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A week's gone by, and the feel of Japan has started settling in my head. It's been a week of great experiences in a world so different from ours, and yet so many things are the same.
The first signs of a different world occured as I landed for a transfere in Hong Kong - no signs where in operation at the arrival gate, so finde your way was a matter of chatting up the airport staff - off which about half where wearing masks, as a consequense of the infamous swine flue! The airport itself was surrounded by great, cloud-covered mountains - an amizing sight arriving after an exhausting 11.5 hour flight - tjeck out the pictures to see for yourself...
At the airport in Osaka i was met by the friendly, an now beardless, face of Sebastian. And as old times dictate it didn't take long before we hit the Japanese bars, for at great taste of Japanese food, German beer and talkative locals. The first week has been a week of big city experience, in the 3.5 million city of Osaka. It is just as you would imagine a big Japanese city - insanly crowded (and I havn't even been out during rus hour), but amazingly enough everything slides along painlessly, as the only way things can work is if people are tollerant and making sure not to be in the way of others.Everywhere there are small shops and restaurants, serving the most exotic kinds of foods, and lit-up signs filling up 10+ story buildings. There are people everywhere, from businessmen i suits, to girls in school uniforms and young people dressed diversely in colorfull outfits, and in any shape or way you can imagine.
This week has been all about soaking up the big city, Japanese atmosphere - from trying out strange kinds of food, observing the Japanese people and their strange ways, to massive superstores for sporing goods, electronics - even a 6-story porn store! A trip up the Osaka Skydome after sunset really gives an impression af how big this place is - lights extending as far as possible, right up until the mountains begin og the sea starts!
In the company of Sebastian fun things are bound to happen, and already in the first week we have had some good night on the town! Besides one night of hanging out with three popular american hard-rock bands (of which we knew none) and their grupies, we have hit two cool punk shows. Second night in town we hit up a small punk-joint, for a five band lineup - agreably of varying talent, but at least two of the hit high in my count. The bands where crazy, and gave an impressive live show, even though there were no more than 20 people in the audience (of which we might have been the only ones not actually playing that night!). Saturday we ventured into (the cool part of) town, only to find dirty punks spread all over. A beer and a whiskey later, a bit of sneaking got us into one of the most high powered punk shows i have seen - the bands where loud and agressive enough, to make up for their crust-style! ;-) One of the bands even got away with only one line of lyrics throughout their entire set - "We are punk-rockers!" Fantastic! After the show punks were again scattered all over town, this time just sleeping - Tjeck out the pictures!
The next weeks we are planning to go out to see a bit more of Japans countryside - we are planning a hitchhiking/bikink trip with a tent on our back - just to see what a little bit of randomness i Japan can bring to us! So tjeck back from time to time - I am planning on smaller, and more regular updates - and lot's pf photos! Hope everyone is having some good times back home!
Love from Japan!
David
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