Did you know ... ?

... that the famous cartoon Vicky the Viking, better known as "Wickie und die starken Männer" in Germany and "小さなバイキングビッケ" in Japan was a co-production of Austria, Germany and Japan? The drawings were all coming from Japan, by the way :)

I actually never thought of that :D

Short remodeling of old blog posts

If you have subscribed to this blog (e.g. via RSS-Feed), you may have seen some activities on my old posts from 2012. I am currently correcting the dates and the texts a bit. Sorry for the inconvenience <(_ _)>

The Island and the Sunset: Enoshima

Enoshima seemed to be close at first, but actually it tooks a longer walk to get over a long bridge until we did finally arrive. And because some of us had to take photos constantly, we needed even more time :D

Enoshima from the Bridge

At first, you might think that there is not much to see on a small island like Enoshima, but at second sight the island is full of different and beautiful places. Along the narrow ways, we went to a shrine at first. There, the visit transformed after a few steps into a little hiking trip :D Okay, no surprise. After all, Enoshima looks like one big hill from the distance ^^

Old Printing of Enoshima

After the shrine we tried to reach another part of the island. On our way we saw many different plants everywhere. So again, we needed longer than the usual visitor ^^ It was actually quite a challenge to change so fast between different light settings. It got more and more dark and finally we reached the other side of the island (I suppose) when dusk was near :)

Sunset at Enoshima

We enjoyed the scene, rested a bit and of course, captured those moments ^^
There is not much to say after this, I only remember a discussion with Nene-san, Niko and Tina-san about the consumption of meat :D

So I just leave you here with these photos and the sound of the sea :)

Port(?) of Kamakura

Statue on Our Way to the Bridge

Shrine of Enoshima

Later, I found out this place is called "Dragons Belly" or "The Lovers Hill" :)

I'm not sure about the meaning, but I like the setting ^^

Just so you can see how long the bridge actually is :D

Until today, I am not sure if natural or artifical ... oO

But this is clearly natural ;)

おみくじ (oracle)

The Other Side of the Island :D

Lavender ... what a nice smell ^^

Eagles seem to live here. Saw them often in midair ^^

Japan, Country of Flowers ^^

That's a Place for Fishing! :)

Enoshima - Awesome Place for Enjoying the Sunset :)

I know this scene is repeating, but I couldn't keep my eyes of it ^^

Didn't think to see a flat place to live in Enoshima :D

Man, I really think about living here.
Well, on the other side, the more often you have something,
the more you get bored of it, they say ;)

Okay, someone really has to explain me why all statues in Japan needs clothes ^^
But don't get me wrong, I like this. It is certainly unique :)

Back to the Roots: Kamakura

This day, I met with Nene-san, Tina-san and Ivy-san to show Kamakura to Niko. But even I, who went here for the at least 6th time, could see new sides of this place. The most important things at first, so we went to the 大仏 (Big Buddha) statue.

The Big Buddha Statue
somehow I always land here :D

Actually, this is my favorite place in Kamakura. I am always impressed how lively and yet calm this statue seems to be. I'd like to meditate in front of the Buddha, but that seems impossible with all the people around :D

And there is maybe no better place to go in June than to 長谷寺 (Hase-dera) which has an astonishing amount of different flowers and other plants. Especially 紫陽花 (ajisai), better known as hortensia, which had their prime time. Everytime I need practically hours in this temple, because I want to photograph all the beautiful things I see ;)

Not just here, but everywhere in Japan you can see this flower at this time.

Besides the flora are also many statues of monks. Sometimes more realistic, sometimes almost comic like ^^ They also come in various sizes, from the size of chess figures to manlike sizes. It's like the monks from ancient times didn't died, they just turned into stone and continue their prayer eternally in silence :)

Everytime I see them, they are so perfect ... Who cleans all them?

As I mentioned in posts before, religion is a big part of the Japanese culture, although many (maybe even the most) are atheists, so I was told. Actually, I think Japanese people believe in many spiritual things like ghosts and gods. But everyone has their own unique belief or better said, their own unique mix of beliefs.

Some are maybe believing in a world after death, some others maybe in the fox spirit, many people believe in the Christian marriage I suppose and another part of the society in all three things. For me, the fact that this difference in belief is so normal and accepted by the people in Japan, is one of the best things in Japan.

Please don't get me wrong, many other countries have this kind of acceptance too. For me, it just feels like in Japan this is more present. For example, when someone in Germany really (not just for the ceremony) believes in Christian marriage, most people would assume that this person is a Christian. The sheer idea that someone really believes in Christian marriage and Buddhism too, would be too confusing for many :D But hey, that's just what I experienced ^^

Maybe some day, I will understand the meaning of this bib
which many statues in all kinds of places wear.

Back to the topic, after the temple from before, we tried to get into another one. Actually I forgot the name, sorry for that :( As you may already guessed, we didn't go inside. In front of the temple was a really long queue and after walking a long way, we didn't want to wait so long. So we decided to go to the beach and to have some lunch there :)

The Beach of Kamakura

And what other delicious meal could it be than my beloved Ramen? :D
Come to think of it, I will really miss this taste. What should I do when I am out of Japan?... Well I hope there is an Asian food market nearby wherever I go ;) It won't be tasting as good as here because of the different atmosphere, but it's at least some sort of replacement ... okay, enough of this contemplative stuff ^^

ラーメンちゃん～～～ :D

Afterwards, we went to 江の島 (Enoshima) which is an offshore island near our location. Because of the amount of pictures that will follow, I will talk about this in the next post. And sorry for keeping you all to wait for so long, but you know ... stuff came up ;)

The rest of my better pictures from the trip in Kamakura:

Moment of Silence

Pond in Hase-dera

Man, I just can't get enough of the flowers in Japan.
Never looked out for flowers before ... did I developed this kind of affection here without noticing? ... oO

Don't ask me how he picked these flowers :D
I am just saying, I believe these statues are ancient monks ;)

First word which came into my mind: Banana :)

When I have enough money and a house, I build a garden like this ^^

More azaleas ... I always wondered why everytime
the flowers of the current season are blooming everywhere in Japan.
Does somebody change them overnight or all flowers always in one spot?

The New Office

Today, a part of the employees, me included, moved to the new office. It's actually just a few minutes away from the old one, but it's closer to me and soon I will even live there. Nico, our other intern from Germany, is actually living there right now.

Well I'd know the day would come when I will literally live in the office ... reminds me of my old workplace back in Germany :D

You can't take the Sky from Me

This evening, I was together with Nico invited to the house of our boss, Maruta-san. As usual, we started with a big dinner. And as always, it was tasty :D

The main reason we were invited was the plan to watch fireflies in a forest nearby. We weren't sure if we would really see some, but we tried anyway. And it was worth it :)
When it got really dark, the first fireflies started to come out of the woods. It was very hard to see them at first, because unlike in the movies, their light is not really bright and not constantly on ;) Nevertheless, it was an amazing view and I had much fun searching the fireflies ^^

Well, making photos was really hard, especially if you have no tripod for your big camera :D But with about 20 seconds of exposure time and a steady hand, I got some pictures anyway ^^

Flight of the Firefly :)

The Fire Flowers Are Blooming Again!

This day, I went together with Mika-san from work and her friend Ari-san to the 花火 event or in short, fireworks. Because there is actually not much to say, I let my pictures speak:

My Dinner Today ^^

Police instead of Traffic Lights :)

Afterwards, we visited the Theme Park near Sakuragicho short.