さよなら　日本。。。でも。。。I’ll be back!

I safely returned from Japan and am fighting the reverse culture shock at the moment. Well I guess it’s just a matter of time but I miss Japan already.

At the moment I’m busy with preparations for the upcoming semester, but as soon as I find some time I guess I’ll write a detailed review about the internship and my experiences in Japan.

I hope I’ll be able to do that before I actually go back to Japan… which will be … very soon I guess

Until then, stay tuned…

セバスチャン

… Tokyo …

huge city… pretty girls … tooooooooooo many people.

I have to say it… I didn’t like Tokyo…

I  know now that big cities are absolutely nothing for me… but it was worth the experience. As Osaka the night-life and entertainment is incomparable to everything I’ve ever seen… BUT during the day there is not much to see and nowhere to rest. There are just too many people in this city

If I had to choose between Osaka, Tokyo or Furukawa for living it would definitely be Furukawa…

Well back to Tokyo,

the first day Kumiko and I went to Akihabara and expected loads of Otakus (Anime character-like dressed people…), big street performances of them and many interesting shops…

what we get to see where a few Otakus, electronic stores and way too many people (you couldn’t walk strait for 2 meters). After 3 hours we were pissed and headed back to the Hotel… Akihabara? Nice place if you’re looking for electronic parts, especially used parts and maid cafes… nothing else

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After a night rest we thought Asakusa (the traditional part of Tokyo) might be worth a visit. I was there before at nighttime and it was quite and peaceful… not this day.

Due to Silver-week it was packed with people and yea… you can guess… it took 2 hours and we got pissed again

Well if it’s not on national holidays I think Asakusa is a nice place to visit.

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Finally I wanted to see shibuya since the name is also quite famous. It’s manly a huge shopping district with a few interesting spots…

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And now I’ll just stay in this hotel until my flight home…

nothing to see anyway

After Nara and Kyoto I gave Osaka (were I stayed) itself a try…

First I went to the temple Sumiyoshi (住吉), but after seeing Nara and Kyoto I was quite disappointed…

well I think I’ve seen enough temples and shrines for now… but nevertheless I took some photos:

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Afterwards I went into the city and tried to find why people think Osaka is a great city…

and I couldn’t find it. My image of Osaka is, that it is a typical million people city with huge shopping districts and too many people

I guess Osaka is great when it comes to night-life and amusement, at least that’s the image I got walking through the city at night, but it somehow lacks something, but I don’t know what. Well I guess I’m not the type that likes big cities…

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So, I’m now on my way to Tokyo…

My second day-trip went to Kyoto. Of course with the same goal as in Nara… explore the traditional Japan, Temples and Shrines. In comparison to Nara, Kyoto’s Temples and Shrines are far spread so that you have walk quite a lot and take a few trains. I recommend a 3 day trip for Kyoto at least. I tried to explore the most famous places in 1 day and didn’t make it… so I went there a second time.
Since I went to Kyoto after Nara I was a bit disappointed. The Temples are huge and well taken care of, BUT since everything is so far spread and in the middle of town I didn’t get the same feeling that existed in Nara. Don’t get me wrong, there are some real nice places in Kyoto, but … I don’t know, maybe it was the location in Nara that was nicer.

Well nevertheless I took loads of photos … But as a friend already told me beforehand, “if you have seen 1 or 2 Temples, you have seen all of them”. And I guess he was right. They really look pretty much the same. At least there were a few exceptions…

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And here the pictures of the second day:

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Pictures of Osaka and Tokyo will follow soon…

As said I’m currently in Osaka and went for a day-trip to Nara.

Nara is probably the second famous spot (after Kyoto) in the Kanzai area if you are interested in the traditional Japan and it’s buildings.

Nara is a nice city… I guess… because I spend most of the time in the old temple area I cant really tell

But the tempels, shrines and what else I took fotos of are really nice. I would like to give you all the names… but I can’t *g*. It might also be a bit boring.

So I’ll just throw the pictures in and let you decide whether its worth going there or not

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Most of the temples can be entered for free. I entered one that cost 500yen and saw another for the same price. But it was worth nonetheless.

The good thing about Nara is that all the temples and shrines are in one area… so 1 day is sufficient I would say…

I really enjoyed it because there are so many places to explore… it probably takes more than 1 day to explore everything (and find the not so obvious).

lets see if I can get to all the places in Kyoto I want to see… they are spread all over Kyoto which means it will be quite a workout.

see ya.