powder.
We finally headed for Yumi`s hometown Mie to stay at her parents` house; a traditonal japanese home with sliding doors and tatami mats, beautiful. We arrived at 9pm, had tempura aka fried vegetables and meat with rice, OISHIKATTA !! (it tasted good)
KARAOKE TIME after dinner (singing while following the lyrics on a screen), we got a booth and started singing !!
I did Se7en`s 2nite (or tried at least), Eminem`s Loose yourself (I managed it) and Michael Jackon`s Thriller ! I think that the girls were far better than me vocally (they have had more practise I guess!)

Monday 25th August
After a nice traditional Japanese breakfast of Miso soup, egg and rice, We headed to Osaka by train, to have dinner. We walked through Dotonbori , the young fashion and entertainment district of Osaka. So many girls with loads of makeup and dyed hair and amazing clothes, and really handsome guys walked past us. We had takoyaki; octopus fried ball and did purikura. Purikura basically means taking photos in a photo booth while doing different poses, and then you get to decorate the photos with hearts, letters and other symbols. The quality of the photo makes your eyes very bright and your skin looking very light, you look like a prince/ess.
We had a buffe dinner where you picked out the food and then deep fried it at the table. It included dessert such as soft icecream and cake, very yummy. It cost about 200 kr but it was worth it !

After waving Haruka off to Tokyo, we went looking for place to stay for the night, because we hadsome business to take care off in Osaka the next day. So this is where the Internet cafe comes handy!!
Right now Im writing from the Internet cafe that we chose; it is open 24h and it consists of you filling out a form by the desk and paying around 140kr for 10 hrs access. For that fee you get a booth with access to a computer and free internet, free nonalcoholic beverage such as coke, water, slushies, coffee and tea, shower, dvd movies and to read as much manga as you want !!
Right now Yumi and Masako have kept on reading volume after volume while Im writing this short story of mine!
The whole purpose of this cafe is mainly for people who cannot return home due to missing the last bus/train or having business to attend the next day, such as business men commuting and doing overtime or late night party goers. You get headphones, so that you do not disturb the people who wish to sleep. It is about 4 am here and we got here around 11 pm, and are staying until 8am til we head for breakfast somewhere and then waving Masako off.

Tomorrow aka Thuesday we are planning to get me an adapter for my laptop because the multifunctional one with 5 different fuses for the US and Japan, Asia, Europe, Africa does not work for my thick HP laptop fuse..... And of course I need to get to the bank to withdraw some money and open a bank account later on, for that I need to fill out an Alien registration form. With that form I can even get a Japanese phone ! The phones here in Japan allow each owner to get an email adress so that emails can be sent from a computer to a phone and vice versa.
However, my Swedish phone actually works here strangely enough so I might just get a phone card instead....

Some comments about Japan:

1. Hot and humid, sticky weather but good for your skin at the same time ! It rains here a lot at times during the summer season which reminds me of Vaxjo, but on the other hand the temperature is warmer here and entertainment whise you can escape the rain by either doing karaoke or buying a cheap and cute plastic see through umbrella !

2. CHEAP !! Forget everything you ever heard about this country being expensive! Yes, some imported produce might be more expensive than Sweden perhaps, such as pasta, but Japanese people love their rice which is cheaper than in Sweden, who on the other hand has cheap potatoes.
For example> you can find vending machines everywhere on the streets of Japan wich contain water, jasmine tea (cold of course), cold coffee drinks and soft drinks. A bottle of Jasmine tea by Suntory 500 ml costs 145 yen ~ 8,50 SEK, water costs around 11 SEK (180yen). Subway ticket 10 SEK.

3. Couples !! They are everywhere !!! Walking around hand in hand, having dinner, buying teddy bears, saying goodbye at the train station, it is both adorable and annoying (or I think it is called jealousy, right?)

4. Comfort . Everything is automatic; you have machines everywhere that you pay, from train tickets to parking meters while a voice is telling welcome and have a nice day! There is a convenient store in every corner with cheap prices there as well! Pressbyran, please drop dead !! Train ticket prices stay the same at all times so SJ might drop dead as well !! You get a wet towel at restaurants to clean your hands before eating and you are always welcomed by a hello how are and welcome to our store. People work hard here to please and wish for you to have a pleasant time in Japan ! Even at the gas station, they fill up your gas then help you drive out by checking out for upcoming cars and then waving you off !!
That is why people are sleeping standing up on trains, there is no seat available because the train is so cheap plus they have worked hard all day, ganbarimashita!

5. Clean, you cannot find a trash can for safety reasons such as terrorist attacks, however you cannot find a drop of filth or trash anywhere for that matter! I had a chewing gum in my mouth for 2 hours because I couldnt spit it out anywhere until we reached home and I tossed it! I didnt wanna pollute the clean streets.

5. Old meets new. May it be traditional style Japanese homes with grandparents staying in the same house as the children and grand children or keeping the politness in language, the Japanese managed to keep their values and beliefs alongside reorganizing the society into a modern community; call it utopia if you will. Who ever said oldfashion is a bad thing? I have never agreed with such a thing and I never will; only at drastic cases such as certain governmental issues can oldfashion mean the death of people, but if the people is happy then nobody may ever judge it!

6. Western ideal. Why do Japanese girls put so much effort in having big eyes and looking Western? With makeup or anything, they look beautiful the way they are!!! I saw at least 4 or 5 gingerbread type girls with bronzer for 4 and makeup for 7 ! There are girls who are natural here as well and frankly in my opinion they are the true Asian beauty! I even saw a gingbread guy today, goodlooking but basically the guy was black !! Im not kidding, I never got the chance to snap a picture though..

7. Smoking anywhere, I hope they prohibit it!

Speaking of pictures, I have taken pictures and they will be posted soon, so read this in the meanwhile and I will be back with some photos!!

To the guys at CORPORATE EXPRESS: Det finns inga gulingar har, snarare ar folk mer bruna an gula :p


Time to get some sleep, I have a long day tomorrow !

おやすみ！　（ Goodnight ! )