Har man tid att sova har man inte tillräckligt roligt (Sista Japaninlägget)

Hej!! Nu är det inte långt kvar av mitt händelserika utbytesår. Jag lämnar min nuvarande vistelseort om bara fyra dagar och lämnar mitt nuvarande hemland om ytterligare en dag. Jag är på svensk mark igen vid sextiden på kvällen lokal tid sista dagen i månaden. Därefter bär det hem den korta biten till lilla Uppsala där jag går på föreläsningar i två dagar innan jag tar mig upp till Dalarna för lite hempåhälsning.

Det har hänt mycket sen förra inlägget, men det har långt ifrån lugnat ner sig och jag har inte tid att göra ett ordentligt inlägg nu heller. Skolan tog slut 12 augusti, samma vecka var det fullt upp med avskedsträffar för de kompisar som hade bråttom hem, och efter skolavslutningen har jag varit och flängt igen till alla möjliga ställen, som väl kan förväntas. Har börjat förbereda hemfärd men är inte redo än. I och med att jag träffade fullt med kompisar även sista veckorna innan skolavslutningen, vilket inte kunde hjälpas så det ofta var sista chansen att umgås med de personerna i Sendai, hade jag inte jättemycket tid att tentaplugga. Resultatet blev inte heller som jag hoppades, även om jag inte fått reda på några slutgiltiga poäng eller betyg. Förmodligen har jag klarat corporate finance, elektromagnetism 2, informationsvetenskap, infrastrukturplanering och japanska grammatikkursen, och sumpat resten.

Bilderna får berätta om det icke-studierelaterade jag varit med om, även om urvalet denna gång är väldigt strikt (har ofantligt många bilder), kanske lägger upp fler senare.

Nu måste jag sova då det om 7 timmar bär av mot Akita, det sista resmålet förutom Tokyo denna gång, och även den sista prefekturen i Tohoku-regionen att besöka för mig.

Bilder:

 Field trip to Nissan's factory in Tochigi with other exchange students. Very throughful guiding which was quite interesting!

 After the factory we left for 鬼怒川 Kinugawa, an onsen (hot spring) village nearby where we stayed one night luxuriously.

 

 The next day we visited 東照宮 Toshogu, the famous world heritage registered temple and shrine complex, and then 華厳の滝 Kegon falls, a big beautiful waterfall.

 

 

 In the end of July me and six physics studying friends Shota, Moeto, Taku, Heita, Ryohei and Shinjiro from school went on a trip to the hometown of one of them, Shinjiro. The town is 鶴岡 Tsuruoka in northern 山形 Yamagata and it's a rural calm town being really beautiful by the sea. We stayed at Shinjiro's family's house for the two nights being served with exceptionally tasty rice and vegetables as the family are farmers growing their own. We swam in the sea, visited a small onsen, climbed a mountain 羽黒山 Mt. Haguro etc. We watched the starry sky (first time in a long time for me) and drove around between the rice paddys and hills for some nature refreshing. An amazingly fun trip! Pictures are taken by [Shinjiro]. Thanks a lot Shinjiro with family for letting us stay there!!

 

In the beginning of August there was a festival in Sendai. 七夕 Tanabata is the prefecture's most famous festival and it's well known in the whole country. It's a bit different to many other festivals though, because there's no parade or similar, the main attraction being thousands of traditional paper decorations hanging along the shopping streets of central town. Pretty plain, but still really nice, the decorations do look cool!

 

 

 Farewell party for my Taiwanese friends Reno and Yu-Wei. Though I'll meet Reno once more in Tokyo on my last day in Japan! Second picture farewell party for myself, and a Ph.D. student in my lab in school. Third picture just me and Shota, Moeto and Taku after having been to Karaoke, on our last meeting before I'll have a last party on my last night in Sendai. On the same day me, Rikard, Max and Fumiyo went on a soccer game in Sendai. Unfortunately Sendai lost against Kashiwa 0-1.

 

 

A few days later me, Misato, Mizuho and Umemura went on a trip to Misato's hometown 金沢 Kanazawa in 石川 Ishikawa. On the way we visited a world hertiage site 五箇山 in 富山 Toyama. In Kanazawa we visited 兼六園 Kenrokuen, a famous and beautiful Japanese garden, together with 金沢城, Kanazawa castle. We checked out central town around station, ate sashimi (raw fish), took a bath in a local onsen and then stayed at a hostel. Next day we ate sashimi breakfast at a marketplace, drove to 千里浜なぎさドライブウェイ Chirihama beach driveway which is the only public road in Japan which is located on a sand beach. It means that you actually drive on the beach with people swimming right beside you, really cool! After that Misato went home to her house while us remainders drove back to Sendai. Thanks Misato for the opportunity to go and the guiding!!

 On the next day I met Ayami, one of the students from Hokkaido who came to Falun for two months in spring 2008. We visited Matsushima, for my fifth time, which gave me a good chance to say goodbye to the most famous tourist attraction in the area.

 

Two days later me, Mizuho, Umemura and Umemura's friend Kimura went to Kansai, Osaka region. This was not planned at all – one day before I was asked if I wanted to join their suddenly decided trip, and I wanted to. Osaka is very far away from Sendai – 12 hours by car one way, and me, Umemura and Kimura took turns driving. Starting 9 p.m. and arriving 9 a.m. we where quite tired when we had arrived. We visited Wakayama, a small city south of Osaka, and stayed at Umemura's grandmother's house. During the day we swam in the sea, and in the next morning we drove to a ”Melody road”, a short strech of the road where a melody is heard through vibrations between the wheels and the carved road surface.

 

 

Next day I went to Kobe to join a tour of 明石海峡大橋 Akashi Strait Bridge, actually the longest suspension bridge in the world (longer than Golden Gate bridge, for example). It was really interesting and an amazing view from the top of the 300 meters high pillars (this is the actually the highest point of a man-made structure that an ordinary person can reach in Japan, until next spring when the Tokyo Sky Tree tower is opened). I also visited Kobe university campus, the last picture is from a kind of secret viewing point I found at campus with view of Kobe city and the sea.

 Sweden is the name of a soft ice cream shop inside Osaka station, quite interesting... The ice cream did indeed taste good, but I don't see the connection with Sweden.

On the third day we went to Universal studious amusement park in Osaka and rode lots of attractions. Expensive (4800 yen, about 400 kr) but huge and really fun!

 

 

 On the last day we did some sightseeing in Kobe together, visiting European houses and Chinatown which the city is known for. Then we began our 11 hour ride back to Sendai... Thanks everybody for a really fun trip and a chance for me to see Kobe which I had already given up!

 On my last meeting with Free school, the language exchange club I've visited most weeks during my year in Sendai, I received a plackard with messages from my Free school friends, thanks so much!!

This was probably my last update before leaving for Sweden! But I'm planning to do at least one more update with more pictures and probably a little more thoughts and looking back on my exchange year not too long after arriving in Sweden.