How often do we use the words “I have to” as a reason to do something, we don’t really want to do? For so many tasks in our life we accept that there is no other way of doing it, let alone the possibility of not doing it at all. They seem to be just given. Looking at myself it astonishes me where I set my own limitations and why I often believe in them so strong, that I’m not able to overcome them, even with little things. Continue reading “Limitations in my head”
Tag: Japan
The island of Miyajima
Yes, I admit it. I love Japan 😉 For me it is amazing to travel here: so many lovely people, so much delicious food, so many little details which make me smile. However, in terms of beautiful places it is rather a set back compared to Australia and New Zealand. There is hardly a view which is not obstructed by a high voltage power line, a road or another sign of civilization.The cities feel rather exchangeable and maybe I was in the wrong spots at the wrong time, but the colors of the country never got totally clear. Continue reading “The island of Miyajima”
Those moments …
Sometimes I have those bright moments of awareness: Yes, I’m really travelling!
Today I’m sitting on five different local trains for about five hours trying not to miss the right station for my the next one, bringing me closer to my target, everything only in Japanese. However, I don’t feel lost at all. It just feels good, real. It makes me smile. When I was on the bus in Australia heading towards middle of nowhere, realizing that most people I know are upside down at the moment (at least from my perspective), or when I first smelled the fresh air of New Zealand it came over me as well.
A good feeling! It is like when you eat an apple and suddenly realize how tasty it is. You let nothing distract you. You just enjoy and you are eating the best apple of the world at this moment 😉
Mila kann …
„ … Mila kann lachen wie die Sonne über dem Fujiyama, Mila kann fliegen wie die Schwalben über dem Fujiyama …“
(… Mila can smile like the sun over Mount Fuji, Mila can fly like the sparrows over Mount Fuji …)
Opening score from “Mila Superstar” (Original Title: Attack No. 1) Continue reading “Mila kann …”
Well fed men
During my stay in Japan I definitely wanted to see Sumo wrestling live. However, I didn’t really look into it until after my workaway stay in Suzaka. There are six grand tournaments a year, each 15 days long. Three take place in Tokyo, the others are carried out in Osaka, Fukuoka and Nagoya.
Coming to Nagoya without knowing about the tournament, I couldn’t believe my luck, when I saw on Couchsurfing that Rebecca from Wellington, New Zealand was looking for someone to join her the same week for the competition in town. The perfect fit with my travel plans. Continue reading “Well fed men”
Welcome to Horakuan
To experience local life and get some experiences beside the tourist tracks is one of the things I enjoy most about traveling with so much time on hand. So also for Japan I looked on the Workaway website for a place to stay for a few weeks. As the offer is very scarce here, there are currently only nine registered hosts in Japan, I was very happy when I found a nice place in Suzaka, close to the former Olympic city of Nagano. Continue reading “Welcome to Horakuan”
Isolation
Every country has its peculiarities, but for me Japanese always had a few more of them. So far my major impression I got about them stemmed from the rather entertaining appearance of Japanese tourist groups and Western produced movies and their interpretation of this Asian country.
Historically Japan was a very isolated country. On the one hand the geographic location in middle of the ocean without any direct neighbors limited the options for exchange. On the other hand only the beginning of the Meiji Restoration in 1868 marked the political opening to the rest of the world.
Still today Japan with its 128 million inhabitants, the 10th biggest country by population, plays a lonely role on the stage of the world. Two rather astonishing figures bring this to the point: In Japan the ethnic mix is made up by 98.5 % Japanese and only 1.5 % other nationalities (mainly Chinese and Korean). In Austria the ratio is 91.0 to 9.0 % letting aside the number of granted citizenships. Looking at the total number of people speaking Japanese not even a million have chosen Japanese as their second language. German is spoken by roughly 105 million as their mother tongue and up to 80 million as a second language.
Travelling in Japan now for three weeks for sure helped to get a better understanding. Still sometimes the little details just make me smile, other habits render me puzzled. Toilet shoes, high-tech toilets, the size of an average car and Maid Cafes fall into the first category. Among the second I would count the contrast between the awareness for little details in design and apparently missing eye for the big picture.
日を歓迎
Two weeks earlier than originally planed I arrived last weekend in Tokyo, after spending the final three weeks of my stay in New Zealand on the north island. There I had some very spoiled days with Laila and Sean in Wellington, I enjoyed the beautiful Art Deco city of Napier, I almost froze to death in the hostel in Taupo, warmed up again in the thermal region of Rotorua and finally ended my visit with two nights in Auckland.
Although I very much enjoyed my time in the country, in the end I had the feeling I stayed a bit too long. I guess I changed hostels too often, saw too many nice mountains and in the end it was definitely too cold for relaxed traveling for such a long time. Therefore I very much looked forward to get to Japan.
The first week in Japan I spent in the mega-metropolis of Tokyo. Although over 35 million people live in the greater area it is a perfectly organized city and actually rather quiet. It doesn’t take long to get used to find your way around – it for sure helps that the street names and subway stations are labeled in English, but also Japanese are very helpful (although there limited skills in English). When I left for Suzaka, a small community next to Nagano, for my next Workaway stay there was still so much to see 😉