Hi, Nara

Last weekend we went to Nara with a group of international students. Nara is very traditional, like Kyoto you can find many temples. But there is one thing that makes Nara distinct: the deers. They have a park full of deers just walking around. You can feed them, but be careful they are very, very hungry. I got robbed by a deer actually, he took the chocolate cookies I just bought out of my bag without me noticing it; now that is one talented deer, oh dear! And by the way, I must excuse myself beforehand for the superfluous pictures of deers. I just like to pretend that I am an animal photographer sometimes, and the pictures came out good, so I want to share them with you.

A Japanese man in traditional clothing entertaining the tourists, which are also Japanese.

A beautiful little lake.

Just to make sure.

Hey deer.

What a daredevil am I.

Oops.

Such a sunny day!

Little bambi.

And the wicked uncle.

Beautiful traditional garden.

Look at that construction!

I actually don't know what this is.

Hi, Osaka

Yesterday my roommate, my Dutch friends and I went to Osaka, which can be seen as 'second capital city' of Japan. Indeed, it was just like I was walking in Tokyo (even though I have never been to Tokyo yet, it just felt like it). We were lucky, because we got there when it was already dark, so the lights of the city stood out even more. My impression: many colours, awesome sneakers, different people and 'chickboys' as I like to call them. These are guys who basically act as escort-boys, and don't look too macho or masculin. It's all about the appearance in Osaka; boys with slim (and then I mean, very slim) trousers and handbags, and girls with colourlenses, bare leggs and boots to their thighs. I will dedicate a later post to all the different kinds of people I have seen so far, if I have enough photo material, so that is still coming. For now, the colourful face of Osaka.

The streets

The shops. Which drove me crazy.

I wanted to sream of exitedness when I saw this.

There is one word for this: style.

Apparantly business men drink a lot with their colleagues. After a diner with too much sake involved, this men couldn't find the way back home and just lay down, drunk, on the streets of Osaka and fell asleep. When he wakes up on the street, he wipes the dust and dirt of his suit, and goes to work again.

Hi, Kyoto

It's been a while since I've been in Kyoto, actually more than a week ago now. But I still wanted to share some of the beautiful things I saw there. We went with a group of Japanese people, who showed us around a little bit. At first we walked through streets where every shop offered us their food samples. After that we went to a place where we saw this orange tempel, I guess it was the golden temple I asked them to take us to. A long walk through narrow streets with more shops, and more food samples followed. This road finally took us to an incredibly beautiful view, just around the hour of sunset; it was amazing.

Just a road in Kyoto.

This is all candy. Japan is the definition of cuteness.

Cuteness, again.

And, again.

A temple

This I think, was part of the golden temple.

The sunset gave the already beautiful nature an even more impressive glow to it.

Kyoto, I'll be back.

Hi Hirakata

This week has been so busy. I had to register for literally everything. For my foreign ID card (makes sense), for my school IDcard (makes sense too), for my courses (also makes sense), for my phone (really?), for my bike (are you kidding me?), for the bike-parking spot at school (come on!), for the parking spot at the Seminar House (oh my goodness). I am very glad I don't have to register for buying clothes and food though. Talking about food, I had an euphoric experience when I entered the supermarkets: everything looks either delicious, unknown, or indescribably cute.

Let me say: kawaii!

These vending machines are on every corner of the street.

The food you can get in the cantine of Kansai Gaidai makes me want to cry, in a good way, trust me. It's also really cheap by the way, so, -being Dutch- this cantine is my place to be.

Bye Holland

 My first post about my journey to Japan. It's going to be such an exiting journey. Being a European Studies student with a focus on the private sector, I am going to study business subjects here from February to the end of May. But obviously, that is not my only point of interest in Japan. I came here too for the great landscapes, learning the language, incredible fashion, different habits, meeting people, the tasty food and the incredibly exiting culture. 



Leaving Holland was quite hard, not only because I had to say goodbye to my dearest friends, family and boyfriend, but also because my clothes didn't fit in my suitcase.

The farewell at Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam was the last time I saw them all together in real life :( From now on, Skype will be the way to communicate.

I had a transfer in Dubai, where I was happy to see that the duty-free shops were cheap, so that I could buy lots of chocolate; I was exhausted of the flight already.

From Dubai I flew to Osaka, and from there we (other Kansai Gaidai University students that arrived there) took the bus to Hirakata-shi. We arrived at Seminar House 3. The picture is what I saw when I woke up in the morning, after having slept at most 4 hours.