Day 1: My first day in Tokyo

Directly after class we went to Fukuoka Airport by bus. It was snowing!

On the bus to Fukuoka

Maybe this is why the bus was an hour late, but we still made it on the airplane without problems. On the plane you could easily tell us apart from the other guests. Not only because my co-travellers have a Eurpean face, but also because we were surrounded by black-wearing business men. Maybe amongst them there were many so-called business bachelors, men who live apart from their families (for the sake of their companies' success) and only see them on the weekends or only once per month.
The travel was pretty exhausting. Why is travelling always so exhausting, although one only sits all the time? Sitting on the bus, at the airport, on the plane, on the trains and subways, ... We were welcomed by a German friend, who we had met in the Japanese course back in Bochum. Laura was so nice to offer us to stay at her apartment while we were in Tokyo, because she would leave for Germany over the Christmas holidays. We had thankfully accepted her offer and were really looking forward to seeing her apartment. Her studies are related to architecturing rooms, so we wanted to know what she had made out of her Tokyo apartment.

We had to change subways at Shibuya. So many people!

Our first challenge was to get from the Haneda airport to the izakaya at Shimo-Kitazawa. There are many different companies in Tokyo operating subways. So every time you want to get from one station to another you have to change companies if the line does not go there directly. When you change a subway you have to buy a new ticket. It was so confusing because we had to change subways 4 times, changing between 4 different companies in order to get from one station to another!
Laura took us to a really cozy izakaya. Wood everywhere, everyone sitting on the floor, dim lighting, great atmosphere.

Izakaya

We also met Tobi on that evening, another German guy that we had met in Bochum. It was really exciting to see people from back home in Germany again - in Tokyo! Tobi told us about his life as an employee in a Japanese company. His working hours are really long. His Japanese colleagues never take days off for holidays. The only reason for taking one of the holidays, which every employee gets, is when being sick! So you don't take a sick leave, but you have to deduct it from your holidays! An nimaginable thing in German companies! So he basically gets not much sleep during the week and has to compensate his lack of sleep on the weekends. Out teacher called Japanese employees "working bees", but I would rather call them "working beasts". (In class my friend Miriam correctly misunderstood "bees" for "beasts" ^^ Thank you for the pun!)
All in all, it seems that we students from Paderborn have the most free time out of the people that we know who have come from Germany to Japan. I am glad, because we get many chances to experience the culture, see the country, spend time with Japanese and students from other countries, think about what we see,... It is much more worth than being confined in your room, studying all the time or writing papers, even if the topics are related to Japan.
We got to see Tokyo at night a little bit, and so far I can say: there are many people! And also many people who are dressed weird. Lolitas, gothics, extreme hair colors and extensions (men!),...

I am sitting in Laura's apartment right now. I am writing my blog from Tokyo! How cool is that? ^^