Last date in Tokyo

Thursday 13/8 – Friday 14/8:
Taking the shinkansen back to Tokyo early the next day, I parted ways with dad and Ina to return back to my dormitory and finish of packing and cleaning out the apartment. Dad and Ina headed of to the Roppongi area for their hotel there, and later I learned they spent [...]

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Oshima continued

Saturday 1/8 – Sunday 2/8:
After visiting the volcano we bicycled down the mountain again, but not on the side we came up, but the other side! The advantage of this was that we came to a small town with a great beach that we could swim on. The back side was that we now was [...]

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Oshima and the volcano

Friday 31/7 – Saturday 1/8:
My very last days in Japan were closing in and it was time for my last full weekend together with Kojiro. That’s why we had made some extraordinary planes and were going away for the weekend, to Oshima.
Shima in Japanese means island, so to get there we were travelling by boat. [...]

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Kumakura and Enoshima Island

Sunday 26/7:
Again it was one of those wonderful weekends packed with events, all thanks to Kojiro and his excellent abilities as my personal Japan guide. This Sunday we were going to Kumakura, a popular place best described as a sort of “mini Kyoto” outside of Tokyo.
To start of the day, we had an excellent breakfast [...]

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Asakusa Hanabi

Saturday 25/7:
It was summer in Japan, and hanabi season, so this weekend it was time for yet another firework festival. This time together with YSEP friends, Yuka and friends of hers that lived in Asakusa.
Asakusa hanabi are on of the biggest firework festivals in Japan, and I read in the paper the day after that [...]

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River climbing

Sunday 19/7:
Waking as early as 6 in the morning, we could enjoy a delicious breakfast made by Kojiro’s mother consisting of rice, egg and sausage, plus a tuna salad.  There wasn’t gone be much more food that day, so it was a lifesaver and much appreciated.
Kojiro’s family has been so nice to me so fare, [...]

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Wearing my new yukata and going to hanabi for the first time

Saturday 18/7:
Returning back to Kojiro’s home it was time to change into the yukata. Kojiro’s mother was kind enough to help me dress, something I was very thankful for since doing it myself had proved impossible. There are lots of small secrets to it, not seen by the naked eye from the finished result. Examples [...]

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Jinbe, dango and a nice afternoon

Saturday 18/7:
It was a hot summer Saturday in Japan, and finally time for me to experience a real Japanese hanabi, or firework festival. I had been really looking forward to this, since I would get to use my new yukat. I hadn’t had any luck in putting it one by my self, so today Kojiro’s [...]

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Tokyo DisneySea

Note:
As maybe some of you have noticed it has been a while since I last wrote in this blog. This is because I had a pretty busy last month in Japan, and then some pretty busy weeks settling inn back in Norway. That’s right, I am no longer in Japan and I am missing the [...]

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Wander Vogel reunion party and visiting the zoo

Saturday 4/7 – Sunday 5/7:
It was time for the yearly reunion party of Wander Vogel, and Kojiro and I was going (for the free food… just kidding). It was interesting to learn that Wander Vogel had a long history of “don’t remember how many years”. The founder of the club spoke at the gathering, so [...]

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