We got back to Finland safely. KLM flight from Osaka flew over Jyväskylä but we had to sit in untill amsterdam. When we arrived to there we had to wait 4 hours for the plane to Helsinki. Then finally we arrived home after 2 hour flight. My sister was there to pick us up with the Lilli-mobile and ReLe drove all the way back to Jyväskylä. In Jyväskylä I gave the car to my "holiday-replacements" for one more day and went to sleep.
Now I have returned to my daily work and I have no motivation for it after seeing what Japan is about. If I can find a job there, I will surely take it for I have never ever liked any country (even Finland) so much. Don't get me wrong, home is home, but somehow I felt better there.
Future can bring us anything. Let's hope that for me it is a job in Japan.
Monday, May 7, 2007
Monday, April 30, 2007
Last Japan post.
Today we depart from Osaka KIXX for Amsterdam and from there we will fly to Helsinki-Vantaa Airport.
It was not fun to travel with all our bags in a train when golden week was starting. There were too many people in the cart and we had to stand the whole way with our backpacks pulling us towards the floor.
It is really not very fun to leave, but we have stuff to do in Finland so we need to go. Also today is the last day we could use our Railpasses.
We had lots of fun time and we hope to come back here again some time soon.
This picture shows the current mood of the group:
It was not fun to travel with all our bags in a train when golden week was starting. There were too many people in the cart and we had to stand the whole way with our backpacks pulling us towards the floor.
It is really not very fun to leave, but we have stuff to do in Finland so we need to go. Also today is the last day we could use our Railpasses.
We had lots of fun time and we hope to come back here again some time soon.
This picture shows the current mood of the group:
Tokyo and Countryside.
We went to our last longer trip to Tokyo on friday. We left Osaka around 7 and arrived at Tokyo around 10. There we met Miho and she took us to the "finnish" moomin-café which had some very strange fingrish(not so good finnish) and the ryebread was not very finnish-like, but it was still better than the usual bread here. Menu was full of totally non-finnish treats. One execption to this was the ham-pie which was exactly like the one in finland. NO-one knew finnish in the café.
After walking around we left Tokyo and went to Miho's Uncle's place in Saitama prefecture. We met her uncle Gio(if this name is written wrong, I'm sorry) at the station and from there we went by car to his house. There we met Gio's wife and other relatives of Miho like her cousin Naomi(same name, I know), Naomi's kid Maiya and her other cousin's children Reika(Rei-chan) and Kodayu(Ko-chan). I'm sorry if I don't remember everyone's names but I'm really bad at remembering names.
The Next day we went for the mountains by car and there we saw lot of things I don't have pictures of we also visited a dam made for watering the rice-plants. ReLe hopefully has them and posts them someday. We had a lot of fun and this was the best time I've had here yet. I loved the liveliness of the family and the friendliness of everyone. Thank you very much for taking us in for the weekend!
The next day we went back to Tokyo and met Miho's husband Hiroshi ant the station and then we met wiht her friend(again, sorry I can't remember her name) and she spoke really good english. We went for a observation platform in one of the skyscrapers and we saw mt.Fuji from there.
After a long day we said good bye to Miho and Hisoshi and went back to Osaka. Thank you Miho and Hiroshi for everything!
Moomin bakery&café
ReLe at Tokyo.
Yonster and ReLe posing at Gios's brother-in-laws place.
Nice tea-set.
Gio and Ko-chan.
Group photo. I can't remember all the names so I will not try to put them here.
ReLe and Yonster with angry pose.
My dish at family restaurant.
ReLe and Yonster posing at the Dam we visited at the mountains.
C.C. Lemon and the sun.
Now we have to leave Japan and it makes me depressed. I loved to be here. I felt like I belonged here and for the first time ever while abroad I did not miss Finland. Now I have to go back to place where you have to pay too much tax for everything and where most young people are rude and annoying.
Finland could learn a lot from Japanese people.
After walking around we left Tokyo and went to Miho's Uncle's place in Saitama prefecture. We met her uncle Gio(if this name is written wrong, I'm sorry) at the station and from there we went by car to his house. There we met Gio's wife and other relatives of Miho like her cousin Naomi(same name, I know), Naomi's kid Maiya and her other cousin's children Reika(Rei-chan) and Kodayu(Ko-chan). I'm sorry if I don't remember everyone's names but I'm really bad at remembering names.
The Next day we went for the mountains by car and there we saw lot of things I don't have pictures of we also visited a dam made for watering the rice-plants. ReLe hopefully has them and posts them someday. We had a lot of fun and this was the best time I've had here yet. I loved the liveliness of the family and the friendliness of everyone. Thank you very much for taking us in for the weekend!
The next day we went back to Tokyo and met Miho's husband Hiroshi ant the station and then we met wiht her friend(again, sorry I can't remember her name) and she spoke really good english. We went for a observation platform in one of the skyscrapers and we saw mt.Fuji from there.
After a long day we said good bye to Miho and Hisoshi and went back to Osaka. Thank you Miho and Hiroshi for everything!
Moomin bakery&café
ReLe at Tokyo.
Yonster and ReLe posing at Gios's brother-in-laws place.
Nice tea-set.
Gio and Ko-chan.
Group photo. I can't remember all the names so I will not try to put them here.
ReLe and Yonster with angry pose.
My dish at family restaurant.
ReLe and Yonster posing at the Dam we visited at the mountains.
C.C. Lemon and the sun.
Now we have to leave Japan and it makes me depressed. I loved to be here. I felt like I belonged here and for the first time ever while abroad I did not miss Finland. Now I have to go back to place where you have to pay too much tax for everything and where most young people are rude and annoying.
Finland could learn a lot from Japanese people.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Todai-ji, onsen and ramen
Today was our last classic sightseeing day in Japan. We headed to Nara to see the todai-ji temple. It`s world`s biggest wooden building. After that we met our friend Masa in Kyoto and went to Onsen. It`s a Japanese hot bath. Like finnish swimming pool, but the water is hot and surrounded by Japanese garden. Onsen was really great experience. Only two strange things: 1) There is (of course?) tv in Sauna 2) In mens section there is Female staff. We also got a lot of stares from local people. I think not every day gaijin come to onsen where there is no romanji or hiragana characters in names and no english.
After onsen we went to kyoto station for Ramen. It was really good. I had pork ramen and it tasted like christmas ham. Ramen is so far best Japanese food we have tasted.
Relaxing in Nara with the deer.
Todai-ji is number one shcool trip place for Japanese schools.
You are here.
Very big wooden statue. Guarding the gate. Our guide book says that this is Japan`s if not world`s finest statue carved from wood.
This picture probably shows the size of the place the best.
Yosnter and school group.
From nearby temple:
Train riding:
This is how Medic looks 60% of the day
Ramen:
Medic is suprised about the taste.
Toworrow we go to tokyo for 2 days to it will probably be abit silent here in blog.
After onsen we went to kyoto station for Ramen. It was really good. I had pork ramen and it tasted like christmas ham. Ramen is so far best Japanese food we have tasted.
Relaxing in Nara with the deer.
Todai-ji is number one shcool trip place for Japanese schools.
You are here.
Very big wooden statue. Guarding the gate. Our guide book says that this is Japan`s if not world`s finest statue carved from wood.
This picture probably shows the size of the place the best.
Yosnter and school group.
From nearby temple:
Train riding:
This is how Medic looks 60% of the day
Ramen:
Medic is suprised about the taste.
Toworrow we go to tokyo for 2 days to it will probably be abit silent here in blog.
Oodini kokikselle(ode to coke, only in finnish, sorry)
Aluksi suomen tölkkiteollisuuden tulee ottaa oppia tästä (hinta alle euron):
Japaniin tulin, vieraita paikkoja katsomaan.
Mitään tuttua en nähnyt vaikka kuinka etsiä yritin.
Sitten automaatille askel suuntasi, sieltä löysin etsimäni.
Punainen tölkki, valkoinen teksti, tuo vanha tuttu konsepti.
Kokis, koraa tai coke, sua ilman en oloani kotoisaksi saa.
Hampaani tuhoat mutta sydämmeni voitat. Kiitos sulle kokis.
Japaniin tulin, vieraita paikkoja katsomaan.
Mitään tuttua en nähnyt vaikka kuinka etsiä yritin.
Sitten automaatille askel suuntasi, sieltä löysin etsimäni.
Punainen tölkki, valkoinen teksti, tuo vanha tuttu konsepti.
Kokis, koraa tai coke, sua ilman en oloani kotoisaksi saa.
Hampaani tuhoat mutta sydämmeni voitat. Kiitos sulle kokis.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Combined Miyajima, Hiroshima, Himeji castle, Umeda sky building and Nagano picture post.
Here comes combined post of last 3 days. The rythm was so intense that we had to use all available time for sleeping.
Miyajima:
The place was just like in pictures and again like in the golden pavilion everyone got their own picture of the same subject as everyone else in that same day. The shrine in the island was basicly just a dock with all the basic shrine equipment. What made this day a really interesting was the hiking in top of the nearby mountain where we got by using a cabin lift.
Deer at photography stand.
Wedding picture taking at the temple.
Sake barrels
Inside the shrine.
From shopping streests of the island:
Cabin lift ride to mountain mise:
Engrish.
After the cabin lift we walked up to the moutnain misen.
View from the top.
This fire ahs burned for 1700 years according to the sign that was next to this shrine. This was the fire wich was used to fire up the fire in Hiroshima memorial park.
Resaon why the fire has been burning 1700 years.
Must be a bit tough job. We have witnessed many strange jobs in Japan.
Like plastic bag folder in Himeji castle.
Cabin ride to the mountain was in 2 parts. This was the bigger cabin from middle to top.
And this was the smalled cabin from bottom to 1st station.
Yonster and deer.
Train ride.
Hiroshima:
Because we arrived to hiroshima later than we had planned before, we had only 40minutes before museums closed se we visited only the a-bomb museum. It was a bit depressing, but did not give any more information of the event that i already knew after seeing so many documentaries. After the museum we walked around the peace park and then headed to station.
Explanation for these origami cranes:
http://www.city.hiroshima.jp/shimin/heiwa/crane.html
On the river bank there was few bends performing. These two girls played ok and song various songs. At least they seemed to enjoy it.
Himeji castle:
After visiting Osaka castle and seeing that inside it was just a regular museum with a elevator, we wanted to see a real castle so we headed to himeji castle. It was a very good day, himeji castle was interesting in many ways. After himeji castle we headed back to Osaka and went to see the umeda sky building. After sky building trip Medic headed back to he`s hotel to rest and me and Yosnter went to see the shopping center at night near Namba station. We decided to walk from the Namba station trought the shopping street to Osaka station. The distance is only few kilometers, but it was an adventure. We were only a bit lost and when we started to wonder that shouldn`t we be near the station already, we saw the stairs going underground with JR text with the Kanji signs for Osaka station. People here are quite friendly and helpful, one time during that walk when we stopped to look the map immediatly someone came to us and asked that are we lost.
Nagano:
We left shin-osaka station at 07:06 and arrived to nagano 11:54. There we visited the olympic games memorial at the m-wave skating ring. Nagano was like a ghost town in the tourist attraction areas compared to other places we had seen. In the m-wave there was at first no one at the reception/ticket gate and we had to wait for someone to show up. There was only one visitor in whole building with us. We watched 3d movie of the opening and closing ceremonies + highlights of the games of Japanese point of view. It was interesting to visit there at least for me, because after seeing mogul skiing in Nagano olympics i started mogul skiing my self.
After the sleepy m-wave museum (yes there were employees who were sleeping, we saw one gardener sleeping in his car parked in front of the building.) we headed back to the city and walked to the temple... which was wrong one. I just looked pictures we took and compared them to the picture of the Zekoji temple and they didn`t match at all :) Maybe that explains it why it was so quiet. After that we went back to station and left to Osaka.
Pictures by medic, will be moved to right positions later.... Also captions to pictures will apperar later... We have been really busy and this computer is dead slow, so maybe i fix this post in finland.
Miyajima:
The place was just like in pictures and again like in the golden pavilion everyone got their own picture of the same subject as everyone else in that same day. The shrine in the island was basicly just a dock with all the basic shrine equipment. What made this day a really interesting was the hiking in top of the nearby mountain where we got by using a cabin lift.
Deer at photography stand.
Wedding picture taking at the temple.
Sake barrels
Inside the shrine.
From shopping streests of the island:
Cabin lift ride to mountain mise:
Engrish.
After the cabin lift we walked up to the moutnain misen.
View from the top.
This fire ahs burned for 1700 years according to the sign that was next to this shrine. This was the fire wich was used to fire up the fire in Hiroshima memorial park.
Resaon why the fire has been burning 1700 years.
Must be a bit tough job. We have witnessed many strange jobs in Japan.
Like plastic bag folder in Himeji castle.
Cabin ride to the mountain was in 2 parts. This was the bigger cabin from middle to top.
And this was the smalled cabin from bottom to 1st station.
Yonster and deer.
Train ride.
Hiroshima:
Because we arrived to hiroshima later than we had planned before, we had only 40minutes before museums closed se we visited only the a-bomb museum. It was a bit depressing, but did not give any more information of the event that i already knew after seeing so many documentaries. After the museum we walked around the peace park and then headed to station.
Explanation for these origami cranes:
http://www.city.hiroshima.jp/shimin/heiwa/crane.html
On the river bank there was few bends performing. These two girls played ok and song various songs. At least they seemed to enjoy it.
Himeji castle:
After visiting Osaka castle and seeing that inside it was just a regular museum with a elevator, we wanted to see a real castle so we headed to himeji castle. It was a very good day, himeji castle was interesting in many ways. After himeji castle we headed back to Osaka and went to see the umeda sky building. After sky building trip Medic headed back to he`s hotel to rest and me and Yosnter went to see the shopping center at night near Namba station. We decided to walk from the Namba station trought the shopping street to Osaka station. The distance is only few kilometers, but it was an adventure. We were only a bit lost and when we started to wonder that shouldn`t we be near the station already, we saw the stairs going underground with JR text with the Kanji signs for Osaka station. People here are quite friendly and helpful, one time during that walk when we stopped to look the map immediatly someone came to us and asked that are we lost.
Nagano:
We left shin-osaka station at 07:06 and arrived to nagano 11:54. There we visited the olympic games memorial at the m-wave skating ring. Nagano was like a ghost town in the tourist attraction areas compared to other places we had seen. In the m-wave there was at first no one at the reception/ticket gate and we had to wait for someone to show up. There was only one visitor in whole building with us. We watched 3d movie of the opening and closing ceremonies + highlights of the games of Japanese point of view. It was interesting to visit there at least for me, because after seeing mogul skiing in Nagano olympics i started mogul skiing my self.
After the sleepy m-wave museum (yes there were employees who were sleeping, we saw one gardener sleeping in his car parked in front of the building.) we headed back to the city and walked to the temple... which was wrong one. I just looked pictures we took and compared them to the picture of the Zekoji temple and they didn`t match at all :) Maybe that explains it why it was so quiet. After that we went back to station and left to Osaka.
Note: Special olympics podium
Pictures by medic, will be moved to right positions later.... Also captions to pictures will apperar later... We have been really busy and this computer is dead slow, so maybe i fix this post in finland.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)