Donlars

So… It was a grey and slightly rainy Friday morning in mid April. We started the day with a nice breakfast together and finally got to open the present from Niels and Sidsel which had been sitting in our apartment since my dad and Andersen left. Nice one, especially the wine cooler is good now. Then it was of to the Ward office. We had been there the week before to check that we filled in the papers correctly, so this morning we just stormed in threw the papers on the counter, waited 10-15 minutes, and we were officially married. Wooohoooo. Then we rushed of to Shinagawa to catch the Shinkansen to Kyoto. Unfortunately the weather was uncooperative, so we couldn’t get a nice close up view of Fuji-san. The Shinkansen is a bit of an experience if you’re only used to the slow trains of Denmark, things swoosh by at an impressive speed and it takes your eyes a bit to catch up.

We arrived in Kyoto in the early afternoon and checked in at our hotel to drop off our luggage. Sight seeing time! It was a bit moist to say the least, but we pressed on out in the streets and first checked out the shopping district near by. These places are always fun to snoop around in and things are not too expensive in Kyoto it seems. After a little refreshment, we went to the “Pink light district” Gion, where the most of the Geisha do their business and every thing looks a little like an old samurai movie (chonmage-mono). We weren’t quite dressed for the rain, so after a few hours of trekking we headed back to the hotel for some dry socks and got ready to find dinner.  Andersen had recommended a narrow street called Pontocho, not too far from our hotel, full of restaurants, izakayas and bars. Excellent recommendation and to any one going to Kyoto, check it out! It was a tough choice, but we ended up in a restaurant where all the customers were seated around a barbecue, we then ordered our plates of meat and could then sit there grilling our own food and enjoying the view over the river. Slurp. Having restocked our system, it was time to find a good place to spend a few hours and luck was on our side. Not far from the restaurant, in an even smaller side street we found what we were looking for: a very ayashii (meaning suspect, and now officially my favourite Japanese word) looking little bar on the second floor. When we got in there was only one other guest and the two bar keepers. After the first drink we started talking and when they found out we were newly weds, champagne was on the house. How we got back to the hotel, I’m not quite sure. The next one and a half day we spend sightseeing and Kyoto really has a lot to offer, the atmosphere is much more relaxed and down to earth than Tokyo, and if you try to avoid the biggest tourist magnets, you can really find some sweet spots. We returned to reality and Tokyo Sunday afternoon and the rest of April went by peacefully.

In May things started to heat up, literately. Temperatures slowly started approaching 25-30 degrees, but humidity was still OK. Ayako and I spend our Saturdays together exploring Tokyo and some of the festival around the city and on the 11th we celebrated our first two years together (most of them apart, hehe). I also got the chance to meet her entire family again as this year was the 30th funeral anniversary for her grand-father. We all met at the temple and as we waited for everybody to arrive we had some tea and cookies, while we chatted with her cousins. The ceremony was quite interesting, but I had no idea what the priest was saying (Buddhist priests speak in a very funny way during ceremonies) and like Christian ceremonies, there was some standing up and sitting down. The indoor part finished finished a bit quickly, so we got a little presentation of the temple relics and it just happened to be the only time in 20 years when one of their oldest items was on display, some of their items are apparently around 1000-1200 years old. Then the final part of the ceremony was to go to the grave and light some incense and take pictures of Shizue (Ayakos mom) and her sisters in kimono. The best part of the day was yet to come, the entire family gathered at Tomoe Sushi and we had a feast for the next few hours, I got the chance to talk to some of the uncles and cousins and all in all, it was a very entertaining day.

We did a bit more exploration around the Ueno station area and it’s definitely worth a visit or two, many interesting streets and I need to go back for more soon.

May was also the month for getting to know the real bureaucracy, in order to get a spouse-visa, I first need to get a “certificate of eligibility”, which is basically a piece of paper that says it OK for me to apply for the visa. In order to get that, we had to document everything and Ayako had to fill in a ton of paper regarding how we met, her income, and every other personal piece of information you can think of. We also had to get papers from Denmark saying that we were married and that took some e-mailing, phone calls and translating. But after some weeks of sending things back and forth and getting assistance from my parents again (Thanks Mom and Dad), we could finally apply for the certificate at the end of May, with a little luck I’ll get the certificate just before I go back to Denmark so I can apply for the visa at the Japanese Embassy in Copenhagen. Fingers crossed.

Since then we have visited the rose garden near by and gone to Minato-Mirai in Yokohama. Both great places for a lazy Saturday stroll and enjoying cold beer. Which is what we did. However making long excursions is starting to take serious effort, it’s about 30 degrees every day and the humidity is, what should I say… noticeable, so an increasing amount of time is spend indoor gasping watching movies. I’m really starting to miss the convenience of the beaches in Denmark, here there are no opportunities to go for a quick dip, you have to plan in advance, get up early, and preferably have a car.

That brings us up to the present. Just 9 days until I leave for Denmark (15th of July) and Ayako will follow on the 19th. I’m really looking forward to seeing you all and introducing you to my wonderful wife.

Take care and see you soon.

Lars

So, it’s been about half a year since the last post. I guess I’d better give you all an update. Last time we had just put my mom back on the plane for Denmark and we were getting ready to start the new year.

The Japanese winter was a different experience. The weather is not too bad, only a few days with snow and no real biting frost to speak of. So one might suspect that it’s a comfortable time. However, the ordinary Japanese home doesn’t come with insulation or heating in any noteworthy form, so even though it’s relatively warm outside, you need to fire up the stove and air conditioner  when every you’re not sleeping in your comfy futon. Apart from me complaining about the state of Japanese housing, most of January and February went by uneventful. I should mention though, that for my 30th birthday Ayako had arranged a very nice dinner at a restaurant near Omotesando. That was the best steak I’ve ever had, perfectly cooked, fatty just to the limit and just melting on the tongue. The rest of the course was also very delicious and the service was great. By the end of February I got a little taste of what “hanami” (cherry blossom viewing)  is all about. This is the time when the plum trees bloom and the Japanese go out to the parks and enjoy the pretty sight. The plum is more subtle than the cherry and the event passes more quietly.

In March we started our first bureaucratic exercise. After considering various dates, we finally decided that our wedding day should be the 16th of April. This meant that we had to do some paperwork… In Japan, the only authority that can legally marry people is the ward office, and it comes with all the bureaucracy you can ever want from a modern society. We had to get certificates, documentation, fill-out questioners and make translations before handing it all in at the local ward office. Luckily Ayako is good at getting thing started in good time, so by the end of March all we needed was witness signatures which we got from her mom and my dad, who came to visit with his wife (Birgit) late March/Early April.

They timed their arrival well, the sakura (Cherry blossoms) were peaking in Kyoto and Tokyo around that time, so they got all the beauty and splendour Japanese spring can offer. They stayed at the hotel across the street, and I’m told that it’s good value for money (hint, hint if anyone is considering coming to Tokyo). It was good to get a visit from Denmark (not to mention the snaps and sweets) and I got to play guide a little again. While they were here it was Birgit’s birthday, and we went to a famous izakaya “Gonpachi”, which is where Prime Minister Kuizumi took George W. when he visited. It’s a funny place where they take the shouting very seriously, every time new customers arrive, leave, or special orders are given, the entire staff shouts it all over the place, very noisy and entertaining. When they brought the birthday cake, they dimmed the whole place and got everybody singing. To top it all of, when we asked for the check, they had messed up our bill, so the only thing we were charged was the cake, which was only about 3.000 yen. So we ended up just paying that, when we probably ought to have paid 40-50.000 yen, now that’s service.

This brings us to the 16th of April when we got up early, handed in our papers and officially got married… More of that next time.

I hope you’re all doing great.

Cheers,

Lars

So, 2010 has arrived.

I hope everybody had a great holiday. We did even though it was a lot shorter than I’m used to, just 6 days from the 29th to the 3rd.

But let’s start from where I let off last. The beginning of December was mostly all work and no play, I still had two jobs and had to get up at 5.30  three times a week and work Sundays (I still do that, but now I only have to go to one job, Yessss). But on the 12th an event came up. Ayako’s friend Ayaka was getting married. So I experienced my first Japanese wedding. Not all of it though, the typical wedding day in Japan is quite busy and divided into several parts. All things usually takes place at a hotel or some place which organizes wedding, this one was at one of the hotels in the Yokohama Landmark Tower, quite an impressive building.

First there is the ceremony, the hotel has a Western style chapel and a Japanese style shrine, so the ceremony is preformed in the hotel (we were not invited for this part). Then there is the wedding party for the family and close friends. This is the expensive party and people don’t bring presents, but pay to attend (maybe 30-50.000 yen). Lastly there is the second party in the evening were friends and young people attend (this is were we came in). Again you don’t bring presents, money is the best thing and in this case the price was 9.000 yen. First the guest arrive and assemble in the party room and get drinks, this was around 6 O’clock. The couple has changed clothes, again, so now they are in Western style suit and big beautiful dress. They were seated on a stage at one end of the room and then we dug in to the buffet. I’m not sure how many people were there, but I’m guessing around 50. Then it’s 3 hours of socializing, drinking, games and speeches. At 9 the party was over and people either went home or continue the party at a bar, in small groups. I had to work the next day, so we went out for one last beer and then home. A very different experience from a Danish wedding party, but I must say I enjoyed it and people seemed to have a really good time.

The next interesting thing that happened was the first visit from Denmark. My mom had threatened to spend Christmas and New Years with us and on the 18h she arrived. We picked her up at the airport and got the stupid idea that it would be nice to take the bus into Tokyo so she could see the city. The traffic in Tokyo is heavy, to say the least, and the average speed was 5 km/h or so. But we finally made it to Shinjuku where I abandoned the two girl to got to work. When I came back a few hours later they were still alive and seemed to be getting along nicely and for the rest of the time we enjoyed having my mom staying with us with no problems in spite of the limited privacy.

On the 22nd I had my last lesson at my first job in Japan, Weeeeeee. So now I only work for one English teaching company (Eikaiwa) GABA.

We had an almost traditional Danish Christmas with Flaeskesteg, brown potatoes, gravy and ris a la mande. Ayako’s mother came over and she really seemed to like her first Christmas Eve and we were taken aback by the number of presents mom had brought from Denmark (no wonder her bag was so heavy). Thanks. I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the Christmas tale.

When finally we got New Years holiday, the three of us went straight to the favourite Japanese recreational activity: Onsen/hot springs. We booked one night at an Onsen hotel in Hakone two hours by train south of Tokyo. Oooh yeah, that was good, wearing yukata, strolling around the little town, floating around in hot volcanic water, eating good food and getting drunk at the local (very local) Izakaya and trying karaoke for the first time (Johnny Cash: ring of fire). The next day we started of with another dip and then took the long way home around the lake and up the mountains. It was cold as f***, but the scenery was beautiful, even if the air over one open pit mine smelled like rotting egg. The boat ride on the lake was really “only in Japan”: a little lake in the mountains, with Mt. Fuji in the background and what kind of ship? A European style (plastic) pirate ship, with plastic pirates in the mast, and a guy in pirate dress and trucker sunglasses entertaining the kids. Even though the weather was cloudy, the ride in itself was beautiful.

New Years Eve was spend cleaning out our alcohol reserves and playing rummy at home and a late night trip to the local shrine.  However, in the afternoon we had gone to the sushi restaurant where Ayako’s brother, Satoshi, is an apprentice. Banzai! That was a completely different level from Danish sushi. We had the place to ourself and were seated at the bar (the best seats), then it was eat eat eat, one super delicious snack after the other, Tomoe Sushi, I recommend. There is one in New York too if you happen to go there, opened by the last apprentice (it takes 10 year to become fully trained, by the way).

Then it was 2010 and we got mom safely on the plane back to Denmark.

The last day and a half was spend just relaxing at home (gorogoro).

That’s all for now. Take care, where ever you are.

Ahoy me hearties,

It’s about time for another little update. Since last time I’ve been kind of busy. My first job as an English teacher is fun, but I don’t get many hours at the place, so I kept on looking for another job, and now I’ve found it. It is at another English teaching company (ekaiwa as they are called) called GABA, which is one of the biggest companies of the sort in Japan, and very professional. I got the job in early November and had to do a 3 day certification course 9 hours a day. Then on the 15th I started. I ended up in the business district at Shinagawa, where businessmen come before and after work to learn English. This means that I have to work mornings from 7.45 to 11.00 and evenings from 16.00 to 22.40. Suddenly I’m a morning person getting up at 5.30 in the morning before the sun is even up, then home in the afternoon for a nap and lunch and back to work, I only do this three weekdays though. The weekend is also quite busy, so I work Sundays as well. It takes a bit of getting used to, but now I have a job where I can make ends meet, and I get the chance to quit my first job in Japan.

There hasn’t been much time for fun, but we did manage to go out with Yuuko and Tsukasa to the racetrack one Sunday afternoon. It was quite fun but I don’t know what a good horse looks like. Ayako on the other hand won four times and covered her expenses on beer, food transport and following isakaya (I’ll be copying her bets next time).

Then jump forward to the 27th of November. Ayako’s birthday. Coming up with a present wasn’t that hard, as some know, I had an idea for a birthday present before I left Denmark: If things worked out I’d propose on her birthday. Well, things are in deed working out and I did get her a ring and proposed on her birthday (It’s been a while since I was that nervous). The most difficult part (after getting the courage) was to make sure she didn’t know what I was up to. I asked her a few times what she wanted for her birthday and the answer was frikadeller and a ring. Now when a Japanese girl says she wants a ring it doesn’t necessarily mean she wants to get married, it is just a common gift item (not that I knew at the time). But I managed to convince her that I was getting a bathrobe or something similarly boring as a present, and surprised her quite a bit when I dropped to my knee, after having had some very delicious frikadeller and potatoes, and said “watashi to kekkonshite ittadakemasuka” and she said yes! BANZAI. So the main news from Japan this time is: WE’RE GETTING MARRIED!

We’re not quite sure how to do things with ceremony and all yet, it complicates things a little when the families and friends are on opposite sides of the globe, but we’ll probably be marrying in late April before it get too hot here.

That about sums it up for this time. Hope you’re all doing great and having fun where ever you are.

Lars

Btw. They have even more Christmas decorations in the street here than in Denmark… It’s scary.

Hi guys and girls,

So last time I wrote, things were sort of getting into a daily rhythm.  Since then I’ve had the opportunity to check of one more natural phenomenon on my “to see” list. We had a typhoon, weeeeeee. On the 8th of Oct. a typhoon hit the Japanese mainland for the first time in two years, and it was a strong one too, exciting exciting. But as it reached Tokyo it was nothing more than an average Danish autumn storm and by noon it had cleared up with nice sunshine. Not terribly exciting, however, it was good that it didn’t get any worse, cause I had a job interview that afternoon. The first chance to wear my new suit. It was regarding a part time job as an English Teacher in Shinjuku and Ikebukuro. The interview went quite well and it didn’t feel too weird to walk around in a suit. I am now an English teacher, I started teaching on the 16th of Oct.

My first job is a part time teaching job, which isn’t really related in any way to my education. The reason for that is; that I’m not allowed to get a “real, full-time, permanent” job on my visa (if you are going abroad and need a visa for work or similar, don’t trust the employees at the embassy, check the rules for your self), so part time English teacher jobs are my best shot at getting an income at the moment, which actually isn’t too bad. I’ve been a teacher now for 10 days and it’s quite easy and a bit fun to sit and teach on a one to one basis.

Well, it hasn’t been all work and no play for Lars this last few weeks. Aya-chan and I went to a mountain called Takao-san (you might have seen the pictures). The mountain is about an hours train ride from here, so we set out at 10 o’clock in the morning, with lunch packed in the bag. When we reached Takao, the weather was beautiful and the place was packed, there was a little holiday and half of Tokyo had come to enjoy the mountain. To avoid the largest crowd, we decided to take the longest route to the top, and even though it was busy, we had enough space to enjoy the hike. From the top the view was spectacular, we could see most of Tokyo streach out beneath us and to the south Mount Fuji was really clear. We walked pretty fast and it only took us one and a half hour to reach the top.

I have also developed a slight interest in cooking. So far I’ve been unemployed most of the time here, and my job is so far only 7-8 hours a week, which means that I make dinner most weekdays. I have mainly been doing Danish food (or Danish adaptations of European food) so far and I must say I like swinging the pots and pans, not to mention that we got some absolutely great knives from Hamid (My boss at the hostel). Today it’s going to be chicken with potatoes, vegetables and some kind of sauce.

It seems that I have started a healthy lifestyle here in Japan, I’m still not smoking, I eat healthy (or healthier than in DK), don’t drink that much (haven’t been really drunk since I left DK) and even get a little bit of exercise. Feels nice, but I do miss the cigarette every now and again (when I pass the smoking area at the stations, it smells better than ever).

That’s it for now. Hope you all have fun (I do).

Btw. Thanks to Mike the page now looks a lot better and he has been fixing the gallery (I’ve been uploading too large pics). Thanks mate. He is the man I can thank for donlars.com. If you ever need a webpage check him out http://stockillustrator.com/

Hi everyone,

So I’ve been here just over two weeks now. Still not smoking, banzai! Even though I have felt the craving more than once (especially when going to a bar or izakaya* where everybody smokes everywhere…).  Apart from that, everything seems to be going smooth, still no swineflu, still getting along very nice with Ayako and sending resumes around (Still haven’t gotten any replies) and doing a little English teaching for one of Ayako’s friends on Sundays (Nakayama-san).

Last week we went out with some of Ayako’s old friends (Nakayama-san amongst others) to celebrate Yuuko-chans birthday. It was a surprise party (which I nearly ruined because I thought she was another Yuuko) at an izakaya in Yokohama. Very friendly people, who taught me a bit about Japanese humour (I don’t really understand it, but for some reason it was really funny, getsu). I’ll get the pictures up soon.

On Saturday we had our first guests over, Tsukasasan and Yuuko-san (another Yuuko), who I meet last time I was in Tokyo too. Ayako’s mother had made some food for us, and Aya-chan and I had been baking, franskbroed and chocolate cake. I all went down quite well. That evening the value of my body increased, because the Japanese like to eat and drink gold (yes, Au) so we had a few glasses of gold sake. It does not taste of anything and you can’t feel it in your mouth, you can just see these little gold flakes floating around in your sake.

During the last week or so I’ve made an observation regarding Japanese customer service… It’s really really good. Even at IKEA they open the box and check that everything is there and in order before handing it over to you, and when buying a new phone, they will transfer all the data from your old phone for you and help you through all the start up procedures. However, you better not be in a hurry, cause apart from having to take the time for service, you also have to go through lots and lots of bureaucracy. To get the phone you have to fill out 3-4 different applications, every time you shop at a new place you are asked to register for points and saving schemes and fill out this and that for a discount. They work hard over here, but the famous Japanese efficiency could probably be improved quite a bit with a little less paperwork.

Another funny thing is the extent to which they still use “real” money, it is not often that credit cards are used for everyday shopping. Only for more expensive things, like a suit… Yes, I’ll upload a pic.

Well, that’s it for now. Remember to check for new pics and video links every once in a while.

Take care.

*An izakaya is a Japanese style bar, where you sit in private little booths with your friends, and ring a bell when you want service and you have to order little snacks all the time to go with your drinks, which is very nice.

Hi everyone,

Sorry I haven’t made any noise earlier… It’s been busy and I’ve had quite a bit off jet lag this time… Waking up at five in the morning is not my usual style. But yesterday my body started behaving normally again.

Well, let’s start last Friday (dreamy music for flashback). Woke up well hungover (thanks for the party guys) and started smoking my last pack of cigarettes (smoked the last one Friday 14:00 DK time, Wuuhuuu). Meet up with my family and said bye at the airport.

Then the fun begins, arrived at Narita airport 9:40 JP time, which was a bit earlier than expected. Customs went like a charm, so I got out quite a bit earlier than expected… And Ayako was nowhere too be seen. So the first 10 minutes in Japan where a bit nerve wrecking. But eventually she got there and we took the train to our new home in Kawasaki (address and google earth coordinates at the end), which is a little over two hours from the airport. A really nice little place close to the station, with a little luck I’ll have a video tour of the place up later today. From the balcony we can see Tokyo Tower and on the other side we can see Mount Fuji. Ayako had the first five days off, so we’ve spend some going to IKEA and MUJI, for furniture and the various stuff you need to make a cosy little home (It’s even cheaper than Denmark).

Monday we finally got the internet working, so there was only one thing to do! Go to Akihabara and buy a computer. It took some time wandering around in the shop (we started in the biggest  one, and that was all we could manage), but I finally found something that sounded reasonable and cheap. So got it home and thought that it would be easy to switch the whole setup to English… No go. I ended up spending the evening cursing at it and trying to install windows xp in English instead of this Japanese vista thing. After several failed attempts I had to give up. Now I’m forced to practise my Japanese.

The weather has been brilliant, 25 degrees and mostly sunshine, so yesterday we went sightseeing at the ocean. We took the train to Kamakura, which was the capital approximately 800 years ago and is located south of Tokyo. Walked around to temples, along the beach and up rocky islands. Very nice place.

It’s great to finally be here. However I don’t feel quite comfortable walking in the parks… I think it’s spider season, there are lots and lots of them and they’re big, fast looking things.

I’ll try to blog a few times every week from now on and upload pictures along the way.

Hope you’re all doing fine

Lars

Google earth coordinates:

35°35′30.52″N

139°36′5.47″E

Address

501 Kajigaya liveil

2-3-5 Kajigaya

Takatsu-ku, Kawasaki

Kanagawa 213-0015

Japan