Low activity-Shiny happy people-happy new year-don't get fooled

Best reader, the time I had in Japan is over for now. So from now on, I will take a long break from the blogging. Maybe for a week, maybe for eternities, I don’t’ know. It's been great fun and I will miss Japan. What I will miss are the hard long nights at the lab, all the people, the positive energy and optimism. I feel I have been working at Disneyland for adults. And I feel great optimism.

Now is the beginning of a new area; "the extended adolescence" is over, unless someone here has other suggestions of how to extend it even more, please mail me ;)


"Shiny happy people" by REM is a video that can make Saddam Hussein happy right now (Go america go!). Happy new year!

One night in Tokyo and the rough gets rougher

Last night was a really interesting night in Tokyo. It all started after 10pm.
Where should I start. I was at shinjuku district, and went to the imperial palace (really huge). After that, I decided to go to starbucks to load up with coffee since my plan was not to sleep between Thursday and Friday since my flight would leave at 1140and I would have to be at the airport early.

I realized that starbucks have weaker coffee in the evening and that people go to starbucks when they go out. it was sooo crowded with drunk teenagers. hilarious. one couple started to make out and a bunch of old ladies threw them out...hahaha

starbucks closed at 11pm so my plan was to go for dinner. I found a nice place in Ginza are. Last set of sashimi (I had sushi for lunch at the fish market) and then just to buy yakitori on the street afterward. When I sat on the restaurant, I noticed that I was the only girl at that place. I don’t' know why, but it was creepy. Since I had already orderd food and I find it embarassing just to leave I figured out that I might as well stay. As I had my dinner, I looked out of the window and a guy looked in through the window and started to stare at me while I was eating. I couldn't eat, don't know if he was hungry but that feelt weird.

Anyway, left the restaurant. Ginza is really classy at day but extremely trashy at night have to say. The abiance feels different at night. So my next plan was to go to the stone spa that is open 24hours a day. It was listed in a guide book so I suppose that they overpriced a bit (2700yen) but I didn't feel like looking for other places and that sounded like a safe place. And yes, the stone spa was nice. Except the fact that I was the only one there. Weird.
So the girl who worked was not happy when she saw me at midnight. I guess she wanted to close earlier. I had the whole stone spa all to myself, talk about waist of spa! that was the most depressing part. Alone at a really nice spa, tragic tragic tragic

she said that they closed at 3am. so I was fine with that, my plan was to take the normal subway to Narita airport. So I left the spa at 3am, rested and relaxed. I had found a nice jazz café that looked nice that I planed to go to, but it was closed. The street was crowded with weird dressed people. old men with young woman, as usual. So I foud a” normal" bar where I just order a café latte. All of a sudden, when I looked out of the street a guy just collapsed in the middle of the street.

the funny thing is that I asked the owner of the bar if we should maybe call emergency or something but he just totally ignored it (the Japanese ignoration, you know). aha. there he was, laying in the middle of the sidewalk, people passing by no one cares. I thought that I just tell a police and so I did (with a lot of communication problems). My next plan was to head to the train station, too much action for me in such a short time. on my way, I found an open pharmacy, so I thought, I need to buy that hairoil that I can't find in Sweden, it's a small package anyway. So I went in to the pharmacy, there again, Old guys with young ladies. the girls were shopping the most expensive things (guys paying of course). The guys are the sugar daddies, but honestly, if the girls want to use the guys they might as well go shopping for electronics or real hard cores tuff, not make up. talk about stupid girls.

So by now, I had only 200yen left in cash. I forgot to tell you the adventure I had when I tried to look for an ATM in the afternoon. didn't work well but most places that accepted credit card, I paid with my card (even when I only bought coffee). On my way to the station, there was another guy just laying on the street, but I think t his guy was being robbed in front of my face. I started to run. So I arrived to the station, paid with my credit card for the train ticket to Nairta. But here comes the next problem
I had locked in my language in the lockers at the train station when I arrived at 7am on Thursday morning to Tokyo. According to what's written on the lockers, the price you pay is valid for 24 hours, and my stuff had been there for 22 hours so I didn't think about the lockers. But the problem is that I needed to put in another 500 yen in the lockers in order to open since it was the day before. And I only had 200 yen, no ATM open.
I started to laugh at that point.
What should I do? Most of the stores were closed and even if I'd buy things, I can't take out money at the same time in Japan. This is absolutely one of the disadvantages about travelling alone, no one to borrow small money from (believe me, bigger problem then you might imagine). So my plan was to go back to the pharmacy where I bought the hair oil and return it in order just to get 300 more yen. I was nervous about the fact that the pharmacy guy wouldn't accept it. Thank god I had left the recete and it worked, went back to the station and took the subway.

Here comes the next problem;

I was soo exhausted after all what happened that I fell asleep on the tram that I missed getting off at "Tokyo station".
But what I did was that I continued the whole way, and changed pathway. I was suppose to change at Tokyo station to go with another JR line but instead, I continued to the last stop and changed to Narita. I arrived at the ariport 845 but I didn't have to carry my bags so it turned out ok :)

From Shibuya in Tokyo

Ok good fox, friends and enemies. I made to Tokyo this morning with the night bus. As I posted from the previous trip that was made by the night train, we got nice kimonos and blue flipflops. Belive it or not, I got a kimono and nice flipflops on the bus as well. And the seats was foled so deeply that they became like a bed.

I was in Osaka yesterday, unfortunately only from 7 in the morning until 23. There were so many things that I didnt manage to visit. At least, I was at the "human right museum". BAD museum, sooo PC that I was about to vomit. First of all, it was located far away from the center, takes time with the subway. Second of all, I was the only one there + the 5 staff who were stalking me. The third of all, it was not really about human rights, it was about... ...... wait I had it...it was about...I have no clue. They had a section about womans right in Japan. Since the economist ranked Japan among the worse countries when it comes to this issue, you can imagine how terrible the exhibition was. They had unproportionally much about Korean and their discrimination by the Japanese. But nothing really about democracy, about peoples right to wote. Their eqipmet consisted of 5 huge flatscreen tvs and a bunch of small tv monitors...

Anyway, Osaka is like a mini Tokyo. They also have a huge fish aquarium, that I recommend. And a universal studio that I didn't manage to visit since I got lost in the nice Korean square and went shopping for chrismast gifts (and I found two hagen danz bars (spelling)).

I have always woundered how starbucks managed to become this huge but now, after visiting a couple of the major cities in Japan, I know why.

Starbucks is ALWAYS located at the bottom floor of a huge mall or central station. When people walk around, they get tired and feel like sitting down and have a coffe. So the first available thing is Starbucks. THey managed to become big just because of the location. Japanese pepole dont like strong coffee normally. Another thing that I noticed is that if you find a McDonalds and a Mac store, you will definetely find a Starbucks. That was the case in Fukuoka, in Osaka and in Tokyo (not at shinjuku though, they had a mac store and a McDonalds but the starbucks was 200 meter away maybe).

Ginza and Hibiya dori are really nice to visit, mostly because of the fact that you can get an update on how its going for your stocks and hear the news while youre waiting for the traffic light. Ginza is also clean and really snobbish, they even have carpets on the side walk at some places.
The not snobby part of ginza is the fish market, a gods gift to people who loves fish. I had sushi and Fugu there. so if I wont write in a while, its becuse the fugu killed me.

Shibiya is interesting in many ways. There is a scene in "Lost in Translation" when Charlotte walks and has a huge tv screen with a gifaff walking on a building. I saw that building and its located at shibiya, but they changed the motive.

Anwyay, after this break I will go to Odaiba area, an area near the water, have a nice drink, read my book and have dinner. All the relaxing sight seeing and shopping is making me exhausted!

From Canal City in Fukuoka

I am right now at Canal city in Fukuoka, typing on a japanese keybord so in case of misspellings (I have them in normal case anyway, haha). I have to say that I am really impressed by Canal City. They created a huge mall and the architect is genius. It's located outside and inside at the same time so it works good during summer and winter. This building provides so much income to the Japanese economy. you can find everything here. Just the building itself is worth a visit. you can probably google pictures of the building if you want.

So if I cant answer emails, it's because my internet acess is limitted now. Tomorrow, I will be in Osaka.

One left

Today is the last day at the lab. Tomorrow, I'll be heading to Fukoka, on wendsday I'll be in Osaka and on thursday and friday it's Tokyo (for the 3rd time, me like Tokyo). During this trip, my plan is to do some sight seeing but what I want is books and magazines. I also want a nice sofa where my behind can be adjusted to and coffe to go with the sofa where I will turn my ass from one side to the other, that's the only activity. I want drinks too during this trip, drinks with umbrellas.

Today Diana left. She will be missed.

Today the last day at the lab. I got a really good rekommendation letter. Today, I actually felt appreciated and admired for the first time during this visit. I am confused. I thought that the professor hated me, but if I get a good recommendation letter then I guess it should be good. Right now I’m just confused. The first second they're strict as h***, the other one, nice as heaven...

Just older not wiser

Not many days left in Japan, I have to start reweing things that this trip taught me and thing it didn’t teach me. What kind of wisdom shall I bring from this country?

1) Cheap service sector. The fact is that people back home do everything themselves; they cut the grass in the garden, wash the car, make the food. They work after work, at home. People don’t really work after work here, they eat out and that’s pretty much all they have time for. Just the fact that I didn’t have to work after work was nice. I will miss taking a taxi after having a huge dinner downtown.

2) The adorable kindness. There are so many stories about the kindness. One of them is the following one; I was walking in my own thoughts one rainy Saturday afternoon to the university, wearing a waterproof jacket but no umbrella. All of a sudden, I got interrupted in my i-pod circulating world by a woman who stopped her car, got out of it and started talking Japanese fast and loud to me. She grabbed an umbrella, gave it to me, said something in Japanese and went in to the car and continued driving. I was still in my i-pod world but I got the fact that she felt sorry for me, without an umbrella that she just gave it. A total stranger. The umbrella I got is the best one I’ve ever owned.

3)The convince store: open 24h a day and this is the best thing;.

4) The garbage separation; when I finally got how it, it actually makes more sense than the one back home. I will bring a brochure in English and lend it over to the environmental party. Just to prove to them how useless they are.

5)Communication; to make a long story short, communication is important. To be diplomatic is more important than to say the truth (the previous post on the survey on simple communication is still applicable but be more diplomatic).

6) The retired people: They seem to live a good life in Japan, they are active and most of them have a tighter schedule than young people in Europe. The cheap service sector (se point nr 1) …blablabla, yes you know the story.

7) Fat vs skinny Japanese: once and for all, the fat Japanese you’ll see are like normal weighted Americans you see in the states. You'll find a fair amount of overweighted young people - but not among the older ones. The traditional Japanese food like rice, fish and green tea with rice cookies as dessert (consumer: old Japanese) doesn’t make people fat while bakeries and Mr Dounut (consumer: young Japanese) makes people fat.

Two left

It feels like a “real tv” situation when people leave one after one. Today, Kai left.Diana and Diana still here though.

Just drop the bomb!

Nagasaki is mainly famous for one thing, the atomic bomb that hit the city on the 9th of august 1945. Every morning, at 11.02, people can hear chimes go off, as a reminder of the atomic bomb..
When Germany and Japan started WWII, they probably didn’t know that ten million people would loose their lives. In a way USA was forced into a war by Japan it selves.
So what would have happened if the bombing wouldn’t have taken place? To leave things the way they were would simply have made the war longer since Japan would have been suppressed by Hitler’s Germany. To attack Japan would have cost many solders, both Americans and Japanese, lives. I guess that the states really wanted to show their power to the former Soviet Union as well. The bomb that fell over Nagasaki was a plutonium bomb, even more powerful than the one that fell over Hiroshima which was a uranium bomb. Some critics means that the strategy the United State used frightened the Soviet Union, witch gave them a more defensive strategy during the Cold War. Do we have the bombs to thank and the states for setting them? Unfortunately the people here in Nagasaki and their ancestors are the ones to be thanked for scarifying their lives. If the bomb wouldn’t have taken place, the most probably thing that would have happened is that either the Soviet Union or the Natzi Germany would have dropped it, and that would definitely have made the world a less safer place.
And on the other hand, the use of nuclear weapon taught us a lot as well. The power of it. Imagine having daily terrorist organizations like Hizbollah using it?

A photo of Olof Palme was found at the museum. He was the Swedish prime minister but got assassinated. The murder has still not been found but the weapon that killed him was found in November this year,


I’ve been here for a semester now and I am actually tired of the constant talking about the bomb. A friend of mine who’s working at the atomic bomb institute (special institute at the hospital) is even more feed up with the bomb. With all respect to all the people who were scarified. I have to say that it’s about time to drop the bomb. It’s been 61 years. The economic compensations that the city has received in form of research funding and economic compensation to the families are huge. I don’t mean that money can compensate, but it feels like as if they’re using (here comes the drum rolls and the magic word) atomic bomb in order to make the world feel sorry about them.

I don’t say that it’s unique for them, other folk groups or citizens has done the same. According to a certain professor, the money even comes from donors that might be criminal or from institutions they shouldn’t come from.

Once again, with respect to all the Hibakucha (the name of the survivors)
.
The hypocenter, or the place where they dropped the bomb is not far away from the hospital (and around 500m away from my university building) and the only building that survived the atomic bomb is the international house for medical students (a building that they plan to tear down)
.Before I came to Nagasaki, I thought that the environment would be destroyed since scientists pretty much predicted that nothing would be able to grow within 70 years. Today, Nagasaki is a vivid city, mostly due to it’s port, but I still get the feeling about the fact that it is among the poor cities in Japan. The prices for housing, food and different services are really low compared to Kyoto and Tokyo. Nagasaki is a nice city.

In love in Japan

The goal of this blog is not to tell really boring stereotypical stories about Japan that people already know. But now I think I want to break those rules and become really sentimental and boring in that way. Below, I have posted some random photos. This woman was selling...guess what? Yes, boiled sweet potato outside a Temple for tourists. The equipment is impressive, the heat is provided by the wood that allocates water steam.

The crowded subways...the stereotype picture of Japan.

A nice view of Tokyo from Tokyo Tower

The fact that Cameron Diaz is popular in Japan is normal (she is popular all around the world). More uncommon people that are popular here are Jennie Garth (from Beverly Hills 90210) and Dr Bombay (calcutta). You got to love the neon light though...

The famous fugu fish, only prepared by special shefs and only in Japan. If they don' t remove the liver correctly then the eater of the fish will chok to death (I will try fugu this week).

This photo is not very good but it is actually a guy who is working while he is wating on the traffic light. Always at work ;)

What's going on?

Since I'm between 8-16 hours ahead of my readers, because of the time distance, I’d like to update you on what has happened today while you’ve been sleeping.

In Japan

Pachinko take tied to North nuke quest (About how money from pachinko machines goes to Kim Jong’s pocket. Ehhh, really news? I wrote about this issue on my blog in September)

Brazil raising cane big time as ethanol gets Japan's attention (Japan competing with Brazil on ethanol production? Hahahaha, we all know what happened when they tried to compete with the rest of the world by producing Whiskey, we got Suntory “the water” Whiskey. Japanese can only make good sake for god’s sake!).

Drug-resistant TB 'super strains' found in Japan (what a breaking news, really! Everybody who has been at a Japanese hospital knows what I am talking about, for you other people, I guess the word cockroaches is the only word you need to hear).

Summary: God, sooooo boring. Can’t…stop…yawning….

In Economy

No i-pods to North Korea (com’on raise your hands if you’re surprised)(in Swedish)

Summary: resign please…boring boring…can’t…keep…my ….eyes from falling asleep….

In private life

I am still blogging in beta and in Japanese (and this is now the 8th time I am trying to post this post. It ends up in the middle of my blog instead of on top, despite the fact that the date in my settings is correct, I really hate the beta blogger).

I went to a SPA at 11.45 pm (!!!) last night and came home at 1am.

Total summary: My private life is just as boring as the news. And my private life is just un necessary to follow, and so are the news.

Another Brick In The Wall

In Japan, the university charges a small fee. This fee is subsidized by the government and is around 600 dollars/semester, depending on what subject is studied. A student who can’t afford it but have the abilities to study at the university gets scholarships and governmental support.
That’s excellent! That means that people will pay select education carefully and the university won’t be just some kind of place to go to when people can’t get jobs.
The universities in Sweden are free. According to the simple economic “supply and demand” curve, the supply of university educated people is greater than the demand. The problem is when you also have people who studies subjects that doesn’t lead to jobs, for instance philosophy. It’s not free to go to university, so why shouldn’t people pay for that?

The funny thing is that the fee in Japan is that it’s cheaper for married people. Talk about discrimination, this fee has nothing to do with the fact that it’s cheaper for the university to have married couples. This fee is a way to trick people into marriage.

Another brick in the wall is a geat video. I published the video on the blog but I realized that I had done som miss spellings so I had to change it. So the video is deleted from the blog now (I hate to blog in beta).

Harvard philosophy department or too much wine?

Blogger in beta and in Japanese!

I just figured out that I should update my blog to the hi-tek Beta verson. So I did and now the whole publish site is in Japanese. Ahh, my blog was better in the primitive alfa verson with english text than the Hi-tek Beta verson with Japanese text. And I can't ask people at the lab for help, they'll see what I've written about Kim Jong! So from now on, if you'll se something published 3 times, it's not because I can't blog in beta but it's because I can't blog in Japanese!!!

FIdel Castro and Kim Jong

Today is the day. Fidel Castro has been ruining Cuba for 50 years.

What makes me really depressed is the fact that no major magazine has written about it.

You know you've been in Japan for too long (Part III) when

1) you panic if you can’t find a vending machine
2) you drink hot coffee out of a can
3) you think it’s normal to get treated differently because you’re a woman
4) you start to like hierarchy because it it saves a lot of time
5) you miss the dark bread so badly (they only sell white bread in the store) that you are willing to walk for hours for some dark bread.
6) you think that good whine is Beaujulais Village
7) you think that good whiskey is Suntory whiskey
8) you find it more normal to eat out that at home
9) you fall asleep as soon as you get on the tram
10) you think it’s better to keep in the snot instead of sneezing.

Three left

It’s amazing how easy it is to get to know people within 3 months, especially if you don’t have too many friends. Even if you manage to get to know people, you never really know someone. Yesterday, one of them left. He knows that he will be missed by all of us.


When you live in a foreign country, I’ve always thought that it’s important tog get to know the people who live in the country in order to integrate. As a former Lebanese in Sweden, I often get the feeling that integration can not occur properly because foreigners and Swedes don’t integrate with each other.
The integration politic in Europe doesn’t only depend on the politicians but also on the foreigners themselves. I have seen it everywhere; people seem to want to hang out with people from their own countries or continent at least. I saw it when I was in France in 2002, In the states 2005, in Sweden and in Japan.
I know that I won’t live in Japan for the rest of my life so I’ve been hanging out with two Germans and a Canadian. The problem is not that I don’t want to get to know the Japanese but the fact that they don’t speak English and I don’t speak Japanese. And so far, they never asked; Diana, what do you do Saturday night? And If I suggest something, it’s always; I am going to a party at my friends place.
The professor’s wife seemed kind of surprised when I said that I had a plan last Saturday night. I don’t get it, they don’t want me to get friends outside the lab but still, no one at the lab would like to do something with me outside the lab?

This article in Financial Times is really tragic and confirms what I want to say, though it's about pressure from parents/school on children. Poor Japanese kids.