The last post

It has been 6 weeks now that I have come back to Germany. And as I had already sensed in my last weeks in Japan – my stay in Japan has become a distant memory. It does not feel real any more. Sometimes I even wonder if I have really been there. Adjustment to one’s life at home really takes on fast.

Are there things that I am happy about, now that I am home? Yes, there are certain things I can do that I could not when I was in Japan:

-see masculine men: apparently, in Japan “masculine men” can be an oxymoron. They are skinny, they are shy, they are delicate, they are obsessed with fashion and hairstyles, they pluck their eyebrows, and I could swear, some of them wear make up! To prove my point: I wore a jersey top with a waterfall neckline that I got many compliments on. I never told anybody that I got it from a men’s fashion store… (Wait, or does this anecdote put ME in a bad light?)

-eat an apple in public: in Japan you never see people eat an apple on the streets. If you do, people will notice you  – have you ever seen people in Germany bite into a tomato while walking down the street?

-work at my desk without freezing to death: Kaikan room was a refrigerator during the winter months

-not feeling isolated when being alone: although Japanese people are polite and helpful, I never felt like I belonged to the society. I could never really understand their thinking. Being alone in Kaikan felt like being alone in the world. Here in Germany I do not feel lonely when being alone because I feel like part of this society.

-Hear “no” once in a while: in Japan it is really hard to guess from their faces and their words what they really want. They do not say no directly, you have to really pay attention to grasp their subtle hints of their real thoughts.

-buy cheap fruit and vegetables: the prices for these commodities are a little bit higher in Japan, and it adds up, when you like to cook fresh meals

-not feeling lost when travelling: finally I can read all the signs at the stations, on the streets, in the shops, …

-something I have been obsessing about the longer I stayed in Japan – eat German bread! The first -thing I bought after I stepped off the airplane and felt German ground under my feet: ein belegtes Mehrkornbrötchen (whole wheat bread roll with topping) – I never tasted anything that good for a long time!

not feel like a bum, when wearing jeans and a T-shirt: if the guys are fashionable in Japan, then the girls are fashion gods. It seems like they are dressed to enter a fashion contest every day, short skirts, high heels, perfect make up, perfect hair, never jeans!

- Throwing away garbage without being intellectually challenged.

There are also other things that I noticed when I came back to Germany. I feel so small! The furniture is bigger and higher, the people are all hovering over me again, even the toilet seats are higher!

And the worst of all: the cold unfriendly German faces. After half a year in Japan, where the staff in supermarkets, stores, and konbinis has been sucking up to you and kissed the ground that you have been walking on, and you want to e.g. buy bread at a German bakery - you will feel like you just asked prison staff to open the door of your cell.

All in all, when I came back I noticed that I had not been missing much during my stay in Japan. Walking down the aisles in the German supermarkets, seeing my room at home, and walking down the city – nothing has changed. I have not thought about these places at all during my stay abroad and had not been imagining them, so nothing seemed changed for me.

But I also know that when thinking back I tend to forget the “bad stuff”. There have been moments when I wanted to go back home, when I have been missing my family and friends, when I had felt lonely, when I had cursed all the Japanese for their non existent English skills and their weird behaviour. Especially the first weeks have been tough. I did not like Oita at all. I guess it is called culture shock. After a while we adapted and the exhilarating feeling of discovering new things took over. All in all, it has been a wonderful adventure and I am so happy that I did it.

One day in Taipei

On the way back from Japan to Germany we changed planes in Taipei again. Unfortunately, my plan to stay in Taipei once again did not work out due to lack of time and money. Looking back I am even glad that it had not worked out, because I had been such an emotional mess, that I could not have enjoyed it anyways.

But as we had 12 hours between the changing flights in Taipei, we wanted to go into the city and visit a German friend, who works in Taipei. It was February 16th when we landed in Taipei, exactly in the week of Chinese New Year. This is the most important holiday in Taiwan, and people get together with their families in order to celebrate - one whole week! If you consider that our Taiwanese friends (or work machines) usually work 14 hours per day, it seems even more extraordinary, that they take off one whole week!

It was really nice to see Taipei again. The humid air, the smell of the city instantly reminded me of our 4 days in Taipei last September and happy memories came back to my mind. Unfortunately, it rained all day!We intended to go to the most famous dumpling restaurant in Taipei, but unfortunately, when we got there, people were already standing in line in the rain in front of the restaurant to get in. It was not even lunch time! Our friend said, that next time we should reserve a table before going.

 

Last time, when Fabian and I were still scared newcomers in exotic Asia, we had not dared to use the subway. But this time, now having become Asian experts and strengthened through adventurous travelling in Japan, we did it. We used the subway!

For lunch, after searching half the city in pouring rain for a decent restaurant (many were closed because of the holidays), we found a nice restaurant for shabu shabu. It can be compared to nabe in Japan. It is a hot pot with boiling broth on the table, where everybody puts his ingredients in and cooks it. Delicious! When our friend said, "this is a restaurant with a higher standard", Fabian and I worriedly felt our wallets, thinking about how much money we had. When the bill came, each of us had to pay... Guess how much! 7 Euros! Taiwan is a heaven for gourmets! ^^

The Taipei 101 clouded

 

Inside the 101

 

At the end of the day - of course we had to conduct empirical research on cultural differences between Japanese and Taiwanese crane machines. Our result: the Taiwanese machines cheat the customers! The crane fingers are too loose!

He also showed us his fancy apartment. I was impressed! I could describe you in many words how expensive his apartment looked, how pretty the furniture was, how high the rent is, but I think this picture of the kitchen tells already everything:

This single hotplate says: "I do not need to cook. I only go out for eating."

;)

I enjoyed this day in Taipei very much. 

Thank you for the wonderful day in Taipei! I had so much fun!

Yufuin

At the beginning of February we made a trip to Yufuin.  It is a small town, which is a 1 hour train ride from Oita. It was the last trip that we organized, motivated by the oncoming goodbye from Marion, our fellow Paderborn student, 2 days from then. I and Fabian were the last 2 Germans to leave Oita one week after Marion.

I am writing this post at my German desk. All I write down now are memories from three weeks ago. I remember it to be a good and fun trip. It is sad to think of Yufuin now, which seems so unreal now that I breathe German air.

We went to the mountain first, in order to hike a little bit. We only wanted to go up a small hill, take some pictures and then head back to the town. But what looked like a small hill, which we could walk up in our pretty city shoes, turned out to be rather a Mount Everest!

 

Our humble aim was to walk up the small cute hill to the left. On the right is Yufuin mountain, where some of our fellow students climbed up - it took them 4 hours to go up! 

On the way up the "small" hill we slowly realized that it was much steeper and much more exhausting than expected to "walk" up. I sometimes even had to cling to the trees in order to pull me up the hill.

On half of the way to the top - panting, sweating, swearing - we declared it to be our mountain top. So, "finally there"! Haha. We were 8 people when we started to hike, and when we arrived we were only 7. Haha. 

But we were of good humour. The fact that we mastered the mountain (according to our own definition) motivated us so much that we had the energy to joke around. 

Hungry after the exercise we tried to find a restaurant where we could eat. We could not decide and ended up in a not so pretty shop where they sold Ramen noodles. But we were hungry and had no money. 

Voilà. Tonkatsu Ramen. One weird thing about Ramen is that it makes you crave something sweet after having eaten it. It also makes you hungry pretty soon. 

We walked around Yufuin and wondered why a friend of ours had declared this city to be his favorite in Japan. It was boring, nothing to see, and not spectacular at all. Then we remembered another friend telling us about a pretty lake. We asked some locals for directions and were guided to this street. 

Beautiful and charming Yufuin. Suddenly we saw masses of people, many small and cute shops, charming houses... So that's why our friend loves Yufuin so much! There were so many shops that tempted us to go in. But as we wanted to see the lake by sunlight, we heaviheartedly had to drag each other along to find the lake. We only hoped that this "lake" would be worth it!

And there it was. Worth the renouncement. 

Some hungry animals begged for food. The size of the children made us wonder, if the duck would mistake the kids for a snack.

 A beautiful day and beautiful people.

On the way back from the lake, we finally could free our desire and explore the shops. This is one of the most famous in Yufuin. It is for merchandise products from the Japanese anime studio Ghibli. They produced movies like Chihiros Reise in Zauberland and Das wandelnde Schloss.

And they produced the anime "My neighbour Totoro" (1988). It is very famous in Japan, and also amongst Japan-lovers around the world. This big stuffed thing is Totoro. 

Yufuin turned out be one of my favorite cities in Japan. It is a very charming and beautiful town. I wish we have had more time to explore the small individual shops and boutiques there.