tokyo

a couple of weeks ago, takenori and i went to tokyo on a business trip. i still can't really understand that i get to go on business trips. guess it has something to do with not realising how old i am either.. hmmm..

anyway. i really liked tokyo. the people were very friendly, the city clean, modern and relatively easy to get around. i had to take a picture of the very comprehensive underground map. what complicates things slightly is the fact that there is the underground and then there are several different train services, who apparently have the same colours as the underground lines.
i also really like the japanese language. only managed to learn a few sentences and words, such as 'i'm elin', 'nice to meet you', 'thank you', 'hello'.. the usual, but what i really liked was the fact that in japanese the consonants are important, just like in most european languages and as opposed to for example chinese and vietnamese where the vowels and tonation matter more.

one thing that i had really hoped to see was the sakura - cherry blossom. mid to end of march is normally the perfect time, but due to an unusually long and cold winter, the trees looked like this. everyone told us they would bloom any day..

this street is called something like 'cherry blossom lane' and is apparently incredibly beautiful when the trees are in bloom..

since we were there for work, we didn't have that much time to do all the touristic things, but thankfully takenori knows tokyo quite well and knew what to see and how to get around. so we..

pretended to be adults and dressed up in business clothes. funnily enough, i think we managed to pull it off, at least with some people..

went to a shrine - a japanese temple. before entering you had to wash your hands and mouth

vistited shibuya and shinjuku

ate shabu-shabu, a local dish where you boil meat and vegetables in a pot of broth, similar to the chinese hot pot

strolled around at ginza

had sushi at the fish market near by

went to akihabara, aka geek town, where i bought a portable/mobile battery for my phone
- best buy ever!

saw the buddhist temple in asakusa

and the asahi brewery

went on a river cruise

had some okonomiyaki, a japanese pancake with cabbage, ham, cheese, prawns - a bit of everything. if i remember correctly, okonomiyaki means something like a bit of everything fried and the idea is similar to the swedish pyttipanna
(shoko, this one is for you, but your okonomiyaki is miles better)

after getting off the boat, we went to a park where i could finally see some blossoms. they weren't sakura, but i'm not a botanist either so as long as they are beautiful, i'm happy..



also love the contrast between the nature and the buildings

japan is a high tech country and i just had to take a picture of the advanced toilet options. i especially like the the flushing sound button. i think they are on to something here - having a button making a flushing sound prevents people from flushing the toilet excessively trying to disguise other noices, which in turn helps saving the environment - klockrent, as we say in swedish

there are also stands where you can leave your umbrella - free locks are provided!