Japan 11.08.2012 - 24.08.2012

Tokyo, 11. August 2012, 1.Tokyo maji kakkoii Tag

Zum Start der IFIL-Tour in Japan wurden wir von fünf netten Damen in die japanische Sprache eingeführt. Wir lernten nebst den gängigen Phrasen auch Slang, so dass wir nicht nur einen guten Eindruck machen, sondern auch wirklich cool sein können. Der Ausdruck „Tokyo maji kakkoii“ bedeutet in diesem Sinn: Tokio ist hammermässig! Anschliessend haben wir den Abend mit unseren Japanisch-Lehrerinnen im Watami-Restaurant verbracht. Wir testeten alle möglichen Speisen. Mit vollgeschlagenen Bäuchen und müden Augen, vom langen Flug, legten wir uns ins Bett. Tokyo maji kakkoii

Clemens

Tokyo, 12. August 2012 , The way of writing

In the morning we met quite early for the calligraphy course that awaited us and as we stepped into the JR for about an hour, we were pretty surprised to hear that we were still in Tokyo. We didn’t know what to expect, however the first thing we noticed about the neighbourhood was the many houses implying quietness, which is strange, if you think of the vibrant city.

We spent a very entertaining time with the elderly at the calligraphy studio. Luckily Andrea, Katherine and Maru-chan were there to translate for us, as the old ladies spoke without stopping to take a breath. Calligraphy in and of itself was difficult. The paint brush seemed to have its own mind about how thick the line should be, so on the whole our attempts at copying the kanji from a sheet of paper, even with help of a demonstration, were only just recognisable as the sign we were meant to be drawing. At 11 o’clock sharp – because Japanese people are very punctual – we were rushed into taxis without any idea, where we were going and what we were supposed to do once we got there. However, once we stepped out of the taxis and took a look at the door in front of us, everything became clear; the kimono shop reminded us of the measurements we had written down on our last pre-Japan meeting. With a lot of help from the Japanese ladies, we managed to put on our yukatas (summer kimonos) and as we got used to our restricted walking capacity, we went to meet the guys who had slipped into their own clothes and wooden sandals.

After a long session of fotos, during which we found out that Japanes people are very fond of clicking away even in their own country, we made our way to the restaurant two blocks away from the shop. Nobody was expecting the banquet that had been prepared for us. In our yukatas, with classical music in the background and the elegance of the feast room made us feel slightly out of place, but very honoured all the same. The food was delicious, our Japanese table neighbours kept pouring beer into our glasses and albeit the language barriers, the conversations that ensued were very interesting. The afternoon on the outskirts of Tokyo ended with a long foto shooting and lots of presents, including the whole yukata outfit.

The day ended in Koenji, where we learnt about the Japanese movement against nuclear reactors, which originated in this region. We walked along one of the most beautiful and alternative little roads of Koenji. With all its little second hand stores and book shops, we were forced to slow down our pace just to be able to look at everything. We were almost overrun by two old men on walking sticks. On the whole our first impression of Japan was the incredible Japanese hospitality and traditional customs on the one side and the alternative part of Tokyo on the other side, a very interesting day indeed.

Michelle

Tokyo, 13. August 2012, Bio-Joghurt

We find ourselves lost in the urban desert of Tokyo on this humid Monday morning. Fortunately a young Japanese student appears at the horzion to put us out of our misery. She takes the noisy Swiss pile to a public conference room where some members of the Japan for Sustainability project are already awaiting. As our body temperature cools off our brain activity regains and an interesting intercultural exchange begins. Among many other topics, the debate mainly follows the (lacking?) Japanese awareness of sustainabilty and the Swiss contribution to recycling and renewable energy. The morning is tightly organised, luckily we are able to come up to the Japanese expectations.

After the literally energetic discussion we take the keen students to a cafeteria lunch at Tokyo University. The day is full of new cultural discoveries we share among each other. Quickly brushing our hair, some powder in the face and almost fully refreshed we already say goodbye to our hosts in order to journey to the next agenda item: A visit at the Swiss embassy in Hiro. As requested, the deputy Edgar Dörig provides a valuable insight into the Swiss political relations to Japan followed by the information about the cultural engagement under the direction of Alexander Renggli. He outlines the typical Swiss cliches that the Japanese fancy. The OSEC representative Yukimo Kijima introduces the difficulties of naive Swiss marketing strategies in the cultural entangled business jungel of Japan. In a more relaxed atmosphere the apero riche at the residence of the chargé d’affaires a.e. closes the exhausting but greattly informative third day in Tokyo, before some of us disappear in the nightlife of buzzing Shibuya.

Christina

Tokyo, 14. August 2012, Wo endet Tokyo?

Japans Politik und Medienlandschaft erscheint uns in vielen Aspekten fremd und unverständlich. Durch den produktiven Austausch mit NZZ Journalist Patrick Zoll wurden uns die zahlreichen Facetten und Strukturen verdeutlicht mit denen die moderne japanischen Meiden zu kämpfe haben. Dies bot uns die Chance, auch mal einen kritischen Blick nach Japan zu werfen. Wir wurden unteranderem auf den mangelnden Handlungsspielraum japanischen Journalisten und den defizitären Atomausstieg-Diskurs aufmerksam gemacht. Erst wenn man die Kehrseite eines Landes kennenlernt, erkennt man dessen Gesamtbild. Dank dem breiten Fachwissen von Patrick Zoll wurde uns somit ein essenzielles Puzzelstück vermittelt, um dieses faszinierende Land zu entziffern. Am Nachmittag hatten wir dann die Gelegenheit das japanische Parlament zu besuchen. Persönlich fand ich, dass anhand dieses Gebäudes, die Durchmischung der westlichen und östlichen Kultur besonders gut zum Ausdruck kam. Gegen Abend genossen wir die Tokyoer Aussicht aus dem Gouvernement-Tower und konnten den Tag mit einem Besuch in ein typisches Restaurant in Shinjuku schmackhaft abschliessen.

Cédric Bolli

Tokyo, 15. August 2012, Shinkansen Ride

The day started early on Wednesday morning after only a short night. Today we boarded the Shinkansen from Tokyo Station to Nara. After 3 hours in the japanese high speed train with an interesting and varying landscape we stepped out of the cool climated train into the hot humid air. I think tough, we all got used to the fact that clothes always stick to your body during summer in Japan. After a nice lunch we all met near the Todaiji Tempel, where Katherine nicely adumbrated some things about the history of Nara. For exampel we certainly didn’t know, that the capital of Japan always changed after the death of a ruling emperor. To avoid bad luck the whole court would move to a new capital. Equipped with the necessary knowledge of ancient history we visited the Todaiji Tempel with it’s impressive buildings and statues. We took a brake and had dinner before attending Obon, the summer festival taking place every year for several days all over Japan. Finally, after an adventures day we were happy to be back in our climated hostel. Feets and back hurting but happy and excited for tomorrow.

Kirin Göldi

Kyoto, 16. August 2012, Bycicle Ride

Nach einer kurzen Fahrt von Nara bezogen bezogen wir unser neues Zuhause in Kyoto, welches im wunderschönen traditionellen japanischen Stil gebaut war. Zeit zum Bestauen war nicht vorhanden, denn kurz darauf mussten wir unsere gemieteten Fahrräder abholen. Dem Bus und der der U-Bahn weit überlegen, waren wir von nun an sehr schnell unterwegs. Das Besteigen der Fahrräder erweckte nach anfänglicher Vorsicht den Spieltrieb in der Gruppe und manche liessen sich sogar zu waghalsigen, artistischen Kunststücken hinreissen. Clemens bot dabei eine besonders gute Figur. Dann ging es quer durch die schmalen Gassen Kyotos und runter an den Fluss, wo wir uns verpflegten und eine kleine Abkühlung am Wasser geniessen konnten. Unser nächstes Ziel war der Kingakuji. Hier lernten wir drei Studenten von der University for Foreign Language kennen, welche uns eine informative Tour gaben und uns die Geschichte und Bedeutung des vergoldeten Tempels erklärten. Anschliessend radelten wir weiter und besuchten den Ryoanji. Nach der drückenden Hitze beim Radfahren, hatte der Zen-Garten eine beruhigende Wirkung und wir verweilten ein wenig länger und konnten uns entspannen. Beim wohlverdienten Sushi-Essen konnten wir dann unsere Kräfte wieder sammeln und bei Einbruch der Dunkelheit fuhren wir dann mit waghalsiger Geschwindigkeit durch die Menschenmassen um noch einen guten Blick auf die vier Feuer des Daimonji Festes werfen zu können, welche traditionsgemäss auf vier Bergen um Kyoto gezündet werden und vier Zeichen am Nachthimmel bilden. Weil gewisse Momente besser nach japanischer Art beschrieben werden, hier abschliessend mein Haiku für diesen Tag:

Nachts auf dem Fahrrad
Menschen springen aus dem Wald
Ein Licht brennt am Berg

Sebastian

Osaka, 17. August 2012

Nach einer erholsamen Nacht in einem wunderschönen Hostel in Kyoto - einem umgebauten ehemaligen Handelshaus - hatten wir den Vormittag zu unserer freien Verfügung. Einige besichtigten Tempel, joggten durch die Stadt oder ruhten sich vor den Ventilatoren mit Coolpacks aus. Nach dem Mittag machten wir uns auf nach Osaka, wo wir das Panasonic Center besichtigten. Zuerst sahen wir eine eindrückliche Vorführung der Highlights der Eröffnungsfeier der Olympischen Spiele in 3D, danach konnten wir die neusten Geräte testen. Diese reichten von Kameras mit integriertem "Photoshop" über elektronische Schampoonierungsmassagegeräte bis hin zu Gesichtsbefeuchtungsmaschinen. Doch besonders beliebt waren die Massagesessel, die unsere Schmerzen vom Rucksack tragen linderten ;). Im Anschluss an das Panasonic Center gingen wir Okonomiyaki essen. Das ist ein Gericht aus "Chabis", einem Teig und weiteren frei wählbaren Zutaten, das direkt auf dem Tisch auf einer darin integrierten heissen Platte zubereitet wird. Es war sehr lecker :). Nach dem Essen konnten wir den Abend nach unseren Wünschen verbringen oder ins gemütliche, alternativ angehauchte Hostel zurückgehen.

Anja

Kagoshima, 18.08.2012, Die Reise gen Westen

Nach einer Nacht in Osaka machten wir uns Vormittags auf, um weiter nach Westen zu reisen. Nachdem wir uns am Bahnhof mit einem Bento für die Fahrt ausgerüstet hatten, bestiegen wir um 10 Uhr den Shinkansen für die vierstündige Reise nach Kagoshima. Die meisten nutzten die bequemen Sitze, um ihre Schlafbilanz aufzubessern und träumten insgeheim davon auch auf dem Flug von und nach Japan so viel Platz zu haben. Nachdem wir in Kagoshima unser Hostel bezogen hatten, machten wir uns gleich wieder auf den Weg, um die benachbarte Vulkaninsel Sakurajima zu besuchen. 15 Fährminuten später verteilte sich unsere Gruppe. Einige erkundeten die Insel, andere besuchten eines der vielen Onsen auf der Insel. Von dort hatte man einen wunderbaren Ausblick auf das Meer und konnte im heissen Wasser den Abend ausklingen lassen.

Maurice

Yakushima, 19.8.2012 , The woods of the Princess Mononoke

After a short evenings rest, we started out early in the morning and left most of our luggage at the youth hostel in Kagoshima for the short stay in Yakushima, an island 4 hours away by boat of the coast. The ferry ride over gave ampel opportunity for everyone to pursue different activities, for some it was sleeping, for others it was walking around the deck and admiring the beautiful scenery of the open ocean and the small islands passing by, some with and some without volcanos on them. Upon our arrival in Yakushima, we headed straight with the bus to the hiking trail up in the mountains. There we split up in two groups, one group taking about the steady trail and the other group with a slower pace and a smaller trail. Yakushima is an island filled with mountains and hot springs. The forest is tropical and very humid, with huge and very old cedars leaping for the sky and protecting us below from the frequent rain showers. After the 2-hour hike, which we managed ahead of time, as Japanese like to hike at a slower pace as we Swiss are used to and we took the bus towards our youth hostel, which lies on the other side of the island. At the hostel, we were right away served with a Japanese dinner in laquered boxes and we settled the evening programm: some are up for a very late onsen experience at a hot spring that can only be visited when there is low tide (which is today from midnight to 2 AM) and others will maybe try another onsen tomorrow morning before we leave again. Of course, first thing to be done before heading to our activities is to watch Princess Mononoke, a Japanese anime that depicts the woods in Yakushima.

Nathalie  

Hiroshima,  20.8.2012, Journey to Hiroshima

Today we had a typical Japanese breakfast: rice, miso soup, roasted flying fish, dry seaweed, called nori and vegetables (see picture). As there was no program scheduled in the morning, we had some time to take a bath in another hot spring, to explore the island by bicycle or to take a nap. I rented a bicycle and headed for the coast. Looking at the waves, I enjoyed the quietness. At lunchtime we left Yakushima and started our big journey to Hiroshima. It was already dark, when we arrived at this historical famous city but tomorrow we will have plenty of time for sightseeing.

Larissa

Hiroshima, 21th of August, Peace memorial

Undoubtedly,arriving in Hiroshima triggered strange feelings. At first glance, it looked as any other big city in Japan. However, the name Hiroshima induces pictures of an unbelievable tragedy in our minds: here, the most destructive force in human history was unleashed on the population of a whole city; on families, women and children. This weapon of mass destruction was the nuclear bomb, which uses the concept of nuclear fission to generate a tremendous energy blast followed by radioactive fallout. This day we should have a deep insight into this topic. We started with the visit of the A-Bomb dome, a building close to the epicenter of the detonation. There, we had also the opportunity to hear about very interesting details from a Japanese survivor – he had been a 4-month embryo as the bombing occured. Following his explanations, we visited the Hiroshima peace memorial park, which consists of several monuments including the peace bell and the memorial centaph. In memory of children as Sadako Sasaki, a girl that died because of radiation, we folded a crane. In case of Sadako, she believed that the folding of 1000 cranes would cure her. Afterwards, we visited the Hiroshima peace memorial museum, which provided us comprehensive isight into the diverse political, military, scientific and humantarian backgrounds of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima. Leaving the museum, we could focus on a more pleasant aspect of the city: its food specialities. After tasting the Hiroshima version of okonimyaki, we had to prepare for travelling back to Tokio. Our long and memorable day ended in another example for Japanese uniqueness: the capsule hotel.

Philipp

Tokyo, August 22nd 2012, Best secretary ever

Today and tomorrow are planned as free days. Only one meeting, which could not be fit into the first days in Tokyo because of Obon had to be moved to today. After a free morning we all gathered in front of the Ningyocho exit to make our way to Gaipro. Gaipro specifically caters to Swiss and European companies that need to recruit key executives for their Japan operation and was set up by Martin Stricker. He and his team welcomed us warmly at their office and the meetings started with a discussion about Japans contemporary challenges and a short introduction of Gaipro. The participants had so many questions, that the whole meeting took longer than intended. Mr. Stricker, however, answered all of them patiently and with great enthusiasm. At the end, the participants had to prove their knowledge about Japan in conducting a role-play of a Japanese business meeting. They learned the right way to seat people, to handover their business card and how to serve tea. Maurice managed to be considered the best secretary ever by the Gaipro team, way to go!  After the obligatory group picture all were off on their own again. In the evening we nearly all meet again for an informal goodbye dinner for Larissa, who unfortunately had to leave a day earlier. She wished Shabushabu (Japanese fondue chinoise). Luckily we reserved an “all you can eat”-course! The guys of our group seem to have a black hole for a stomach…  The evening was rounded up in a game center playing the Japanese drum game (taiko), racing with Mario cart or taking purikura (photo stickers) before some moved back to the hotel and others to enjoy Tokyo’s nightlife.

Andrea & Katherine

Tokyo August, 23rd 2012, An end with lyrics, songs and firework

Today was the second free day for our participants. Some used it for shopping, last sight seeing or recover from going out the night before. For us two guides it meant taking care of relations. We meet Matsumoto Keisuke to express our thanks again for the great calligraphy event and to hand over our thank you present (two withe boards with pictures of the participants in their calligraphy t-shirts on famous spots on our trip and notes from them). Keisuke had in addition a surprise for us: We appeared in the third biggest newspaper with an article about the event. Our last evening started in the Izakaya Himonoya near our capsule hotel where we enjoyed once again the excellent Japanese cuisine. Clemens had prepared some photos with highlights of the trip and astonished us with a poem to every member of the group. The participants surprised us than with a thank you present which really moved us. Thanks again all of you! After Clemens had already showed his talent in making lyrics it was the others turn to proof theirs at Karaoke. After a hesitant start they ended up entering so many songs they wanted to sing, that we would probably still be there if we had sung them all. We did not end it with a clap, but with lots of firework in a near park, where our trip came to its formal end. It were two very intensive weeks, where we have done, seen and traveled a lot. But all those experiences kind of glued the group together and especially sharing one room together at the capsule hotel made us feel a little bit like family. It is now with a wistful heart we let all go again. Dear Michelle, Sebastian, Cédric, Clemens, Christina, Maurice, Kirin, Larissa, Nathalie, Philipp and Anja we miss you all already. All the best, get home safely and see you again at our revival meeting!

Andrea & Katherine

Tokyo, 24. August 2012 Sayonara Nihon

Der letzte Tag in Japan endete für viele schon früh: Mit dem Aufgehen der Sonne nahte die Rückreise. Der einzige Trost für die Rückkehrer werden wohl die „geschenkten“ Stunden bei der Ankunft in der Heimat gewesen sein. Eine Handvoll wollte Tokyo noch einmal richtig auskosten: Einkaufen bei unendlicher Auswahl, Essen so gut wie 5-Sterne, aber so schnell wie Fastfood. Gegen Abend besuchten wir, die noch das Glück haben etwas länger in Japan sein zu dürfen, die wöchentliche Demonstration für den Atomausstieg. Wir hatten im Vorfeld mit mehreren Einheimischen darüber gesprochen. Der Eindruck vor Ort übertraf jegliche Vorstellung. Tausende versammelten sich auf den Gehsteigen rund um das Parlamentsgebäude. Geordnet in Kolonnen, damit Verkehr und Fussgänger nicht behindert wurden. Die Demonstrierenden waren grösstenteils im gesetzten Alter und machten sich mit Sprechchören bemerkbar. Die Stimmung war zwar friedlich, aber beim Vorbeigehen spürte man die aufgestauten Emotionen. Viele hielten eigens gebastelte Laternen und Plakate mit der Aufschrift „No Nukes“. Ein Geschäftsmann ging zügig an uns vorbei, die Aktentasche umgehängt, in den Händen hielt er weiss auf schwarz „Remember Fukushima“. Die Lichtsäulen von Tokyo zogen uns später in ihren Bann und wir fanden uns bald im Ausgehviertel Roppongi wieder. Wir machten Bekanntschaft mit allerlei interessanten Leuten. Besonders sehenswert war eine Gruppe von Japanerinnen, welche in Yukatas zu DJ-Musik tanzten. Auch nach zwei Wochen Japan erstaunt mich die Vereinigung von Tradition und Moderne immer wieder aufs Neue.

Wir danken unseren IFIL-Guides Andrea und Katherine herzlich für den unvergesslichen Trip in Japan – Otsukaresama!