24.05.05

The nicest people in Japan??

Posted in Japan, in English at 22:00 by foppel

I have to say that all Japanese are very friendly.. I only recognized about two or three times that there was a bad sentiment towards foreigners near me.. An old geezer once caughed in the direction of any non asian person he saw..

But I have to say, in Hiroshima people have been the nicest so far.. I was talked to on the open street how I am, where I come from, if I like Hiroshima and so on, and that several times..
And Yesterday a whole class of girls (middle or pre school I think, htey where in uniform, but had yellow caps..) talked to me while sitting on a bench what my name is,
where I come from and if they can take a picture togehter with me, which they did then twice.. their teacher was laughing the whole time.. I had a really good time :)

But I think, the friendlyness gradualy gets better, the less foreigners are around..

In Tokyo, or in Kyoto, they are so used to foreigners, it doesn’t matter anymore..
Here it seems a foreigner, and being german too, is still something special..

23.05.05

never saw so many people weeping in one spot

Posted in Japan, in English at 22:00 by foppel

I visited the Atom-bomb dome and Memorial park today in Hiroshima.. The Park and the memorial was ok, but in the attached museum it was devasting..

I never saw so many people sniffing with teary eyes, myself included, witnessing the exhibitions displayed there..

You get a really good feeling for how horrible war is and what a devasting weapon the bomb is..

anybody who thinks that the bomb is a good or even acceptable solution, should pay a visit to Hiroshima and the Memorial Museum.. you will come back as a changed person..

Arriving in Hiroshima

Posted in Japan, in English at 22:00 by foppel

I will be staying with the familiy of a friend of my japanese Teacher here in Hiroshima…

I had mixed feelings about this, as I didn’t wan’t to impose on those people.

But on the other hand, arrangments were alreay made, and it will be a nice change staying with a japanese family for once.

And they are really nice.. Yuko san is very nice as well as her husband and gave me a warm welcome.. but I have the feeling that Sumie-sensei (my teacher) told them only to speak japanese with me…

22.05.05

Last evening in Osaka

Posted in Japan, in English at 22:00 by foppel

This is the last evening in Osaka already, tomorrow I will go to Hiroshima, my last station in Japan, before I fly back to Germany on Friday..

It will be 2 nights and 3 days in Hiroshima, on Thursday I will take back a night-train to Tokyo, and from there the train to Narita Airport..

Now I have to pack everything andhave to try to get that broken suitcase somehow ready for departure..

the best steak in the world

Posted in Japan, in English at 22:00 by foppel

when I got back from Himeji, I made stop in Kobe. Kobe is famous for their cows, which are sheltered like family members, and their meat get prices like small cars..

And such a steak I wanted to have…

I just got into the next big Hotel, Shin-Kobe Oriental, and checked if there was a Teppanyaki restaurant, you know, where they grill the food in front of you on the table, and I guessed right, there was one, and they had a Kobe-steak set-menu…

First I got a Salad, then it started with Kobe-steak sashimi (thats raw slices, folks), which tasted really good.. then the Chef came and started to chat with me and began to prepare my steak and my vegetables…

I have to say, I eat steak medium, tending to bloddy, but for Kobe-steak you have to turn it down one inch, as it tends to be too well done to soon.. but I was in heaven…

It is diffrent from like a T-Bone-steak, but it is really really good..

After that there came Kobe-steak slices with soja-beans, and then stir-fried rice with steak sprinkles..

after that I head problems eating my desert, which was Lemon-sorbet, not Kobe-steak… just for the record..

now I wont go into pricing details, lets just say I thought that it may be a long time for me to come back to Kobe, and it was like I had it expected… so its ok

Middle-age and back

Posted in Japan, in English at 22:00 by foppel

Today I went to Himeji, where the Himeji-jou stands, one of the few existing Japanese Castles which actually survived Meiji restauration and WWII.

It is definitly beautiful and if you really like castles like me, then you should see it once..

And by the effort you have to take to get into it, I am talking about walking upwards here, you recognize that it is an unaltered castle, as it was not meant to be easy to get into it..

There have been 68 gates on the Castle-ground, now there are still around 20. I would show pics, but my camera-batteries died on me, so i can’t download them right now..

rainy day

Posted in Japan, in English at 09:55 by foppel

Weather didn’t look nice this morning, so I took the chance to sleep in and to have a slow day today.. I actually planned that for tomorrow and a trip to another castle and to Kobe for today, but forecast says it will look better tomorrow..

And, by all means, I am on vacation…

As well I have to say, here in the Ryokan in Osaka I had the best room so far.. the other rooms werent’t bad, but this is the spaciest and most comfortable..

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