THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

TRAINING ROOM

     Beautiful sunny day in Tokyo. Today I woke up early as we were to meet Philipp to go to the training room together. Training room is a place on campus with different machines and weights, it is cheaper than a gym (300 yen per entry). 

     I had to wake up my buddy next door (Ondrej-san), otherwise he would sleep in our training. We left the dorm at 9:15 and at 9:30 were at the meeting point. Philipp didn't turn up for a while. But neither one of us yet had a phone and we didn't know where the training room was... So we had to return to the dorm and then go back out. 

     As it turned out, there is no way to get to the campus from the side of the street that we live in, you have to make a loop and go through the main entrance. This didn't stop us from climbing the fence and making our shortcut. 

Training room (in Japanese "tureiningu rumu") was found on the first floor of student union building. From the inside the building was full with posters. People were playing musical instruments in the hall and everything looked really fun. In a while we found the magic training room. We entered to ask some questions. The lady there spoke really good English and explained to us the conditions. However she said the training room will open in 7 minutes and we had to wait outside... That is exactly what happened! In 7 minutes she took of the sign "closed" and invited us to go in. We paid our 300 jpy entry fee and enjoyed a great workout. By the way, most of the visitors of the training room that morning were foreigners. 

SUPERMARKET OPENING

     Under Motosumiyoshi dorm building on the first floor there is a supermarket. To be more precise, there in from today a supermarket: it just opened. The opening day was something special. Many Japanese people gathered in front of the store, most of them dressed up in suited. Lots of habitants of local neighborhood came with their bikes for the store opening. Apparently, this occasion is promoted very well in Japan and many people gather to get the good discounts on the opening day. 

WELCOME CEREMONY

     1st of April for us is fool's day, in Japan it is the first day of University in spring-summer semester. Today many Japanese students gathered for the welcome ceremony. Some of them came with parents. 

     Interestingly, all male students wear suits with ties. 99% of the suits are black. I can hardly remember anyone wearing jeans or something else than a suit. This is definitely different from the countries I have lived in. Going through a crowd of Japanese students in black suites was quite funny, reminded me Matrix somehow. =)

JAPANESE CLASS

     There are plenty of Japanese classes available for exchange students. There are 2 groups of exchange students in Keio: Japanese Language Students and pert-time exchange students. The first group studies mostly  Japanese Japanese-related subjects, while other group studies subjects in English but is allowed to participate in up to 2 Japanese language courses.

     The timetables of available Japanese classless really bad... Many classes overlap with our regular CEMS classes, those which don't overlap, are simply held in another campus far away. 

     After deciding for a long time, I wanted to try Basic Japanese Conversation class. It seems, that my level is something in between 1 and 2: 1 seems too easy while 2 seems to hard... 

     We went to the class together with other CEMS students. The teacher (sensej) is a very nice lady with great sense of humor. The class was full of international people that never studied Japanese before (most of them) and many of the things seemed new to them. We discussed things like "my name is, I am from etc." It was pretty nice, but pretty basic... Now I am doubting event more, which class to choose. 

GREETINGS

      During the class the teacher we have rehearsed traditional Japanese greetings. Interestingly, for close friends and family there is a special word you use in the morning (short version of good morning), but during the day or afternoon you don't greet each other (family members and close friends). 

      This seemed quite strange to me, how can a husband in Europe come back from work and say nothing to his wife, and hear nothing back from her. Larry, our CEMS student from Taiwan and kanji-master, has explained, that in Taiwan it was the same. Once he said hello to his girlfriend and she got really upset, because she felt he had treated her as a stranger by greeting her. That's a WOW!

FEW RANDOM PICTURES

Office at metro station 

 Little screen showcasing a product

Keio University cookies set

RAMEN
Traditionally after school we headed to eat at some new place. Our master of Kanji has taken us to a very famous ramen place. As usually, at the entrance there is a machine which takes your cash and allows you to choose ramen and drinks you want.
The staff of the place was very hospitable in Japanese way, they even tried to speak English with us. We all ordered a bowl of ramen and rice as a side dish (for free). The plates were huge and full of food. Unintentionally I have ordered quite a spicy one so I had to swap with Larry, who felt it was absolutely normal.
If you would come to this restaurant for the first time, you would think that those Japanese people are crazy. When you enter they all start screaming at you (in reality they are just welcoming a guest). The same is when you leave, all the restaurant staff starts screaming "goodbye" which for a person from the outside would seem really strange. 

Photos by Larry Du

KANJI

     Today we had a talk wit our Kanji-master, Larry. He is from Taiwan and he started studying kanji from elementary school. Now he knows around 8000 symbols. This right away puts him on advanced level of understanding Japanese writing as Japanese kanji are completely the same as Chinese ones. 

     However knowing kanji doesn't allow Larry to read things in Japanese properly. However I heard it takes much shorter to learn Japanese for people with Chinese or Taiwanese origin as they don't need to learn kanji at all, only their pronunciation. 

     Another interesting fact I learned, is that learning Japanese is easier for Taiwanese that for mainland Chinese people, as there are many similar words used in Taiwan (similar to Japanese). 

Day 12: Easter

Easter??? What is that? Not in Japan. Sunday??? What is that? Not in Japan.

Today we got together with CEMS people for an Easter lunch at Shimoda. Thanks to Anna, pasta was great. Wonderful time with wonderful people as always!

Thanks to Borislav Slavov (aka Bob-san) for pictures

Day 11: Shimoda Party

NIHONGO

     The morning I decided to start with Japanese language. I went downstairs hoping to see some Japanese people with whom I could practice some Nihongo (Japanese language). Luckily, Masa was there, and he was happy as usually to help me out. 

      I taught him Russian alphabet. Japanese language doesn't have as many sounds as Russian does. But Japanese people are really good in writing, as they have to memorize thousands of Kanji (signs). They actually have to memorize not only kanji itself, but also stroke order in kanji. For some European student I had writing Russian alphabet was not that easy, but Masa easily copied all the letters that I wrote. He was only writing it in a little strange way, but the letters looked perfect. 

     In our dorm many devices talk to residents. For example water heater tells you something, elevator tells you something. I couldn't understand what they say, thus I asked Masa to translate it for me. Turned out, that the elevator was saying something "Please be careful, doors are closing(opening). Thank you" and floor numbers. The water heater in the bathroom was telling me not to forget to plug the bath before I turn on the water so that I don't lose water. Really funny stuff. 

Shimoda party

    Shimoda students village was having a party for exchage students today. So we went there of course... Hehe. For 500 JPY (4 euro) you got a name tag, snacks and unlimited alcohol. Unlimited alcohol was quite a fun one: 5 liter plastic bottles of whiskey, some Japanese beer with fruit flavors and 3% alcohol, juices, tequila and vodka. Mostly international students were there, however few Japanese also joined. In a while some of the students-organizers from Japanese side were out sleeping on the chairs. 

      We went quite strong with many "bottom-ups". The party started at 7 and at 9:30 organizers started to kick us out. It took around half an hour but they managed it. It was really fun but short party with magic whiskey that hits straight to head.

KAROKE

        Some students headed to the center of Tokyo to a club. We decided to stay around Hiyoshi and a Japanese student purposed to take us to Karaoke. Japanese Karaoke!!! Yeahhhh

     The Karaoke place was open till 5 in the morning and we arrived there around 12. We were split into groups (6-7 people per group). We stayed in our awesome CEMS group. The deal was: 10 Euro per person for 2 hours unlimited singing and one non-alcoholic drink included. There were many songs in English. On top of English words you could see Katakana (Japanese characters used for words taken from English). The remote control for choosing songs was complex as it's menu was completely in Japanese (mostly in Kanji) and we didn't have our master of Kanji (Larry) with us... 

       Somehow we managed to figure it out and had lot's of fun, especially singing Gangnam Style and some other songs, we have never heard before. 

      When we were leaving, the place still seemed busy. Many rooms were still occupied by Japanese singers. Seemed like there was only one guy there working, doing all sorts of activities from bringing drinks to cash desk. 

RAMEN 

      Hiyoushi station is famous for its Ramen restaurants. Ramen is a soup with with noodles and often with meat or seafood. We were considering visiting Mc'Donalds, but our Japanese guide suggested to visit a ramen restaurant. 

      Imagine, 15 foreigners coming in a small ramen restaurant in the middle of the night (also drunk). To get ramen, you had to pay at a special machine at the entrance and then take a seat at a bar. The bar is built around the kitchen, so while sitting at the bar you can watch how everything is cooked. The workers seemed really friendly and happy to see us. For 600 JPY (5 Euro) we each received a huge plate of delicious Ramee soup and a bowl of rice to it. Few guys who didn't order anything also got some food for free. What a great place and great hospitality! The soup was really delicious and filling, exactly what we all needed after a drunken night. 

     I worked in a restaurant before in Russia and I know that employees and cooks are never happy, when a group of people comes in the middle of the night and orders something. I know that Japanese culture is absolutely different and based on mutual respect. Japanese workers of Ramen restaurant showed great hospitality, but I am still wondering, if it was on the outside only. What were they thinking? "Stupid foreigners came here, why!!!" or they didn't think this way... Hope that by the end of this Japanese journey I will be able to understand people here a lot better. 

Day 10: Kawasaki-shi adventures

MOVING IN TO THE DORM

      Today I have finally figured it out... Every day, regardless of the day of the week, big and small trucks are parked in front of our dormitory and workers carry millions of boxes inside. Before I was thinking, that some floors of the building were not yet finished (it is a new building and just got constructed). But I was wrong, all the rooms are finished.

      Finally Japanese people explained, that those are transportation companies bringing stuff of the students. Students move in the dorm for a long period of time and their rooms are not as equipped as ours (only bed, a table and a cupboard and a chair). Thus their parents buy TVs, washing machines, microwaves, other kitchen equipment, lamps, chairs and more things. They usually have to hire a transportation company for that because it is really a lot of things. I remember when I was living in dorms in St.Petersburg, it was a little different. =) 

ABANDONED BIKES

      As usually we went for a run with Ondrej. Today we took a new root in a new neighbourhood. Along the way we spotted a garbage place with a few bikes there. Apparently, their owners didn't want those bikes anymore and wanted to get rid of those. We decided to take a closer look. The bikes were not new, on with rusty chain, but still in a great condition. Wow, great success for us! We don't need to by a bike now! That's what we were thinking until we figured out that the bikes were locked. All Japanese bikes have a small lock on the back wheel. So Japanese people do lock their bikes, we just didn't notice the locks before... 

     Having looked around, in a pile of trash we spotted 3 more old bikes. We decided to leave them there. But other 2 newer bikes were definitely still in a good condition and no one needed them anymore. Why do people lock a bike when they throw it away... This is what we couldn't and still can't understand... If someone can explain that to me, please do! 

PACKAGED FOOD 

     Prices in Tokyo are really high. It is one of the most expensive cities in the world for a while. What I found interesting, is that often to cook yourself is more expensive than to buy already cooked meal from a supermarket. 

     In Japanese supermarkets there is a great variety of cooked packaged food in a range from 2-5 euro. From sushi and maki to rice with salads and meat. You simply need to pick one (of many) and heat it up in a microwave. Eating habits here in Japan are definitely different from those in countries I have lived before. Apparently I am not the only one buying this packaged cooked food, as every day supermarkets have it in quite high quantities.

     Around a hundred meters from the dorm there is a place that sells only cooked packaged food. You can choose either from already cooked sets or order a set or a meal and wait around 10 minutes before they will cook and package it for you. Once I picked up a set of packaged rice with meat and salad and wanted to pay. The lady started to explain me something, but with my not yet high level of Japanese I couldn't understand what it was about. Turned out, that the packaged food I wanted to buy was already outdated (if this food is not sold in a few hours it goes to waste). So they asked me to pick another set and threw the initial one away. This is how it should be! Really impressive. 

JAPANESE POLICE

Here is a scene of Japanese police kicking out illegally parked cars. Japanese-style. 

BIRTHDAY PARTY 

     The first unproductive in terms of activities day so far (had to work till the evening). As I couldn't concentrate anymore, I went downstairs to hang out. Today was a birthday of Japanese students, our residence assistant, Kyohei and the people were supposed to gather downstairs in a small room to celebrate.

     The Japanese birthday seems to be a little different from European or Russian one. People were just hanging out and talking and drinking tea with Japanese cakes. The birthday party was supposed to start downstairs at 20:00 and last till 22:00. That is exactly what happened, 5 minutes to ten everyone left the room and went to a park to continue celebrations there. 

     By that time, our CEMS students have all arrived to our dorm and we decided to occupy the small common room downstairs. Kotani-san was awesome as always. He told us stories, that he has been to Prague and to Lisboa, and to Vienna. He said, that in Vienna he stayed all the time in heurigers (traditional wine places around the city). He kept filling our cups with different tea flavors and bringing his Japanese cakes and other sweets. I was wondering, where is all that supply from... Apparently, when Japanese students move in the dorm, the first time they come with parents and it is polite to bring some sweets or presents to the residence chief (in our case Kotani-san). 

     Seems like our CEMS people also liked Kotani-san a lot, as they were impressed by his hospitality and great English (unusual for Japanese person of his age). The phrase of the day by Kotani-san: "Take it easy, guys!" LOL 

DAY 9: Helpful nation

HELPFUL NATION & BAZAAR

     Japanese people are amazing! In our dorm there is a guy called Masa. He is always downstairs helping Kotani-san. And he also helps us a lot.

     Today was the day of announcement of Japanese language placement test results. We could see them at Mita or Hiyoshi campus. We invited Masa to accompany us and he was happy to do that. As usual we didn't know where to go... Neither me nor Ondrej. Not because we didn't know where the place we were looking for was located, simply because we didn't know what place we were looking for. After wondering around, we figured out the location. We found the board with the results: great, level 1-2. 

     We heard from other CEMS student, that today was the day of sale of kitchen stuff  in Hiyoshi International House dorm. We needed some things thus we decided to go there, traditionally not knowing where it was located. Luckily we found an ad in the wall of international office about this sale with an address. We grabbed a random Japanese guy and asked if he knew where it was. He started to search on his mobile. It took quite a while. Then he asked to wait, took our Japanese guy (Masa) and left... In around 10 minutes they came back with a printout of a map. Awesome! Some random guy has done such a effort to help us out. But it wasn't done yet. He said, that he would show us how to get there. Really??? This is not the first time it happened to ask when we asked for a direction, a person took us to a place instead of just explaining how to get there. The place was 10 minutes walking distance from the campus. Outside there were few things for free takeaway (hangers, kitchen towels). Then we were invited to go inside to a small room full of cups, plates and stuff of this kind. Japanese ladies ruling that place (around 5 ladies many years of age) were happy to see foreigners there and were asking where we were from. A young looking energetic woman came to me and asked where I went to school here in Tokyo. I said Keio. She replied that all ladies in the room were Keio graduates and and she had graduated 57 years ago (she said she was 81 now). She was so little but sooo energetic! Speaking quite good English! I was really impressed. 

    We managed to pick up lots of things for our kitchen and paid around 4 Euro for all the things. Now our kitchen was fully equipped and ready for guests. 

GUESTS

     CEMS group hasn't been together in a while, thus we decided to have a dinner at Shimoda dorm. We got some noodles from the supermarket and went to the common kitchen they have. It was a nice evening with lots of laughs. As we were officially signed in as guests, we had to leave at 10. However as usually we didn't want to stop on that and decided to show Celine and Joana (our CEMS colleagues) our dorm and how life goes here. 

     We arrived at Motosumiyushi. Kotani-san has met us downstairs friendly and happy as always. A big group of Japanese students was hanging out in our "hanging out room" and they were happy to see us. The first thing they gave us was some Japanese sweets and tea. Then Kotani-san (as always) brought some more sweets and cakes. The people in the room were quite young (18-19 yo), but we were happy to meet them. Guys were shy and gathered outside the room discussing something. Girls were sitting with us asking many questions about where we were from. One of the first questions of one young girl was: do you have facebook? I said that I didn't use it so often... The guys outside seemed to like Joana very much. The bravest one came and asked us if she had a boyfriend. After a while, another guy was literally pushed into the room by others. He said: "Hello! my name is ..." (looking at Joana). Then he attempted to leave the room, but the others pushed him back in and told him to continue. He continued: "I am 19 years old". He tried to go out again, but they wouldn't let him out. Then he said something else and finally others let the poor guy leave the room. 

     The girls seemed to like us also. One of the girls who asked about facebook came to me with her phone and asked to spell my name so that she could add me (here I couldn't say no...). Now I have a new facebook friend! 

     We stayed for another little while. I was hoping that Kotani-san's whife would come out, but it was quite late and apparently she was already in bed. CEMS girls said, that their dorm was completely different and they would come visit us again to talk to more Japanese people. 

RANDOM FACT

     Every evening around Hiyoshi station after 11 o'clock you can see people queuing. I was wondering why...  In Russia they sometime queue waiting for a marshrutka (a small bus). Here it was different. People were waiting in line for a taxi. The line was moving quickly, but there were around 40 people standing. Impressive.

VIEW FROM THE BALCONY

DAY 8: Motosumiyoshi day

MOTOSUMIYOSHI STUDENTS DORMITORY ORIENTATION

     First rainy day in Tokyo so far. Going out from the dormitory in the morning, we were able to pick up one of the umbrellas that Kotani-san gives for free use for all dormitory residents. Today we had to travel to the Mita Campus in the center of Tokyo again - it was an orientation day for international students living in our dorm. 

     Today we were lucky enough to catch an express train. As I have already written, the train system in Tokyo is very complicated. On top of that, on every line there are different types or trains: local (stopping on every station), express (skipping some stations and going faster) and super express with few stop but very high speed.

     Back to the story. We have arrived at the campus on time. Luckily, we have met some other exchange students on the way and they told us the room number. In Keio university room numbers look like this A584 which would mean it is in a block A in the building 5, room number 84. We were prepared as usual... But we found the place. 

     There were all exchange students from our dorm. We have 11 floors in the dorm, 4th floor is only male floor with only exchange students and two Japanese residence assistants, 5th floor is a female floor. Other floors are for Japanese students, so we do not have many internationals in Motosumiyoshi. On top of that, most of the incoming students are from Asian countries. 

     Before we arrived to Japan, two times we were sent an email with residence rules and regulations. Upon arrival we were given a print out of residence rules and regulations (same). In the orientation we were given this print out again. The best thing about it, the whole orientation was held in Japanese and translated into English. Every rule and regulation was read out loud for us in Japanese and explained, than translated to English. Lots of fun! Japan :) 

JAPANESE HISTORY LESSON

     During the orientation we have met a girl from Russia, her name was Julia. She studies Japanese history at SPbSU in Saint-Petersburg. With her and Ondrej (he is always with me) we have taken a lunch (delicious and cheap curry with meat and rice). On the way back to the dorm we asked Julia to tell us more about history of Japan. Here are few things that I remember from the story: 

     Japan as a country started 600 years b.c. An emperor was believed to be sent from God. This is the only country in the world where the dynasty of the emperor still the same. 

      It was interesting to know, that Japan has signed deimplementation agreement with US after the loss of WW2 and keeps prolonging it. Japan now has no army, only special forces for internal purposes. 

We have also discussed possible reasons of Japanese technological superiority: primary as a combination of working culture and some other factors etc.        

SPORTS CENTER

     Even though we run every day, going to a fitness canter to do some weights was not such a bad idea. Inside the school of media design at Hiyoushi campus there is a sports center. 

      We have arrived there. The place looks nice and big. Luckily one of the sports center employees could speak English well (she studied in London for a while). We learned everything we wanted about conditions and pricing. Quite expensive: 70 Euro per month as discounted students price. 

      We asked for a tour around the location. Everything looks nice. There is an area with machines and weights, a swimming pool and a sauna. Everything a student needs to be healthy and happy. The only thing we were doubting about was the price 

      We heard, somewhere on campus there was another sports center where   student pay per entry (300 yen). Seems like a better deal. 

RESIDENCE PARTY

      The evening was busy. At 7 our dorm was having a welcome party for exchange students in a traditional Japanese bar. 

     Before that we went for a run (and a roller-blade ride) to Shimoda student village (another dorm where most CEMS students lived). On the way back we realized, that the meeting time for the party was in 20 minutes. So we did our best. Ondrej was much faster down the hill as I had no wheels only legs. So he was way ahead. At some point I lost him... When I got to the dorm, I asked Kotani-san if Ondrej had been there yet. She said she hadn't seen him yet. I ran back out, made a few circles in the area and returned to the dorm: and here he was! Dressed and ready for the party... Wow, it is really difficult to get around without a phone.

     A quick shower was taken and I was ready to go. The place was located not far from Hiyoshi metro station. It is a traditional Japanese bar where people sit without shoes. The only person who took of the shoes and put on slippers was Ondrej. In a minute a waiter came explaining that those slippers were only for going to the toilet and people were supposed to be barefoot at the table.

    We had a 7-course meal with lots of traditional meals. The best part of the day was all-you-can-drink. The price per person was 3500 (30 Euro), for those not drinking alcohol 2500. In Japan drinks are really expensive, that is why it was a good deal.

Photo by Kyohei Otsuka

     It was great fun getting to know other people, learning some more Japanese and eating amazing food. Some people were playing drinking games and saying "kampai" (Japanese "cheers"). The place was closing at 10 so we were asked to leave the place. We headed back to the residence, few quite drunk. Upon arrival, some still didn't want to finish like that as it was only 11. We bought a few beers in the local shop and went to a secret room that Kotani-san allowed us to use. Kotani-san actually joined us around 12 for an hour and then went to bed. What a great person!
  We talked and discussed various things until 3 in the morning. As most of the guys had to be at school early next morning, we finally decided to go to bed. Great day!

 

DAY 7: Japanese Language Test

JAPANESE LANGUAGE TEST

     This morning we had to take a Japanese placement test in order to determent our level for language classes. In orded to come to the test, we needed to register beforehand online. Than we had to remember the registration number, print out a registration form, fill it out, adding the registration number and glueing a photo not older than 3 months. We were also required to bring copies of two sides of our residence card (this is how mine looks like) and student card (here it my student card). Luckily, there are printers and copy machines in every convenience store around. I went to one early this morning. I was able to make copies easily (5 yen per copy) and wanted to print from usb stick... DIdn't work out. I asked the employee of the store to help me, she struggled. Then the head of the store came, but he also wasn't able to figure out how to print the thing... So I left without accomplishing such an important task. 

     To be ontime for he test and print out our documents on the way, me and Ondrej left our dorm a little earlier. However after a few minute of walking,  I realized that I forgot to take my registration number (which was written on a piece of paper). On the way back somehow a folder with Ondrej's documents opened and some of the papers flied away... It was sooooo fun to look at a white guy running around in the middle of the busy crossroad trying to chase some papers that kept flying away from him. In the end we made it: papers were collected, forms were printed out in another convenience store. 

     We arrived at the test place 10 minutes before it's start. Registered. Each student was assigned a seat in a room according to registration number. When everyone was there, a Japanese guy in a suit started his announcement. Regardless of the fact, that some of the people in the room spoke zero Japanese, he started to say everything in Japanese (however translating after to English). The best thing was when he said in Japanese: "those who have never studied Japanese please leave the room and go to another one". =) 

The test was quite difficult from my point of view with a lot of guessing. In had a listening comprehension and grammar part in it. The second part of the test was for more advanced students (composition). All not advanced students were allowed to leave the room after the first part of the test was over. 

BANK

     Opening a Japanese bank account was required. Even though, we are staying here for only 4 months, university staff said, that we might get permission to open an account (sounds promising). 

    We arrived in a bank with a group of international students. The bank was located close to Keio university, thus they had lots of experience dealing with internationals. They counted us, gave us a number and after sometime invited all to come to special backroom. We all were given a sheet of paper to fill out. As usually, only in Japanese. The lady could also only speak Japanese. Lukcily, we had a sample on the table and some of us knew some kanji (so not all of us simply copied gender as female to our forms). We stayed there for about an hour filling in the form. The lady asked, if someone wanted a credit card. Few guys did. They have received another long form completely in Japanese. Lol

     In Japan most of the people have their personal stamp (seal) that they carry around. As we didn't have one, we had to come up with a 4-digit number and our signature to it. From now on it was our stamp-signature for bank purposes. 

      It seemed, that even that people didn't speak much English, they were extremely nice, polite and willing to help. Great experience. 

LIVING IN JAPAN: ORIENTATION FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

     All exchange students had to attend an orientation session about Japanese culture.A very funny a nice lady with perfect English and Filipino origin has told us many interesting things about Japan. Here are few that she has mentioned: 

- girls shouldn't ride a bicycle with knees out (knees got to be facing inside)

- expectations don't always match reality. Don't be biased. Don't expect too much and too high. 

- in general things take a long more time in Japan than in Europe

- Japanese seem to love rules and regulations. They have so many of those. 

- what Europeans consider polite can be different here, beautiful and ugly, delicious and bad tasting are also different. 

- event time vs. actual time. Japanese are very punctual, but some of them live not by actual time, but by event time. It means that next event starts only after another is finished. 

- in the supermarket you don't necessarily have to say thank you. They don't expect that. You don't have to respond to the nice gestures in the stores or to the words. 

- plants in pots  are not allowed to bring to the hospital when you are visiting because it means that you want the person to stay there longer. 

- Japanese people have special envelopes for funerals and for wedding. You are supposed to put money in that envelope. How much money? It is always written on the back of the envelope.

- another tabu is to stick  chopsticks in a bowl of rice. This is done when someone died. 

SIGHTSEEING

     As we were already in the center of the city  and transportation was extremely expensive, we decided to have a look around. A 15 minutes walk took us to a beautiful tower with a great view from the top (which we didn't enjoy as we didn't go up). 

     After visiting the tower, we headed to one of the most beautiful locations in Tokyo during this season : Naka-Maguro metro station. There along the river a garden of cherry trees is planted. THat place is simply amazing! Blooming sakura lighted up with Japanese traditional orange lights. It felt like warm Christmas time, as people were walking around enjoying the view and drinking champagne from glasses. The place is very romantic and many Japanese people came there with their girlfriends. Some have made a picnic along the cannel right on the asphalt.

     Being tired from a long day, we decided to make a stop and eat something traditional. Luckily we had Larry with us who was in Japan before. We found a restaurant that Larry knew ( a chain restaurant) and went it. It was a great choice. TO get to the table, we had to take off our shoes and place them in a special box. From the menu we ordered one from everything and decided to share all meals to try it all. Really amazing meal! Here are a few pictures. Thanks to Larry and a great company! 

LANGUAGE LESSON AND ORIGAMI

     The day was not yet over. Downstairs in our dorm we met some Japanese people and decided to chat with them. After Kotani family came down and brought some tea and sweets. 

     I have asked them about origami. Turned out, that Kotani-san's wife has many books and knows a lot of origami. When I was little, my grandmother brought a huge box of origami paper and a book from Japan. I used to do that often and now it reminded of my childhood. 

     As we had a great opportunity, we decided to study some Japanese with locals. Ondrej who speaks 0 Japanese was wondering about pick up lines in Japanese and was tought things like: "You are beautiful" and "let's go with me for a cup of green tea". Very interesting culture that I begin to fall in love with more and more.