もう一回日本の玲

Ajisai

2016-06-26T17:50:00.001+09:00

Ajisai blooming is going to end soon in Japan. The shot below was taken in 三室戸寺 in Kyoto city of Uji.

紫陽花はそろそろ枯れている。下記の写真を宇治市の三室戸寺で撮影した。

A visit to Kyoto university

2016-06-23T13:02:00.001+09:00

A business trip brought me to the university of Kyoto today.

I was happy to see that student raise awareness against war.

Twitter

2015-07-30T21:22:00.001+09:00

I'm late but I did join just recently:

遅いけど、入ったばかり:

@rayswein

Lofty zwei

2015-04-16T23:33:00.001+09:00

One touch in lofty air

Ends the couples lovely bond

Light lake love in spring

Grün Donnerstagsspaziergang

2015-04-02T22:39:00.001+09:00

Lonely temple in Hamamatsu.

And the evening sun wishes good night.

Cherry blossom 2

2015-03-31T21:59:00.001+09:00

白雪が

翻降らず

春の日

桜

2015-03-31T21:50:00.001+09:00

Finally spring

At the doorstep of Tokyo

White cherry blossom

Zart kiss

2015-03-24T20:42:00.001+09:00

Zart kiss

in Saigon

It has been a long time!

2014-05-27T19:31:00.000+09:00

Since my last update one year and a couple of month have gone by and some things have changed. I started to live in Tokyo and private things have kept me busy from updating.

I realized in the last year, that visitors are mainly interested in Kyudo and so I decided to keep this blog in that direction and update from time to time about Kyudo in Kanto and Japan.

When I came to Tokyo last year in March and started to practise Kyudo in a Dojo close to where I live, I was really surprised that with me there were only two archers shooting "Heki" style. Later, after I have attended some competitions and examns, I came to the conclusion that in Kanto probably only a hand full of people practise Heki and most of them hidden, not attending competitions or examns. So I felt quite lonely, but luckily found Sekine Sensei, with whom I practise now for almost one year two to three times every week in the evening after work. However, I was really lucky to live for two years in Okayama, where about 50% of the archers shoot Heki and I'm always keen to go back and shoot in Tokuyama Dojo again.

I will try to post from time to time some more things related to Kyudo in Tokyo.

Kumamoto / Aso - 熊本　阿蘇

2013-03-19T11:44:00.002+09:00


We went with the Shinkansen north to Kumamoto. Borrowed a car and drove to the Aso National Park. Unfortunately, did my GPS tracking stop when we arrived at the old Caldera. We had an early start the following morning and took a Shinkansen to Kumamoto ("the origin of bears"), just to save some time. After we arrived in Kumamoto, we rent a car right at the station from a Toyota car dealer. The owner of the shop asked for everyone's driver license, so I took my change and used for the first time in three years my international driver license (a ugly grey note book) and put my European driver license in front of her. The effect was not quite what I was hoping for. She was looking at the license as if I want to joke around. After she had written down the names of the other three, she took my license and asked me what this is: well, it's an European driver license and the English translation and explanations, I said to her. Sorry, we only except Japanese licenses or translations, was her short answer. How international Kumamoto is! This city is certainly no example or general rule for all of Japan, but smaller cities in Japan certainly don't except or know international standards, such as the ICSI international student card or a driver license. If you want to borrow a car you better go to international car dealers in bigger cities such as Tokyo or Osaka. For me one more reason to get a Japanese license. We wanted to leave Kumamoto as fast as possible in the direction of the Aso National park, as we planed to come back the following day. But not before we had a look into the castle of Kumamoto. I heard so many things about it: it was ranked together with Himeji caste (currently under renovation - I wrote about it in March 2010 and October 2009), and Matsumoto castle to the top three Japanese castles. Many other castles, such as Okayama or Osaka castles, got destroyed during the Meiji restoration and later reconstructed in concrete. As I really loved the original character of Himeji castles I was soooo looking forward seeing the castle.

At the wall of outer Kumamoto - Castle

Giant trees in the park around the castle.

Kumamoto - Castle. The stone foundation is quite famous for its kind!

The castle ground was very beautiful with its wide grass (dry tough) and park lands and huge trees. The castle was also very pretty to watch from the outside and we made our way through passage and gangway to the inner aula in front of the castle. When we entered the first floor I was wondering what all the concret is doing here, but maybe it was part of some earthquake protection or so?! But unfortunately, this didn't change during our walk through the rest of the castle. Kumamoto castle revealed its true modern nature from the inside: concrete and steel. It was very disappointing for me, as I expected an amazing art of wood as Himeji castle. Nevertheless, it was very interesting to see many objects of many decades and centuries from the history of Kumamoto. From the top floor we had a great view towards Kumamoto. After we climbed down into the castle ground again, I was wondering if there are other wooden castles such as Himeji in Japan left and Kumamoto got ranked in my brain as pretty, but fake castle, except of one of the guard towers, which is still original. At leasst its original end is very famous, as the castle got burned down during a revolt in Kumamoto between supporters of the Restauration and conservative forces.

View from the top of the castle.

Cherry blossom also in Kumamoto!

After giving the castle a short visit we jumped into the car and drove to the Aso National park. As soon as we broke through some mountains I was amazed to find a huge wide plain in front of us with the volcano growing out of it's middle, surrounded by by a perfect chain of mountains of the same height. It was quite suspicious. I used the chance when we stopped at a visitor centre to ask a women if this plain was once inside a bigger caldera, as the ocean around Sakurajima was once inside a super volcano. She confirmed what we were thinking: Once there was a volcano were we stood. It must have had the size of Mt. Fuji or even bigger. This volcano got blown away in a gigantic eruption and the ash can still be found as a layer of ash even in Hokkaido.

We decided to get as high up as possible to the present Aso - volcano: the higher we got the more it smelled like sulphur. We could drive up to the top of the volcano, as it is still very active and the last time people got killed during a eruption was shortly before I was born, some 30 years ago. That explains why only so little people live around the volcano even though the land is perfectly flat. The yellow grass looked very pretty on the dark soil of the volcano.

On our way up to the top of the volcano "Aso". The clouds is sulphuric steam from the caldera.

View into the old caldera (Aso National park). You can still outline how huge the old volcano must have been: you stand in the centre and the mountain range in the distant is the old border of the volcano.

Greetings from the smelling mountain (^.^)/

From the volcano we had a great view into the valley, but the increasing sulphur smell slowly made us cough. We decided to leave fast and drove to our Ryokan in the mountain area north of the old caldera. On the way out of it, just at the moment when we crossed the remaining mountains of the caldera, the sun was setting and we made a brief stop to appreciate the view.

Leaving the old Caldera at it's north point at sunset!

Our Ryokan had its own Onsen and even though we arrived late there we still got some dinner of a very Japanese style (Miso soup, great fish, rice, pickles, vegetables). I finally found a place in Japan were I could see some more stars than in the cities but still not quite as much as I could see in Outback of Australia. Tired we jumped in our Futons after a short game of Wizzard and were looking forward to driving to Amakusa the next day.

We stayed in a small village in the mountain range with not much light and could see a lot of stars (first time for me in Japan).

Kagoshima/Sakurajima - 鹿児島/桜島

2013-03-18T09:06:00.002+09:00

The Island of Cherry blossom (Sakurajima - 桜島) and the Kagoshima, where constantly ash from two volcanoes precipitate, were our next targets on our rout for day number two.

Kagoshima and Sakurajima. My GPS track stopped by the time we left the Island. GPS tracking is rather battery consuming.

When we arrived in Kagoshima it was time for lunch and of course my Japanese follows have long discussed in the car what to eat. Do you see the detour towards the south of the city on the map? That is were a famous Ramen (Japanese noodles soup) restaurant is. I have to admit, that it was one of my first noodle soup experience were I left the restaurant and had to say honestly this was really really good! Don't get me wrong! Most things are very good in Japan and there is hardly any dish I dislike, but this was just really tasty, especially as I'm not a big noodle soup fan.

We quickly checked in our luggage and the hostel we were planning staying in (close to the harbour) and were off to catch a ferry to Sakurajima. I don't want to write too much about it, as I visited the Island for the first time end of September last year and wrote about it; but two of us haven't been there!

Always smoking from the caldera - Sakurajima.

So what was different this time? Well first of all there was no Taifun coming and the weather was just great. We enjoyed ourself at the park, close to Sakurajima ferry port, and since it was still quite chilly we relaxed our feet in a hot onsen bath.

Onsen (Hot spring) foot bath!

As I was a bit hungry we ate some Mandarins (Mikan) from the Island and Ice cream made from these Mandarins, which was really refreshing. While we were strolling over the Island and gave the visitor centre a brief visit to check some facts on the Island, we also got a chance to discover our first Cherry Blossom this year.

First cherry blossom on the Island!

After a beautiful sunset over Kagoshima, which we could follow from a dinosaur park on Sakurajima, we went back by boat. On our way back we found out that there is a cheap "romantic view spot" bus that brings us up the mountains of Kagoshima to see the city. It was indeed a good opportunity to discover something new in the city and a nice lady was talking during the ride about sights we could spot. After we were back in the hostel we quickly changed and were off to a Sentou (public bath) before jumping in our beds after a sec. round of Wizard.

Next stop was Kumamoto and Aso National Park.

Sunset over Kagoshima.

Kyushu trip - Kirishima　九州旅　－　霧島

2013-03-09T19:08:00.000+09:00

From the first of March (Friday) until Tuesday the 5th of March I went on trip to Kyushu with my fiancée and two very good Japanese friends.

GPS tracking of our first two days. (1) Our hotel, (2) Shinto Shrine, (3) mountain museum. The smoke from Sakurajima is visible too!

It was a kind of trip I haven't done before in Japan. In order to travel as cheap as possible to Kagoshima, I booked a bus to Kansai Int. Airport close to Osaka (~ 4.000 Yen) and met the other three there who came from Kanazawa. We flew with a flight from Peach Union to Kagoshima and arrived at the airport after about one hour flight at 1 p.m. (~8.000 Yen).

Right after we landed, we borrowed a car and drove in direction of Kirishima (霧島). It was raining like hell, but we didn't care at all. It was just great to be outside, in spring Kyushu, with lots and lots of Onsen waiting for us.

Short stop in rain on the way to Kirishima

Since Kirishima means literally "Island of fog", I was indeed expecting an Island, but instead we drove higher and higher into the mountains and vanished in the fog. I should have done my homework before and read more about where we are going, but I have to admit than my part of the travel organisation goes towards zero.

So much smelly fog!

This fog was partly made of clouds and partly from steam, rising from the numerous hotsprings. It smelled wonderful like sulphur when we arrived in the little town of Kirishima (霧島). We tried some local products, such as sulphuric steamed eggs (intensified), sausages or (of course) sweet potatoes, since the old district of Satsuma is famous for these.

Rain can be pretty positive when you visit a waterfall, because it will have much more water!

Sulphur steamed eggs. Taste still like normal eggs, just look yellow after you've peeled them.

After a short hike in the hills around the city and a short stop at a waterfall, we checked in our hotel-like Ryokan (a Ryokan is a traditional Japanese guest house), where we were really happy to put all our luggage down in our Tatami room. It felt like on a school trip, as we four were going to sleep on the ground in Futons in one room, looking forward to playing cards before falling asleep.

First room, first night!

After the check-in we made a brief stop in one of the big shrines (Shintoism) in Kirishima. It was an amazingly huge ground, devoted to at least three goddess. Among them "Tengu", a long nosed daemon-like creature with incredible sword skills. Apparently it taught sword fighting to Miyamoto Musashi. I talked a lot with Bito-san about Bushido and it's origin and he recommended the book "Bushido" from Nitobe Inazo, which I'm currently reading. You can download it for free from the Gutenberg-Projekt homepage.

Kirishima Jinsha, entrance stone!

The shrine and rain! Was still very pretty to look at!

Overall, I was confronted with so many unconnected historical facts (for me, as uneducated being) during our travel that I decided to study much more about Japanese history and especially about the time before, during and after the Meiji-Restauration, as well as about the history of Christanity in Japan, as soon as I'm back in Okayama. Kyushu was a main base for the first Christians in Japan, which got later extinct during a revolt. But more about this later.

We spent the evening in the Ryokan with its three building and confusing floor numbering, as the building had different elevations and hence the floor number changed according to the buildings basement. (Sorry I forgot to take a picture). We had a great Japanese dinner, green tea in our room, a table tennis match, and two hot bathes in the hotel Onsen.

Furthermore I was able to motivate three new player for the game wizard (^.^)/.

Dinner! There was still soup, rice and some extra meat served.

The next day we left early in the morning. The sun was shining and we decided to visit a museum in the mountains, almost 800 m above sea level, before going to Kagoshima. The museum offered some interesting but also quite disturbing art, but we enjoyed much more the outside area with its sculptures.

View from the museum.

No one really wanted to go there on Saturday morning, as it seems!

Race to the ring! Who do you think has lost?

Three friends finished their Bachelor degree!

From there we drove down to Kagoshima to visit Sakurajima and the city itself.

More about this next time!

Two nights in a Buddhist temple

2013-02-23T21:04:00.000+09:00

What comes into your mind when you hear the words “temple” and “Buddhism”? What about “Zen”? In my head a picture of bold men and women appears, living a quiet and stressless life in a green environment. They are wearing simple cloth made from cotton and always carry a smile on their lips, never hesitate to find kind words for people. Besides this, they don’t talk much, but rather sit quietly and meditate all day long.

That was before I went to the Zen-Buddhism temple “Sougenji” (曹源寺) in Okayama last weekend. I’ve been there before in summer 2010 and was enchanted by the lovely atmosphere I felt, while talking to the people who tried to live the life of real monks and nuns, and some already for 3 years. However, I didn’t know at that time what they are actually doing all day long and so I decided to visit my friends Leah again, before I’ll have to move to Tokyo. That was my chance to experience the life of the temple and what it might be like to be a monk.

the room I stayed in

I stayed from Friday to Sunday. Leah showed me my small room where I could sleep at night and spent some time in the “freetime” period in the afternoon. I later realised that the rooms of the monks are way smaller: the girls stayed in separate rooms in a “guesthouse” which were probably just 1.8m x 2.0m in size. The guys slept in the “Zendou”, the place where meditation takes place, so they don’t have an own room, only an own box where they store their personal stuff.

Right from Friday I joined the temple life, as I had only 48 hours. People told me that I came in a “lucky” time, as the Roushi, the head of the temple, had just left to America. The time schedule was hence a bit relaxed and was as follows: Wake up at 4:30 a.m., get dressed in Hakama and Gi and be in the temple at 4:50 with your Sutra book. 4:50 to 5:50 chanting in the temple with the other monks. 6:00 – 6:30 Zasen (meditation) in the Zendou with everyone. After that quick gardening with raking and picking up leaves; afterwards, in door cleaning until 7:30. Come to breakfast in your working cloth, 7:30 – kitchen. Breakfast and lunch were taken in a kind of praying-eating ceremony. While you prepare your three bowl and chop sticks und when the food is going around and you take some into your bowls, chanting takes place. There was always plenty and very good food – way better, than what I normally eat at home! The bowls were cleaned with a pickle and tea, or hot water which you could drink at the end. One wipe with your rag and the bowls were “clean” and under chanting stored in a box. Before eating you had to put 7 grain of rice to the side and later a bit of the left-over water in your bowl. These things were offered later as a present to a plant. After breakfast we had working bees until lunch and every day the head monk, or in our case the next monk in row, which was a friendly old man from spain, distributed the work. On Saturday I had to boil water for a little Onsen, which took me 3 hours, burning wood, while I was weeding at the same time. Not to exhausting work, but the second day we cut down some bamboo (so 40-50) and needed to get rid of the branches and leaves, which was quite exhausting. But we had short tea and snack breaks. After lunch (same procedure as breakfast) we had free time until 5 p.m.. I went hiking with Leah! At 5 p.m. a small optional “freestyle” dinner took place, which normally consists of the leftovers from breakfast and lunch and had no ceremony. Everyone was talking to each other. At 6:00 p.m. we were back in our Hakamas and Gis in the Zendou and sit until 9:00, meditating. After that a short good night chanting and off we were for our beds.

Main hall, where the morning and evening chanting took place.

I said, this was the relaxed schedule, because when the Roushi is there you normally meditate longer and need to wake up earlier. Also the most exhausting mediation week in winter is, when you need to sit from 5.00 a.m. in the morning until 9.00 or 10.00 in the evening, only having breaks for breakfast and lunch. Sleeping was only allowed standing or sitting, definitely not laying. That is what I’ve heard.

Kitchen

Gangway of the "Guesthouse" with the doors to the rooms of the nuns.

For me already two days were quite exhausting. The sitting during the mediation was okay, because you were allowed to move every half an hour and every hour you had to walk very fast with the others around the Zendou building.

So what has changed my image of a monks and nuns life: first of all – you use your body a lot. It is very exhausting, physically as mentally. It is super cold there: I was wearing constantly 3 layers of trousers, 5 layers on my upper body (2 long T-Shirts, Tshirt, Pullover, Gi) and my hat on my head, and I still felt cold. And most of all: it is kind of stressfull – you are not really free; many rules keep you busy and you always check a watch somewhere (as you’re not allowed to wear one) in order to make sure to be at the right time at the right spot!

I really liked this tree, which grows out of an old one!

After all it was a great experience and I felt clearly that I could not live in Sougenji at the moment for probably more than a week or month (or maybe I just need more time to get used to it?). I love it too much to just jump on my bike and be free to move and do what I like to do without anyone telling me what I have to do. But – I really would not like to miss this experience. It was great to talk to these people from all over the world, who are so brave to leave their life behind them and live the hard life of a monk in Sougenji now. After all, it was and is their free decision and they can always leave the temple if they don’t like it anymore. Talking about nationality: I also mentioned it after my last visit, Sougenji is very international. I counted (including me) 4 Germany, 4 Poles, one guy from the Netherland and one from Belgium, one man from France, Spain and Italy, 4 Americans, one Tai woman, and 3 Japanese!

After I rode my bike back over Higashi-Okayama and arrived at the main station I still had the chanting sing-sang in my head, and as I was walking through the bulk of “busy” Sunday afternoon shopping people, I was looking around my shoulder, expecting a group of monks, chanting! But I could only see people hasting to their trains or checking their phone, and what sounded like the chants from the temple was just the noise from all the busy people, their repetitive chants of “life”

Entrance of Sougenji.

Kitchen house and some other rooms (^.^)

Lake int he garden! The wall is leaking and gets repaired, that's why we had to cut bamboo!

Yamashita　山下

2013-02-05T20:43:00.001+09:00

I would like to continue the little report I gave about restaurants that became quite familiar to me during the time I stayed at Okayama University.　

岡山大学で勉強していた間に僕にとって人気になったレストランの報告を続きたい。

Beside Goal Curry, my friends Yuki and I often go to Yamashita.　

ゴールカレー以外、僕は『ゆうき』という友達と一緒によく『山下』というレストランに食べに行っている。

This restaurant lies in the south of Tsushima Campus on the main street that divides the campus into a north and south area.　

あのレストランは津島キャンパスの南にあり、ちょうど津島キャンパス分かれる道にそって所にある。

Right after you have entered the restaurant and the elderly couple has greeted you, you will recognise that Yamashita is mainly inhabited by male students.

山下に入ったところで、年上そうなオナーのカップルから挨拶された後で、レストランのお客様はほとんど男性の岡大学生ばかりのことが気付けられる。

The reason may be, that the dishes that are served are quite rich in calories and the rice bowls are properly filled.　

大きなお椀の中にいっぱいご飯が入って、カロリー高い食べ物は一つの理由かもしれない。

That’s why we often go there – to get pretty well stuffed for just 500 – 600 yen.

だからよく行ってる、５００－６００円の料理でお腹がパンパンになるために。

The “dish of the day” rotates daily through the 600 yen menu and costs “only” 550 yen on that special day.　

サービスは毎日６００円の料理の中で選ばれて、あの日に値段は５５０円に下がる。

The couple, that runs the restaurant, is very nice and tries to remember guests names, who come rather regular.

レストランのオナーはとても親切で、よく通っているお客様の名前を覚えて見る。

Hence they always greet us by name when we enter, which gives us a little bit the feeling of being part of the family.　

それで、僕らはいつも自分の名前で挨拶されて、家族ような気持ちになってできた。

Unfortunately, there is not one vegetarian dish on the menu.　

残念ながら、菜食主義者に食べ物が全然ない。

The room itself is not very beautiful, but pictures of former students who visited the restaurant regularly, hang on the wall and show the owners appreciation for the customer.　

食事する部屋はあんまり綺麗じゃないが、昔の時代によく行っていた学生たちの写真が壁にあって、オナーの鑑賞をお客様のほうに見せるじゃないか？

If you can live with a meaty meal and want to get really well stuffed then Yamashita is definitely the right choice for you. 　

たくさん肉が入ったの食べ物が好きで、きちんとお腹がいっぱいになって欲しいなら、山下はあなたに絶対完璧なレストランだよ！

Goal Curry

2013-01-31T15:00:00.000+09:00

As my time in Okayama is slowly going to end, I start to realise how little I have reported about something I do quite often every week.

だんだん僕が岡山に住んでいる時間は終わっている間に、ほとんど毎週間している事についてまだ書いてないのを気ついた。

Eating!

それは食べることです。

Well, I not exclusively eat only out but also “cook” by myself from time to time.　

もっぱらいつもレストランで食事することないが、よく自分で“料理“してみる。

However, during the time three restaurants around University became especiall quite familiar to me. 但し、岡山大学にいるときに、別な三つのレストランは僕にとって人気になられていた。

The most remarkably among it, is probably “Goal Curry”.　

一番一際的なレストランはゴール・カレーっていうカレー屋さんだよ。

A small little restaurant, that is running for 40 years now by a 86 years old, pretty fit, soccer-fan grandma and her husband.

ずっと４０年間に開いている、８６歳の、とても元気で、サッカーが大好きなお婆さんが旦那さんと一緒に料理してるレストランだ。

The restaurant is located right north of Tsushima-Campus.

岡山大学から北の方にある。

The couple makes the curry sauce by themselves and don’t use any instant curry powder.　

夫婦は、インストソースを使わすに、カレーソースを自分でやる。

I especially like their “special curry” for 550 Yen, with a lot of vegetables.　

特別に、５５０円の、たくさん野菜が入ったスペシャルカレーが大好きだよ。

Today I got a special pot of house made salad, because “she made to much this morning”.

『今朝には作りすぎたから、』、今日のスペシャルカレーと共に、ただの美味しい萌やしサラダをもらった。

Surrounded by Fagiano (the local soccer team) flags and pictures you can enjoy your meal on small little tables.

いっぱいFagianoって言うの岡山サッカーチームのポスターある所でカレーが楽しめる！

Little grandma likes especially to talk, in her quite unique Japanese, about things that has changed in the past 40 years, since she serves curry to students from Okadai.

婆的な日本語で、もう４０年間岡大の学生たちにカレー作っている間にどんなことが変わったのを話すことが大好きなチビなお婆さんだ。

How guys apparently have become weaker.

４０年間に、男の子たちのこころはそろそろ弱くなっていたって！

If you would like to feel sufficiently full, than I can recommend Okayamas Goal Curry to you!　

自分のお腹に満足の感をあげたいなら、僕のおすすめは岡山のゴール・カレーだ。

Post in an other Blog

2013-01-20T17:37:00.000+09:00

Machis Dad published a small article about me, as I stayed quite a lot in his house in the last time. He came to an archery event last week and was quite impressed by an spontaneous joggle attack of mine in his garden :P

http://isuzugawa.blogspot.jp/2013/01/blog-post_20.html

Germany from a different angle?

2013-01-16T08:02:00.001+09:00

From time to time every one of us, who stays just long enough away from home, wants to return to his family and friends. Especially to occasions, such as Christmas when the whole family gathers, the desire to see your love ones grows.

Hence I packed my things and returned for a holiday trip back to Germany, Dresden. It was great to see most of my dear friends and my whole family for almost three weeks. I spent Christmas in my hometown Dresden and new- year in Berlin with friends. In between, I visited Köln, Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Krefeld and Soest to give a visit to friends in other parts of Germany. To have a bit of snow before every little rest of it melted away right before Christmas was nostalgic as well. Especially as I spent the time outside with my friends in the valley and rock tops of the Elbsandstein Gebirge during a hot wine (Glühwein) hiking tour.

In many parts of Germany live is indeed wonderful: (cultivated) nature, parks, cheap food in a huge variety, a lot of space for relatively cheap rents, very good health care, and an almost free education system. Germans should be a happy folk, but when you wander through the streets of cities in Germany you immediately notice the absence of smiling people or anyone with a happy face expression. I don’t want to generalise, but as I spent most of my free time outside of the house I couldn’t avoid noticing this. And it is not the first time. Whenever I came back in the last three years, from Japan or Australia, I realised how unhappy people seem to be, or at least how unable to express their happy emotion, if there is one. It made me sad to see, that so many people in the country where I grew up, were apparently not happy. Instead of compliments I heard complaining!

I can only hope that people start to value what they have and will be happy and thankful for whatever they got! Life is too short to be grumpy and unhappy. Death can be always around the next corner!

Kagoshima/鹿児島

2012-10-11T21:10:00.000+09:00

I was just three days back from Canada, when I already had to leave for another Conference to Kagoshima.

カナダから帰った3日の後で、次の鹿児島大学にある学会に参加した。

Kagoshima is a town in the south of Kyushu, which lays most south of the 4 main Islands of Japan.

鹿児島は日本の本島に関して一番南の九州にある一番南の町です。

I was really looking forward, because Machi came with me and Kyushu is very famous for it's hot springs. I love a bath in a Japanese hot spring the most. It's certainly my favorite Japanese cultural good.

九州は温泉でとても有名で、満知も一緒に鹿児島に行ったので、すごく楽しんだ！　僕にとって温泉は日本の最高な文品だ！

We arrived on Thursday noon, but on Thursday I had to attend the conference at the University of Kagoshima.

木曜日の昼ぐらい新幹線で着いたけど、僕はすぐ学会を参加しないといけなかった。

Since a Taifun was approaching Japan and was supposed to arrive on Saturday in Kagoshima we used the Friday to visit the volcanic Island of Sakurajima, east of Kagoshima.

台風の１７番目は日本に向かって、土曜日ぐらい鹿児島に着くらしかったので、金曜日の素晴らしい天気を使って、鹿児島から東の方にある桜島に行った。

We walked to the ferry port and stopped at the Statue of xxx

フェリー港へ歩いた時に、　xの像の所で止まった。

Funny little creatures gathered around the statue.

変なクリーチャーは像の回りにいたよ！

The ferry to Sakurajima was very cheap: only 150 yen – one way.

桜島に乗るフェリーめっちゃ安かった。片道切符は１５０円だけだった。

The Island is highly volcanic active, since the Island is actually a volcano.

桜島は火山だから、とても火山活動的な島だ。

The geology of the Island was amazing.

桜島のジオロジーは面白かった。

First we learned some things about the history of the Island in the Information center and logged at the same time our first Geo-Geocache. People lived on Sakurajima because the soil was fertile and they could grow the biggest reddish in the world!

最初に観光案内所で桜島の歴史について学んでと同時に満知と僕にジオジオカシューを始めてロクした。

Last year the volcano erupted 1355 times and when we arrived it had already erupted 910 times this year. The seismographs didn't show any movement of the ground when we stood in the information center. The volcano seemed to sleep today.

去年に桜島の火山は１３５５回噴火して、着いたと時に今年にはもう９１０回噴火した。　観光案内所にいた時に、地震計は全然動かなかって、今日には火山が眠そうだった。

We decided to have lunch in a small restaurant and take a tour bus around the Island to get closer to the smoking crater. Later we wanted to visit the hot spring of the Island.

昼ご飯を小さいレストランで食べて、火山を近い所から見えるようになるためにバスで櫻島の回り乗ることにした。　あとで、温泉に行きたかった。

I had Natto-Don. Basically something I have a lot for lunch in University, but my own creation is much simpler. Without the raw fish, the onions or potato. Basically only rice and Natto.
僕は納豆どんを食べた。一般的に岡山大学でよく自分で作った納豆どんを食べているけど、僕の納豆どんの方が簡単です。　刺し身、葱、と芋入れてない。　基本的に、ご飯と納豆さえ使えば、僕の納豆どんを作るよ。

The bus stops at many points on the Island, such at some art that was made from the numerous stones laying around.
バスは色々な所で止まった。例えば、桜島の火山石からできた美実のところで。

The moment we arrived at the closest point to crater the volcano erupted. It was my first eruption to see and I was just amazed by the black smoke rising into the air. The ground wasn't shaking and no magma was spilling out of the crater though, it was still beautiful to see.

火山から一番近い場所に着いたばかり、火山は噴火した。初めて噴火を見たことがないので、ゆっくり空のほうへあがってる真っ黒い曇を感心した。地震なくって、岩礁が見えなかったけど、とても綺麗だった。

From the view point we could also see Kagoshima, which was very close to the Island.

観測所から、鹿児島は桜島からとても近いことかすぐ分かった。

The hot spring water was quite salty, since it was very close to the see. Refreshed Machi and I left back to Kagoshima.

桜島温泉は浜にあるので、温泉水はけっこう塩水の味がした。　満智と僕は元気になって、鹿児島に戻った。

One really unique thing in Kagoshima is the always present volcanic ash in the city. It covers just everything. People collect the ash in bags and leave them at the street so that they can get picked up.

鹿児島の名物はいつもあるの火山灰のことだ。　本当にどこでもあるよ。　鹿児島人は火山灰を集めて、ゴミバッグに入れて、清掃夫はそのバグを取りまとめる。

The Taifun number 17 turned slightly to the east and missed Kagoshima. It was still rainy on Saturday though. We wanted to try a hot Sand-bath in a village that was about an one hour train ride in the south of Kagoshima, Ibutsuki.

台風の１７番目は土曜日にちょっと東のほうに曲がって、鹿児島に会ってなかったけど、一日雨が降っていたので、暖かい砂のお風呂に入るために、イブツキって言うの村に電車で乗って行った。

At a museum I talked to people who grilled some “Knüppelteig”, a kind of bread we use to make in Germany at one fires. They also offered us a red sweet potato, pizza and the bread. Those people were amazingly kind to us and we were happy to get some Haribo with us; just something we could give them in return.
イブツキの美術館でドイツのパンを焼いてる人と話した。　僕らに薩摩芋、ピザとパンをあげた。　本当に優しかった。よかったら、僕らはドイツのハリボも持って行って、美実間の人にあげた。

The sand bath was great and really heated our bodies up. As lunch we had in groundwater boiled eggs with a special Kagoshima-Don.
暖かい砂はとても素晴らしくて、僕らの身体に温められた。　昼食の時には地下水で茹でた卵どんを食べた。

Before we left Kagoshima the next day, we found a German bakery. They sold some things you can indeed get in Germany and I ate my first Mohnbrötchen since I had left Germany in March!!!

岡山に戻る前に、ドイツのパン屋さんを見つけた。　そのパン屋さんは本当のドイツのパン屋さんの焼き物を売れる。ドイツから日本に行った時から、メッチャ美味しいパンを食べてなかった。

If you ever happen to go to Kagoshima, make sure to enjoy the numerous Onsen in the city and around the town.

鹿児島に行くなら、絶対色々な鹿児島の温泉を楽しんでください！

Niagara Falls

2012-10-04T21:35:00.000+09:00

My first day in Niagara I tried to recover from my sickness.

最初のニアガラにいる日には体を直してみた。

On Sunday everything was fine again.

Before the Conference opening I wanted to walk to the US.

日曜日の朝に気分はとても大丈夫になった。元気になったよ。

学会の前に、僕はUSAへ旅行して歩きたかった。

It was great to walk over the Rainbow Bridge and to see the gigantic falls.

レインボー橋を渡している間に、ものすごい滝に睨んだ。

Because both sides seem completely the same, you couldn't feel a different between both countries. Only the flag changed.

ニアガラ川の両方側はとても同じだので、USAとカナダでは違うことが感じられなかった。

First I thought the squirrels are different in the US, because they were brown, but at the end I recognized that in Niagara the squirrels were brown too.

最初に、茶色だったので、アメリカの木鼠が違うかなと思ったら、カナダのニアガラ木鼠も茶色のが気をついた。

To see the falls from a close distance was great.

ニアガラ滝は近い場所から見たのは本当にすごいだった。

During the conference I met old friends from Australia again.

学会の間にオーストラリアの友達と合った。

It was great to meet many people from 61 countries, and even from Dresden about 6 people came to the conference.

６１国から来た人を知り合ったのは本当に素晴らしかった。ドレスデンから六人もカナダに行った。

My presentation went really good and I got a lot of feed back from the audience during the last 3 days.

ちょっと緊張だったけど、発表はよかった。発表後の三日の間には色々な人からフィードバックをもらった。

On Wednesday I went to a trip to lake Erie and Ontario. The lake looked like ocean, but the water didn't taste salty.

水曜日にエリー湖とオンターリオ湖の研究旅行した。湖は海と同じな雰囲気だったけど、湖水の味は塩味じゃなかった。(実験した。)

On Friday we returned to Toronto and Saturday morning I flew back to Tokyo. I arrived pretty exhausted at 4 p.m. on Sunday in Narita and was 11 p.m. back in my apartment in Okayama.

金曜日にトロントに戻って、土曜日の朝に早く東京に飛んで出た。疲れて、日曜日の午後4時に成田に着いて、夜の11時にとうとう自分の岡山のアパートに着いてしまった。

From Tokyo to Toronto

2012-09-24T20:56:00.000+09:00

Two weeks ago, on Thursday, I flew early from Tokyo Narita Airport to Canada. It was the first time for me to fly from or to Nariata.

早い先週の木曜日の朝に成田空港からカナダのトロントへ飛んだ。僕はその時まで成田空港から飛んだことがなかった。

The automatically check-in didn't go well because of the German "Umlaut" in my name. I was surprised that the immigration officer spoke Japanese to me even though I didn't say a word. Maybe it was because of my visa status?

僕のドイツの名前のせいで、自動的にチェックインできなかった。全然話さないのに、入国審査官は僕にすっと日本語で話した。僕のビーサのおかげでかなぁと思った。

The flight with ANA was long but pleasant, even though the seats seemed to be smaller than in Emeriates or Quatar planes. The food was great too - I have chosen western style, as it was quite a while since I had bread and western food.

EmiratesのとQuatar　Airの席と比べて、ANAの席のサイズの方が小さそうだったけど、飛んだ時には本当に楽しかった。食事もとても素晴らしかった。僕は最近和食しか食べなかったので、洋風食を選んだ。

When we flew over America I realised how spacious everything is. It reminded me on Australia. The staff at the immigration was unfriendly, but what did I expect, coming from Japan?

From the aircraft I could see that streets were arranged in a straight, net-like system and so the cities seemed to be not organic but very artificial.

I met the two guys, who sat next to my in the plane at the airport again and we talked in Japanese about our further travel, to shorten the time while waiting for the immigration. The immigration registration is very strict in America, so it took us almost one hour to get through.

We tried to find out what Chicago is famous for, but I could only come up with "Mafia".

アメリカの上に飛んでいた時に、広場が多いの気をついた。　オーストラリアみたいと思った。

飛行機から見たら　道路システムはますぐで網形のシステム見たいに企図されたと思った。

　入国審査官たちはあんまり丁寧ではなかったけど、日本と比べて前に何が思ったかな？待ってる間に、飛行機に僕の隣席に座っていた男の人々と日本語でその後の予定について話していた。アメリカの出入国管理はとても厳しいので、けっこう一時間ちょっとかかった。チカーゴは何で有名だかなっていうかについて考えっていたけど、僕はマフィアのことだけ考えた。

We booked previous to our departure into a very neat looking B&B hostel. The owner only left us a note at the door, telling us we shall enter with the key code he gave us.

カナダに行く前に、ホステルを全部予約して置いた。「もう入って下さい」って言うノートをオーナーから書かれて置いた。

But unfortunately, we had no key code.

We called him and left him a msg. eventually he rang us back ad told us the door code, while we had dinner in a thai restaurant.

残念ながら、コードを持ってなかった。どうしよう？っと思った。オーナーを電話かけて、メッセージを置いて、タイ料理のレストランに行った。食べていた間に、オーナーが僕に電話して、コードを教えてくれた。

The house was really interesting. An old building from the Victorian time and very beautiful inside.

ホステルはほとんど面白かった。　イギリスの伝統的で美しい建物だった。

There was no reception. Only sometimes in the evening and morning the owner of the hostel appeared.

受付なかった。時々、朝と夜時にはオーナーがホステルに来た。

It was like in those horror films, when the guests are all alone by themselves.

ホラームービー見たいな感じで、皆のお客さんは一人いる…

It was very rainy on Friday.

I still went with an umbrella I borrowed from my Professor to an Island south of Toronto, on Lake Ontario.

金曜日にはちょっと一日雨が降っていた。

先生からもらった傘を持っている僕は、トロントから南方面にある島に行った。

It was nice to be in a green park, but unfortunately the Island wasn't very natural. Everything felt man made. After a nice walk, I took the ferry back which was very cheap with just 7 Dollar two-way.

森の中を散歩することは本当に良かったけど、残念ながらその島はあんまり自然の島ではなかった。

I walked through china town and the University back to our hotel which was quite a long walk and took me about 5 hours. I must have eaten something strange in china town, because I became sick in the evening and stayed sick for the whole Saturday.

中国街から、トロント大学を潜って、ホテルに戻った。その散歩時間は5時間ぐらいかかった。　急に夕方の時に気持ち悪くなったので、中国街であまり良くない昼ごはんを食べたはずだ。

Only Sunday it got better. I noticed that squirrels in Toronto are black, not red as they are in Europe. I also noticed that many people walk around with "coffee to go" cups, much more than I have ever seen in Japan or Europe.

日曜日には気分どんどん良くなった。　トロントの木鼠の色は、ヨーロッパの木鼠の色と比べて、真っ黒くて、赤くない。　日本にとヨーロッパにいる人のより、トロントにいる人の方がすごい『Coffee to go』って言う物を持っているの人は多いのこと気をついた。

Toronto is also very multi-cultural. 50% of its population was born outside of Canada. There are so many different nations gathered in one city and they live very peaceful together.

トロントはとても多文化的だ。　トロントの人口中で5割ぐらい外国で生まれた。　色々な国から来た人が一つの町に安穏に住んでいるのトロントだ。

The owner of our hostel told me (he is from Turkey) that it is that what he likes the most in Canada, that people except and respect each other.

トルコ人のホステルオーナーは、トロント人は尊敬し会うことが一番大好きだって教えてくれた。

He said "no matter where you come from, if you contribute to the country and you are a good person you should get the right to stay in that country.".

「どんな国から来たのを関係ないままで、良い人は社会に手伝ってあげるなら、カナダに住んだら大丈夫だ。」ってオーナーは僕に言った。

I agreed with him that many countries in Europe and Asia can learn from Canada about this.

カナダはヨーロッパとアジアにそのことが教えられたら良いのを濁了した。

We took a bus on Saturday to Niagara.

土曜日の昼ぐらいバスでニアガラにとうとう出発してしまった。

中国弓道選手権大会

2012-09-10T08:05:00.000+09:00

Today I went with nine people from Tokuyama Dojo to the middle-Japan Kyudo competition.

今日には九人の徳山道場の友達と中国弓道選手権大会に行った。

People came from The prefecture of Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Shimane, Tottori and Okayama to Tamano to participate at the competition.

広島県、山口県、島根県、鳥取県と岡山県から来た人が試合に参加した。

Besides me only two more person had the first Kyu; everyone else had a Dan-title or even a Renshi, Kyoushi, or Hanshi title. The level was rather high and I really enjoyed it to see so many skilled people.

僕とほかにもう二人の一級を持ってる人はいなくて、他人は段っていうタイテルを持ってる人がいて、練や教や範っていうタイテルを持ってる先生もいた。巧妙さのレベルは本当にちょう高くて、そんなにたくさん上手な人がいるのはそごく楽しかった！

The Tamano Dojo provided even a lunch box and cold tea for us. Because it was very hot today, we were happy to have plenty of drinks.

玉野道場の人は美味しいお弁当も冷たい麦茶も準備して置いた。とても暑かったから、麦茶の飲み放題があったのは良かった！

Everyone was shooting four arrows in two rounds. The competition started at 9 o'clock in the morning and finished at five o'clock in the afternoon.

皆は二回に四射の矢を引いた。玉野の大会は朝の九時に始まって、午後の5時ぐらい終わった。

When we didn't shoot we helped to collect the arrows back and cleaned them. 弓道をやってない時に、僕らは引いた矢を集めて手伝って、矢を掃除してあげた。

We were all not so bad. Three of us came into the final and and one if them even became fourth place of the single guys competition! My team managed only place 32 of 64 with 11 hits.

皆さんはけっこう当たった。徳山道場から参加した人の中で三人ファイナルにはいるのができた！その三人の中で一人は男性個人の4位になった！僕のチームは全部の参加した64チームの中で当たった11射の矢で34位になった。

It was really a great day and I hope that I can join into a competition in October again before i will take my 1. Dan exam.

今日本当に素晴らしかった。初段の新参の前にもう一回十月にの他の大会を参加したらいいと思ってる！

Uraja - the Demon festival

2012-08-06T20:52:00.000+09:00

This weekend was introduced with the annually highly expected fireworks around Okayama castle. I gathered with Machi, Sten, and three other friends in Korakuen (後楽園), where we had a beautiful view on the castle and watched the exploding rockets. Two years ago I was watching this spectacle at the Asahi river (旭川) among a huge crowd. Since there is at the moment a light festival in Korakuen (後楽園) and not so many people (but still way more than usually) went to the park, we enjoyed the night in the park much more than at the crowded river bank; nibbling on our bottle of wine.

Beginning of the fireworks at 19.30

Final rockets at 20.30

On Sunday the festival in Okayama continued! This festival is called "Uraja" (うらじゃ), the festival of the Demons and marks a feast that was introduced in Okayama 1994. Along the main road in front of the main station, groups from all over Okayama gather and dance from the afternoon until 9 pm. They paint their faces and dress in colourful clothes to become demons! But why demons?

One of the most famous stories about and around Okayama is the story of Momotarou (桃太郎) - the peach boy. That's probably also the reason why the peach price in Okayama varies from 5 to 10 Euro per peach (o.o)7. You can read about the story here. Since Machis friend "Poly" danced in a group at the festival, Machi, Joe, "Polies" boyfriend Yoshipi, and I went of course in to the city to see all the dancing children and growing ups. The last two months in Okayama were pretty hot and humid, but "thanks" to a Taifun in the south of Japan, the wind was rather strong yesterday and gave us some cooling. At 9 pm all groups and visitors gathered and danced together on the street. I can't tell how many people were there, but south and north along the street I could only see folks, dancing together. I really enjoyed the atmosphere.

Break for young dancers!

And Poly

It must have been pretty hard to dance all afternoon for the little ones.

Yoshipi and Poly.

Final dance with everyone at 9 pm.

People gathered to dance together!

I tried to capture the atmosphere during the folk dance with my iphone, but blogspot has somehow problems uploading the mov file - I apologise for the bad converted version:

Visit from Germany

2012-07-11T15:21:00.000+09:00

I can't believe that it has been already more than a month, since I wrote my last message. What exactly kept me so busy? Well, I had to finish a paper for a conference in Canada and needed to finish some things at work before, ja, before two friends from Germany arrived at the 22nd of June in Tokyo.

Felix and Anna are very good friends, who I got to know in Dresden pretty much at the beginning of my student life in 2006. They wanted to use the opportunity to travel in Japan where they know someone and to have a place where they can find shelter. After a week of culture shock rehabilitation in Tokyo, did they arrive in Okayama on Friday the 29th of June. It was great to see them again. Machi was with me at the time we met them at the station. We both just came back from a little rice planting advertisement trip from Naoshima. But I don't want to toture you with details: we went right on Friday to a student party

The rice planting team from Naoshima

Yeah (^.^)/ waffles from Mannekken!

Felix got dressed up for the party

Next Saturday to Machis place, where we cooked together with her family and Meru!

Felix is learning (~.^)

and Sunday with friends to Hiruzen (蒜山) where we enjoyed a great Onsen in Yubara and made our own Soba-Noodles.

Slurping Onsen water!

kneading Soba dough

The week after did I need to work a bit and both of them enjoyed some quite days in Okayama from Monday to Wednesday. We took a night bus on Thursday evening (5th of July) to go to Nagoya. We spent two days there. Together did we go again to an Onsen, since Felix and Anna really liked it to be naked among equal gendered ones! We met Jelena and the next day Ai-chan, who Machi and I met before in Canberra/Australia. I was great to meet our old friends.

With Jelena at a Yakiniku (焼肉 - BBQed meat)

Ai chan and Machi in front of the gate of Nittaiji (日泰寺) in Nagoya

While Felix and Anna spent some days in Kyoto from Saturday to Monday, did Machi and I take a night bus back to Okayama on Saturday evening.

Lime and Arnold back together!

This week both of them are riding the Shinkansen through the country and are currently in Beppu/Kyushuu. Today will be their last night in my place and I'm rather sure that I will miss them a lot after they left to Mt. Fuji tomorrow morning. But we will soon see each other again, in the middle of December!!!

Tanabata festival in Okayama.

Anna totured Lime! And Felix is obviously shocked

We over did it a bit (^.^)7 in the Suhi place!

The hidden village - a great menue!

2012-06-06T18:52:00.004+09:00

About two weeks ago Claudia, Yuki and Yoshida-san went with me into the hills of the northern part of the province Okayama. Yoshida-san is a collogue of my professor and is in charge to drill and maintain our wells we use for our experiments. Since we asked him, whether he would know a good place where we can purchase cheap fruits and vegetables, he offered us to give us a lift into the hills where many farms are located.

Our first stop was in a random village close to the airport of Okayama. We discovered a vineyard so different from those I have seen in Europe or Australia: they were mostly in glass houses and ONE single plant is just huge compared to the wine in Europe. We asked a farmer for direction and he invited us into his glass houses:


Yuki in front of the vineyard glass house.

A single wine plant!

Yoshida-san drove his little mint-green Nissan March further up and into the hills. After a 30 minutes drive he suddenly stopped in a curve and turned sharp to the right to drive up a rather tiny road with a extremely steep slope.

little road to the village.

We would normally have definitely passed by this road - it honestly looked like it will end in a dead end but we were pretty amazed that at the top we discovered a village where we only met people of age 60+. Our target was a organic restaurant that is lead by an old couple. The husband is called Shinichirou (新一郎) and his wife 好美. While Shinichirou was preparing the food his wife showed us the huge garden they manage together and that only five days of the week. It was great fun to taste all the different herbs and strawberries they grow and also learn about the Japanese names of the plants, even though I've already forgotten them (or let's say: I can't recall them - they are probably still somewhere burried in my brain). Yoshida-san was in the mean timing enjoying him self in the little garden house.

View from parking spot down to the village.

One of the green houses


Part of the garden

Yoshida-san

Shintarou told us that he is already older than 70 which we could hardly believe. He was so energetic and jumped around, always smiling. He brought us an old map book (more than 20 years old) where he kindly asked us to sign on the page where Germany was printed on and mark the lace on the map where we are from. So Claudia and I marked Dresden and a little village in Thüringen.

The map

The meals were just stunning delicious! We first got served fresh, slightly salty butter with still warm fresh tiny gold brown rolls. Next came a ham salad on fresh garden vegetables, followed by a simple but rather delicious onion soup with a perfect amount of crème in it. The main dish was roasted chicken with beans, carrot and a bitter leaf. As climax brought Shinichiro at the right moment, when we were just half done with our main dish, fried potatoes (still with skin - yes Oma, still with its skin - I told you that this is the best way to eat it) and baked with cheese (I think it was Gauda). While we enjoyed the various dishes, both of them were explaining the things we ate just in that moment: where they grow it, what it needs, which nutrients it has and so on, all outside in a garden on top of a hill somewhere in Okayama.

Butter with fresh rolls

Ham salad

Onion soup

main dish: roasted chicken

climax: cheese potatoes

Yoshida-san and Yuki

Fortunately, I didn't forget to take pictures of the amazing herbal tea we got served with a final salad and lemon sorbet cake which was definitely one of the best cakes I ever had (and so far I can only remember one cake in Regensburg about 8 years ago which may rank in the same league).

final salad

Epilogue cake!

We said farewell and "hope to see you again! We certainly will come back!" to both of them before Yoshida-san decided to takes us to a small bakery, in a tiny village and the edge of a forest. By the way, the whole menu we ate costed about 4.800 Yen per person.

Saying farewell!

To reach the bakery we drove about one hour back to Okayama. Claudia and I fell several times asleep while Yuki at the front seat forced himself to stay awake and talk to Yoshida-san. We got lost and needed to consult my GPS to find the way to the bakery. The shop was pretty small: a natural women in terms of not wearing any make up in probably her 30th sold us some self made bread, which was a bit hard, but since Yoshida-san paid for eat there was no way to complain about it. The best thing was that I drank so much herbal tea at the restaurant that really needed to go to the toilet. I asked the shop woman if I could use the toilet in her house and she showed me where her compost toilet was. Her husband worked at a close-by field and her about 5 years old daughter played in front of the house. The toilet was amazing and I couldn't help but taking a picture of it. I'm terrible sorry that I'm going to show you a picture of a toilet after all the good food, but life lives from contrasts, isn't it?

Entrance to the bakery

Compost toilet d(^.^)

Recycling paper backs!!! d(^.^)


Awesome spider close to the toilet

All in all we had a really great day thanks to Yoshida-san and I really want to thank him for this. I hope to go back to the restaurant in July/August with two great friends who are going to visit me.

Solar Eclipse in Japan

2012-05-26T21:35:00.002+09:00

This week Monday a solar eclipse traveled through and reached it's maximum at about 7.30 am in Okayama. I had a beautiful accompanied breakfast while watching the eclipse through my camera. I didn't buy those special glasses, since they were quite expensive and used my camera instead as you can see in the picture at the bottom.

The last time I saw one was about 2002 or 2004 in Germany, I can't quite remember well and it was not a total eclipse. This time I was also just a bit out of the inner core shadow but the morning darkness the shadow casted was quite impressive. The light was rather dull and the birds that were singing a couple of minutes before stopped there morning song.

Solar Eclipse over Japan seen from Okayama.