Kanji, Sake, Japanese Gardens, Rock DJanes and Hip Hop Clubs

Learning Japanese for 6 weeks...
...sounds like a nice project that would end in a good result. At least if one has 4 hours class per day plus about two hours for study and homework. I thought so too. But I realized that in order to reach a decent level 60 weeks would be more appropriate. But it is great fun and I really enjoy forcing my brain through these complex grammar structures, that have zero communalities with any European language. And then there is the issue of the characters... In order to come along in everyday life one should be able to read and write about 2000 (!!!) of the Chinese characters and the 160 syllable signs which are used for grammar terms and foreign words. The problem with these is, that you have to remember not only the sequence in which the signs are drawn but also the several pronunciation options.
But enough of complaining. It is really great and I am having a lot of fun with my class. Who of you can find my teacher, the Korean office assistant and the Swedish Fashion designer? My class also features people from Ghana, India, Italy and exotic French creatures.































Sake-evening with Fumiko-san
Fumiko-san is not only a great cook, very active housewife, caring mother of a 10-year-old pre-puberty-girl, speaks fluent English and learns Korean in every free minute - but she is also a party animal!!!

One evening we went out for a Sake evening together Toshi and Mamea (who had been to the Onsen with us) and some other people. We went to several places, including a very traditional sake bar and almost did not get the last train home...

One might think, that I seem to do hardly anything else then hanging out in some bars, but it is a very vital part of the culture. Nobody in the cities has much space at home, so socializing and actually almost every activity (studying etc) happens almost exclusively in public places. Invitations for dinners at home are absolutely rare.












































With the couchsurfing community I had again some awesome activities in Tokyo:

Secret Japanese Gardens in the middle of the city
I met Chie, with whom I went for an early morning walk in the Shinjuku area (just next to my school) to her favourite place: A small Japanese Garden run by a Hotel, but free for the public to enter. You have to know where it is, otherwise you don't dare to pass the gate.
Then suddenly there is a beautiful, quiet garden with pagodes, tradional lanterns, cherry and plum trees and small bridges leading over waterways. We were almost completely alone, apart from a Japanese couple in traditional clothes who were having a foto shooting there.
It was a great setting and I am sure it would be a perfect place for the evening chill down in a summer night, as Chie told me they put up torches and lights when it gets dark. How great is this?









































































Rock DJanes and Hip Hop
Keiko is actually an acountant, but in the evenings she works as DJ in the Shibuya Rock Bar. On one of her free evenings I went there with her for some beers and to see a live concert of a slightly strange band. To get to the bar one has to climb 3 stories in a steep and narrow staircase - never would have gone there!!! As my last train home leaves at 00:30 it rarely gets really late and I have to report to my host family in advance if I won't come home that night. So it feels a bit like being 15 again....


















With Rie and her brother Nori I went for an evening out in Roppongi. Both of them have studied in the US, have great Jobs, are around 30 - and still live at home! When you are a single this is the normal situation.
Anyways, Roppongi is the foreigners Party district and so I was not surprised to hear a lot of English in the first bar. But then we went to a Hip-Hop club and I felt like being somewhere in the US. Many super-trained, pure-coolness black guys and the accompanying female characters!
I think it is possible to survive for years in Japan without a single word Japanese...

food: Sushi, Sashimi, Natto, Nabe and Tongatsu

Two months ago I thought Japanese food is primarily consisting of raw fish (sushi/sashimi), fatty deep fried veggies (tempura) and rice as carbohydrate deliverer.

Of course, there is plenty available of that stuff, and I really like it by now. I even think that tuna sashimi (raw tuna slices) are a bit boring compared to some raw scallops or prawns... This is how taste can change - year ago any of these would have scared me away.

















Thanks to Fumiko-san's delicious food at home I had the opportunity to learn that this type of food is only a small part of the Japanese kitchen. And I only eat rice a few times per week.

My favourite is called Tongatsu, a hot pot comparable to a German Veggie Stew, with sweet potato, mushrooms and thin cut pork meat in a spicy broth.















Nabe is a similar dish, but with potatoes, Udon Noodles and cabbage. Nabe is served in a big pot in the centre of the table and each person takes the ingredients according to preference.
















A highlight was Okonomyaki a type of veggie pancake which is cooked at the table.




traditionally there are always several dishes served and one takes from everything. Another delicious, non-fish-dish is a hotpot　with Onions and thin cut beef, which is eaten together with rice.


Gyoza soup with soysprouts is great when coming home from the icy weather.

of course there is also a lot of fishy stuff involved: sardines, squid and fish of any kind are an important component of daily food, as well as Salad.






























The most famous food in Japan, which every foreigner is asked if he has already tried it is NATTO. No fish, but well-fermented soy beans in a slimey texture and a strong smell in the only ingredient. It is eaten with rice and I found it not so bad. It is like a strong cheese we have - and I guess after some time I would also do anything to spice up my zero-taste rice.

http://hararie-japan-tokyo-tokyo.com/japanese_food/2009/08/healthly-food-natto-of-japan.html


The Japanese eating habits
It is remarkable that most Japanese are not overweight and even the ones that do only work without doing much sports seem to have no weight issues even when hitting the age of 40 or 50. This really surprised me, as the cuisine is not particularly low-fat or low calorie at all. And the Japanese love cakes, doughnuts, chocolate and all sorts of other traditional and modern sweets. You can find patisserie-shops and cafes at every corner. They have no problem spending 1200Yen (10 EUR) for a piece of cake and even the skinniest girls eat it.
But they only eat the cakes directly in the cafe or at home.

So my theory why they stay thin is because they never eat on their way, inbetween trains, or while walking. Even though they spent hours in the train and it would be for me the most straight forward thing to do - nobody even snacks anything. Nobody is even eating an apple while waiting or so. It is considered very impolite to eat in such public places.
Only children are allowed to eat in the Metro or the bus. Don't know if this is true, but it is the only major difference in the bahaviour I can see.

Mental note to myself: also keep this habit back in Germany :-)

A weekend in the Onsen: pure tradition

I was invited to join my host family for a weekend in a traditional Onsen, a hot springs bath in the mountains on the countryside. Prerequisite for joining was to be comfortable going to take a bath together with other women, without clothes. I was not so sure what to expect, but for sauna fans like me this is no problem!
We (the Abuku family, Tomochan, classmate of Moegi and myself) left early Saturday morning by Metro to the Tokyo station (abou 1,5 hours journey) where Mamea and Toshi, two friends of the family waited with a rental car. We loaded the mini-van and fought our way through thick Tokyo traffic. The journey was a total driving time of about 4 hours into the mountains and we stopped various times for comfort breaks, food and at a supermarket to buy Sake.
Wen we finally arrived at 4 pm we at first were asked to wait in the old traditional living room with a fireplace in the middle and were served self-made rice wine.
Then we were asked to enter the Riyukan, the traditional style Japanese Hotel which is hosting the Onsen (hot springs).
































You leave your shoes in the entrance hall and take the slippers provided. Our room had no beds in it, just a low table with a tea set, as the futons are laid out later. We had a quick tea and then Fumiko handed me each a small and large towel, asking me to follow her.


































A sliding door near the lobby led to a room with baskets in a shelf and Fumiko introduced me to the concept of a Japanese bath. You take off all the clothes and bring a very small towel (20x40cm) into the bath. But it is all strictly seperated by gender. Men have their bath in another part of the hotel. First thing to do is to shower thoroughly. I was very surprised to understand that all Japanese are taking a shower sitting on a small stool in frond of a mirror, pouring water from a bucket. I had seen these tools in our bathroom in Tokyo before without having any clue what they are for. It all has a relaxed, slow athmosphere - I think I imagine ancient roman baths to be that way. When you're clean you can go into the hot water pool inside or outside, which was particularly nice as it started to snow a bit. A bath takes about 20-30mins and ater this you shower again and get dressed. However, in a Riyukan people go through this procedure very often. I think Fumiko went about five times on that evening.

For dinner Fumiko gave me a Yukatta, a type of summer kimono, which is worn by all guests in the Riyukan. The dinner was great - strange and yummy at the same time. Lots of raw fish, shabu-shabu, pickled veggies and Japanese pudding, which tastes like a saltwater and seaweed custard. The food came in small portions and various courses which was great for chatting.
















After dinner the futons had been set up in the rooms and the kids enjoyed playing while the adults started to have some Sake. Between the Sake servings we went to the bath and enjoyed the cool air outside and I had some nice conversations with Fumiko.
















Next morning at 8:30AM I sat at the breakfast table and was astonished: sooo much food and nothing of it reminded me of breakfast at all.














After checkout we took a short walk through te snow and went to a traditional handcrafts village. Here one can observe and try out various traditional crafts. We all were booked for a Saoba-Noodle-making workshop, which was good fun. Then I decided to make washi (traditional Japanese paper) together with Toshi, which looks easier than it is.








Before heading back on the mororway to Tokyo we went to another not springs bath, arriving around midnight at home after a 6 hours journey through thick end-weekend-traffic. It was a GREAT experience and without my lovely host family I would have never had the opportunity to see all this!

Tokyo: otaku culture, shrines and karaoke

one of the first things that one notices here: life in Tokyo is soooooo much more busy and time consuming than my nice, cute pacific island life! Partially this is due to the fact that whatever I want to do in Tokyo I need to calculate a good 1,5hrs travel time oneway into Tokyo downtown from my host families' place. If you wonder why - well have a look at the Metro map:














But it is also way more diverse and interesting. Thanks to couchsurfing.org I immediately found contact to some open Japanese who are keen to meet foreign people, show them around their area and brush up their English:

With Keiko and her friends we went for an evening in the crazy Shibuyah district, had in a hidden restaurant great chinese food for around 5 EUR per person including drinks and went after that to Karaoke! there is not much more Japanese you can do I guess!

Rie took me for a clubbing night out in Roppongi, the Party district on a saturday night and the following day we met in Shinjuku, where she took me to a famous cake shop and her favourite shopping place. We had a typical Japanese girls sunday afternoon - one goes to different department stores and tries out make-up and other things. And Japanese are mad about cake and chocolate. No idea how they keep in shape with this...

Kyoko asked me to join her for a Couchsurfing house party hosted by a Japanese-American guy and it was a nice mix of Japnese and "gaijins" present.

With Mizuki I spent an afternoon in Akihabara, the centre of technic things and Anime-Otaku culture. Its the idolization of comic girls, which materializes in little dolls, manga-porn and even maido caffes, where you can meet with a girl who is dresses as your favourite Anime figure. It was great to go there with a Japanese - he took me to little shops where I would have NEVER dared to go in myself. I also tried some famous Udon-Noodles.

Saeko and Hideki invited me to an afternoon with her friend Raymond from Ghana and Mariona from Barcelona. Raymond had just returned from Ghana and cooked some very interesting food for us. It was a fantastic day where I learned a lot about that country and we had some great discussions.

I visited Marga, a Romanian girl who lives in Yokohama since 10 years for a walk and a drink in the well known Sakuragichou Area. We had met at the Couchsurfing-house Party two weeks before.

The cultural Part was covered by Masao-san, my host family dad. We went together to the Akasake Mikusa shrine and Museum, which was frequented by Japanese nationalists on that day.

Everyday life

I have Japanese class every day from 1-5 pm and usually I learn in the mornings another 2 hours, as I can not keep up with the speed of the class. My host family is very nice, we come along perfectly well and Fumiko-san, the mother is a great conversation partner.

And she also looks faboulous! I hope we manage to go out together one evening!!