Picture time.

I know that I said Hiking in my last post, which is what we both thought it would at least be some of but it ended up with traditionally Japanese fashioned, oh I dont know, 5 course dinner? At a little places which lies at the base of the mountain(Takao san). It was four of us, Me, Lin, an old co-worked or hers and his wife. They’re a bit elderly so we stuck to the gardens instead of hiking the mountain itself, which led to some inappropriate clothing on me and Lin’s part:).

The dinner was really great, Mainly focused on chicken which it was apparently famous for but the Sashimi was great as well. I’ve included a lot of pictures, although most of them are not from Takao San but instead a bunch of pictures which I have not shared yet from our Christmas in Kansai, Osaka and Kyoto.

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I’ll switch the topic now, to the drama which I am currently watching. Which would be Last Resort, an American Drama which I actually really like. It’s not my bread and butter, Which would be Japanese dramas, but It’s been great so far. still a lot to go though.

I went to Minami Sunamachi with Lin yesterday which lies just a few stations away from our place. Arakawa(a river) runs through it, the same river that ran past the place that we used to live at as well, but on the other side of Tokyo. It runs out into the ocean over there and it lies really close to Tokyo Disneyland as well. We went for a walk along it and then to an apartment store. Where we ate at a “Lin Approved” Taiwan restaurant. followed by some shopping, mostly irrelevant but fun to have things. I got a small earth globe, and two small bags and a few other things.

Lately and Hiking.

Hi hi,

Taking a break from the studies to write a few lines. Currently reading Doraemon and then retelling it in writing. 2 out of the 3 courses had their starting date pushed up until next week, so I’ve just had the Manga course to deal with which really isnt that hard, but it’s not boring either so I do have that going for me.  I were planning on going to the ocean this weekend with Lin, but she spoke to an old colleague yesterday who apparently wants to go mountain climbing, so we’ll go along with that instead. I like hiking Japanese mountains though, so I’m looking forward to it. It’s still Winter though which might make it pretty cold:S.

It’s Friday today, which means my weekly treat of The Vampire Diaries, the Series is great, the books not so much, even though I love the other works of L.J Smith and is still anticipating her last book of the Nightworld Series. On another note, The indigo Spell is soon up for release(Bloodlines#3) , just a few more weeks.

The last week has been fairly depressing due to arguments between Lin and her parents, not sure how it will settle nor if it will.

I’ll write soon.

From here on.

I went shopping for textbooks yesterday, the spring term starts up next week. A term which will consist of 45hp(150%) of Japanese studies. With general Japanese, manga as well as shorter novels. I’ve never read a manga in my entire life and I can’t really say that I’m looking forward to it, but it’s a part of Japan so I guess I’ll have to give it a try. I’m much more looking forward to the next term which will be translations and things of that sort, unless I change my mind:). But this term will be fun as well, I’ll miss having a real campus to take the courses at though, since the spring term will be read on distance from Japan. Which makes the time difference a bit of an obstacle, the morning class in Sweden results in 6pm here in Japan, and the evening class ends up being 4am in Japan…

March will probably include a trip to Taiwan, we haven’t decided exactly yet but most likely. Lin wishes to stay in Taipei and I’d like to go to her hometown, in order to meet her family, which she’s still a bit reluctant to. Cultural differences can be great in some ways but this is definitely not one of them.

That’s it for today, I’ll write soon.

A day in the Snow

Ha-ai, we got Snow to Tokyo today:), The first snow is always fun, even though I know that it’ll turn around pretty soon. But this was Lin’s first real snow so off we went to play in the park after a late breakfast. I thought that it would be packed with kids, the park, but there were more or less barely anyone there which is really strange, I’d figure that all the kids would do just about anything in order to play around since they don’t really get this kind of snow that often. Nevertheless, at least a few came around. wish I’d had my lil sis Panda there though:)

We went to see The Hobbit yesterday, and I really loved it. It was really great and so much better than The Lords of the rings trilogy. Cant wait to see the next one. It makes it so much different when everyone’s not just under the same banner, black and white, good and evil, evil is just a point of view.

It’s kinda cold outside, so we’re just about to cook some hot ramen and then there’s still a few bottles of glögg left untouched. I’ll sign off for now, take care.

Gaman

Hello, It’s now the first day out of the three day holiday due to Monday being a national holiday for reasons unknown to me, makes little difference to me due to the fact that I’m off until the 21st but Lin enjoys it. Today will be spent with a trip to Shimokitazawa with Rin to meet up with a friend. I’ve never been there But it’s supposed to be a great place for the younger generations.

Another song which Rola participates in, I’ve mentioned her before but she’s my second favorite Japanese celebrity so there’s no harm in doing it twice.

I’ve been looking forward to seeing The Hobbit for quite a while now, which is exactly what we’ll do tomorrow. I remember reading the book while I were still in Middle school or something, I never finished it though but I did enjoy it. And while we’re on the topic of books, I’ll just share that I started reading Rapture yesterday, the last of The Fallen series, a great series which I really recommend.

I saw this picture on DA for a while ago which I really liked, Made by ArdenEllenNixon.

Going out for a walk soon so I’ll stop for now, take care.

Daybreak-夜明け

We´re now two days into 2013, a year that will start with a pretty long holiday up until the Uni courses starts back up on the 21st. From then I´ll do my very best to get ahead in the Japanese studies, which I really don´t think is going to be a problem.

New years eve was really great, except for the fact that Lin is still in Taiwan for a few more days. But apart from that I had a really good time, spent at a friend’s house in Nakano. A few friends for my old guest house were also there and I met a lot of new people as well so it was great.

We did the usual things, by going to Shrines and eating Soba and things of that sort. Soba is a sort of noodles which is eaten for it´s long length, a metaphor for a long life. We stayed up all night, and then we went to the roof top a few minutes before 6 am in order to meet 2013´s first rays of sunlight,

Today is the first Wednesday of the month which is usually celebrated with a “Little Saturday” event(A Swedish thing..) thrown by YCN, which was unfortunately moved until next weeks Wednesday. Which is a shame since I wanted to bring a Swedish friend who´s traveling in Japan at the moment with me, but I guess we´ll just have to figure out something else to do.