Or in Japanese: „Akemashite omedetō (gozaimasu)!“ Please do not say this until the new year. This time I do not have much to write about. Although the New Year is probably the most important festival in Japan, but it is celebrated the New Year, different from us where we celebrate more Sylvester. It’s more like a family party, so it’s pretty quiet. There are no fireworks either. Furthermore, I know too little safely to write about it, although I know e.g. there are certain types of home decorations or meals, some of them religious, but before I write anything wrong I prefer not to do so. I simply recommend a google search, there is already a lot. Continue Reading
General
Tokyo – Odaiba
This time I simply joined colleagues who wanted to Tokyo, more precisely to Odaiba. Odaiba is an artificial island in the bay of Tokyo and has some attractions. In order to save some money and because we were a larger group, we bought a kind of group ticket for the regional train instead of the Shinkansen or the equally acceptable bus. Continue Reading
Food 4
Food, food and food again. I have to appear pretty gluttonous. As a conclusion to today’s contribution marathon it is now about food, I know someone who always tells me: “You have to eat, otherwise you die”. After all, this person is right and the food belongs to the culture as well. I think I don’t have mentionedContinue Reading
Kawaii
I only write about this topic a bit because I do not presume to explain it completely. Nevertheless, it receives its own entry because it is an important part of today’s Japanese culture. Kawaii (in Hiragana わ い い) means something like “sweet, cute, childish, lovely or even attractive”. His derivatives kawaisō and kawairashii can Continue Reading
Christmas
Merry Christmas everywhere, or not? Clearly in a Christian country Christmas is celebrated, but Japan is not Christian. Nevertheless, Christmas is known here, albeit in a different way. For one thing, it’s not celebrated, these are normal days here. But what exists is a commercial variant. This day is also heavily promoted by retailers with discounts. Otherwise, you see only a little Christmas decoration which is also strongly based on the American variant and what I have seen so far in Shizuoka, seemed rarely beautiful, often rather misplaced or cheesy (from my point of view). The Japanese love to dress up, so you can buy a lot of different costumes, from reindeer to Santa Claus. Especially many different Miss Santa Claus costumes were to be had, Shame be to him who thinks evil of it. The Japanese are more in love with the events, but I was told at the expense of their own festivals and culture. Another (miss) need is that the Japanese combine Christmas Eve with chicken wings and potato wedges, thanks to Kentucky Fried Chicken … ..Continue Reading
Trip to Hakone
One day before Christmas Eve, I drove with colleagues on a day trip to Hakone in Kanagawa Prefecture.
Year end parties
Actually, this post is a hidden food contribution. Also here in Japan, the end of the year is celebrated with a party. Since in Japan the social constraints are quite strict and hierarchical, these celebrations can be substantially relaxed. In my case it was not yet out of the norm.Continue Reading
Japan – Insects
Hello you out there, I’m not (yet) dead and my blog also not. I’m not experiencing that much right now. Therefore, this time it is only a filler contribution. Although I was today in the Prefecture Art Museum and had the pleasure of a special exhibition about the ancient Japanese art / ink style, but photos are prohibited as always. In addition, museums in Japan seem to be smaller than in Germany (at least the ones I’ve seen so far), I often only need around half an hour. Continue Reading
Tokyo – Imperial Garden
Last week I was once again in Germany, when only very briefly for a conference. Therefore, also no time to visit anybody or enjoy the stay. Fortunately, I was able to visit some, because it was in my old university. Twice in a short timeContinue Reading
Shizuoka -Shizuoka Sengen Shrine
Hello again after a long time. I’m still live, even if I don’t have many experiences that I can blog. Here in Japan the autumn begins, too, but that just means that it’s slightly cooling down and the humidity drops. Cooler means down to 26°C. The last weekend it had only rained so that it was still somewhat cooler and in the night to today was the tropical storm Talim was also active in Shizuoka. He Continue Reading