Akihabara

Have you ever been looking for a certain elektronic device, and none of the shos in town (nor in the next) would have it? I don't think hat can happen in Tokyo. In Tokyo there is an area, Akihabara, where there are more elektronic stores then I have ever seen before in total! There was even one street which had only shops selling computer parts. It was so amazing to walk around there! Talking about shopping, doing your purchases in a country where you can not read, nor speak the language gives a totally new twist to "just getting groceries". :)

Fireworks in Yokohama

My first weekend in Japan, and already a festival to go to. Or at least fireworks. This one was in Yokohama, other days during the comming weeks I have visited the festivals of Ebina and Atsugi. The fireworks were nice, although the Dutch new years eve fireworks are more impressive, I think. However, seeing a smiley, heart, or catface or even carrots falling from the sky was a new experience.

STILL the first week

Although Japanese beds are mainly wood, with only a very thin matras, and I have some trouble to get asleep except for when I'm very tired, do I have a good time here. It actually is quite frustrating, the talking around me, and all the writing around me, and I don't have a clue what it's about, most of the time. It just looks and sounds like random lines and sounds. However, yesterday (thursday) I went to a Japanese class, intending to learn to speak and understand some Japanese. However, the first lesson was to learn to write (and thus read) hiragana, I still don't know a word more Japanese than I did, but this evening I have been running around my appartment scanning text for characters that I recognized. I still can't recognize all 50 hiragana, but already it was a real amazing experience to see a text recognize characters, remembering the sounds and seeing those texts aren't just a collection of random lines. Actually, the best moment I had, was when I recognized 3 character in a row (in one word). Even though it was only part of a word, it was SO amazing to READ those characters and SAY the "word" out loud, it sounded so much like Japanese! ...Although it STILL sounded like a random collection of sounds ;-)... I think that was the best experience this week.

Also "strange" is when you walk on the left side of the (very small) streets, and cars come from behind, pass you, and steer LEFT!!! I guess it would be kinda similar in England, although the streets can never be as small as here in Japan, which adds to the confusion!!!

First day

It was only a one hour flight to London, so that was no problem, but the flight to Tokyo was actually 11 hours and 40 minutes. Now THAT was a long flight. Actually, I don't know most of it, after about 3 hours flying I fell asleep and less than 2 hours before landing I woke up again.

I was told that the weather in Tokyo would be hot and humid, well, it was kinda humid, but it was only 20 degrees Celsius with a nice breeze! So that wasn't too bad. Anyway, after landing I still had a two hour bus ride to Atsugi City, a little town(220.000 inhabitants), especially compared with Tokyo(10 million), through wich we drove on our way. (so much little houses at so little space!) my colleague Keiji Shimada picked me up from Hon-Atsugi station and helped me to my appartment. It actually wasn't as small as I expected, only the bathroom is very tiny! Thereafter we walked to the ATX building, where I will be working the next year, and I met my 3 other colleagues. Yoshi Nogoshi is my boss, and the other 2 names I don't remember exactly anymore. After a little talking we went to have dinner together (Keiji, Yoshi and me) in a noodle restaurant just outside the ATX tower. I had "parent" (or that is how it translates) rice with chicken and egg. Quite good! After that Keiji showed my a convenience store on the walk back. That evening I unpacked my suitcase and went to bed full with new impressions to dream about...

Tomorrow I Leave

Tomorrow morning I will fly to Londen and from London to Tokyo by British Airways. Today I finished packing my suitcase and an additional box wich I have to send by regular mail. I never knew that the 23 Kg you are allowed to bring in your suitcase can only contain so little!!!

Anyway, I am very excited to go, even though it is almost a 12 hour flight from London to Tokyo, and I will update this page as soon as possible about the flight and arrival ;-)

Preparations nearly done

Today I have my last final. After that, I only have to make my last preparations. I already have my visa, ticket and quite some other stuff. It's still a little early to start packing already, so I guess I'll just finish some little things needed finishing before I go. I don't know what I can be expecting when I arrive there, but as for now, it almost seems like there is a new family that I'm going to. The company realy support me in all the preparations, and I almost can't wait going there.