How to eat Sushi

And hello again everyone,

I have so much to tell you and so will write a second post today. Its about Sushi. If you think you know everything there is to know about it, think again. I went to a real sushi place in Osaka yesterday. It was actually my first time, before I have always been to running sushi places (compared to German Sushi they are great, but compared to what I had yesterday they are lame).

So we entered a small Sushi shop in Osaka called Kame Sushi (亀寿司) Turtle Sushi, but don't worry, they don't serve turtles. While sitting at the counter it is really great to watch the Sushi masters do their job. If you ever tried to make sushi you know how hard it is to form those Maki and Nigiri so they look nice. Those guys don't even need 2 seconds to create really tasty looking Sushi.
Before eating Sushi I was told it is normal to have some Sashimi (just raw fish with soy sauce and Wasabi). It is actually OK to mix the Wasabi with the soy sauce. Because Sushi and Sashimi are cold it is customary to drink something warm with it, like green tea or warm Sake. I don't know if it was the atmosphere in the shop or the Sashimi but the warm Sake tasted really good.
After the Sashimi you start ordering Sushi, whatever you like. We started with Prawn, because it's my favorite.

Here are some important points for eating Sushi:
Don't use the soy sauce and Wasabi mix that you used for the Sashimi, you get a new one (don't put Wasabi in it). if you don't like Wasabi tell the Sushi master, then he won't use it, but normally there is always Wasabi already on the Sushi.
Use your hands for eating Sushi, you don't need chopsticks. Its actually way easier to eat Sushi with your hands.
Dip the Sushi into the soy sauce, but only a little bit, and only the side with the fish.
Next: Eat the Sushi in one bite and just enjoy the incredible taste!
Order new Sushi and repeat!!!

 Kame Sushi in Osaka

 Sashimi

 Unfortunately you can't see how big they were, but trust me they were gigantic

 This was actually very interesting, living Prawn. They just took off the head before it was served, the tail still moved a little bit.

 This is the menu, I didn't know half of the fish and other things they served but it was all delicious.

 This is spring onion buds Sushi

Unfortunately it is also hard to see how big these nigiri are, but they are much bigger than in Germany and there is plenty of fish inside

I didn't take a picture of everything I ate, but I think you can get a good idea of what it looks like. And it was just the best Sushi i have ever had in my life.

Back to the year 2012

Hi everyone,

I have had an incredibly great weekend and very quickly will tell you about it. Me and some friends from my time as an exchange student had a sort of reunion in Osaka.

On Friday a Mexican friend came to visit and in going to our favorite Izakaya (Japanese Bar) "Torikizoku" and afterwards to Karaoke, we revived our old tradition. The next day we went to our old University where they held this years big school festival. Afterwards we met another friend (from Spain) and we went to Starbucks and afterwards to an Izakaya. Btw. in Starbucks in Japan it's officially christmas as soon as Halloween is over. I am not sure how that is in other countries but it shocked me a little bit hearing christmas music on the first of November.
Sunday was the best day I have had in a while! A German girl, a Mexican guy, a Spanish guy and an American went to Osaka... (no this is not the beginning of a lame joke) and ate Kushikatsu 串カツ (I forgot to take a picture... sorry) its deep-fried food on sticks. Afterwards we aimlessly ran around Osaka following a Spanish guy with no sense of direction (right Uri...).
We also got to see NMB48 (if you know AKB48: it's the same just for Osaka). For everyone who doesn't know: It's an Idol group, a lot of cute young girls singing and dancing. It's actually a lot of fun, but their fans consist of 50 year old creepy Japanese guys who are totally in love with those 15-20 year old idols. I don't know whats wrong with Japanese society that that is actually OK...
At night we went again to an Izakaya and to Karaoke (it's all there is to do at night, but it's also the greatest thing every if you are with the people that you love). And with that my super reunion weekend ended! We need to do it again.

The Japanese know how to celebrate

Hello everyone,

despite what you now might think from reading the title this is not about me going partying in Osaka. Today I would like to write about two festivals (祭り) that have a very long tradition. They are both held every year on the 22nd of October.

The first one is Jidai Matsuri (時代祭り) which literally means the festival of the ages. The first Jidai Matsuri was held in 1895 as a celebration of the 1100th anniversary of the founding of Heian (the former name of Kyoto) by Emperor Kammu. It is a five hour long procession from the Imperial Palace to the Heian Shrine (平安神宮) in which about 2000 performers, dress up in costumes of the different periods in Japan, participate. I went with a group of friends from my school and we watched the procession walk by. This took about one and a half hours, and to be honest wasn't as exciting as I hoped it would be. One problems was probably the rain, that started and wouldn't stop, it would get stronger and lighter but kept pouring. The other thing was, that we didn't have enough information. There were some announcements in Japanese explaining the characters and their clothing, but we couldn't hear it very well and it was very hard to follow. Nevertheless I took some very nice pictures and a little video so you can get an impression.

The second festival we went to was Kurama Hi Maturi (鞍馬火祭り) which is celebrated in a small town north of Kyoto called Kurama.  We arrived at around 5 and so had time so look around this beautiful little town in daylight. It is very traditional with wooden houses along a narrow street ringed by mountains and woods. The atmosphere was really great and I will try to come back another day just to look around and go the the onsen there. At 6:00 in the evening the town was lit up with torches carried by children. Soon after that the local people parade through the streets carrying a great torch and yelling along the way until they gather at the shrine at around 8 o'clock. It is a fantastic sight, but the festival is so famous now, that there are just way too many people to really enjoy it. Hundredth of policemen and volunteers are in attendance to get all visitors to walk a pre organized path through the town. We watched the spectacle for two hours and then decided to leave. It took us almost 30 minutes to get back to the station, a distance of about 500 meters at the most. 
Most interesting were the costumes of the male participants. They were wearing not much more than a thong. 

 Here you can see the traditional clothing :-P

Newspaper article about the festival

How to take a bath in Japan

Hello everyone,

my cold isn't quite over yet, but I still decided I couldn't stay home all weekend. So after relaxing (and studying) all day on Saturday, I went out on Sunday.
Hirotake-san was so nice to take me to a few more really nice temple. First we went to Ninnaji (仁和寺), founded in 888 by emperor Uda as a residence for the emperors, and a place for studying buddhism. It is really famous for its Sakura Trees which bloom later than other Sakura and are shaped more like a bush than a actual tree, through which the blossoms are on eye level, which is supposed to be very beautiful. Like many other temple this one was also destroyed repeatedly by fires and so all buildings were rebuilt over and over.

After Ninnaji we went to the more famous sister-temple Ryoanji (龍安寺), with supposedly the most beautiful stone garden in Kyoto. I have to admit that I didn't think it so extraordinary and because of all the people sitting and standing in front of it it was impossible to take a proper picture. The big pond within the garden surrounding the temple was really nice to look at and a good place to relax. 

We left at around 11:30 a.m. to eat Lunch at a very small Ramen place. When we arrived it was already full (10 seats) so we had to wait about 15 minutes. But the Ramen was really good (hand-made Ramen noodles and soup). It was a great experience.

Hirotake-san had to work from 1 p.m. (like every day) and so I went to Nijojo (二条城) on my own. It was originally built in 1603 as the official Kyoto residence of the first Tokugawa Shogun, Ieyasu (everyone with a little knowledge of Japanese History knows the guy). When in 1867 the fifteenth Tokugawa Shogun retururned sovereignty to the Emperor, the castle became the property of the Imperial family, until it was donated to the city of Kyoto in 1939. The Ninomaru Palace within the Nijojo is open to the public and worth a visit. You can walk trough all the rooms where the Shogun lived, and received Guest like Daimyo from all parts of the country. The drawings on the walls are all really beautifully made (unfortunately it is prohibited to take any pictures within the building so I can't show you). The gardens of Nijojo are really wide but if you have been to other garden in Japan they are really nothing too special.

Now I would like to come to the main part of this post. At night Michiko-san and I decided to visit a public bath near our home. Those public bathes were really common and much frequented when it was still unusual to have your own bathroom and bathtub in your house. Japanese people have always been much more clean than people in Europe, bathing long and often (even now it is common, that people take a bath every day).
The concept is really great, but nothing for shy people, since you are completely naked in a room with other people (of the same sex). There is some kind of ritual to follow when going to a bath house. First you undress completely and wash your body with soap and water. Only after that will you enter one of the big bathtubs (depending on the size of the bath house there are more than one tub with different temperatures, some even outside). There you soak until you can't stand the heat anymore and then go into a small tub with ice cold water (it feels really good). You repeat this as often as you like. Usually people will stay about an hour and then go back home.
When going to Japan I have been to Onsen (basically the same, just bigger, and usually natural hot springs) and shared bathes in Ryokan before. The process is always similar, but the mindset is kind of different. When going to an Onsen you do it to relax, have fun and often get more healthy because of minerals in the water. When going to a public bath house it is only for the purpose of getting your body clean, like taking a shower (only going to a public bath has more style, at least in my eyes).

Well I hope you have learned something new and interesting. I will write again soon!

Having a cold!

Hi everyone,

I decided to let you know, that there is really nothing to write about. I attend school every day, go home, do my homework and study. I would also go out with friends, but I have been carrying around this cold for a couple of days, and so decided to rest a little bit more and wait for it to pass.
Well, it doesn't. Today I wanted to go to Uji a very nice small town near Kyoto, but instead I will stay home, relax and try to get rid of my cold.
There is one good thing in all my misery: I have a lot of time to study and prepare for the Language Proficiency Test in December.

So I will let you know as soon as I did anything of interest. Until then, have a nice day!

A very typical Japanese weekend

Good morning everyone,

today is a holiday in Japan (Sports Day) but we are awaiting a very strong typhoon so I will stay home, write down all I experienced on the weekend and clean up my room. If I get really bored I will probably study, thats really what rainy days are good for, right?

My weekend started on Saturday with a trip to two very nice temples with Hirotake-san, the son in my host family. He took me along on his scooter, first to Kenninji (建仁寺), the oldest Zen Temple in Kyoto, founded in 1202 by the pries Yousai, wo made the green tea very popular in Japan. We arrived very early (before 10 so luckily there were not so many people yet, even though it was a weekend. Within the Temple the most famous is a painting of the Wind and Thunder Gods of the famous Meiji artist Tawaraya Sotatsu (俵屋宗達) (you might want to remember that name, he was very famous and painted a lot of really great stuff). Very impressive was also the drawing of the two dragons on the ceiling of the Hattou Hall, but since it was painted only recently it doesn't have such a high value.

The Wind and Thunder Gods (Tawaraya Sotatsu) 

 Stone garden within Kenninji

 The twin Dragons

Garden within Kenninji

After leaving Kenninji we still had time to go and visit another Temple. We decided to visit the little brother of Kinkakuji (the Golden Pavilion, 金閣寺) namely Ginkakuji (the Silver Pavilion, 銀閣寺). Despite what you might expect, it is actually not silver. When we asked about it, we were told, that when they wanted to make it silver the money ran out and it couldn't be accomplished. But despite not being silver it is a very beautiful temple with a beautiful garden around it and was named a World Culture Heritage Site.

 Map of the whole temple complex

 The Silver Pavilion

 The garden at Ginkakuji

Pond with a lot of coins (You are supposed to throw your coin on the stone, if you hit it you will get luck)

Around 12 p.m. we returned home. After a very hasty lunch we (Michiko-san and me) left right away to go to a performance at Mibudera (壬生寺). The traditional theater called Mibukyougen (壬生狂言) has a long tradition and is played without speaking. We watched 5 plays in a row, which took about 5 hour, but it was really interesting (though it could have been shorter, my butt really hurt afterwards).

Newspaper article of the play in Kyoto Shinbun (this is the only picture that I can show you, since taking pictures was not allowed)

On Sunday me and Hirotake-san went out again to see some temples. First we went to Shoukokuji (相国寺) which was first finished in 1392 but burned down again and again (as many other temples in Kyoto and the rest of Japan) but was rebuilt as often. In the "Great Fire of Tenmei" in 1788 were 3/4 of Kyoto burned down, almost the whole temple was lost. Only the Hattou Hall remained, which is now the oldest Hattou Hall in Japan (build in 1605). Really impressive is the ceiling of this hall, where the painting of a gigantic dragon can be seen. No matter where in the hall you stand its eyes are going to follow you. Sadly taking pictures is not allowed and so I can only tell you how impressive it was.

Next we shortly went to Shimogamojinja (下鴨神社) a Shinto Shrine. There is really not so much to say about it. But we saw a wedding couple, which was really beautiful in its traditional clothing.

Lastly we went to Yogenin (養源院) a very small but interesting Temple. Within were many drawings of the famous Tawaraya Sotatsu. Really creepy was the ceiling in one of the rooms, it was brought to the temple and installed there as a ceiling after about 300 Samurai committed suicide on it (when it was still a floor in Fushimi Castle). On this ceiling it is still possible to see hand and footprints of the dead. 

After all that culture I went to a sports festival (運動会) in the area where I live. Michiko-san was on the committee and so she knew a lot of people. It was very interesting how young and old took part together in sports games. After making second place the district in which we live had a small celebration in a house nearby. There was a lot of food and drink and everyone was loudly talking about this and that. It seems to me, this was also a very typical Japanese experience. 

Last race at the sports fesival

 Dinnerparty at night, with lots of food

 Me and Michiko-san with the cup (I don't know why they wanted me to take it, I didn't do anything to help them win it)

And so my weekend ended! My family is really great to take me along everywhere and to let me experience so much!

School life

Hey everyone,

this week my school life started. As I already wrote very shortly, my level exam was on Monday. On Wednesday was my first day of classes. I got in level 5 of 8 which is a little bit easy for my, for there are many things that I have learned previously or at least heard before, but sometimes a little repetition is not too bad. I have classes every weekday from 9 a.m. till 12:15 p.m. which is really not that much. Everyday I have first pronunciation exercises and Kanji practice. After that its either listening, writing or speaking and last its grammar and reading. So we practice everything that you need to learn a language. I also get homework everyday and we have to take small Kanji quizzes every morning and lesson tests every Friday. So you see its really a lot to do.
In my class we are about 15 people from all over the world, there are people from China and Korea but also Finland, Iceland and other countries. We have two very cute teachers who are both talented at explaining complicated things in an easy way in Japanese.
I really hope I will learn a lot and be prepared for the JLPT in December.

These are some pictures of my school: