In answer to the general demand : I give you Sakura again ! More blossoms, more pink, more drinks !
Enjoy the Japanese spring...

And the best of Sakura : a pinky-pinky song performed by our favorite boys-band, the NewS ! I'm jealous of their glossy lipstick...

Since I moved in Nishi-Waseda, I have been expecting the riverside of the Kanda to become like this :

At Shinjuku-Gyoen :

今年も友幸と花見楽しもう！

The stay was too short and the budget too light to explore all the resources of Okinawa - especially the Sea Park of Churaumi, in the North of Okinawa Island (we were settled in the South part); but also the smaller islands you can access only by boat and all the natural areas you need to go by car... Some places to see once in yourlife, which will make me come back to Okinawa in the future !

But the few we could enjoy was already amazing...

Seashore
Farniente, farniente !








Nature
Hibiscus flowers and strange-shape trees














Naha, Kokusai-dori
a Californian/Hawaiian/Chinese/Japanese Bazaar...














Okoku-mura, former Royal Village
Traditionnal Houses, Fruits, Brown sugar and Habu-shuu (Snake alcohol) factories























Gyokusendo, impressive caves
(sorry, it was difficult to take good pics...)




Habu Snake Park
People-friendly snakes only !

Kawaii snakes (glup)


Tasty snakes (re-glup)


Snake show
(where you learnt that the cobra is not as cool as it seems to be,
because it just can't see nor feel anything behind him).


This one is pink, so it's the snake of love (obviously).



Naha, Makishi Market









Okinawa best products : tropical fruits and bitter cucumber


and also... "pork face"... yes.


Shuri-jo
The former palace of the Ryukyu














Fukushuen
Traditionnal Chinese-style garden

The most beautiful garden you could dream about...

Notes about our stay in Okinawa

Being a gaijin in Okinawa is different from being a gaijin in Tokyo. Because of the hot issue of the US military bases in the region and the memory of the war in the Pacific area, you can feel a certain tension in the air when Westerners show their faces somewhere - even when, like us, you are not American... Even if people were mostly as kind and polite you can expect from a Japanese person, here are a few differences I noticed in everyday communication with Okinawans:

- In Tokyo, one of the first question people have for you is "where are you from?", followed by exclamations of enthusiasm when they hear the magical word "France". But in Okinawa, almost nobody asked, because a Westerner in the region may be from the States. Then, when they discover that you are from Europe, they show more perplexity than curiosity - the kind of reaction of vague ignorance that people from countries like Uzbekistan may undergo in Western countries when they announce their nationality... No French prestige in Okinawa. Damned. I confess that I got used to it very quickly...

- Nevertheless, enthusiasm comes with the linguistics. Of course, in Tokyo people spend their time to say how great your level in Japanese language is, but you know that it's mostly to have something to say and to support your effort in learning the language. In Okinawa, people were really, sincerely, astonished to hear our broken Japanese, even in very touristic areas like Kokusai-dori in Naha. That let you imagine how many Westerners they met before, who didn't make the slightest effort to say something in Japanese, when it's not Okinawa local language. I could read in their eyes "So, can a Westerner really talk Japanese ??? I can't believe it !"... That's when I realized that we were far from the mainland.

- Okinawa is the last Japanese land before the "rope" of islands becomes Taiwan, and the archipelago belonged to China for centuries before that. You can feel that you made a step into deeper Asia when a group of young men from Taiwan ask the permission to take pictures with you, one after the other, while you are visiting some amazing Chinese gardens... It's very strange to realize that you are more exotic than this kind of background :

Last but not least : Okinawa daily pleasure of EATING !

More pictures, more stories, more fun to come soon on Mogusa's blog !

Okinawa in March : no typhun, no tourists, no heat wave ; but still flowers, fruits, sun, cocktails and ice-creams...
Here are a few samples of Okinawa's treasures; more details coming soon...

Sun !


Sea !


Flowers !


Fruits !


Cocktails !


HOLIDAYS !!!

A bit more difficult to enjoy:

Frog-purses


Snake alcohol

To be continued !

I feel like I didn't share enough my daily happiness to live at Nishi-Waseda. Tokyo is often described as a cold frantic megapole - mostly by people who have never lived here and who have been impressed by the pictures of Shinjuku skyscrapers or Shibuya crowded crossroad... but no one lives in such areas, which are totally dedicated to shopping centers and corporate offices. Afterwork, people get back to much peaceful areas, and actually Tokyo looks like a group of quiet villages, connected with several centertowns like Shinjuku, Ginza, Roppongi...
My daily Tokyo is a charming area located between the campus of Waseda University, the big station of Takadanobaba and the Kanda river. It's mostly a student area so everything is cheap, from the restaurants to the hairdresser - and culturally diversified in order to appeal to the international students.

Neighborhood in pictures

Area Guide, at the top of my street


The flower shop at the corner


Street View


The most eye-catchy detail of the Japanese street :
wires in the air


Houses samples






Street flowers






No Japanese street without vending machines...


It's forbidden to smoke on the street, except at the smoking corner;
People under 20 years old are not welcome...
A man is sat behind the window all day long to check if the law is respected...


A very messy shop in front of my house, selling flowers and, apparently, food...
I think that all the business survives thanks to the vending machines...


Coin laundry (and eel restaurant just behind)


Dry Cleaning shop


Temples








UFO


Linving among roofs and wires


Side view


Tramway station


Kanda River in winter (I can't wait the sakura to blossom all way long)


River side


The way to the pool


The shrine across the river




The temple across the river




Unexpected Chinese restaurant on the riverside

To Martine and Nicoleta, coming soon...

The great news came yesterday: first of all, all the ETP27 members passed their exams and graduated brillantly... Then, we were all allowed to receive the last part of the European Commission scolarship... And finally, we were all invited to participate to the ETP Final Ceremony tonight !
It took place at the Ebisu Westin Hotel, as for the opening ceremony; we were all very busy to congratulate each other, to receive our certificates, to thank the teachers, to guide our guests from our internship companies and to take pictures that it was a challenge to really enjoy the moment with our friends, but it was definitely a nice party.

More pictures to come...
Check the ETP Japan photo album on the left column !

ETPs last group picture (before the next time...)

The Westin Galaxy Room before the invasion


After the invasion


Me & Friends


Me & Family


Friends again... and again...

Well, this is the end, we are not ETPs anymore but potential ETPA. I hope that we will have a chance to participate to the next ETP generations' ceremonies. Just for the pleasure...

My nice Japanese-language-tutorate teacher offered me an inkan - a Japanese seal that you use at the bank or in any situation when you have to proove your identity. Japan is not a country where the hand-written signature is supposed to proove anything. Instead, you have to take care of this little piece of wood, metal or plastic the imprint is your identifier. Of course, you have to make the imprint register at the city yard for it to be officially yours.

As a foreigner, I don't really need an inkan in my daily life, but I was fascinated by the gift - first, this one looks like a piece of jewelry :

乃絵美

I was not a early-adopter like A***, but the Renaissance Gym Center just behind my street became my new daily place-to-be - especially the underground, where the pool is.
It would be useless to list all the good points of this pool compared to any French one - opened until 10pm, clean, with enough hair-dryers for everybody, and so on - so I just picked-up some scenes, representative of the smooth atmosphere of the place. For obvious reasons, I could not take pictures, so I just drew the following images.

In a Japanese pool, Aquagym lasts at least 1 hour and all the people keep focus all time long.
It looks like a perfect ballet.


In a Japanese pool, young and hansome coach likes to chat with grandmothers,
without fearing that the rest of the staff have fun of them.


In a Japanese pool, housewives come with their baby for  them to get used to water;
the session's coach in a young man carrying a doll and everybody seems to have a lot of fun.


In a Japanese pool, when a staff member makes a little girl jump into the water with a big splash, he's almost submerged by a wave of kids begging for the same thing.


In a Japanese pool, you swim in line and it makes you feel that you are alone in the water.

The first time I met Akiko, it was in front of a piano - she was listening, at this time. It was in Paris, under a grey sky, something like three years ago. Since this moment, we met occasionnally in real or virtually - we had drinks and talks at Cour Saint Emilion, birthday messages by e-mail and mutual blog-sponsoring : she is the author of "Coco wa Pari" (link available on the right column...).

Akiko-san can speak French, makes beautiful pictures of Paris; and, as I discovered tonight at Kawai Salon Omotesando : she is an amazing pianist.

For me who is definitely not a musical person, concerts and recitals are sometimes difficult for me to understand, especially when the music is not very narrative.  But Akiko-san does not only play, she plays, with all her body and face  acting, playing with the music. I had a great moment with Mozart, Chopin, Debussy, Faure and Ravel - all great men suddenly embodied by the beautiful lady pianist.

明子さん、心からありがとうございました。