Japanese Fans

Fans are not only a tool for Geishas and Samurais. During the humid hot summer, fans come in pretty handy and they are not difficult to get hands on. Two options:

1) Spend a minor fortune on a beautiful handicrafted one in Kyoto.






2) Accept a fan for free from the many guys who hand them out on the streets. This will turn you into a walking commercial for a karaoke bar, a real estate agency or ... so choose with care.

(The picture shows last year's harvest...we are becoming very Japanese, in the way of not saying 'no').

Brazilian notes in Koriyama

This evening we had the great opportunity to attend a concert performed by local citizens, here amongst our good friend Keiko-san whom is an accomplished piano player. Together with a saxophone player, she filled the room with Brazilian inspired music. She played absolutely fantastic and we are very proud to know her.

Koriyama is a very musical city, as you will notice when you walk down our main street.
Here and there you find benches inviting you to take a break. All the benches are artfully shaped into music notes and the likes. The reason for this is that the musical students in Koriyama, many years in a row, have won some national competition in music!

Finding love at the Farmers Market

We have found a great Farmers Market in Koriyama which we try to find our way to every Sunday morning 9 o'clock sharp.
And we really do mean sharp! 30 minutes before the market opens, cars start to gather on the parking area in front of the indoor market. The drivers stay put in the cars watching the invisible queue to the market. As soon as a line actually starts to form, people jump out of the car to join in. When the doors finally open a huge line has formed.

If you arrive at the market 30 minutes after the market has opened, - you will find most shelves boring or empty, but if you make it on time you find an abundance of veggies and fruits.

We love filling up our baskets with tons of vegetables. We eat mainly vegetarian now, so we do consume quite a bit of vegetables. The market only carry local produce, so it is also the perfect spot to learn what stuff is actually in season at the moment (opposed to supermarkets that has too much imported stuff).

Last time we went there it was all about bamboo shoots, Fuki (which we accidently mistook for Rhubarb, but thats another story) and Strawberries. This time we stocked up on Cherries, cauliflower, asparagus and squash. Ohh, - and Heart Sticks! Who can live without Heart Sticks? A cucumber in the perfect shape of a heart!

Blue Mountains (OZ part 5)

Blue Mountains is just a train ride from Sydney and where the bride and groom (G&C) grew up. We knew the place had to be special since G&C who had seen the whole world still choose to live there so we wanted to check this presumably paradise out for our selves.
After recommendation, we took base in an idyllic little town named Leura, named after the many volcanic stones found there (Lava means Leura in aboriginal).

Leura was a sweet little oasis. Grand old-fashioned Victorian inspired houses, lovely (in the word’s English sense lovely) boutique shops selling all these things you didn’t know you needed but totally need to own like luxury stationary, inspiring notebooks, handmade candles, art craft and a well assorted candy store, which we have heard can enchant people with all its candy, so they show up late for obligations, like a wedding. Oooh and Leura has a fantastic coffee shop: A wooden house with panorama views of the landscape all the way to Katoomba,- the neighbouring tourist hub.

Katoomba is a must-do place if you want to see the Blue Mountains landmark, - its grand cliffs named the three sisters. On a map Leura looked pretty close to Katoomba, we just needed to follow the canyon, so we packed a back and went hiking near the edge.
Blue Mountains was supposed to be really cold as it was winter, but we had more than 20 degrees most of the day. The hike was beautiful but much longer that expected. Midways we made a detour to find lunch and stumbled across a gorgeous place where families, dog walkers, business people and sightseers like us (though more refined than us in our hiking boots) were taking in the mild winter by eating lunch in the large sun filled garden with an amazing view of the canyon. Here we started to realize that Blue Mountains is indeed a special place on earth. So relaxed and blessed with beauty, natural and isolated, yet with all indulgences within reach…though the goat cheese tart was sold out. Could we live here? Indeed we could!

As the Blue Mountains is a World Heritage site, the area around the main sites are highly developed. A short, though steep train ride takes you down the cliff side through the green foliage where a web of trails leads you through the forest.
A cable “Skyway” with glass bottom takes you across the valley in 200 meter height and offers a breathtaking view. We spent great hours there with highlight of the day being watching the Australian native Lyrebird picking for worms (?) while speaking a sound we couldn’t quite decipher. The Lyrebird is famous for being able to mimic natural as well as artificial sounds from its environment.

The Three Sisters:
One evening we met G&C for a splendid dinner, H and G eating kangaroo – of cause. It was really great to have a little quiet time with them (can’t believe they made time for it the day before they were going on honeymoon!). Participating in the wedding was a beautiful experience and an important event, but to have relaxed quality time to catch up is invaluable. We are glad we had this opportunity.

Australian wildlife (OZ part 3)

We didn't get to see the Platypus :-( as they tend to hide during winter, but we did get to see a whole lot of different animals while touring the shores and the hinterland of Byron Bay. We always get a great kick out of watching wildlife in their natural environment.

The Rainbow Lorikeets were easy to spot with their bright colored feathers, - and if you couldn't see them, you could for sure hear them!:

Another of the many different kind of parrots in the region. This is a Galah:

From the beach we watched the Humpback whales make their journey to the warmer waters in the North. With a good will you can see the tail of one here (you might want to click pic. to enlarge):

...and the playful dolphins. A baby dolphin made an awesome whole-body-over-the surface- jump, but kind of hard to photograph, so this will have to do:

We saw two different kind of flying foxes, - a kind of fruit eating bats. This picture shows the Grey-headed flying fox. We also saw the black Flying fox. They sleep in huge colonies in trees, during the day, before they travel up to 50 km pr day to feed on fruit and pollen.
Just out side Lismore, there is a road lined with Ecalyptus trees. Here we saw the cutest koala bears:

We had encounters with three different kinds of kangaroos besides Wallabies and Pademelons. Can you think of a nicer way to be carried around by your mother?


OZ part 5 (OZ part 4 about Sydney is not done yet)

Lennox Head & suroundings – Lazy Paradise (OZ part 2)

The Wedding took place in the most eastern region of Australia, famed for hippies, surfers and a warm climate. June means winter in Australia – but we still had above 20 degrees in Lennox Head. Nice!
Due to Henriks work we were left with only 10 days for our first visit to Australia. Our main reason to go to Australia was to participate in the wedding, but since we were there, we might as well take a look around.
We booked an apartment for 5 days in a small costal town named Lennox Head, a somewhat lazy little place with a beautiful beach, and restaurants and delis that offered a great variety of healthy food. We found vegetable juices, fruit smoothies and chickpea salads not to mention a tasty date crumble made without sugar, wheat and milk. Heaven!
Henrik would do his morning runs on the beach, some days we would take walks there, looking at humpback whales or dolphins or just enjoying being close to the ocean.

One morning we spent near Lake Ainsworth, a brown colored lake, that got its color from the many tea trees surrounding it. The water is supposedly healthy for skin and hair, but we skipped the swim this time and instead enjoyed the rich bird life there.

The rainbow parrots are like color palettes.

One evening we meet up with G&C for an evening coffee, where we also got a chance to meet C’s friendly parents.

We had a few side trips from Lennox head. One was a tour with Byron Bay Wildlife Tours, which we cannot recommend highly enough. The owner kept all promises and we had an interesting day watching 5 different kinds of Kangaroos, wallabies, Pademelons, 2 kinds of Flying foxes, koalas, humpback whales and dolphins, all in the wild nature and not some kind of park. Also the owner/guide was a dedicated naturelover. He tried to do a difference for the endangered animals in the region like the koalas that are threatened by mining in Lismore and he also made us think twice in the future before investing in a house pet. Cats and dogs are a real threat to the wildlife. Not only because of their hunting, - but also because of the deceases they carry and spread.

Another side trip was to Byron Bay,- the most famed city in the region.


Known for its serious laidback hippie-surfer party culture, Byron Bay is a true gem when it comes to organic food and supplements, so we hailed everything from Goji berries to parabene free moisturisers down from the shelves. All to a fair price! The high prices on import goods in Japan can be hard to cope with.

We also went to the lighthouse in Byron Bay. THE most eastern point of Australia…or actually we tried to go there, we walked and walked, took one nature trail and then another, but we never made it there, but did end up at a point where we could see the light house from a distance. That must count too, right? Especially because we also saw a humpback whale.

OZ part 3

Adventurous souls tie the knot Down Under (OZ part 1)

During our backpacker trip in South America 2006 we met two wonderful people in a random hostel in the old Inca capital, Cusco in Peru.
The couple (G&C) did what we still only dream of; travelled around the world for a year (actually we dream of doing it for three years, but that's another story), and when we met them they had made it just about half way and were flying on a pink cloud of love as an engagement had fallen into place on the way.
They reminded us of important facets of what a relationship is also about and in that way they are an inspiration to us.
We met up with them a couple of times later on the trip (In Bolivia and in Argentina), but we haven't seen them since, so when they asked us to help them celebrate their marital ceremony in Australia this June, we didn’t hesitate to say yes.

The Wedding celebration was split over 3 days, starting of with an informal dinner at a beautiful old pub in Bangalow. We are sorry to realise that we don't have any pictures from there, as it really was a cool place. Never the less we had a great time chatting around with a lot of people. Australians have great people skills and they did a great effort to mingle with us.
The second day was when the ceremony took place. All guests were picked up by bus and transported to a beautiful French inspired castle, which made something clear to us. Despite what some Danish politician thinks, the thing is that when you pick up your feet for a while and plant them in another culture, you don’t put your old culture behind you, instead the new culture tie knots with your old culture and thus you now have two cultures close to heart. The thing is that G&C have spent months in France due to his work so choosing a location like this French inspired place as their venue, seemed like France has left a pretty important impact on their cultural paradigm…or maybe they are just very romantic ☺ What ever reason, it made us reflect about the fact that certain Brazilian and Japanese cultural aspects will be following us naturally for the rest of our lives, as the Danish culture will.

It was a beautiful wedding. All powers seemed to have decided to work together to commemorate the love of G&C. The sun shined from a clear blue sky and the energy of the people was summing and warm.

Special moments and details in random order from the day: the way the sun rays spread warmth’s on the walls during the ceremony, the sense of detail wrapped around the whole setup, the sincere feeling of joy and happiness everybody shared. The overwhelming candy table with hand made beautiful boxes, people dancing around with ties around their head (opposed to around their neck), smiles and laughter, the special glow you only find around a very happy newly wed couple, crowds of people on the dancefloor, the delicious appetizers served before dinner, the rings in the shell wandering from one guest to another before the ceremony picking up wishes of love and happiness to the couple. The romantic energy of the wedding enhanced by everyone and everything. Perfect. Beautiful. Relaxed. Momentous. When we were back at the hotel, a little tipsy and with tired feet after a whole night dancing, we looked back at a super evening.

The day after, everybody met up again at G&C’s apartment for a recovery Barbie. (Barbie is not to mistaken for a Mattel product, but just the Australians way of saying BBQ. red.) Really relaxed. Think lots of yummy salads and meats and laid back conversations. A perfect final.

For us participating in the 3 day festivities became an extraordinary experience. During the three days we had had immensely fun with G& C, their friends and family. They were relaxed, chatty and curious and so we had felt welcomed, comfortable and home. Home. Home, as we have only felt one time during our so far 1,5 year in Japan (and that was when we had a Danish Christmas lunch for a bunch of mostly western friends). ‘Home’ as in Denmark. We had sort of forgotten how that kind of home felt.
Living in Japan, expose us to many wonderful experiences and wonderful people, which we would never be without. Every day our cultural understanding is challenged and widened. We treasure it. We have made good friends and mostly embrace the challenge of nurturing new friendships.
Having said that, the cultural barrier is high. Japan and Denmark has so little in common in so many aspects, which means we always must stay alert, – both to understand correctly and to be understood correctly.
A place like Australia with deep roots in European culture makes it easy to feel at home. You don’t have to be alert. You speak the same language, figure of speech. The encounter with the open arms and familiar western mindsets of G&C’s family and friends was something, we realised, that we had longed for.
The encounter had an even stronger effect, as it was a knot tied group of close people who had known each other for what seemed like forever. They relaxed in each other’s company. It is something you can only experience with your own family and dearest friends. We miss that kind of qualitytime with our friends and family in Denmark and Brazil.
Thanks for a wonderful experience G&C. Thanks for letting us borrow your wonderful friends and family while our own are out of reach. And thanks for letting us take part in your love, - and a great party. We are really glad we had this great chance to meet up with you again and hope it won’t take ages before we meet up again. You are two wonderful people that together form a perfect couple.

The picture is from the Wedding ceremony. The mothers in law were asked to tie the bride and groom's hands together. An ancient tradition that really touched us.

P.S.: Now, we are SO ready to see our own friends and family for Christmas!!! (Yep we will be home for Christmas and part of January). Mata néee.

OZ part 2

Rice planting

We are fascinated by the rice fields and their beauty, and to plant them has been something we wanted to try since we read an old diary of a Dane that did it while living here.
Last year we had to turn down three invitations due to a busy schedule, so we hoped to get another chance this year, which we happily got. Unfortunately H had to go to dk on business trip, so I ended up joining alone, this overcast day. In fact I ended up being the only foreigner in a group of 40, but I didn't thought much about it. I am too used to hang around people I don't understand :-) It was a nice group,- everybody were friendly and hardworking, and I remember a nice conversation with someone about whether we have rice fields in dk or not.

The experience gave a full understanding of why machines are used to plant rice fields these days. Planting rice is really hard work for your back ... and an annoying thing is that your rubber boots tend to get stuck in the mud all the time (which might only had been a problem for me, because I insisted in using my own fancy white boots apposed to their long black practical boots that came with a rubberband to firmly secure the boot to the foot). Who cares, even though I almost fell full length in the mud, I didn't, so I guess my boots did me very well! Ohh, and nobody had told me about the hat. Everybody wore one except me!

A grid had been drawn in the mud, making it easy to plant the crops on a straight line...you would think...but every time you put your feet in the mud, the water turns blurry and the grid vanished in the around 30 cm of water that topped the mud. I thought we did well anyway!






Afterwards some of the men gathered in the stream that supplies the rice fields with water. They wanted to catch the dinner,- a sort of eel I think, but I might have lost some info in the translation...


As always with this kind of event arranged by KALMIA, an awesome lunch awaited the crowd with onigiri, tempura and green tea prepared by Keikos mother. She is a great cook.
I skipped an invitation to go soak up in an onsen (hot spring). I know it doesn't sound like me, - but while I was planting rice, H had arrived in Japan and I was eager to see him again.

Birthday in Matsushima

As a birthday trip for my(H)'s dad we went to Matsushima in the Pacific, - one of Japans 'Nihon Sankei' (Three great sights).


The bay in Matsushima has around 250 islands covered in pines and a small cruise between the islands is the way to experience them. We spent an hour sailing between the islands, watching the islands and soaking in the nature and abundant bird life in silence.
In the vincinity we tried to find Sagakei, a 40m high scenic cliff, but instead of a scenic cliff, the birthday kid ended up with wet shoes after trying to climb a small rock at the edge of the ocean. It might be named "Stillehavet" (Danish for the Pacific meaning 'quiet ocean') but there is really nothing quiet about it...

Matsushima is also famed for its oysters which was very much visible when we saw the mountains of shells laying along the beach.

The day also brought us to a very nice Shinto shrine, a Japanese zen garden and a fine lunch in Matsushima. All in all the best way to spent a day with mom and dad.

Watching the monkeys skinny dip

If you were living in the Japanese Alps during winter where the north winds carry as much as 70-80 cm of snow in just one night and the temperature drops to minus 10 degrees, wouldn't you choose to escape into the nearest 41 degree warm hot spring? We would, - and so does the Japanese snow monkey we have heard, so together with Henriks parents we went to see for ourselves.

Only little snow showed its glitz to us here and there on the long 5 hours drive from Koriyama through the Japanese alps to Jigokudani Yaen-koen. The monkeys are said only to use the hot spring during the colder time of the year, so we hoped we weren't too late having already seen the cherry trees bloom in Koriyama.

After a stunning drive through mountainous landscape, we arrived at the entrance to the park, paid a fee to a lonely guard and wondered about this place. Only one other car to spot on the parking lot, no other tourists in sight. The sign to the park looked kind of worn out and we weren't really sure what it was telling us. (seems to be a common problem we encounter with Japanese signs :-)). We started to walk a trail in a direction we thought would lead us to the monkeys but instead we ended up at a private house. Or was it an onsen? Returned half way, passing two Japanese women who was about to make the same detour as us, and chose another trail. The place looked sort of closed down, but as we wondered if any monkeys would be there at all, an Italian person showed up on the trail and told us of hordes of monkeys, so we continued on.

Monkeys soon started to show up around us. Young monkeys playing around, older monkeys grooming each other, some ran away when they saw us, most didn't bother. We couldn't help smiling watching the little fellows at so close range, and the smile got even bigger as we approached the hot spring and found the monkeys were still having a blast in the hot spring. Such a rare sight! :

The monkeys are not caved. They choose by them selves to come down from the mountains to visit the hot spring almost every day during winter despite tourists that show up to stare at them.

Even a monkey can get startled by its own beauty: The monkeys traditionally feed on tree buds, flowers, bark and insects which can all be difficult to find during winter, so because of that, - and to prolong observation of the monkeys behavior, barley, soybeans and apples are served by the park employees. The monkeys love it,- but not as much as they love wild grapes and chestnuts, so in autumn the monkeys turn their noses up to the convinience of soy beans and barley to go hunting for delicacies in the forest.
The snow monkeys does not quite look as charming wet:

Miss Wet 2008:
We spent the night in a typical spa town called Yudanaka at a traditional ryokan, with access to around 10 different hot springs, all with different temperature, mineral content and size. To visit the hot springs that was scattered around the village, the ryokan kindly supplied us with Yukata and Geta (clothes and shoes) and a key and a map so we could walk from bath to bath attracting quite some attention from bypassers and shop owners. Some of the onsens were so warm that you could hardly put a foot in them. (Hot springs really heat you up as B experienced ending up fainted on the floor,- but thats another story.)
The picture on the right shows how annoyed the local shopowners are with the monkeys in town... (look for guns).

The trip back through the mountains was as beautiful as on the way up. Emphasize on THROUGH the mountains. I don't remember who won, but we had some serious competition going on in the car: How many tunnels would we pass? More than 30,- but I can't remember the right number.

We would like to go back during winter, as the snow do so well on photographs. Anyone want to join?

Sakura in Ueno park

One of the most visited parks for ohanami aka 'cherry flower viewing' is Ueno park in Tokyo, so of cause I had to take Annette there. The flowers had just started to bloom. Lots of people. Lots of beautiful flowers.

For dinner we ordered the special 'Sakura set menu'.  

Everything is possible in Tokyo, - even a cute bear playing trumpet.

Tokyo by night

Harajuku Girls

Kimono And Ikebana

Photo from Tokyo

Naser Khader - The new Prime Minister?

The Danish Election made it to the frontpage of one of the biggest newspapers here in Japan.
Lost in translation apparently works both ways.

The article was published in the Daily Yomiuri the 15th of November 2007

Grandmother's visit to Koriyama

B's grandmother came for a three weeks visit to Japan, which meant a great opportunity for us to spend some rare quality time with her, as well as to see a bit more of Japan. We were excited about both and worked out an itinerary for her stay with highlights being Geisha hunting in Kyoto, Island hopping in the tropical part of Japan and Kabuki show in Tokyo.
First and most of all though we wanted to show her our region.
In total we spent a bit more than a week in Koriyama, which gave us sufficient time to introduce her to our everyday life, starting off with a drive on 'Gold line' in the mountainous landscape, to see the first signs of autumns arrival.And then she got to meet some of the people B spends her time with:

B's Ikebana & Japanese teacher had arranged a trip to Fukushima city to visit a museum featuring an exhibition af Uemura Shoens works. Uemura Shoen was born in Kyoto in 1875, and is famed for her stunning 'Bihinga' drawings (images picturing the beauty of women).

The paintings were really beautiful and gave away many details of the ancient life of Japanese women. Our company kindly tried to explain all curiosities that came to mind looking at the pictures, giving us a good insight in the days long gone.
It was a bit difficult to only focus on the pictures though, as we found ourselves surrounded by ladies and men dressed in beautiful kimonos! To promote citizens use of kimonos anyone dressed in kimono could enter the museum for free, and many had followed the invitation, so sometimes our talk would wander of and be about the visitors clothes. We learned that the way the obi is tied shows the marital status, and so do the length of the sleaves. Often the color of the kimono gives away the womans age. I can't help thinking on Taquile Island on Lake Titicaca, eventhough it is a very different world. There too the clothes tell the status of the owner, e.g. a boy's hats design show you if he is married or not.


After the exibition we had lunch at a traditional soba-ya. Both Tempura(deep fried food) and Soba(Buckwheat noodles) tasted great - and fun it was to grate our own Wasabi. (The fresh wasabi root is on the top left of the picture)


The Chigiri-e friends had also prepared an fun day for us.


The day's project was Fujisan in eruption - perfect as Fujisan became a mythical theme of Grandmothers visit.



Sensei had prepared a feast for us - freshly picked chrysanthemum flowers and persimmons turned into delicate tempura. The best tempura is the one with the lightest layer of dough:
And a more challenging homemade treat...Crickets boiled in soysauce! Sensei had caught the crickets herself in the rice field, so who can refuse to give it a go. (well Grandmother could). Insects are not my favorite food, but having said that, these tasted quite ok,- if you could let go of the thought of what unusual thing you were eaten.

After the class we gathered together in front of the house, for pictures and talk about nature, as a perfect way to end the day. Senseis house is just next to a river.


The other days in Koriyama were used on a tour at Hs workplace and with introductions to some of our daily routines, including encounters with the hospitality in Japanese shops. When Grandmother wanted to buy tea for a friend, it gave us a memorable experience in the local teashop where matcha - the traditional whisked green tea - was prepared for us.



Lastly we had some good food experiences while she was here. We went to a tempura restaurant and had anything from deep-fried wild mountain vegetables to deep-fried fish organs served. We also went to one of the citys good Teppanyaki restaurants located with a great view over the city and with an amazing grilled menu. You haven't really tasted grilled beef, before you have tasted it in Japan.

In the end, Grandmother wasn't really impressed by the architecture of Koriyama, BUT the local citizens left a great positive impression on her. So they do at us, so that wasn't really a surprise :-)