by Silvan Debely March 12th Last week was supposed to be a quiet one with no special happenings but it's actually been a pretty exciting one finally. I moved to Kasai where Yasuko offered me a place to stay. Kasai is quite easy to access with the Tokyo metro which was convenient for me to go everyday around Tokyo on my own. We went with Yoshimi to Asakusa to see the temples. I aslo went to Ginza and Muranouchi, where I took a ride on the sky bus (2 storey bus with opened roof) the weather was not so good but there was some nice spots to take pictures of like for instance the emperor's castle. Last thursday I went to Odaiba again and as promised this time it was daytime so I could take some nice shots of the rainbow bridge among others... I also climbed the Fuji TV station tower which is the one with the "sphere" at its top. The pics of the overview are taken from the inside of the sphere. Unfortunately I had to leave Japan in kind of a rush for some money reasons so I booked an early flight to Switzerland last Saturday which made 2 fabulous months come to an end. I really enjoyed Japan and I wanna go again and see more of it! I wanna thank all my friends who helped me out there, they were really helpfull and I really appreciated their lovely hospitality. Thanks again to all of you guys and remember that my door is always open for you as well. __________________________________________________________ by Silvan Debely March 1st I spent most of last week at home, using the internet designing my new "ichiban-creation" website. Check it out: http://www.ichiban-creation.com and send me a comment, good or bad I'd appreciate it! I also went out sometimes, mostly Shinjuku and Shibuya my 2 favourite places in Tokyo. A city I can fully enjoy now as I sorted out the quite complicated railway system (especially for a foreigner who used to live in Perth!) Yesterday, Yoshimi and I went to Chiba by car, it is quite far and driving through Tokyo is quite an adventure, even using the GPS! We drove something like 200 km in 6 hours! Trafic jams and hundreds of roads! But the good part was when we drove over the famous "Rainbow Bridge" from which I could have a nice view on Odaiba. Last week I also met Yoshimi's cousin who came visiting with her baby and her really cool dog "Ren" who was wearing a really cool jumper with a hood in case of raining condition I suppose!:) On monday, I went to Omotesando in Harajuku, where the new Puma shop has opened. That's about it for last week, I made some more friends and my plan for the next weeks is: to get an haircut, buy a bag to pack my overweighting luggage, visit some more spots in Tokyo and I'll try to play some soccer with Jun, a friend I played soccer with in Perth when we were playing for the "Royals". ________________________________________________________ by Silvan Debely Feb 20th This time I can say that I spent a week like any real tourist, rushing from spot to spot, taking heaps of pictures and acting as such at every occasion! It was great fun for a week but now I feel like I need to relax, and my wallet as well! So after Kobe I went to Osaka by train. We went to Universal studios Japan with Asuka, Ayumi and a Korean friend in Japan for a few days "Michael". The weather wasn't really good but that made the waiting lines a bit shorter I guess. I especially enjoyed the "Spiderman" ride, we were wearing 3D glasses and were taken through a mix of 3D and real backgrounds, trust me, that was AMAZING!! And I'm fussy for these kind of things! Another really good one was "Shrek's 4D movie" (in japanese!)eventhough we were sitting on chairs we were really taken in the inside of a story where Shrek, donkey and cie were doing hilarious and impressive things. Wearing the 3D glasses again I could feel some liquids on my face when donkey sneezed and some hot air when the dragon spat fire, the chairs were moving when they were racing on horses etc... GREAT FUN!!! The day after we all went to Kyoto, I was very happy to finally get there as everyone ever told that it is the place to go for a foreigner. And it was indeed! Because, it's the most traditional looking city in Japan. And it looks great, it's true, not only the temples I visited but the modern city seems cool too, people are trendy and there are huge areas of shops. I went to kinkakuji temple, which is the golden one on the pictures, it is very famous and I have to admit I was especially happy to see it with my own eyes. We also went to kiyomizu temple and that was really interesting and that's were I got to see everything I ever wanted to see about japanese traditions. On my last day in Osaka, we went to Namba and Shinsaibashi were we had a great dinner in a kushiyaki restaurant before I jumped on the bus for a night to get back to Tokyo. I arrived at Tokyo station at 6:30 in the morning and had to sort out myself the way and train changes to get back to Moroyama where Yoshimi and her parents kindly accepted me back!! I can say that I proudly made it like a local! Plan for next week, relax and work on the new design of my "ichiban-creation" website. __________________________________________________________ by Silvan Debely Feb 14th Last week was a nice one really fun, I was in Kobe for 7 days. It was long enough to enjoy the best parts of it I think. But it was early to leave, in one week I made lots of friends and met some nice and friendly people, thanks to my friend Eri who introduced me some of her friends. After a few days in Kobe I realised how much I had appreciated Tokyo as I was kinda missing the crazy speed of my first visited japanese city! Anyway, I could feel the atmosphear of living in Kobe, it is a really lovely city to leave in and quite handy for foreigners. I went to Himeji castle, took lots of pics eventhough my hands were frost and we also went to the mountain to have an impressive overview of the city but as it was at dusk, I couldn't take pictures, sorry guys but it's all in my head only! I was staying at Eri's place, where her mother was very kind. They live in Hyogo which is very convenient,I could even go 5 times to gym during the week as there is a cheap one nearby. We spent most of the evening in Sannomiya where Eri works, in a nice turkish dining bar, where Geyhan makes great kebabs and where the music is really good. Gey quickly became a friend and showed me around nightclubs and bars. I even met this Swiss DJ established in Kobe, We could have a nice talk about living in Japan and music, it was really nice to meet DJ "Stout"! 2 days ago, I arrived in Osaka, where my friend Asuka and her family welcomed me to their japanese-style-house. We went to Umeda today where I could meet another old friend from Australia, Akiko. Last night Asuka's parents took me to a nice restaurant where I mostly hate several types of chicken kebabs. Asuka's father offered me my first and forever-to-keep "sake set"!:) My plan for the rest of this week is: Universal studio japan and Kyoto. ________________________________________________________ by Silvan Debely Feb 7th Last week was a relaxing week with great meals and sake. I went shopping some more, I'm still after THE puma shoes that we can't find in Europe...! My friend Yoshimi still being so lovely to me, helping out for everything and her parents as well. Last sunday, I finally made my move to Kobe, but before that I've lived something special in Moroyama. I was having dinner when I fell my first ever earthquake! It lasted about 3 seconds or so but it was long enough and shook the house from floor to roof, I could feel the ground shaking under my feet and the lamp and liquids in glasses confirmed the thing! According to TV news it was a level 3, nothing dangerous, just some emotions and a first experience in this situation. Anyway, I'm now in Kobe where the earthquake experience has been marked forever with the "Hanshin" in 1995 which had had a magnitude of 7.2 and killed thousands of people. You can actually see that this city looks brand new. It is a nice and not busy. I feel comfortable here and the amount of foreigner is much more noticeable than in Tokyo. On the trip to Kobe I was lucky enough to sit next to a nice japanese girl who studies in Tokyo. We could have a nice talk, exchanged email addresses and there is a new japanese friend! I love this country for that, you make new friends everyday. Then Eri, a friend that I met in Australia picked me up and on that night we caught another bus (2 nights on buses in a row!) to go to "hyperball Tohachi" in the Sky Valley for snowboarding. But before that we went to Kobe's china town where we could see some shows and eat some chinese food. Then we went with a friend (Chigusa) to a really nice japanese restaurant where the food was delicious as usual(!) and the style really comfy. So after a night on the bus, we got to a place really full of snow where the temperature didn't reached -3 C! The conditions were good until like 3 o'clock when it started snowing and we couldn't see sh*t anymore. We stopped for lunch on the slopes in a nice chalet where "momas and papas" (the owners) made us some great curry. There was 5of us: Eri, her boyfriend Kazu, Chiemi, her boyfriend Jay and myself. Great fun but exhausted... We got back to Kobe around 9pm and went to a small and nice japanese restaurant where the speciality is chicken. I tried roll chicken and it was really delicious. Therefore chicken became my third roll favourite after tuna and salmon. We've some good hot sake as well and finally headed to bed for a long night. ___________________________________________________________ by Silvan Debely jan 31st 2006 Here I am, already two fantastic weeks spent in this amazing country, and my feelings about it kept growing! Tokyo is so huge and the amount of things to see and do seems endless! Last Saturday I went to Harajuku, in a Brazilian restaurant(!) on Omotesando street, for a friend's birthday. Omotesando is quite impressive, it is the street where all the famous designers shops are. That's where rich and famous people shop! I spent then a short night in his so-called flat, it's actually a one room flat with toilet, bathroom and kitchen in the aisle! Makes you realise about the density of population in Tokyo! On sunday morning we took the train to Ikebukuro where a coach took us on a 2 hour trip to Nagano. There I rented Snowboard and gear and there I was, on a snowboard after 4 years of beaches and sun! I was soon happy to realise that you never forget your snowboard skills. I had so much fun!! Conditions were perfect! I have to admit that after that day I was completely exhausted but very happy. Monday was Yoshimi's day off so after quite a long sleep to recover, we went to Ikebukuro to check the bus fare as I'm planning to go to Kobe, Osaka and Kyoto next week. We then ate some nice food in a pretty restaurant. We then jumped on the Yurikamome train to Odaiba, this train is like an amusement park ride! it's all the way over the city, you can enjoy the perfect view of the city and it's not even called an attraction but just (the best) public transport! The view is breathtaking and it doesn't cost you more than a metro ticket. We went through the famous "Rainbow Bridge" I couldn't take good pictures as it was night time but I'll go again...We got to Odaiba where we spend the evening walking in the Decks, a huge shopping center like no other, there you can find old japanese mangas or traditional shops and restaurants, and of course game rooms where we had fun taking some Puri-kura. All this in the impressive bay side of Tokyo where you begin to realise how big this city really is. Since last week I've been to Shibuya, Harajuku, Odaiba and I think that's it! My favourite so far being Shibuya and Shinjuku. ____________________________________________________________ by Silvan Debely jan 22nd 2006 My first word in Japan was probably: Samuii!! Meaning cold!! But my second one was definitely "wow" I'm gonna love this country! It's been a week since I said my first word in Japan and I'm still fully happy to be here. There is everyday something fascinating to discover and eventhough it's cold I am enjoying my life like rarely before. This country has nothing comparable with Australia, it is as close as possible to the opposite about almost everything actually. Though I love it and feel myself fitting quite well in the japanese lifestyle. Here I'm more concerned about my weight than I was in Australia, this is due to the fact that here even by eating a lot everyday you definitely lose weight. The food is so tasty and so healthy, I feel like eating at a gourmet restaurant everyday. In fact you eat so many different types of food in one dinner that you don't really realise how much you're eating and whether you're full or not! It's probably a good thing for losing weight but as you might know, I'm kinda more looking for the opposite process... I've been in Tokyo for about a week now and all I can say is that I would need a couple of years to see it all. What I've seen so far is Ikebukuro, Shinjuku, Roppongi, Akihabara, Ueno, Asakusa, and yesterday I went to Kokugikan Arena to watch the sumo tournament, "awesome" it was indeed! Today I'm having a break day as my friend is working and it is not so much fun to hang out alone. Anyway as I'm planning to stay here for a while, I'm more concerned about my budget rather than time. I'm a special type of traveller, not a tourist and not a local, I like to see famous spots of course but what I'm really after is to get the feeling of living where I am. Therefore rushing to touristic places is definitely not like me. I should spend next weekend snowboarding, visiting a few other places and go shopping as it is my favourite sport while in Japan! Come back here next week for some more news!