Some Picture Updates

About one week ago in Lund, Sweden.



In Tokyo Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. I love this garden.



Santa Claus has come to Harajuku by bike.



In Harajuku. Yes, it's a man.



Karaoke with Håkan and Jeanette.



Having dinner in Otsuka. From the right: Jeanette, Aiko, Håkan, Christian, and me.



At Shurijo Mae in Naha, Okinawa. World heritage.



At Shikinaen Royal Garden, Naha, Okinawa. World heritage.



Great swimmer, bad user of fins and snorkel. :-D



Snorkeling at Zamami island, Okinawa. Me on the left and Candela on the right.



Look at the water! Look at the color!



Sailing with Henry-san. He was so nice!



Sunset over Aka island, Okinawa.



Sleeping at a Ryokan in Aka, Okinawa.



At Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. The world's second largest aquarium. One of very few aquariums that keep whale sharks in captivity.



The world's largest acrylic glass panel, measuring 8.2 metres by 22.5 metres with a thickness of 60 centimetres. They had three whale sharks!!!



A manta ray.



Nemo and his friends.



Mini nemos.



Beautiful pink little fishies...

Okinawa

Been to Okinawa a couple of days now. Temperature is around 20 degrees. Okinawa feels like Hawaii Lite. Some people look like Hawaiian people.

We went to two small islands located 1 hour from Naha by ferry. Number of inhabitants in each island is around 300-400 people. We went there for swimming and snorkeling. People thought we should rent wet suit since the water temperature is only around 23 degrees. We said no and they thought we were crazy.

Since it is low season we were the only ones on the beaches. Great. The first beach we went to was on Zamami. Great snorkeling they said. We found nothing. Maybe we went to the wrong side of the beach?

Anyway, we met Candela, an Argentinian girl, on the way to the beach and we joined her to another island - Aka. And guess what. At an information desk a man - Henry san - overheard us wanting to go to Aka. He offered us a free ride on his own sailing boat. He told us his story on our way to Aka. He dropped us at the island and he followed us around helping us looking for somewhere to stay for the night.

After we had gone to the beach snorkeling, we checked in at a traditional Japanese Ryokan - sleeping on a matress on the floor.

We bought some cup noodles and snacks and returned to Henry san's boat to have dinner. He was so nice. He added meat to our noodles and we spent the evening with him, talking about everything. He showed us the pika pika - plancton that lights up when stirring the water. He offered us to follow him to another island, but we chose to stay in Aka instead for some more snorkeling. People were so nice on the island - offering us rides to the beach etc.

The other morning Christian and I went to the beach again although it was raining hard but it stopped raining shortly after we went in the water. The water was so clear and there were so many different tropical fishes swimming around the corals. And the best thing is you don't even have to swim far out if you don't want to - only a few metres was enough.

We went back to Naha yesterday and celebrated Christmas with a yakiniku buffet. Yummy! Afterwards we went out with Candela to a reggae club. It was funny because we were the only ones dancing the whole night. There were a lot of American mariners and some Japanese as well, but the Americans were only drinking and acting rudely while the Japanese people were only dancing on the side of the dance floor to themselves.

Anyway, it is raining today and we are going to a world class aquarium two hours from Naha with Candela. We really hope the weather is better there because the rain is really pouring down.

Have a very merry Christmas and a very happy new year!

From Japan with love!

Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden

Ah! How nice. Got our first sushi a few hours ago. Now we're getting lazy in the middle of Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. Temperature? 28 degrees Celsius... somewhere else in the world. We saw Mount Fuji earlier today. Magnifico!

Delays And Cancellations

Yesterday was all about delays and cancellations.

We had to catch another train. The first train came
eventually, but 18 minutes late.
Reason: snow!

And then our second train stopped at Malmö Svågertorp
and refused to continue to Kastrup.
Reason: Snow! There was something with the switches on the
Danish side and there were already five trains waiting in
front of us.

Everybody just rushed out of the train with their bags.
At the taxi platform it was total chaos when irritated and
angry people tried to catch the first available cab to Kastrup.

Luckily for us I had the number to Klimat Taxi on my phone
so I called them on our way to the taxi platform. And luckily
their only cab in Malmö this early morning was in the neigborhood
so we only had to wait a couple of minutes. And when the cab
came to the platform, everybody else was trying to catch it, but
it was ordered by me. :) We split the cab with to other passengers.

Our first flight got delayed one hour.
Reason: Snow! First they couldn't do the final flight checks and
then they had to de-ice the vehicle and after that, we missed our
original time slot and had to wait for an available one while we
had to let all the other planes go first.

But anyway, that is all forgotten now because I'm in Tokyo!

Konichiwa, Kombawa, Yamaha, Toyota.... :-D

Surprised Anybody?

5 o'clock in the morning. The train is late! Surprised?

Fireflies By Owl City

Repeat 1 million times on my cell phone the last few days -
Fireflies by Owl City. Sounds very much like Death Cab For
Cutie and Postal Service.

Sorry, not allowed to embed this video, but here's the youtube link.

And here's a good cover by the ever-so-cool David Choi.



Brilliant lyrics!

'Cause I'd get a thousand hugs
From ten thousand lightning bugs
As they tried to teach me how to dance

A fox trot above my head
A sock hop beneath my bed
A disco ball is just hanging by a thread

I'd like to make myself believe
That planet earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems
When I fall asleep

Halloween Continued

Halloween Continued

Halloween

Joshua And I

We even got a plectrum. :-D

Stefan And Joshua

Everyone who bought a merch could meet with Joshua. Stefan and I bought the Simple Times CD. We got it signed.

Encore

For the last song he asked the audience to make a circle on the floor and then he and his band went off-stage and played a Bob Dylan cover for us.

Joshua

This was Joshua's first gig in Malmö. He's played in Sweden before. Joshua played for an hour and a half. Talking in between the songs, telling us the stories behind each song. With only two albums released he didn't have too much material, but some of the best songs were there. He even treated us with 3-4 new songs he hasn't recorded yet. They were quiet rocky and in my opinion not very 'Joshua Radin'y. Can't wait to see how they will sound like on the next album.

He played a non-vamped and funny version of Sky with his band. No female voice here. The fire alarm went off during I'd Rather Be With You. Argh! The song I've been waiting for the whole night.

Joshua

Pernilla Andersson

Pernilla Andersson as supporting act. Recognized her first song but don't remember where I've heard it before.

Asia Tour 2009

Coming to a city near you...

Kantareller

Song List

PIMP
Candy Shop
Beat Goes On
Human Nature
Vogue
Die Another Day (Interlude)

OLD SCHOOL
Into The Groove
Holiday
Dress You Up
She's Not Me
Music

GYPSY
Rain (Interlude)
Devil Wouldn't Recognize You
Spanish Lesson
Miles Away
La Isla Bonita (Lela Pala Tute)
Doli Doli
You Must Love Me

RAVE
Get Stupid (Interlude)
4 Minutes
Like A Prayer
Frozen
Ray Of Light
Give It To Me

Game Over

Supporting act was Paul Oakenfold who entered the stage a little bit past 8 o'clock. He dj'ed for half an hour, even played the new Madonna single Celebration. The Madonna show started around 8.30 and lasted for two hours.

Overall it was a great concert even with the repeated dance routines and performances from her different appearances. 50000 was present at Parken stadium, Copenhagen. It was 100% live singing, but 80% out of tune. I guess she is forgiven though with two hours of non-stop dancing, jumping and singing.

Liked:
* Music - perfect song to play live
* Devil Wouldn't Recognize You - cool effects from the screens
* Miles Away - simply a great song
* You Must Love Me - acoustic, it felt honest
* Frozen - liked this version
* Give It To Me - the grand finale with the cool laser show
* Liked that Hung Up was excluded. Really hate this song.
* Especially liked the big screens that transformed themselves and moved around the stage and turned it into different sceneries.

Hated:
* Human Nature - totally uninspired
* The Spanish/Balcan session.
* Ray Of Light live is so outdated. Never liked this song.

More From The Concert

It was an OK concert. She's beginning to be a little lazy. Too much of the same songs and dance routines in my opinion. But it's a Madonna concert. You never get disappointed when leaving the show.

At The Venue

Before the concert.

Madonna - Sticky & Sweet Tour, Copenhagen

Ticket to tomorrow's concert in Copenhagen. :)

Stenshuvud

Went to Stenshuvud today for a swim and a hike.

Vedema

Hiking at Vedema.

Towing The Car

From Another Angle

Accident

There was an accident outside my parents' home today. The car was upside-down. Seems like only this car was involved. Two persons were in it and luckily they weren't hurt. Just a little bit shocked. I heard the crash but thought that it was the thunder at first. Not until I heard one of the neighbors talking to one of the many people and cars that have stopped did I realize it was an accident when I went out to look. Awful, isn't it?

Tattoo

Can you give a dog a tattoo? I guess you can. :-D

Fw: Rudolph?

Rudolph in Copenhagen.

"Don't Wade In The Water", "The Biggest Flood Ever", Or "Whatever"

Yesterday was like this:

17.15 - Entered the gym to take my usual 40 laps in
the pool. Still hot and humid outside.

18.30 - Done and ready to go home. The sky was opened.
The rain just poured down like never before. Got stuck
at the gym since there was a big flood outside the
entrance doors that blocked everyone from leaving and
entering the gym. The pond was 10 -- 15 cm deep!
Water was seeping in from the outside at the floor of
the cafeteria at the gym. This is a newly renovated place!
How could they make the ground slope in such a way that
rain so easily could build up a pond! Unacceptable.



19:30 - The rain finally stopped, but the pond didn't
look to become smaller. The guys at the gym had to
let us leave from the emergency exit.

19:45 - Came home and saw that there was a 15 - 20 cm
deep pond outside the basement storage door. Felt sorry
for people with stuff in the basements. There must have
been a flood everywhere now.



21:00 - Went to the basement to check on my storage
space. The flood outside was gone, but there was
still a lot of water in the basement. Decided not to
go in after all.


Today:

7:45 - Got text message from a friend in the neighborhood
that there was a flood in his storage space. He and his
girlfriend were rearranging stuff. Some stuff were destroyed
by the water. Still a lot of water in my basement. Decided
not to go in.

21:15 - Most of the water was gone in the basement. Luckily
and amazingly the water didn't reach my storage space. It
was dry there, but the rest of the basement was still wet.

Late Dinner

TGIF after Transformers 2.

Gavin Playing The Guitar

Supporting Act

Gavin's brother Joey.

Waiting For Gavin

Gavin DeGraw will be playing in a couple of minutes here at Mejeriet, Lund.

Daniella

1 month old.

And NO! She's not mine. She's my cousin's daughter.