Folkloristic market of Zoutelande, the Netherlands. Part Two.

This is the second and last part of my story about the folkloristic market of Zoutelande. This one is less text orientated and more of a photo post.

The best part of the market was the ‘klederdracht show’. Klederdracht is the Dutch word for traditional costumes. I’ve always found the regional costumes of Zeeland to be gorgeous but you can rarely see them anymore. Now and then I would see a very old lady wearing one but the last time was years ago. During the show they showed the popular costumes how they changed through the time and told about the differences between the different villages and ages. One thing I know about the hair dress of my hometown is that a big poofy cap is for a unmarried girl while a small simple one means that you are married. Other than that… let’s just say there are a lot of differences! Originally this place was a very religious one so that meant full body coverage with lots of reasons. That is the main reason that we don’t wear it anymore; it takes to much time, there are too many rules and it is hot, especially in summer. Besides that it is expensive and very hard to find. I literally don’t know any place where I could get those clothes. I talked about this with one of the guys from the performing group and he told me that I should join there group so I could find a costume for not a lot of money. And you know what? That actually didn’t sound bad. It has always been a secret dream of mine to own or at least wear those traditional clothes once and I could learn even more about my birth place. I should keep it in mind in case I ever return to my home town for longer than just a holiday or weekend.

When there is a traditional market in Zeeland, ringrijden can’t miss. Ringrijden a kind of sports and competition where you ride a horse at full speed and try to catch a ring with a lance. As the match progresses the rings get smaller and harder to catch. Whomever gets the most rings wins of course. Usually the horses get dressed up nicely with braids and ribbons in their manes. This is actually kind of a popular sports and nice for tourists ti watch at the some time. I especially love the announcer, it’s always the same guy. He speaks in the local dialect and uses weird local expression and uses a lot of passion when speaking. A few weeks ago I was working while there was a ringrijden match in the main street and the announcers’ booth was close to our bakery, so I could hear everything he was saying. I always snicker at his comments but this time he said something especially amusing; ‘Noe breekt mien klomp’ which translates as ‘My wooden shoe breaks now’ and means ‘What the f*ck is he doing?’. It’s the first time I heard that one. Loved it.

Got it!

Putting up the ring for the next contestant

Win!

testing the lance

Notes;

One part of the caps the ladies wear is made of almost a thousand folds. It is a difficult technique and the last lady who still made them recently stopped.
Klederdracht is expensive, difficult to put on, heavy and hot. But it looks gorgeous.
Every piece of clothing has rules regarding wearing it. Each piece also holds a different meaning. Big cap? Unmarried. Small cap? Married.
I’ve always liked the golden curly things on women’s caps
My favorite part is the necklace. My grandmother also used to have one and gave it to my niece on her wedding day. How I wish I got one too. Since they are made of corals a lot of Chinese and other Asian tradesmen have bought up a lot of the necklaces so they are difficult to find now and expensive.
Ringrijden is a typical sport of Zeeland.
There is another sport just like ringrijden, called sjeesjesrijden. The horse pulls a car with a man and his wife, both in traditional clothing, while the man steers the woman tries to catch the ring.
I am not good at the local dialects. Every village has its own dialect, but I grew up in the capital of the province where ‘BBC Dutch’ (let’s just call it that ;)) is the standard.
‘Noe breekt mien klomp!’

Dutch Folkloristic Market at Zoutelande, the Netherlands. Part One.

I wanted to take a little break from writing about my Japan trip with this post about the folkloristic market of Zoutelande. Don’t worry, I still have a few Japan post left and will continue writing about it of course! Anyway, I think that in any country a lot of old traditions fade away or disappear completely as modern times progresses. It’s something I think is really sad, but at the same time it is difficult to prevent. One way to at least not let old crafts die out is by organizing something like a folkloristic market. At the same time it educates both foreign and local people about the local crafts and traditions. So when there was a folkloristic market (mostly for touristic purposes) in my hometown I decided to take a look around because I didn’t have to go to work that day anyway.

I was hoping to see some traditional clothing, which I did, a lot! But I will save that for a later post. Other than the traditional clothing I didn’t really know what to expect or what I wanted to see. So I just wandered around the market taking photos and trying to learn about some of the crafts that were shown there. The first stand which was closest so my home (and in front of the bakery where I work) was a booth with babbelaars. Babbelaars are traditional sweets from Zeeland, a province of the Netherlands and my ‘home province’. They are simple sweets with only five ingredients and are basically pure sugar. But they are good! It’s a traditional kind of Dutch butterscotch. Usually they are sold in cute tins with pictures of people in regional traditional costumes or Dutch sceneries. At the booth there were older women, a younger girl and a man all dressed folk costumes and they were making and selling the babbelaars on the spot. First they melt the sugar with the other ingredients and move it to a cold plate where they keep mixing it until it is cool enough to roll it out and make thin strips. They then make nicks in the strips and when it’s completely cooled and hardened they break them and there you have the candies! At this particular booth they also sold special babbelaars with chocolate and cinnamon flavor. I bought them and cinnamon flavor is approved! I am not sure what to think about the chocolate ones though…

cooling the batter

stretching and rolling

making nicks

breaking into pieces

packing the yummies

Just to mention it, ‘my’ bakery also had a stall. My colleagues sold oliebollen there. An oliebol is something like a deep-fried donut. It is Dutch New Years food and I love it! But it is not something I would eat in summer, I think it’s a Dutch mental thing; oliebol is winter food. So I didn’t eat any of them. I did eat some soft serve ice-cream because the ones at our bakery are very good. Sorry, I didn’t take photos of our bakery and the booth. Next were some gift shops booths. One of the was a booth with candles. One of the ladies there was making some candles on the spot by dipping the base in different colors (of wax I assume) and letting the layer dry and then dipping it in the next color. She told me that it took long today because it was too hot and the layers wouldn’t dry very well. But they also shouldn’t get too cold otherwise the next layer won’t hold. Candles are not some old Dutch craft, but at least it was interesting to see. Next to the candle booth was a stand with metal jewelry. A guy was making some of the jewelry next to the booth. This is something I used to do with my grandfather too, but again not traditionally Dutch per se.

In front of the church were some interesting booths. One of them, my favorite, was the wooden shoos booth. Believe it or not, but some people still wear. Mostly farmers, like the shoes are intended for. Other than that, no, people in the Netherlands don’t walk around in wooden shoes. I only wore them once in my life. They are heavy and not so comfortable. It was the first time I saw someone making them though. The guy who was making them was actually from Belgium, but he said that most wooden shoes makers and wearers are still Dutch. There are just not many left though. The shoe he was working on already had a rough shape and he was scraping out the wood where the food has to go in. He told me that there are also wooden shoes with leather which the farmers wear on fancy occasions. I can’t imagine haha. His wife, I suppose, was working with a spinning wheel. That is also something I only saw in museums and the Sleeping Beauty.

The only time I ever wore wooden shoes, and a farmers suit. I even milked cows and ate cheese, it doesn’t get more Dutch except for tulips and wind mills.

There was another booth that I found really mesmerizing, which was one where there were only two home made chairs and an old guy making a third chair. He was weaving the seating of the chair. We used to have those wicker chairs at home, not those hip modern ones or the one you put in the garden, but real classis ones. That’s why it intrigued me so much. I used to always sit on them but it never occurred to me how they were made and how much time and effort that took. And the guy was so concentrated on the weaving, for some reason it touched me. Close to that booth was a booth with different kind of cheeses, not to be missed of course, and a booth where they were ‘smoking’ (preparing food with hot smoke) eels. My grandfather also does this sometimes. It is funny how most booths reminded me of my grandparents because they either did those things or told me about their (grand)parents doing it. I have a new found respect for what they did and what our old traditions are.

Cutting the cheesy goods

Notes;

Seeing traditional crafts of your hometown makes you appreciate and respect your local customs more
These kind of markets are really touristic though
Putting on traditional clothes makes everything a thousand times better
Babbelaars are typical Zeeuws. You won’t find them in the rest of the Netherlands, let alone the rest of the world.
It takes a lot of work to make wooden shoes
Wooden shoes are heavy and uncomfy
Wicker chairs make me feel nostalgic
Yummy, cheese

I will tell you more about the market next time!

Japan Trip, Exploring the Temples of Kyoto

Originally my friend and I had planned to take it easy this day and visit different temples by bike. But we messed up the date of our concert so it turned out it was taking place on this day. This meant that we had to go to Osaka in the afternoon and visit all the places we wanted before then. The route we planned out was to start at Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion) and go through the Philosophers’ Walk and Nanzen-ji to end at Kiyomizu-dera.We rented some bicycles in a shop a few streets away from our hotel. On our way to Ginkakuji we had to go uphill first. As Dutch people we are very used to use the bike and felt in our element, because what they say about Dutch people is true; we ride the bike a lot and there are bicycles everywhere. The only problem was the (seeming) lack of rules for bicyclers in Japan and lack of bicycle paths. Most of the time we just rode on the pavement and sometimes on the road. There were a few bicycles paths though. Another problem for us was the humidity and heat, but that was a factor during our whole trip.

So from the bike shop we started cycling towards the Kamo river and made our way to the North alongside the river which was really relaxing. For some reason walking or biking alongside rivers or the seaside equals vacation in my head so I finally had a feeling of being on vacation at that moment. The rest of the trip was vacation too of course, but sometimes it didn’t feel that way with our full schedules and being in the big cities most of the time. I grew up in a small city at the seaside and always went to the beach in the summer and even on vacations abroad with family we would usually go to the beach or a lake and just relax. So that’s what vacation is like for me, being near the water. Big cities will never really make me feel that way. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy my trips to big cities or places far away from the sea. On the contrary. It is so different from what I’m used to that I almost want to see and do too much in a short amount of time and usually wear myself out, thus not getting the feeling of a ‘vacation’ but more of an ‘exploration’.

There were a lot of people strolling along the river and some other bicyclers too. Some people were fishing and others just sitting and enjoying the view.
Next time that I visit Kyoto I will definitely rent a bicycle again to ride along the Kamo river again and take more time for it. And maybe prepare a picknick too!
After a while we left the river behind to make our way up the hills towards the Silver Pavilion.
We had to search our way through a residential area but we found the pavilion pretty quickly. The entrance tickets for the Silver Pavilion are gorgeous by the way; it is a big piece of paper with gorgeous calligraphy and red stamps.

The pavilion itself is a nice piece of architecture. Sadly it is not covered in silver like the name suggests. Because of delays of the construction during the Onin War it just never happened. But the most impressive part of the pavilion is definitely the garden. When you enter there is a small stroke of rock/sand zen garden, the rest of the garden is covered with lush green trees and flowers. I think it is the most beautiful Japanese garden we encountered during the trip. I can tell all about it, but I think the pictures will speak for themselves.

When we finished a little photo shoot of the garden of Ginkakuji we continued our trip on the bicycle in the hills of west Kyoto. The Philosophers’ Path is near Ginkakuji and I saw some nice photos of it and read about it in a guidebook or online, I can’t really remember. We tried to find it but got lost and decided to just make our way to Nanzen-ji. We then encountered the Philosophers’ Walk by chance, but weren’t aware of it until after a while. I thought it would be a nice path between trees and a small river, which it was, but the canal, not river, was dry and there was a road next to it where we were riding, so it wasn’t as ideal as I had pictured it. And the path itself was closed off. So it isn’t really worth going all the way there to see it, I don’t know why people actually recommend seeing it except when the cherry blossoms are in bloom.

Nanzen-ji took a bit of searching before we could find it. It is in a big ‘park’ with other temples (sub temples I guess). It was nice walking around the park and taking photos of the temples, gates and a such. But honestly, we had no idea which one was Nanzen-ji itself. And we didn’t have the time nor need to pay to visits the actual temple grounds, so we just stayed in the park for a short while for some photos and then continued to our final destination; Kiyomizu. That was quite far away and Kiyomizu is high up in the hills so we were getting tired by then. After a while we saw a pagode peeping above the roofs of houses on steep hills and figured that had to be Kiyomizu-dera. The streets around Kiyomizu are quaint little streets with traditional shops and houses, but they are very steep and very busy so we walked the last part with our bicycles at hand.

Cute bird decorations on a fence

Kiyomizu is famous for the wooden balcony and the three water streams. Apparently, the veranda is build out of wooden pillars without using a single nail. With the amount of people that stand on the structure every day that amazes me! From the balcony you have a nice view of the lush hills behind the temple. At this time of the year, June, they were bright green. From the other platform you can see Kyoto city far below. You are up quite high here! Making our way down, the temple is built on different nights of the hills, we could some a little bit more of the nature and small statues with red clothes on. They are statues devoted for miss carriages, children who died and abortions. It is a little bit sad, but I think the clothes the statues wear are cute at least. Once your down it is time to drink from the famous water streams. One stands for wisdom, the other for a long life and another for health. You can only chose to two of the three, otherwise you are too greedy. There is usually a long line to be able to drink from the streams, but we were lucky and the line was really short when we arrived. There is no indication of which stream is which and actually you only drink from one of them, at least that was the case for us, but it’s the thought that counts. I have to say, the water was delicious and refreshing. Did you know that you can even buy a bottle of Kiyomizu water?

We had a little bit of time left so we browsed some of the shops near Kiyomizu before bringing back the bicycles and refreshing ourself for the concert. And then we once again went to Osaka. The metro to Osaka Dome was so busy that this time we were sure that the concert was today 😉 The concert we were attending was the ‘Seoul Osaka Music of Heart 2011 Fighting Japan’. It was a concert with many different Korean artist to raise money for the victims of the disasters of March 2011. We were barely there or a TV crew came to us and asked us to leave a message for 2PM. We were so taken aback by the sudden approach that we didn’t really know what to say. By then we were still not used to the attention for us in Japan. There were different stands where you could buy merchandise. Weirdly enough, a lot of stands were missing. We bought something at the 2NE1 and B2ST stands, but 2PM, MBLAQ and many more didn’t have a stand. After buying the merchandise we began searching our seats. And man, the arena was huge! So it wasn’t an easy task. When we finally found out seats we discovered that they were very far away from the stage. Normally this wouldn’t be a big problem but with an arena this size the artists looked like ants somewhere far away. Very disappointing. Luckily there were big screens and the atmosphere was great and hearing the songs (sort of) live was also really nice. On the screens they would play these really cool introductions of the bands and they also displayed cool backgrounds that changed for each songs. And there was even fireworks, fire and glitter bombs, or whatever you call them.

The artist that played were:

MBLAQ
4MINUTE
T-ARA
BEAST
U-KISS
F.T.ISLAND
IU
F(X)
2NE1
2PM
TVXQ

They were all artists that I loved at that time, so I couldn’t be more happy. I have followed MBLAQ and BEAST since their debut and they are my favorite boy groups at the moment. 2PM was my favorite back then and I was looking forward to them the most together with 2NE1. 2PM didn’t fail me and 2NE1 blew me away, energy level max! The surprise of the evening was U-KISS because they did way better than I had expected. IU is the best singer ever but sadly for her they had some problems starting the music to her song. I am not really into girl groups with 2NE1 as a definite exception, but I do like F(X) too and they had a energetic performance. T-ARA and 4MINUTE have some songs I like, which they performed so I was happy with that. But I don’t like their new songs so I don’t really listen to them anymore. The same goes for F.T.Island; they have a few nice songs which they luckily played, but the rest of their songs don’t really interest me. The big performer of the night was TVXQ, obviously. I have never been a huge fan and after they split into two groups I became even less of a fan, but the duo Changmin and Yunho have some great songs and their performance is top notch. I think 80% of the fans came to the concert for them and almost everyone was wearing TVXQ scarfs and the venue was glowing in red lights, the color of TVQX.

All in all, it was an awesome concert. Very tiring but we saw many great performers. They emptied the venue section by section so we had to wait very long until our section was allowed to leave. And after a sleepy train ride and cup ramen it was time for a bed.

Notes :3

Bicycling in Kyoto is quite a challenge but well worth it
Kamo river is the perfect place to spend your free time; stroll, bicycle, picknick, fish or just relax at the riverside.
Despite being a big city there is a lot of nature on the hills surrounding Kyoto. The grounds and gardens of temples and castles are also full of greenery, so nature is never far away in Kyoto.
Want some peace and quiet? Go to one of those Japanese gardens.
If you have a tight schedule like me; take a breath. Realize that you’re on vacation and do something that makes you feel that way. Enjoy and relax!
If you’re looking for a gorgeous place to photograph or as a backdrop for a photoshoot in Kyoto; go to Ginkakuji/Silve Pavilion! I regret not taking a ‘selfie’ there. Fushimi Inari Taisha would be another great place
The Philosophers’ Walk is not really worth visiting except during Cherry Blossom season
Nanzen-ji has a nice park with sub-temples. I can’t comment on the inner grounds though.
Strolling through the cute streets near Kiyomizu-dera is recommended. They are photogenic too.
‘Jumping off the balcony at Kiyomizu’ is a famous Japanese proverb. Don’t do it though, it’s really deep!
Don’t be greedy, drink only water from two of the three streams at Kiyomizu.
Don’t go to a concert in Osaka Dome unless you have good tickets or enjoy watching the concert on big screens
Taking photos at concert in Japan is not allowed (so no photos alas)

Japan Trip, Geisha Make-Over

When I was planning my trip to Japan I was hoping to see a geisha or a maiko, apprentice geisha, somewhere. The best place to do this in Kyoto is Gion, a traditional neighborhood with tea houses where geisha still perform. But, for some reason, my friend and I didn’t really have the time and forgot to go there which I really regret. But we didn’t have to look far to find geishas. Because we turned into them ourselves! Well, we had a make-over to become a maiko, to be precise. We chose maiko above geisha because geisha have a very simple make-up and sober colors, while maiko are colorful and wear a lot of accessories. Information about these dress-ups are quite scarce, especially about personal experiences, so I hope I can provide a bit more information for those interested.

I had made an appointment with the studio Yume Koubou a few weeks before going to Japan. Yume Koubou is a studio that specializes in these geisha and maiko dress-ups and also organizes walking tours around town in combination with a make-over. We just opted for the make-over and photoshoot.
We booked for 11AM so after sleeping in we started searching for the studio. Yume Koubou has several locations in Kyoto, so you can chose the place which is most convenient for you. We chose the studio near Kyoto Station. But before heading there we had to search for a 7-11 to get some cash, because other convenience stores don’t accept our cash cards and Japan is still very much a cash orientated country.

Inside the studio we checked in at the reception and were led by a lady to a make-up / changing room. It is basically a big room where you first need to change into a white undergarment which is shaped like a kimono. Then you put your stuff in a locker and seat yourself in front of a mirror, which were just like at a hair dressers. There were two ladies helping us. One of them did the make-up while the other one dressed us. They didn’t speak much English, but enough to make us understand what was going on. First the make-up lady put our hair in a hair net. She then alternated doing both our faces; making our faces white and drawing eyebrows. And of course the gorgeous swallows tail in the neck. The eyes and lips take a lot more time and concentration so she did these separately for us.

So while she was doing my friends make-up I had to choose a kimono. There were three racks full of them, in any color imaginable. All of them gorgeous. It seriously took me ten minutes to choose, but in the end I chose a mint colored one with pink cherry blossoms. The staff girl then started dressing me, and man, it really takes a while to put a kimono on! And many many layers. It starts with special socks with only two toes, then some more undergarments, a kimono, obi (belt) and some more pieces for the belt and a lot of folding, pulling and pushing. Once it is done it feels really tight and quite heavy too, but it looks stunning. The finishing touch is a wig with accessories that you can also choose. And some wooden sandals of course.

When we were both ready we headed to the studio for photos. The photographer gives you really precise directions on where to look, how to stand and how to put your hands; everything is explained. This is a good thing because I had no idea what to do and the pictures turned out really good because of the directions. A downside is that you don’t have a lot of freedom. When you are posing there are different kind of props like parasols, fans and such which they will hand to you. I am not sure if you are free to switch and chose yourself. I just let them do whatever, it was all beautiful in my eyes anyway. And then lastly the shoes of doom were presented. They were geta (wooden sandals), but of scandalous hight. All I could think while wearing them was ‘Just don’t fall over’. It was kind of scary, but I turend out fine, luckily! Lastly they took a photo of us together. In total about 20 photos.

In the hallway there is a cute little setting of a traditional Japanese background where we were free to take pictures with our own camera. So we had a little photo shoot of our own. When we were ready we were stripped again from our layers of kimono and put our normal clothes back on. Near the lockers are some mirrors and cleaning products to take off the make-up, you don’t want to walk around town in jeans and a white face with red lips.
Back in the reception we had to choose what kind of ‘set’ we wanted. Or we had to choose when we entered, I don’t remember exactly. But choosing a set means choosing whether you want the photos to be printed and sent to your home, them to be put on a CD or some other options. We chose for a CD set and were handed a pretty bag which included a CD, the bill and a card with our photo on it.

It is an expensive thing to do, around 10,000 yen for our plan, but really fun and unique. The photos turned out great and I was really happy with it. And the whole experience was great. If you hesitate to try it, just do it! Even though it is expensive you will be more than happy with the results. I haven’t regretted doing it a single second (okay, maybe for a few seconds while wearing those ridiculously high sandals).

In the afternoon we went back to Osaka again, for another concert. By now Osaka was our most visited place even when staying in Kyoto. When we arrived at Osaka Dome, a huge stadium used for baseball, but occasionally also for events like concerts, we were quite shocked by how big the place is. But the weird thing was that there were no other fans on the train and when we stepped out there was nobody and no sign of a concert. Surprise; There was none! We had mistaken the date and the concert was the next day. So it was a afternoon wasted on the train. But at least we could catch our breath and we just had to make up for the time lost on the next day.

And now for something that is kind of off topic; my external hard disc broke. I had a lot more pictures of the photo shoot and some I made with my own camera, but they were on my hard disc and I can’t acces them now. Luckily I have them backed up on another computer, but that one is still in my room in Belgium. Anyway, what I want to say is that 1. More photos will be added to this post soon 2. Always back up your HDD and have photos saved in more than one place 3. Preferably back up your photos online so you can access them at any time.
I lost some photos that I hadn’t backed up yet, which is really unfortunate, but thanks to Facebook and searching through my parents’ computer (which took a long long time) I found a good portion of them back. The sad thing is, the reason why my HDD broke is because I was literally about to back up those photos for when something were to happen to my HDD when I picked up my HDD and dropped it. The irony. Anyway, I hope you guys learn from my mistake!

Notes;

Don’t forget to visit Gion when in Kyoto
When you spot a geisha though, there is always a chance it is a tourist who did a make-over similar to what I did.
Yume Koubou means ‘Dream Workshop’. Nice name for a studio
Don’t be held back by the price to do a maiko/geisha make-over. It is worth it.
Make sure your bank card or credit card works in Japan. My friend and I had a Dutch Maestro card, which only worked in the 7-eleven, not Circle K or Lawson or other convenience stores. It also worked at most banks. But 7-elevens are generally easier to find so we usually opted for that.
The Japanese word for convenience store is konbini. Could be useful to know.
Back up your photos online too. It’s easier to acces them from other computers. I learned this the hard way.

Japan Trip, Nijo Castle and Japanese Concert

In the afternoon we needed to be in Osaka for a concert, so we decided to visit only one place today that was nearby our hotel. Or so we thought…. We went there by foot because we like to walk (you can see a lot) and it should’t be far away. But our still feet ached from the day before and our destination, Nijo Castle, was further away than we thought. But hey, at least we got another good work out, saved money by not taking the bus and we got to see the neighborhood.

Before we entered Nijo castle we were asked for a picture by a group of students. By now we were used to getting interviewed and photographed by students, it felt like we celebrities or something.
It is allowed to walk around inside the castle, but with your shoes off. This castle is very different from the one in Osaka though, which had many floors (so was very tall) and was colorful. Nijo castle only has one floor, but has more ground surface. And it is mostly colored white with wood details, so it is sober. The big and lush garden makes a big contrast with the plain building. One interesting detail really stuck with me; when you walk around inside the building the floor makes squeaky sounds. This was a defense mechanism against intruders. It was really funny to hear the creaking footsteps of all the tourist. Other than some beautiful wall paintings there wasn’t much to see inside the castle. The garden is much more interesting. It is the prime example of a lush Japanese garden. It took a while for us to walk through the whole garden (and find our way back) and at the end our feet ached. But it was worth the visit, since it was our first visit to a real Japanese garden.

Castle Moat

I just couldn’t get a nice picture of the gate

The castle

We had to head back to our hotel to drop off our stuff and go to Osaka for a concert. On the way we stopped at Circle K for some food. While we were there they were having a special promotion for the new album of Super Junior. My friend and I were both big fans of them at the time so we ecstatic. All the drinks included a sticker of Super Junior, there were even cakes and other foods packed in Super Junior packages and if you bought a certain amount of products you could get file maps with their picture on it. There was even a Super Junior surprise bag; the bag (also with super junior pictures on it) contained some Japanese candies and some other stuff I can’t remember. Anyway, if you are a fan of k-pop, keep your eye out for promotions in Japan 🙂 I will also write about Shin Okubo, Korea town in Tokyo in one of my later posts for the k-pop fans.

So later that day we were reunited with lovely Osaka city again. Our destination was Hyogo Performing Arts Centre for a concert by Mika Nakashima. Initially we bought tickets for a Namie Amuro concert, but it was cancelled so we opted for Mika Nakashima instead whom we both like but don’t know very well. So we didn’t really know what to expect. Anyway, before the concert we needed to wait for about two hours so we sat outside and looked at the people there. I don’t whether if it is a thing Japan, but there were a lot of people juggling, playing with the diabolo, dancing and such outside of the Performing Arts Centre.

The concert itself was more in a theatre kind of place where you would normally watch an opera, so it was quite an unusual setting for a j-pop concert. But it turned out that it wasn’t your typical j-pop concert as Mika Nakashima doesn’t really do all those cute dances witch cutesy songs and weird costumes and there weren’t ten thousand fans waving with lightsticks. It was more of a down to earth concert in a small venue and her voice sounded awesome in that theatre like venue. Her voice is just as good as on her CDs. Too bad the instruments were a bit too loud to hear her well. The fans were still your typical Japanese fans with their lightsticks and little chants to the songs. It is nice to experience it because that is something you definitely don’t see in European concerts. At the end of the concert she couldn’t stop thanking her fans and she was even crying. You could tell she is a very genuine person which is really nice. We had a positive experience at this concert.

Late in the evening we finally arrived in Kyoto and hadn’t even had dinner yet. So when we walked by the Baskins Robbins we just had to eat some ice-cream. We had heard a lot about Baskins Robbins so we had been eyeing the ice-cream shop since yesterday. And we were on vacations, so why not eat ice-cream for dinner right? There was a promotion where you’d get the third scoop for free, so we each got three flavors. I can say that hype about Baskin Robbins is a valid one. It id quite expensive, but just as Ben & Jerry’s the ice-cream is stuffed with delicious things and there are many yummy flavors to choose from. Plus the ice-cream pies are so cute! We didn’t try them or take photos of them, but I did make photos of them when I was in Korea (Baskin Robbins is a Korean store), so I will show them in the foreseeable future.

We finished our day with some cup noodles. Ice-cream doesn’t keep you full for long after a day like that. Or maybe we just wanted to eat noodles, whatever. Which reminds me, we didn’t even eat any really ramen during our trip!

There are still a considerable number of traditional houses in Kyoto, calles Kyo-machiya. There were several near our hotel, nice! Sidenote, I love machiya and am almost a machiya-specialist haha.
The squeaky sounds at Nijo castle are cute
Lightsticks and fans chants are really funny and kind of weird when your are not used to them
A Japanese concert is a nice experience
The concerts are well organized and usually you have a seat number; they even put chairs with numbers in the standing areas.
Even though it was rainy season we barely had rainy days. It was just cloudy and usually there was a gray sky. It was still hot and humid though.
Baskin Robbins is yummy!
Late night noodles are a-okay, even on vacation
K-pop fans will be able to get their k-pop fix in Japan if you put some effort in it. Think store promotions, concerts and festivals, Korea town in Tokyo, big music stores, and the likes.

101 Things to Do in Japan

So it’s your first time going to Japan, but you don’t really know what you can do in Japan. Or it’s your 5th trip to Japan, but after visiting Kiyomizu-dera and Tokyo Tower you just don’t have any inspiration anymore. Then this is list is for you! It is inspired by my first trip to Japan, my future exchange year in Fukuoka and my never ending bucket list.

General places

(Après) ski (Party) in Hokkaido
Exotic getaway in Okinawa
Exploring temples in Kyoto
And especially make sure to visit Fushimi Inari Taisha in Fushimi
Get your Chinese fix in China Town of Yokohama
Crawl through the huge Buddha of Kamakura
Shopping in Tokyo
Eating lots in Osaka
Go to historic Nara
Enjoy the multicultural Nagasaki
Visit Japan’s most beautiful castle in Himeji
Enter the Buddhist world of Koyasan
Be amazed by the black castle of Matsumoto
Relive days gone by in traditional Takayama
Learn about the unique architecture of Shirakawa houses

Traditional entertainment

16. Attend a tea ceremony
17. See a maiko or geisha dance
18. Attend a Hanami party (cherry blossimg viewing party)
19. Try Ikebana
20. Relax in an Onsen (hot spring bath)
21. Transform into a geisha
22. Go on the 88 Temple Pilgrimage
23. Indulgence for a Kabuki performance
24. … and Sumo of course

Modern entertainment

25. Sing karaoke
26. Try your luck with a UFO-game at one of the game arcades
28. Get creative with purikura, cute photo stickers
29. Get your light sticks out for a Concert
30. All-you-can-drink party at an izakaya, Japanese bar
31. Drop your jaws at the extravagant musicals of Takarazuka
32. Eat Korean hotteok pancakes in Korea Town, Shin-Okubo
33. Take a river cruise in Osaka or Odaiba, Tokyo
34. Go to the 7/11 at 3AM
35. A night out at a Host- or Hostess Club
36. Fashionista time in Harajuku. Or eat crepes.
37. Go deaf at a Pachinko parlor

Enjoy nature

38. Photograph the gorgeous colors of koyo, autumn foliage
39. Catch some glowing fireflies or screeching cicadas
40. Light up by watching the Firefly Squid
41. Smell the lovely lavender of Furano in summer
42. Explore the Gyokusendo Caves in Okinawa
43. Gaze up at the Wisterias of Kawachi Fuji Garden
44. Bathe with monkeys in the hot springs of Yamanouchi
45. Climb to the top of Mount Fuji
46. Search for princess Mononoke in Yakushima
47. Dive the wonderful underwater world of Okinawa
48. Enjoy the view of terraced paddy fields

Special places to eat

49. Pet cute animals at a cat- dog- or owl cafe
50. Feel like a true geek at a a geek cafe
51. Nomming at a yatai, food stall
52. Live a Japanese fairy tale in the theme cafe of the Bamboo Cutter
53. Become a true Princess at the Princess theme cafe
54. Catch your own fish at Zauo cafe
55. Mysterious ninja restaurant, Ninja Akasaka
56. Find your dream robot girl at Kabukicho Robot Restaurant

Festivals

57. Watch stars on Tanabata Star Festival
58. Play at a matsuri (Summer Festival)
59. Enjoy students’ creativity at a bunkasai, a cutural festival
60. Be amazed by the snow statues of Sapporo Snow Festival
61. Party with demons at the Oni Fireworks Festival in Hokkaido
62. Stroll through fields of Sunflowers at Akeno Sunflower Festival
63. See the historical parade of Jidai Matsuri
64. Dance with the Awa Odori Dancers during Obon Matsuri

Famous sites

65. Appreciate Japanese gardens, like Ritsurin Garden
66. Pose in front of the Golden Pavilion, Kinkakuji
67. And visit the Silver Pavilion As Well
68. Drink your portion of wisdom, health or longevity at Kiyomizudera
69. Buy souvenirs at touristy Asakusa
70. Calm down at the zen garden of Ryoanji
71. Admire Osaka Castle
72. Tokyo Imperial Palace
73. Remember how lucky we are at Hiroshima Peace Memorial
74. The largest wooden building in the world, Todaiji
75. Oase of peace in Tokyo, Meiji Shrine
76. Eiffel Tower’s red sister, Tokyo Tower.

Amusement parks

77. Visit Disney Sea Land, the only one worldwide
78. Feel like a ninja or geisha in Edo Wonderland
79. Get sick in one of the crazy rollercoasters of Fuji-Q Land
80. Watch fishies at Kaiyukan Aquarium
81. Become dizzy by the height of Tokyo Sky Tree
82. Act like a kid at Sanrio Puroland
83. Play in the first Universal Studios of Asia
84. Step into the Netherlands at Huis Ten Bosch
85. Water fun at Spa Resorts Hawaiian

Unusual places

86. Paradise for cat lovers, Tashinojima
87. Naoshima, island of art
88. Eerie times at the deserted island of Hashima
89. Site of Reversible Destiny, Yoro Park
90. Yunessun Spa, refresh yourself in a hot bath of wine, tea or Ramen soup.
91. Yum, Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum!
92. Farming at Pasona02, an underground farm
93. Creepie doll city Nagoro
94. Meguro Parasitological Museum, for people with strong stomachs

Accomodations

95. Release your inner monk during a temple stay
96. Get cosy and cramped in a capsule hotel
97. Feel the allure of traditional Japan while staying in a machiya
98. Treat yourself and stay at a ryokan. With private Onsen, just because you can.
99. You don’t need to be in love to enjoy the quirky love hotels
100. Go on the Cheap and spend a night in a Manga/Internet Cafe
101. Chilly stay at the Alpha Resort-Tomamu ice village

Japan Trip, The Mesmerizing Fushimi Inari Shrine and Kyoto Tower

After a few fun days in Osaka it was time to move on to Kyoto, our second stay for our trip. We dragged all of our luggage (bringing a big suitcase was not the best plan) up and down the stairs of the metro station, took the metro and transferred to the JR-Kyoto line for our train to Kyoto. During the ride we enjoyed the picturesque views of mountains and kids in school uniforms. We even saw a few palm trees. What I noticed is that Japanese rivers usually have broad river banks, that usually function as some kind of recreational spot/ park at the same time. You can see people picnicking, playing sports, kids playing…

We arrived in the huge train station of Kyoto. Seriously, it’s massive. There was even a orchestra with ‘Pirates of the Carribean’ music playing when we arrived. And when we went exploring further we also encountered a kimono exhibition and many shops and restaurants. Exiting the station we were met with the warm and humid weather typical of June (minus the rain) and it seemed more hot here than in Osaka. We hadn’t had time to drink or eat anything yet either. Luckily our hotel was quite close to the station and not difficult to find. Our room was tiny, but cheap and clean, and we enjoyed ourselves there. First we decided on our plan for the day, after that we headed to the 7/11 for breakfast sandwiches.
By the way, I plan to write about the hotels I stayed in at the end of this series about my Japan trip, for the people who are interested.

For our trip to Tokyo we wanted to buy discount tickets for the bullet train. So we searched trough the big train station for the shop selling the tickets, which was not an easy task. After asking several people we finally found it. The tickets we bought are called ‘Puratto Kodama Economy Plan’, it allows you to travel the slowest bullet train called Kodama. It costs 9800 yen, about 3500 yen cheaper than what a normal ticket between Kyoto and Tokyo costs for Kodama, and you get a coupon for a free drink, but we didn’t use it. The Kodama takes bout four hours for this route. Just be sure that you buy the ticket in advance!

After that was fixed we went to Fushimi, a small village with even a smaller station. But that doesn’t matter because it is home to the grand Fushimi Inari Taisha (Fushimi from now on). When you exit the station you are faced by a big red torii (gate), so it is hard to miss. We hadn’t entered the premises yet or we were being questioned by a group of school kids, this time about soccer. ‘We like Snidel!’, meaning Sneijder, was their conclusion. Then we finally got to explore Fushimi, undisturbed. I was amazed by the bright colors, thousands of paper cranes and cute fox decorations everywhere. Fushimi is known for the red gates, and seeing them in real life I can say they are mesmerizing. So great. But Fushimi has much more to offer; As I said before there are many pretty decorations and there is a hike along the mountain where you can enjoy the nature, traditional restaurants and a good workout of course! We were really beat after the ‘hike’ but it was more than worth it. It was my favorite place in all of Japan.

Sneaky shot of a Miko priestess

Love the colors

My favorite shot of the entire trip

Before going on the hike there is a small shop. We bought some amulets there for good luck, health for my grandmother and one for a healthy baby for my cousin’s pregnant girlfriend. This is also the place where you can buy prayer votives to write your wish and hang there so your wish can come true. We saw them near the entrance of the temple with pictures of bunnies and temples, but these were even better because they looked like fox heads. And you can draw faces on them!

traditional restaurant on the mountain

refreshment!

Inside the restaurant, you can sit in raised floors.

In the afternoon we returned to Kyoto. We thought it would be a nice time to visit Kyoto Tower to catch the sunset. There wasn’t much of a sunset to see because of the smog or clouds, but the view was good anyway. From the tower you can clearly see that Kyoto is surrounded by mountains. And in between the buildings and street you can see big patches of green which usually indicates a temple. There is also a restaurant in Kyoto Tower and we figured, why not dine fancy for once? But sadly the restaurant was closed. So we ended up at Sukiyaki, a cheap chain restaurants which serves good curry rice and gyudon for a low price. You get your meals so quickly there, I think it didn’t even take two minutes. So it was definitely not fancy, but budget friendly and easy. And we love curry a lot, so no problem!

This reminded me of the snake game on old Nokia phones ;p Taxi Snake!

Kyoto station is huge
Torii are a typical Japanese sight, and in real life they are just as grand as you’d imagine
Fushimi Inari Taisha is a must visit!
And don’t miss out on the hike
There are several restaurants and vending machines along the way, so no need to worry about dehydration.
Make sure you stay hydrated though! Especially in the humid weather.
Japanese grandmas and grandpas are so fit. While we were sweating and puffing, they easily passed us during the hike
The Japanese use cute napkins to wipe their sweat. It’s a good idea to get one too if you sweat a lot in humid weather.
Kyoto Tower gives a nice overview of the city
It is also one of the view tall buildings in Kyoto. There are not many tall buildings in Kyoto to preserve the traditional city scape and views of the city. There are actually many restrictions and different kind of zones when it comes to building in Japan, but I won’t bore you with that now 🙂
Go to Sukiya, Yoshinoya or Matsuya for fast and cheap food.
Curry in Japan is very mild

Japan trip, Takarazuka Theatre and Theme Cafe

Takarazuka is not the first city you think of when visiting Japan, but my friend and I went there for the Takarazuka theatre. This is a theatre with an all-female cast who preform musicals. I first read about this musical group in the manga ‘Japan Ai; A Tall Girl’s Adventures in Japan’, which I really recommend! It is a cutely drawn manga about an American(?) girl’s trip to Japan. So it is more of a guidebook / travel memoir in manga format with cute drawings.

One musical I am personally really passionate about is the Phantom of the Opera. My parents took me to the Phantom of the Opera performance in Antwerp when I was young and ever since then I have been in love with it. When I went to London two years ago I went to watch it again after all those years and I felt the magic all over again. Even when I listen to the songs at home I feel really touched. So when I heard that the Takarazuka theatre regularly plays my favorite musical it made me decide to visit the theatre during my trip to Japan to watch a performance. Unfortunately Phantom of the Opera wasn’t playing during my trip, but my friend and I went to another performance because we thought it would be a nice and unique experience anyway.

The theatre

Takarazuka is a city not far away from Osaka. We took the train and the scenery along the way was really lovely. The views alone are worth the train ride. Takarazuka itself is not a big city, but not small either. It has a nice atmosphere and has a Europe-ish vibe and has a lot of cute decorations throughout the city, like fountains, flowers and many buildings with orange roof tiles (just like at home in the Netherlands). And lots of greenery.

The fountain where we sat down to eat our breakfast

Do you feel like you’re in Europe yet?

The fan culture of the Takarazuka theatre is really big by the way. When we went inside the theatre there was a big fan shop and the fans went crazy buying a whole bunch of stuff like dvds of performances, pictures of their favorite actresses and cute keychains with more pictures. There are a lot of fans who go to every performance of their favorite actress and wait for then outside before and after the performance. But we didn’t see that. We did feel a little out of place because we were the only foreigners there and most of the audience was 40+ years old, but that wasn’t a problem really.

Lucky for us they were playing a traditional Japanese play, which is nice for foreigners like us 🙂 The play was called ‘Utsukishiki Shougai’, or ‘A Beautiful Life’. Even though we couldn’t really understand what they were saying because it was in Japanese, we could guess what was going on by the excessive acting, decors, music, dancing and so on. So no problem! But there was a lot going on so it was really complicated and I forgot most of it. The costumes were so gorgeous though.
The play took a while, but not as long as normal, so after the break another play called ‘Luna Rossa’ started. I have no idea what this was, it was just a lot of singing and dancing combining Egyptian, Ancient Grecian, Indian, western 80’s and modern backpackers elements. And this flowed into the finale where all the actresses put on costumes with huge feathers, a lot of glitters, walking down a flashing staircase and all I can say….. Wow! It was weird, over the top, but so special and entertaining. And most of all impressive.

Sneaky picture I took during the break

poster of the show we watched

In the evening I suggested to go to a theme cafe. I mean, we are in Japan after all! I read about a theme cafe called ‘Taketori Monogatari’. This is also the name of a Japanese folktale about a wood cutter who finds a little girl, moon princess Kaguya, in a hollow bamboo. I’ve always liked this story and princess Kaguya is usually gorgeously illustrated, so in combination with pretty bamboo this theme cafe must be good. And I was right. The interior was very very nice with bamboo and small ponds and even tables with benches shaped as a big cut bamboo. I am sad I didn’t take more pictures of it. And the waitresses wore colorful kimonos and white-red priestess robes. I think the only let down was the food itself. It wasn’t bad, but definitely not good either and for the price it was bad. Because theme cafes are fun but expensive so you would expect some nice food but that was not the case. Out dessert was quite nice, but nothing special. But the experience makes up for it, definitely.

I tried looking for some information about this cafe but I couldn’t find it and have the impression that the cafe is not around anymore. But a cafe with the same theme still seems to be in Ginza, Tokyo.

photo not by me

We are sitting in bamboo! (shot via mirrored ceilings)

With our cute waitress, wearing a mike costume. Blurred out my friends face because I am not sure whether she likes here face in in full size on my blog haha

Notes (^^)

This day we encountered squat toilets for the first time, but didn’t use them. Looks difficult.
Regarding toilets; The normal ones are so futuristic with all their buttons and functions. Looks difficult too.
Heated toilets seats are great
Musical lovers will love Takarazuka! I recommend it
When you don’t speak the language of the country your traveling you will get some surprise foods and drinks.
Pachinko is noisy! Extremely so!
So avoid pachinko parlors if your value your hearing/ears.
Try a theme cafe in Japan! Where else in the world can you dine with a vampire or ninja?

Japan trip, Osaka Castle and History Museum

On our second full day in Osaka we decided to visit the famous Osaka castle. But before that we had to visit an internet cafe. At that time we didn’t have any fancy iPhones or iPads and we didn’t bring our laptop, so we were dependent on computers at our hotel or internet cafe. Since our hotel in Osaka didn’t have a computer (at least, not that we knew of) we went looking for an internet cafe. Luckily we found one soon because we were situated in the touristic area of Dotonbori Street. I didn’t take any pictures inside but I took one of the futuristic looking hallway to the elevator. Very fancy. Inside the cafe there were some simple computers at desks, but there were also private cubicles and even some private cubicle with something that was a crossing between a couch and a bed. Very luxurious but I am not sure if I’d like to sit on it. And there was a massive collection of manga comic books available. I understand now why the internet cafe scene is big in Japan.

Then we made our way to Osaka castle. It is surrounded by parks and castle moats so it is quite the stroll before you arrive at the castle, but very enjoyable. During this stroll I saw one manhole cover with a carving of the castle which was very pretty. The Japanese like to make artworks of their manhole covers. At the moat there was a man who was fishing so we took a little break to watch him and take pictures of the surroundings. There we also saw a man jogging backwards, very peculiar… the funny thing was that the other Japanese people didn’t even look at the backwards jogging guy but were intensely staring and turning their heads when they saw us…

Osaka castle itself is gorgeous, I love the combination of the light blue roof tiles with the golden decorations. In combination with the moats, castle walls and parks it as a nice scene. The inside of the castle is now a museum. Not the best I’ve seen so far, but it was good to learn a little bit about the history of the castle and we saw some awesome war outfits of Japanese generals. But walking this much every day took a toll on our feet so we couldn’t wait to finish the museum and sit down.

We sat down on a bench in front of the castle to give our feet a little bit of rest. There we had a chat with a Japanese old man, who surprisingly new a three words of Dutch (Yes, the second person!). After he left something weird happened. A guy on a bicycle passed us by and stared at us, which happens often so no problem, but then he turned around , rode a circle around us and took a photo of us, and left… Creepy. By then we realized that it was already 3PM and had to move on. We also wanted to visit the History Museum of Osaka nearby the castle so we started to walk through the park making our way to the museum.

Some cute turtles

Because we arrived late we were afraid that we wouldn’t be able to enter but that was no problem. A sad thing is that all the information plaques were in Japanese so it was not catered at foreigners at all. But the museum was so cool! Instead of just artifacts there was even a replica of an Osakan street a hundred years back in time, complete with sounds and mannequins. And there was a smaal replica of an ancient shrine, a collection of traditional costumes and a bridge from the Edo-period. In my opinion the best museum I have visited. A downside was that the permanent collection is only 4 flours big and that the other 7-ish floors were closed, maybe because there were no temporary exhibitions at the time, but we don’t know. But our feet were thankful for the few floors.

The Osaka Museum of History

When you say Osaka, you say Takoyaki and Okonomiyaki. Since we both dislike seafood we didn’t want to try Takoyaki, but Okonomiyaki was definitely a must try for us! And so our quest for Okonomiyaki begin. After wandering for a while we found a restaurant specialized in Okonomiyaki and se we headed in. Immediately we knew we made the right choice. The staff was young and friendly, and funny too. We took our seat at the counter where the food was made right in front of us. We ordered a non-seafood one. I have to say, since then I tried more original ones with a bit of seafood and they are equally nice, despite me hating seafood normally.
The young guy who was preparing our Okonomiyaki and made a small artwork out of the toppings. He was happy when my friend took photos of the cooking proces and offered to take our picture, so it was our first picture together.
It took a long time for us to eat the huge portion and couldn’t finish it in the end. But it was the best and most fun dinner we’d had in Japan.

Back in our rooms we watched tv again. Japanese tv is so funny, especially the commercials.
As you can see in the next pictures; a man talking to a toilet. I have no idea what this ad was about.
And an ad with a super cute dog. The dog appears to be really famous and is usually used in the commercials for this brand (though I forgot which brand). And the last picture is the view from our room at night. It is not the most beautiful view, but I like it because there was always a lot of activity with people and cars and a small park. I liked watching the normal Japanese life go on. And at night it was mesmerizing with all the lights.

Notes :3

Internet cafes are great in Japan
Japanese castles are pretty
Manhole covers in Japan are beautifully decorated, they are some new kind of art
Staff in restaurants will greet you and say goodbye in unison, gotta love it.
Osaka Museum of History is a must visit for history lovers
Okonomiyaki is the best dish you will eat in Osaka
You will get questioned by students at a Japanese tourist site. Prepare for questions like ‘Hello, how are you?’, ‘Do you like sushi?’ and ‘Can I get your signature?’. Students usually get a list of things they need to say to foreigners when on a school trip to practice their English. Or they will just ask you for a photo.

Japan Trip Day Two, Kaiyukan Aquarium Osaka

Our first full day in Osaka was spent at the Kaiyukan aquarium and in the Umeda district.
I just love visiting zoos and aquariums! And Kaiyukan was no exception. The place is divided in the different seas of the world and the animals living there. The great thing is that it wasn’t limited to fish but there were also some cute penguins and mammals like monkeys and capybara which are cute huge hamsters. But Kaiyukan is most famous for the whale sharks. When I saw them is was amazed, they are huge and beautiful. It’s a pity they are stuck in a tank. But it is a few stories high, so that’s a good thing. And the design of the building is great because all the floors are centered around the tank with the whale sharks so you can view them from different places. The exterior of the building is horribly ugly though. But at least you can’t miss it.

I don’t know how I was able to take this picture, but it looks cool right? Like the turtle is flying in front of me.

So Japan is known for the cute culture right? The Japanese name for this is ‘kawaii’ and there are many different kinds of kawaii but you can bet ya that almost anything in Japan is related to kawaii in some way. Kaiyukan couldn’t miss out on this surely, so there was a ‘kawaii collection’ at the aquarium. It seemed like a temporary collection of fishes, but I am not sure. Basically it was a collection of small and colorful fishes, and yes, they were cute indeed.

I loved this little one. He would pop out his head from his home once in a while.

After the aquarium we did little bit of shopping at a nearby small shopping mall with a great clothing shop and a 100-yen shop (so many cheap things!). And we took our first purikura, a cute photo sticker. I really miss purikura and can’t wait to take them again this September. Not only is it kawaii, it is also fun to do and you can let out your creative side. Plus it is a great commemorative! You can even give yourself fake make-up, a new hair color or you can put on some cartoonish eyes and bunny ears. At some point during our trip we started making really weird purikura, but those are the best kind 🙂

Our next stop was Umeda for HEP Five. It is a big Japanese shopping mall with a whole bunch of girly clothing shops. This is when something interesting happened. One of my friend wanted to try on some clothes in on of the shops. They usually sell one-size clothing and for us western girls we really don’t trust them, because one size doesn’t fit all. But the shop staff girl was making a fuss and was saying all kinds of things in Japanese and we just didn’t understand. Then she pulled out this big card with pictures on it and English descriptions and a list of sentences. She pointed at a sentence and we understood that we couldn’t fit the clothes because make-up could get on it. I was just amazed by the fact that they have a card like that and it’s the first time I ever saw it. And I haven’t seen it since.

There are not just shops in HEP Five, on top of the building there’s also a Ferris Wheel. I imagined the view would be amazing and wanted to ride it. It was a little bit scary but cool. The view would have been amazing if it hadn’t rained and wasn’t as cloudy. But the rain on the windows added some charm to the pictures in my opinion.

Photo not by me

Shopping this much makes you hungry, so after you have made your way up the building through all the shops there are conveniently placed restaurant in the top floor. We were also hungry at this point and it was time for dinner. We chose a family restaurant on the top floor where we had tonkatsu-don with kimchi. This portion was so big that we thought we had ordered for two, but it turned out it was for one person. But we shared anyway. And it was delicious! After that day tonkatsu turned into my favorite Japanese food (together with okonomiyaki later) and is a great combination with curry.

Back in our room our beds were already made for us, heavenly! But first we enjoyed some tea and snacks (they refilled our snack box for us, it doesn’t get any better than this), while checking our buys of the day and writing in our dairies. We both like to keep a travel diary, so we are great travel buddies. Instead of partying or going out we like to take a rest in the evening and watch some tv or chat while writing our diaries.

Our hotel was next to Dotonbori street, a nice are to explore before heading back to our hotel.

Notes;

Japan has a lack of public benches and trash cans.
Japan does everything cute, even their fishes (see kawaii collection at Kaiyukan)
Foreigners are still very ‘foreign’ in Osaka despite being a huge city and we got stared at a lot. Sometimes to the point where we felt very uncomfortable (because of people turning their heads or taking photos of us).
Fitting clothes in Japan is not as common as back home and is a huge fuss
Japanese shops are opened until late (in comparison to the Netherlands)
Purikura is awesome
Tourist traps in Japan come in the form if obligatory photos at famous places. Before you enter or after you exit they will take a picture of you (usually forcibly) and try to sell it to you. This was the only tourist trap we encountered though.