When At Home...

We came home yesterday. It was a great short trip actually. Rome surprised me with its beauty. But you should really love pasta and pizza, otherwise it can be hard to find something else when you want to go eat somewhere fast and easy.

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Picture Updates

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The Colosseum

We've been to The Colosseum, Forum Romanum and The Palatine yesterday. It's great to see all the ancient buildings and ruins.

Rome must be the most beautiful city in Europe when it comes to ancient architecture and fountains. The best of all is that everything is within walking distance. There is always something to see regardless of where you walk.

It has been very hot everyday and I really can't recommend this time of the year to travel to Rome. Otherwise it has been great, even with all the German Christian teenagers invading Rome at the same time.

We've been shopping today. Quite bad city for shopping.

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When In Rome...

... sweat a lot.

Magnifico, beautifullo, impressivimo.

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Manhattan View From Empire State Bldg

Danny is over there now so I'm a little bit nostalgic. This is from Road Trip 2008.

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Jigsaw Lamp

What do you think of my new lamp - a jigsaw lamp from Thailand?
Bought it a few years ago, just haven't had time to assemble it,
but now it is up and it's beautiful

Miyajima

We have been to Miyajima, 10 minutes by ferry
outside central Hiroshima. What a nice island
with beautiful nature and nice hiking trails. Deers
walk around the island as they wish and they
are more or less tame and seeking human interaction,
mostly because of food, but still. :)

Sorry, no picture updates since the HD on our computer
is full so we can't sync our cameras with it.

We will be leaving Hiroshima tomorrow for
Himeji and Osaka. We will be staying one night
in Osaka and then return to Tokyo for a final
night before leaving Japan after 3.5 weeks.

Picture updates when I get back home to Sweden.

Hiroshima

Left Kyoto. We are now in Hiroshima for two days.
Today we've been to the Peace Memorial Park and
Museum. Quite a beautiful park and a very informative
museum. Quite sad story though. :(

Peace!

Updates

Januray 2, 2010 - Emperor's New Year Greeting
This day we went to the Emperor's New Year greeting
at the Imperial Palace. Common people are allowed
into the palace area twice a year - December 23 when
it was the emperor's birthday, Januray 2 when the
emperor wished happy new year. Aiko brought some other
friends as well.


Happy goers to the Emperor's greeting.


The royal family.

Afterwards we went to a Daruma market. You're supposed to
make a wish and then paint one of the eyes. When your wish
becomes true during the year, you paint the other one.


Darumas in all sizes.



It was dusty, ey!


Januray 3, 2010 - Leaving Tokyo
We left Tokyo yesterday and are now in Kyoto. Kyoto
has a lot of temples, so we've been temple hopping
yesterday and today. People walk around in traditional
Japanese clothes. Don't know if they do it year-round or
if it is due to the new year.

Pictures coming later...

Picture Updates

A cup of matcha latte in the morning is good for you. :)



Sensoji temple in Asakusa.



Roppongi Hills at night.



Sumo boys. It is the name of the band this guy and I started.



A tree with beautiful yellow leaves.



At Engaku-ji temple in Kamakura.



Aiko showing me how to clean my hands before entering Daibutsu.



Daibutsu, i.e., Big Buddha, Kamakura.



On new year's eve we went to Oedo Onsen Monogatari to wash
away our sins. :) Here I am eating a green tea ice cream in
my sexy yukata.



Ay! Small fishes, come eat my feet...



At Tokyo Tower on new year, 2010.



Group photo.



At the Zojo-ji temple in Shiba, Tokyo.



Shiny happy people in a way too small club in Roppongi
with way too many people. We could hardly move.



On the train to Ueno Park the day after the new year party.
Japanese people sleep on the train, so I figured, why not try it?

New Year In Tokyo

We have been back in Tokyo for a week now.
We've been sightseeing and shopping a lot.
My bag is already overweighted.

The day before yesterday, Aiko took us to see
some sumo training. It was one of their last
training sessions before the big tournament in
the beginning av January. We were allowed to
observe their training if we promised not to
disturb them. Afterwards we went to Kamakura, about
one hour outside Tokyo, for some temple/shrine hopping.
They were all very beautiful.

Yesterday in the early afternoon we went to Odaiba to
go to the Oedo Onsen Monogatari where everything was
Edo-styled. One could easily spend the whole day there
since they were open from 11 pm -- 9 am and they had
restaurants and all. It was a good and clean onsen.

In the evening for new year dinner we had some sushi
with Candela and her friends in Roppongi. Afterwards
we went to Tokyo Tower for the new year count down.
The last minutes of 2009 the lights in the tower were
all turned off. Then a lot of small lights started blinking.
When it finally was a new year a big sign with the digits
'2010' got lit up. Everybody that was there cheered
and wished each other a happy new year. And that was it.
No fanfare, no fireworks...

New year in Japan is quite different from our new year
celebration at home. New year is really about stillness
and contemplation. Every family eats soba for dinner.
It symbolizes longevity and a long life. After that,
they all go to a shrine or temple to wait for the clock to
strike 24:00. It is considered good to get the first prayer
of the year.

We went to the Zojo-ji temple near Tokyo Tower to watch the
celebration. What's special with this temple is that they
let a bell ring 108 times to symbolize our 108 sins and passions
(I think). People has been queueing early in order to be
the lucky ones to get to ring the bell. We didn't went in
the temple main hall since the line was quite long.

After the temple we went back to Roppongi to go clubbing in
a latino club called Copa Cabana. Some other friends of
Candela joined and we were quite an international group -
people from Sweden, Japan, Argentina, Australia, and Lithuania.
It was quite expensive - 4000 ¥ including two free drinks.
It was a tiny little club and they let in a lot of people so
it was very crowded. We could hardly move. It was latino music
the whole night. We partied 'till after 4 when everyone
got tired. The trains were running the whole night, but not too
frequently.

Today, new year's day, Tokyo is quite dead. Only a few
shops and department stores were open. Some of them are going
to have big sales tomorrow. Not every restaurant was open
either, but there is still a lot of them open so no fear
to get hungry at all.

Christian and I went to Ueno Park for a promenade. We ended
the walk at Ameyoko market and took the train back to Gotanda.

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