OK, finally it has began. I started my journey from Iwakura to Osaka with stop in Nara. Uh! When I looking at my todays distance, then I think, that I can say good by to some of my equipment. To much.
My way will be Route one to Route 25 to Nara. But I have no idea when I will arrive there. Maybe never.^^
Because of the missing Posts from the last three month..I will post them, when I have enough time (now I have time once more again) to extend my notice and correct them and upload all as soon as I can find an open network. Sorry for this fucked up. :-(
See you soon
Marc
Dienstag, 18. September 2012
One quick notice
Until today I'm not able to realize, that I´m in Japan. I still think, that I´m in germany in a big city. But when I see the Kanji and school girls around me, than I know that I´m in Japan. But it still seams so unreal to me, even ater 200 days in this country.
Donnerstag, 5. Juli 2012
Part 3 out now
Part 3 of my crazy journey is now available as pdf. The fourth part is now in press...
Short overwiev of my longest journey in englisch Part 3
greetings
Sysadmin
Short overwiev of my longest journey in englisch Part 3
greetings
Sysadmin
Story’s from Nagoya City - Week 10 to 13
In the tenth week in Nagoya, I’ve visited a lot of different places. On Saturday May 5th, I ride my bike north east of the Nagoya Castle and found the “Mononobe Shrine” . This is a very old place. The small area is surrounded by brand new buildings, so this house looks as if time stopped here in this park more than hundred years ago --amazing. I felt as if it was from a time when samurai existed in Japan.
A few blocks away, I found a brand new reconstructed Shrine. There was nothing special to see, but it is amazing, what the Japanese people are doing. One old man told me once, that the shrines and temple in Japan are disassembled every 20, 40 or 60 years. Then, all broken and damaged parts will be reconstructed and the whole thing will assembled into a brand new shrine. So, the architecture of these old buildings give way to the next young generation and, hopefully, will never get lost.
I’ve seen a lot of garbage on some streets, and I wondered why the Japanese people do such stupid things as litter. All the crap is lying on the street and the crows can easily find a lot of food. In Tokyo I’ve seen a lot of these birds. They are really clever. But, long story extremely short…
Long time ago, the Japanese government says, that everybody has to separate his garbage. And they used transparent plastic bags, so that nobody will mix up the garbage. Some other people will see that the crap is not separated correctly and then there is a lot of trouble…
But on the other hand, the crows are able to see the food in the bags and pick at them. They know the times, when the garbage will collected, and they are waiting on the roof until the first people bring put his garbage.
On the next Monday, I contacted the girl I’ve meet together with Victor and Ken as we walked around Osu in my Cosplay. I had help from Yukari Sensei to write the SMS in Japanese. I met her at the same shop once more again. I was the first one in the store. I walked across the store and was reading the last SMS until a girl walked in. I couldn’t imagine that this girl was the same I´ve meet a few days ago. She looks completely different. Amazing!
A few days later I was with the bicycle in the east of Nagoya. There are a lot of nice old mansions. That reminded me of a computer game. I found a small hill with a nice overview of Nagoya. But the smog covered a lot of the buildings on the horizon. That was kind of lame.
I explored the city in this area a little bit more and I found a big graveyard with a nice old building in the front. This graveyard looks exactly like you maybe know from the movies or animation. That was exciting. I left the place late in the evening, so that I could capture some pictures in the darkness.
I bought a new wig. Victor recommends a pink wig, we’ve found in a store called Bodyline in Osu. The front of the wig was too long and I cut it by myself with my clippers. I was wearing the Cosplay with the new wig and showed it to Victor. He was impressed. Victor and I visited a small Cosplay convention in Gifu near Nagoya. We meet a lot of nice cosplayer. Victor had to pay 1000 YEN to take pictures. That is really strange. The next time, we are staff too, so that we can take pictures for free.
One day, as I was wearing the Cosplay, Victor and I meet Ken Canon. He came from Osaka to visit Victor. At that evening we went to a restaurant. The people in that restaurant looked very confused and impressed at the same time, as I walked in with this cosplay. Some kind of fascinating!
I visited the Nagoya Castle. I was impressed with the walls. Some stones in that wall are so big. But the stones are perfectly in position. And for such a long time! Even if some big earthquakes shakes the stones. Inside of the castle is a museum. The castle was burned down in the Second World War and was reconstructed in 1960. I´ve seen some cosplayer in the park, around the castle. They are right. It is a nice place for cosplaying. But it is not a really original castle. It has elevators and is fully electrified. That is really lame. Victor and his wife brought me to an original castle in Inuyama. This castle is much smaller, but it is an original. That’s good. The overview from the top of that castle is more than amazing.
I traveled a lot across the city. I´ve seen a lot of different places, temples and shrines. I though, that I will show all these interesting stuff to the rest of the world and I open up a new YouTube Channel. Only for videos I filmed during I was riding my bike through the city. I got an idea to attach a tripod to my rear carrier to film the sidewalk. Victor was inspired by this video to make a speed up from his way home. After that, I started to make more of these speed up videos.
During the time in Nagoya I captured a lot of short video clips. And I thought it is time to make something out of it. I made a small movie to the song “Big City Life” from “Mattafix”. I showed this video to Victor and he was impressed with the editing. He planned to film a speed up at the Nagoya Station for more than 5 years. But he didn´t had the time or the courage to do this. One morning, Victor and I went to the Nagoya Station with a tripod and three cameras. My old camcorder filmed the clock for 30 minutes, than the stupid watchman comes to me and tried to say that there is no tripod allowed in this station. Victor came right in time and asked the stranger why. But we didn´t get an answer. That is stupid. But we filmed from 0700 to 0830. With all of this stuff, I made a speed up Video. Victor think that this is a great video. But his wife said that there is no story in this video. Victor thought about an opening and an ending for the Video. So we went back to the Statin to capture something uninteresting to make the video very interesting. The editing takes round about 20 hours. The final export takes around 3 hours. That was a lot of fucking work.
One morning, Victor and I captured the Eclipse from two different positions. Victor made a small Video out of it, but he had so many trouble to upload it, that he lost a lot of views, I think, kind of annoying “YouTube shit”!
During the time in Nagoya, a lot of people watched the videos on Victors channel about me. Some of them have donated some money. I send everyone a thank you mail. But I think this is not good enough. So I decided to make a great thank you video. In this Video, I will say thanks to everybody how had donated some money, with a different background for each person. Victor´s job at the moment is to send me a complete list of the names from everyone. I hope this will be a good way to say thanks!
At first I build my tent in a park north of the Nagoya Castel. The Meijo Park! I had a nice time in this Park. Yes, when it was raining, it was some kind of annoying. But hey! In all this time I saved a lot of money. Around 2000YEN per day! So I only needed some money for food. But some stranger how´ve cut the grass in the park posted a nice message on my tent. I showed this message to Victor and he says this is funny, but I have to move my tent. So I moved my tent more to the west end of Nagoya. I found a small place, some kind of park. But the grass was not cut at this moment. A few days later I had a new message on my tent. I showed this message to victor again. I didn´t take care about this, because I decided to continue my journey on the next Friday. But Victor´s wife was worried about me. So I could sleep two nights at Victor’s house. I think that Victor had something to do with this. This happened two times, and always after I´ve showed Victor the place of my tent and after some morons had cut the grass.
On my last evening in Nagoya, Victor and some of his students decided to give me some kind of Farewell party. We went to a restaurant called Yamachan. That was really great. I was nearly to start crying. All these people I meet in Nagoya where so kind to me. It was not easy for me to left Nagoya. At this evening, Victor drunk a beer! He didn´t take care about his diet. So I had to beat him. Normally I don´t drink any alcohol, but in this case. So I killed the beer really fast. Victor said, Not bad for a crazy German cyclist.^^
I left Nagoya on Friday the first June. I traveled the way from Victor’s house to the Route 1 and followed this route to the west. After a few kilometers I stopped somewhere to take a short brake. A Japanese guy passed by. He turned and started to talk with me. He started in Tokyo a few days ago and want to travel with his bicycle to Kyoto to. We shared the route for round about 20km. He was too fast for me and I needed a break. After that, I lost him. So I was alone once more again.
At the evening, I arrived in Suzuka. I pitched my tent somewhere beside the road between some rice fields. I had a problem with my rear carrier. One screw, how hold the rear carrier at the frame from my bike, brook. I had to fix the problem. I had luck, that there was another hole for a new screw. So I could fix it in 30 minutes.
The next day, I visited the Suzuka Circuit…but …that is a different story.
A few blocks away, I found a brand new reconstructed Shrine. There was nothing special to see, but it is amazing, what the Japanese people are doing. One old man told me once, that the shrines and temple in Japan are disassembled every 20, 40 or 60 years. Then, all broken and damaged parts will be reconstructed and the whole thing will assembled into a brand new shrine. So, the architecture of these old buildings give way to the next young generation and, hopefully, will never get lost.
I’ve seen a lot of garbage on some streets, and I wondered why the Japanese people do such stupid things as litter. All the crap is lying on the street and the crows can easily find a lot of food. In Tokyo I’ve seen a lot of these birds. They are really clever. But, long story extremely short…
Long time ago, the Japanese government says, that everybody has to separate his garbage. And they used transparent plastic bags, so that nobody will mix up the garbage. Some other people will see that the crap is not separated correctly and then there is a lot of trouble…
But on the other hand, the crows are able to see the food in the bags and pick at them. They know the times, when the garbage will collected, and they are waiting on the roof until the first people bring put his garbage.
On the next Monday, I contacted the girl I’ve meet together with Victor and Ken as we walked around Osu in my Cosplay. I had help from Yukari Sensei to write the SMS in Japanese. I met her at the same shop once more again. I was the first one in the store. I walked across the store and was reading the last SMS until a girl walked in. I couldn’t imagine that this girl was the same I´ve meet a few days ago. She looks completely different. Amazing!
A few days later I was with the bicycle in the east of Nagoya. There are a lot of nice old mansions. That reminded me of a computer game. I found a small hill with a nice overview of Nagoya. But the smog covered a lot of the buildings on the horizon. That was kind of lame.
I explored the city in this area a little bit more and I found a big graveyard with a nice old building in the front. This graveyard looks exactly like you maybe know from the movies or animation. That was exciting. I left the place late in the evening, so that I could capture some pictures in the darkness.
I bought a new wig. Victor recommends a pink wig, we’ve found in a store called Bodyline in Osu. The front of the wig was too long and I cut it by myself with my clippers. I was wearing the Cosplay with the new wig and showed it to Victor. He was impressed. Victor and I visited a small Cosplay convention in Gifu near Nagoya. We meet a lot of nice cosplayer. Victor had to pay 1000 YEN to take pictures. That is really strange. The next time, we are staff too, so that we can take pictures for free.
One day, as I was wearing the Cosplay, Victor and I meet Ken Canon. He came from Osaka to visit Victor. At that evening we went to a restaurant. The people in that restaurant looked very confused and impressed at the same time, as I walked in with this cosplay. Some kind of fascinating!
I visited the Nagoya Castle. I was impressed with the walls. Some stones in that wall are so big. But the stones are perfectly in position. And for such a long time! Even if some big earthquakes shakes the stones. Inside of the castle is a museum. The castle was burned down in the Second World War and was reconstructed in 1960. I´ve seen some cosplayer in the park, around the castle. They are right. It is a nice place for cosplaying. But it is not a really original castle. It has elevators and is fully electrified. That is really lame. Victor and his wife brought me to an original castle in Inuyama. This castle is much smaller, but it is an original. That’s good. The overview from the top of that castle is more than amazing.
I traveled a lot across the city. I´ve seen a lot of different places, temples and shrines. I though, that I will show all these interesting stuff to the rest of the world and I open up a new YouTube Channel. Only for videos I filmed during I was riding my bike through the city. I got an idea to attach a tripod to my rear carrier to film the sidewalk. Victor was inspired by this video to make a speed up from his way home. After that, I started to make more of these speed up videos.
During the time in Nagoya I captured a lot of short video clips. And I thought it is time to make something out of it. I made a small movie to the song “Big City Life” from “Mattafix”. I showed this video to Victor and he was impressed with the editing. He planned to film a speed up at the Nagoya Station for more than 5 years. But he didn´t had the time or the courage to do this. One morning, Victor and I went to the Nagoya Station with a tripod and three cameras. My old camcorder filmed the clock for 30 minutes, than the stupid watchman comes to me and tried to say that there is no tripod allowed in this station. Victor came right in time and asked the stranger why. But we didn´t get an answer. That is stupid. But we filmed from 0700 to 0830. With all of this stuff, I made a speed up Video. Victor think that this is a great video. But his wife said that there is no story in this video. Victor thought about an opening and an ending for the Video. So we went back to the Statin to capture something uninteresting to make the video very interesting. The editing takes round about 20 hours. The final export takes around 3 hours. That was a lot of fucking work.
One morning, Victor and I captured the Eclipse from two different positions. Victor made a small Video out of it, but he had so many trouble to upload it, that he lost a lot of views, I think, kind of annoying “YouTube shit”!
During the time in Nagoya, a lot of people watched the videos on Victors channel about me. Some of them have donated some money. I send everyone a thank you mail. But I think this is not good enough. So I decided to make a great thank you video. In this Video, I will say thanks to everybody how had donated some money, with a different background for each person. Victor´s job at the moment is to send me a complete list of the names from everyone. I hope this will be a good way to say thanks!
At first I build my tent in a park north of the Nagoya Castel. The Meijo Park! I had a nice time in this Park. Yes, when it was raining, it was some kind of annoying. But hey! In all this time I saved a lot of money. Around 2000YEN per day! So I only needed some money for food. But some stranger how´ve cut the grass in the park posted a nice message on my tent. I showed this message to Victor and he says this is funny, but I have to move my tent. So I moved my tent more to the west end of Nagoya. I found a small place, some kind of park. But the grass was not cut at this moment. A few days later I had a new message on my tent. I showed this message to victor again. I didn´t take care about this, because I decided to continue my journey on the next Friday. But Victor´s wife was worried about me. So I could sleep two nights at Victor’s house. I think that Victor had something to do with this. This happened two times, and always after I´ve showed Victor the place of my tent and after some morons had cut the grass.
On my last evening in Nagoya, Victor and some of his students decided to give me some kind of Farewell party. We went to a restaurant called Yamachan. That was really great. I was nearly to start crying. All these people I meet in Nagoya where so kind to me. It was not easy for me to left Nagoya. At this evening, Victor drunk a beer! He didn´t take care about his diet. So I had to beat him. Normally I don´t drink any alcohol, but in this case. So I killed the beer really fast. Victor said, Not bad for a crazy German cyclist.^^
I left Nagoya on Friday the first June. I traveled the way from Victor’s house to the Route 1 and followed this route to the west. After a few kilometers I stopped somewhere to take a short brake. A Japanese guy passed by. He turned and started to talk with me. He started in Tokyo a few days ago and want to travel with his bicycle to Kyoto to. We shared the route for round about 20km. He was too fast for me and I needed a break. After that, I lost him. So I was alone once more again.
At the evening, I arrived in Suzuka. I pitched my tent somewhere beside the road between some rice fields. I had a problem with my rear carrier. One screw, how hold the rear carrier at the frame from my bike, brook. I had to fix the problem. I had luck, that there was another hole for a new screw. So I could fix it in 30 minutes.
The next day, I visited the Suzuka Circuit…but …that is a different story.
Sonntag, 13. Mai 2012
Post to myself
I sit at a McDonald’s near Nagoya Castle. I´ve finished a new video (100 Fotos aus Japan / 100 photos of Japan). I´m watching “Big Jap Life”. I can´t still can´t believe, that I´m in Japan and that I have visited so many places. It seems so far away for me, like I´m watching it on TV! But, when I watch the videos that I´ve edited by myself, with my own material, then I get a strange feeling of euphoria and delight. I want to start the next adventure. I want to edit the next video. I´m looking for the next challenge! I want to meet the next group of friends. Check out the next risky thing. I fuck off what other people say. However I sleep in a tent. I am in Japan and I can create such fucking awesome videos. And that is a great fun for me. BAM! In the face!
New Video out now
If finished a new video yesterday in a McDonalds.
100 photos of Japan
Take your time to watch it...round about 12 minutes.^^
100 photos of Japan
Take your time to watch it...round about 12 minutes.^^
Donnerstag, 10. Mai 2012
Story’s from Nagoya City - Week 6 to 9
I told him from my cone-collection and my cosplay. He was very interested in this kind of activities. At this day, Victor, his colleague and me, went to Osu. Victor wanted to show me some stores with Otaku stuff. He showed me a store with a lot of dolls, but I´m not sure if these dolls where an original or not. I better should travel back to Tokyo, to by a mini Super Dollfie from the Showroom. But that is another story.
At the evening, we made a small video together in which we asked for a job. Who can offer any kind of Job, could send a message to Victor. This is really a great thing from him.
Next Day, I had a Job Interview in a Bar, not far away from Victors school. I talked with the owner of this Bar and he says I can work for two hours a day, four days a week. Start tomorrow. But at the next day, nobody show up at the Bar. I went to Victor to tell him the story. He gives me his phone and I called the owner. That was lame.
At the next day (2012-04-15) I had no special plan, so I rode my bike along the street in a housing area north of the Nagoya castle. I found some very interesting places. And I´m sure, that no other foreigner ever visited these places before me. That is one of these things I love at my journey. I have the full freedom to explore everything I´m interested in, at any time. But not forever! That is shame.
On Monday the 16th April, I captured a video in front of my tent. I will try something new. After that, I rode my bike to the next High School and sat there on a wall in front of the school with my notebook to work at this video. One teacher, how went to the school, started to talk with me. I don´t understand what he want, but I could imagine. But I didn´t care, at this moment. A few minutes left until the next teacher left the school in his car. He started to talk to me too. But I couldn´t understand anything. I asked him to talk in English with me, but he couldn´t speak English. So he left
me alone to get help. My notebook battery was nearly empty and before the teacher could catch me with his colleague, I left the school behind me. That was some kind of fun.
On Tuesday the 17th April, I detached the suitcases from my bike, because I recognized a broken plastic angel on the top of one of my suitcases. I went to the Nagoya International Center to get some held to find a teaching job. Back at Victor´s school I send a message to each of the German teaching schools I could find at the list from the Center. Two schools send me a message back.
At April the 19th, Victor, one of his student and me went to Osu. I wore my cosplay at this day. We took some nice photos at. It was really nice to walk around the streets with a semiprofessional photograph. Victor asked some girls, sitting on a bank, for a photo with me together. He can do this, because he can speak Japanese. I bought a tripod. Now I can make really good photos and videos.
The next few days, I spend a lot of time with my tripod and my camera in the city. I tried some new camera angels with the tripod. Some of them were not so excited for my camera. I had to give up some perspective because of the video was shaking so much, that most of it is unusable. I must find a solution to stabilize the camera. Victor was impressed from one of these perspectives and he want to make a video for his YouTube Channel. The video was so much shaking, that he speed it up a lot and killed the sound. The result was very impressive.
On April the 26th, Kumiko, one of Victor´s student, picked me up as I was working for the bar. My job is to hand out flyers. Advertising! Lame, but helps a little bit to stay longer in Japan. She helped me and showed me how to contact the people on the street. At the next day, I tried her strategy and it works much better. Great Job!
With Kumiko, I went for lunch to Yoshinoya. I like Yoshinoya! It is quite good and not so expensive. I want to pay for Kumiko too, because she helped me. But before I could throw the 1000YEN on the table, Kumiko had already paid. Damn! She asked what I want to do now. I wanted to visit the ferris wheel with her together. Normally I had not interests to ride in a ferris wheel, especially when I´m alone. It is some kind of boring. But in that case, I had someone on my side. This was wonderful. I don´t want to leave her at this moment. So we went to the ferris wheel at “Sakae Sunshine”. I could make some nice videos. This time, I paid for us. I don´t know if she really enjoyed this ride.
Memo to myself: I don´t know why, but I wasn´t impressed. I was never impressed from any building in Japan until jet. But, I was so often, so much impressed of the kindness of the people in Japan.
The rest of the week, I travel around the east side of Nagoya searching some interesting things. Maybe some new cones or abandoned bikes! I found a nice old house. To capture the beauty of this building at once, I used a special mode of my camera. A damn nice shot I guess.
On April 27th, I was cutting the pictures from the memory stick of my camera to the hard disk of my notebook. Cutting, not copying! In this case without using the battery. It was fully charged and I want to take care at the battery for a long life. Normally this is no big deal, but the damn plug of the powerfully is not very stable in the plug in the wall. Some kind of risky. Yukari was working with the vacuum cleaner. As she unplugged the power cord from the vacuum cleaner, she hit the power plug from the notebook. At this moment, I was cutting the photos and the notebook shut down immediately. DAMN!!! 19 photos where lost. I spend the whole afternoon to recover them from the memory stick. It takes me so long, because I had to download a nice recovery tool from the internet.
I wasn’t prepared for this kind of accident. Shit happens! Two images are missing forever, but the most imported shot could be rescued by Ontrack.
Once a week, I go to a coin laundry. At April the 28th, the weather was nice and I could dry my clothes in the sun with the help of a small rope between a fence and a tree near my tent. This is one of these things I like in Japan. Nobody has robbed me until yet. I think Japan is a safe country. I think I should find out how much safe. No risk, no fun….
On the next Sunday, I visited the Nagoya Castel. I took over 290 photos. That is good for my statistic. I´ve saw some cosplayer in the park. Damn! At the morning I thought, I should were my cosplay too. But I didn’t do so. Holy crap! It would be nice to walk around the castle with the cosplay. Hm, maybe next time, together, with Victor. But he has no free time.
I was at the Nagoya International Center once more again and asked to sign up for German teaching lessons. But they send me to the Hello Work office. So I went to the Hello Work office shit and asked there for a teaching Job. YES!!! One job and no Japanese required. DAMN! This school wanted a native English speaking teacher. Arg! I don´t get it. But I get another address from the job assistant. I will visit the school in person.
It is golden week in Japan. But I don´t recognized anything of this. Because I have free every day and all shops and stores are open on every day. But some other facilities, like schools are closed. But every day feels like a Saturday to me. This is confusing me from time to time. Hm, what day is today? Sunday?
At May the 2th, Victor and I went to a Softbank shop and asked for a mobile phone. Normally I don´t need a phone, but it is sometimes very useful to have one. Especially in case, that some people can contact me, in case they have a job for me. I bought a small phone with prepay card. Quite expensive!
I use the free time to travel around the city. I have an address from a teaching school but this is closed over the golden week. Next Monday, I will visit the school and ask for a Job.
So I had nothing else do to as to rode down a small street and stopped at a small tatami shop. I thought it is interesting and so I stopped to watch for a while. The people invited me for a small soup and a cup of tea. I showed them some photos of my journey. I want to talk with these people, but I couldn’t. So I called Victor, with my new mobile phone, to get some help for translation. It works fine! The 45 year old guy will contact me, if he had a job for me. This is a bit like in grand theft auto or a roleplaying game. The 73 years old women gave me a banana and a cup of water before I left the tatami shop. I will return to this shop in near future to make a nice video about tatami mates.
On April the 3th, Victor, two of his friend and me went to Osu. I wore my cosplay. Two girls where much impressed from my outfit. I understand the word “kawaii”. I´ve heard it a lot of times and I use this word too, for something cute. Normally I say thanks, and go ahead. But maybe the two girls want some more information. So I called for Victor as translator. Ken, one of Victor´s friend talked to the girls too. He asked the girls if they want my phone number. At this day, I received two new phone numbers from two cute Japanese girls. Maybe I see them again, one day.
A few stores later, we stopped to take a photo with one incredible guy. From one second to the other, so many people stand around us to take photos. That was unbelievable. Ken asked, if I lend the cosplay to him. Hm, maybe…
At the end of our trip to Osu, I was riding on a skateboard with my fucking awesome boots. Hey, these shoes look very nice, but they are not very comfortable.
Victor has a damn highly awesome idea. We went to a maid café. Yeah, it is not a maid café. It is a maid massage store or some kind. But all other thought it is a maid café. So, we went to this “Maid Café” to ask for a job for me. I´m in cosplay, while the camera is running! But, shame! They have no job for me. Maybe in the next episode!?
While I walked back to my bike, Victor and the other two guys went ahead to a Stake House. I´ve meet them there again. We sit all together at one table. At this point, I´m lucky, that I´ve meet Victor. So many people around me, and I can understand most of the conversation between them. I like this. I ordered a “Chicken on the Barbie”. That was not the most expensive thing on the menu.
After the dinner at the Steak house, we went to a Karaoke bar next door. All together! That was my first time in a karaoke bar. I´ve used UltraStar for PC. This is a nice Game like Singstar for PlayStation. But only for some tests. Maybe it is possible to meet these wonderful people again. I had a good time at this day. Even in case, that I could throw my shows away, including me feet’s!^^
Now, the tenth week began, and I´m looking forward to start a new adventure.
At the evening, we made a small video together in which we asked for a job. Who can offer any kind of Job, could send a message to Victor. This is really a great thing from him.
Next Day, I had a Job Interview in a Bar, not far away from Victors school. I talked with the owner of this Bar and he says I can work for two hours a day, four days a week. Start tomorrow. But at the next day, nobody show up at the Bar. I went to Victor to tell him the story. He gives me his phone and I called the owner. That was lame.
At the next day (2012-04-15) I had no special plan, so I rode my bike along the street in a housing area north of the Nagoya castle. I found some very interesting places. And I´m sure, that no other foreigner ever visited these places before me. That is one of these things I love at my journey. I have the full freedom to explore everything I´m interested in, at any time. But not forever! That is shame.
On Monday the 16th April, I captured a video in front of my tent. I will try something new. After that, I rode my bike to the next High School and sat there on a wall in front of the school with my notebook to work at this video. One teacher, how went to the school, started to talk with me. I don´t understand what he want, but I could imagine. But I didn´t care, at this moment. A few minutes left until the next teacher left the school in his car. He started to talk to me too. But I couldn´t understand anything. I asked him to talk in English with me, but he couldn´t speak English. So he left
me alone to get help. My notebook battery was nearly empty and before the teacher could catch me with his colleague, I left the school behind me. That was some kind of fun.
On Tuesday the 17th April, I detached the suitcases from my bike, because I recognized a broken plastic angel on the top of one of my suitcases. I went to the Nagoya International Center to get some held to find a teaching job. Back at Victor´s school I send a message to each of the German teaching schools I could find at the list from the Center. Two schools send me a message back.
At April the 19th, Victor, one of his student and me went to Osu. I wore my cosplay at this day. We took some nice photos at. It was really nice to walk around the streets with a semiprofessional photograph. Victor asked some girls, sitting on a bank, for a photo with me together. He can do this, because he can speak Japanese. I bought a tripod. Now I can make really good photos and videos.
The next few days, I spend a lot of time with my tripod and my camera in the city. I tried some new camera angels with the tripod. Some of them were not so excited for my camera. I had to give up some perspective because of the video was shaking so much, that most of it is unusable. I must find a solution to stabilize the camera. Victor was impressed from one of these perspectives and he want to make a video for his YouTube Channel. The video was so much shaking, that he speed it up a lot and killed the sound. The result was very impressive.
On April the 26th, Kumiko, one of Victor´s student, picked me up as I was working for the bar. My job is to hand out flyers. Advertising! Lame, but helps a little bit to stay longer in Japan. She helped me and showed me how to contact the people on the street. At the next day, I tried her strategy and it works much better. Great Job!
With Kumiko, I went for lunch to Yoshinoya. I like Yoshinoya! It is quite good and not so expensive. I want to pay for Kumiko too, because she helped me. But before I could throw the 1000YEN on the table, Kumiko had already paid. Damn! She asked what I want to do now. I wanted to visit the ferris wheel with her together. Normally I had not interests to ride in a ferris wheel, especially when I´m alone. It is some kind of boring. But in that case, I had someone on my side. This was wonderful. I don´t want to leave her at this moment. So we went to the ferris wheel at “Sakae Sunshine”. I could make some nice videos. This time, I paid for us. I don´t know if she really enjoyed this ride.
Memo to myself: I don´t know why, but I wasn´t impressed. I was never impressed from any building in Japan until jet. But, I was so often, so much impressed of the kindness of the people in Japan.
The rest of the week, I travel around the east side of Nagoya searching some interesting things. Maybe some new cones or abandoned bikes! I found a nice old house. To capture the beauty of this building at once, I used a special mode of my camera. A damn nice shot I guess.
On April 27th, I was cutting the pictures from the memory stick of my camera to the hard disk of my notebook. Cutting, not copying! In this case without using the battery. It was fully charged and I want to take care at the battery for a long life. Normally this is no big deal, but the damn plug of the powerfully is not very stable in the plug in the wall. Some kind of risky. Yukari was working with the vacuum cleaner. As she unplugged the power cord from the vacuum cleaner, she hit the power plug from the notebook. At this moment, I was cutting the photos and the notebook shut down immediately. DAMN!!! 19 photos where lost. I spend the whole afternoon to recover them from the memory stick. It takes me so long, because I had to download a nice recovery tool from the internet.
I wasn’t prepared for this kind of accident. Shit happens! Two images are missing forever, but the most imported shot could be rescued by Ontrack.
Once a week, I go to a coin laundry. At April the 28th, the weather was nice and I could dry my clothes in the sun with the help of a small rope between a fence and a tree near my tent. This is one of these things I like in Japan. Nobody has robbed me until yet. I think Japan is a safe country. I think I should find out how much safe. No risk, no fun….
On the next Sunday, I visited the Nagoya Castel. I took over 290 photos. That is good for my statistic. I´ve saw some cosplayer in the park. Damn! At the morning I thought, I should were my cosplay too. But I didn’t do so. Holy crap! It would be nice to walk around the castle with the cosplay. Hm, maybe next time, together, with Victor. But he has no free time.
I was at the Nagoya International Center once more again and asked to sign up for German teaching lessons. But they send me to the Hello Work office. So I went to the Hello Work office shit and asked there for a teaching Job. YES!!! One job and no Japanese required. DAMN! This school wanted a native English speaking teacher. Arg! I don´t get it. But I get another address from the job assistant. I will visit the school in person.
It is golden week in Japan. But I don´t recognized anything of this. Because I have free every day and all shops and stores are open on every day. But some other facilities, like schools are closed. But every day feels like a Saturday to me. This is confusing me from time to time. Hm, what day is today? Sunday?
At May the 2th, Victor and I went to a Softbank shop and asked for a mobile phone. Normally I don´t need a phone, but it is sometimes very useful to have one. Especially in case, that some people can contact me, in case they have a job for me. I bought a small phone with prepay card. Quite expensive!
I use the free time to travel around the city. I have an address from a teaching school but this is closed over the golden week. Next Monday, I will visit the school and ask for a Job.
So I had nothing else do to as to rode down a small street and stopped at a small tatami shop. I thought it is interesting and so I stopped to watch for a while. The people invited me for a small soup and a cup of tea. I showed them some photos of my journey. I want to talk with these people, but I couldn’t. So I called Victor, with my new mobile phone, to get some help for translation. It works fine! The 45 year old guy will contact me, if he had a job for me. This is a bit like in grand theft auto or a roleplaying game. The 73 years old women gave me a banana and a cup of water before I left the tatami shop. I will return to this shop in near future to make a nice video about tatami mates.
On April the 3th, Victor, two of his friend and me went to Osu. I wore my cosplay. Two girls where much impressed from my outfit. I understand the word “kawaii”. I´ve heard it a lot of times and I use this word too, for something cute. Normally I say thanks, and go ahead. But maybe the two girls want some more information. So I called for Victor as translator. Ken, one of Victor´s friend talked to the girls too. He asked the girls if they want my phone number. At this day, I received two new phone numbers from two cute Japanese girls. Maybe I see them again, one day.
A few stores later, we stopped to take a photo with one incredible guy. From one second to the other, so many people stand around us to take photos. That was unbelievable. Ken asked, if I lend the cosplay to him. Hm, maybe…
At the end of our trip to Osu, I was riding on a skateboard with my fucking awesome boots. Hey, these shoes look very nice, but they are not very comfortable.
Victor has a damn highly awesome idea. We went to a maid café. Yeah, it is not a maid café. It is a maid massage store or some kind. But all other thought it is a maid café. So, we went to this “Maid Café” to ask for a job for me. I´m in cosplay, while the camera is running! But, shame! They have no job for me. Maybe in the next episode!?
While I walked back to my bike, Victor and the other two guys went ahead to a Stake House. I´ve meet them there again. We sit all together at one table. At this point, I´m lucky, that I´ve meet Victor. So many people around me, and I can understand most of the conversation between them. I like this. I ordered a “Chicken on the Barbie”. That was not the most expensive thing on the menu.
After the dinner at the Steak house, we went to a Karaoke bar next door. All together! That was my first time in a karaoke bar. I´ve used UltraStar for PC. This is a nice Game like Singstar for PlayStation. But only for some tests. Maybe it is possible to meet these wonderful people again. I had a good time at this day. Even in case, that I could throw my shows away, including me feet’s!^^
Now, the tenth week began, and I´m looking forward to start a new adventure.
Freitag, 4. Mai 2012
Big Jap Life
My first in Japan edited video. A snapshot from my bike-journey with videos I´ve captured in Tokyo, Yokohama, Kamakura, Numazu and Nagoya
Big Jap Life
Big Jap Life
Dienstag, 1. Mai 2012
Short english overwiev of my journey
I know that the first three weeks in Tokyo are not very interesting. But I want to describe a little of my time in Tokyo.
The first three weeks - Tokyo.
I arrived in Tokyo Narita Airport on a sunny Saturday (03.02.2012). Around 12:00 noon. I traveled by train (Keisei Line) from Narita to Ueno Station in Tokyo. I asked several different people for directions. From Ueno I took the “JR Line” train to “Minami Senju”. From there, I walked to my hostel where I stayed for the first week.
The first week in Tokyo was easy, because I had planned everything out in advance. I ordered an alien registration card, visited different interesting places (Akihabara 3x, Harajuku3x, Shibuja 2x, Shinjuku 3x, Tokio Tower 1x, Tsukuji Fishmarket 2x, Ginza 3x, Asakusa 4x, Roppongi 2x) I took a lot of photos of nearly everything (over 1,200 in three weeks).
I meet a young boy from “Boston” one day at my Hostel. He planned to go to “Shinjuku” to take some photos by night. I asked him, if I could join him. So we went to “Shinjuku” together and took some nice shots. He shows me the beauty of the night shots. From this day on, I started to use the manual modus of my camera more often to take pictures. It was a great pleasure to meet this guy.
On a few occasions, I met several German people at my hostel. They stayed only a few days in Tokyo. One group of five young people wanted to travel around Japan by car over a ten day period. That must have been a nice adventure too.
I wore my Cosplay two times in “Harajuku”. The first time was on a Sunday. The second was the day I stayed in Tokyo. I hoped to see some Gothic Lolitas on this day. But I couldn´t find anyone. Shame! On this day, I brook one nail of my left foot. The nail was a little bit too long for my shoes. What a crap. What a damn fucking crap! This hurt at every step and I had no shoes to change into. It will take a lot of time until this nail is totally recovered. Next time I have to take care of my nails.
The second time I’ve wore Coplay in “Harajuku” was in the third week. Some people wanted to take a photo with me. That was fantastic. One guy, after taking a picture with me said says “Cosplay makes life more interesting…” He was right.
I visited the "Tsukiji Fischmarket" two times. I wanted to visit the Tuna auction. I was there at 0500 but they kicked me out of this area. Visitors can access this area only after 0900. For the tuna action you have to register first. Shame! So I wasted my time at this place two times. But I could see a big fat rat between all these fucking fish. Hm. Not so clean I think…..
I visited the "Tokyo Tower." From the 250m platform I took a picture out of every window. Later, I want to make a 360° panorama picture with all these photos. This will be good practice.
I had a job interview at a BAR, called “The new Matrix BAR” but the boss searched for someone who had a little bit of bar experience. Shame too.
I had a Job interview in a restaurant. They sell sausages from Germany. But without Japanese skill, I couldn't get this Job. Fucking crap!
For the second and third week, I had to find a new hostel, because of, the hostel didn’t had enough free rooms. So I moved from “Aizuya Inn” to “Kohasan Annex” in “Asakusa”.
I search a long time for a good bike. Yes! Searched! Because, I inspected a lot of bike shops in the districts I´ve visited. I found one good bike. But it was more expensive than I wanted to spend on a bike. But, shit! This is a nice bike and I want this one. So I bought it for 378000YEN. Damn! Quite expensive!
Most the time, I walked alone around the different districts. I had a step counter. Every day I walked round about 20km. One day the counter stops at 25km. I guess, that I walked over 500km in this three weeks.
I wasted most of my money on the hostel. And some money for the food and restaurants. I decided to buy a “mini SuperDollfie” for round about ￥40,000 yen. That is the last thing I want to buy in Japan, before I have to leave this country.
The next two weeks - Leaving Tokyo to arriving Nagoya
First I thought that I´ve booked one more night in the Hostel, but shit! I have to leave Tokyo one day earlier as I thought. So I had to find a solution to carry all my stuff with me. No trailer for my bike. No Bikeshop think it is possible to build a rear carrier to this MTB. I was nearly to stay this night under a bridge, but I had to find a damn good solution. I traveled the whole afternoon across the city to find a trailer for the bike. No chance! I found a big Store called “Olympic” I bought a rear carrier for 27inches bikes (my bikes is 26inches) and some tools. With this, I was able to assemble the rear carrier to the MTB. First problem solved! Next was to stretch the two big suitcases to the rear carrier. This was not so easy, but finally I made it. I can´t go very fast, with the 50kg suitcases and the 15kg backpack.
I started in Tokyo at 2200 on a Saturday (24.03.2012) and travel south. Always south, on route number one. I stopped at “Tokyo Big Sign”. I want to travel over the “Rainbow Bridge”, but at 2am on Sunday, the damn bridge was closed. I stopped at convenient stores several times to buy some food for the journey and to take some photos at night and early at the morning (5am on Sunday) at a McDonalds for breakfast.
I traveled ahead to “Kawasaki”. I´ve made a nice panorama shot, near a river. I was riding the bike along this river, crossed some roads and went in the wrong direction. I only had a small map and a compass. I was riding in the north direction in state of south. In one village I asked a young man for the way to Mt. Fuji. He says I can follow the route one to Yokohama - Odawara. So I continued my journey on the Highway. Most time, it was easy to climb up the slopes. But this will change in the future. Damn!
I stopped a lot of times for taking photos, asking for the way, eating something and going to the toilet. Finally I reached Totsuka at 3pm on Sunday. I pitched my tent under a small bright next to a river. Not very comfortable, but the best place, in case it started to rain. The total distant was over 57km. First I want to stay only one night, but see what happened.
Next day, I sit at a McDonald's to charge my batteries (laptop, camera) I was to tired to continue today. So I stayed one more night. Next day, one young Japanese student was sitting in front of my tent and he invited me to go with him to "Kamakura". This was the first time, that I meet a kindly Japanese student. And it was so great, that he had shown me "Kamakura".
The next day, I planned to start. The young guy came around again and asked me to visit Yokohama Chinatown with him, but I told him I want to travel ahead to Mt. Fuji. Only 30 minutes later, an old man talked to me and invited me to stay at his flat until Sunday to join him and his friend at a Hanami party on Sunday.
At this small home stay, I was able to visit different places around Totsuka. Yes, “Yokohama Chinatown” too. This damn friendly old man, have a restaurant. I could work at his restaurant for two days, to pay for the Hanami party. This was fine with me. I could use his internet connection and bathroom. So I had no problem working for him.
On Monday (one week after I left Tokyo) I continued my journey to Mt. Fuji. I left the family at 9am and I rode until 4pm. I pitched my tent next to road 246. This wasn´t a quite night!
The next day, I had to leave route 246. I needed to search for a bank to get some money and a supermarket to get some food. On this day, my total distant is round about 6km, because it started to rain. I build my tent next to the road and I hoped the rain would stop soon. Holy shit! This wasn't a normal rainfall. This was a fucking hard storm. At the evening, I had to find someone to help me to rescue my tent, my suitcases and myself from the storm. I found a nice family near my tent. They helped me save my stuff and I could stay there for the night. The friendly woman made a damn good lunch and breakfast for me. I was so glad to stay there for the night.
On the next day, I reached the bottom of Mt. Fuji after a quit hard journey. There was some incredible slopes on the way, but finally I made it. I try to climb as high as possible up to the surface of the mountain. My way was blocked by an avalanche on the road and finally by snow. First I thought it is no problem for me to reach the top, but as I saw the snowstorm on the top through my camera, I was so angry. I had to reach the crappie top but for me it was impossible at that moment. Now I wanted to leave Japan as soon as possible, because I could reach my goal. It was my plan to take photos from the top of this fucking snowy mountain. But NO WAY! At this evening, I had no plan, as to what I should do next. From far, far away it looks so easy to climb the mountain. But if you come closer and closer it seems more and more impossible. Grrrrrrr….
In front of a Lawson Station I meet a guy from the Japanese Army. He was so kind to bring me and my bike to “Numazu” in the next Capsule Hotel, so that I can sleep this night in a warm bed. He wished me a good journey and I have to thank this young man for his incredible kind help. I wish I could meet him once more again to thank him.
The next morning, I decided to continue to Nagoya. Thanks to meeting this solder I had new hope to reach my final destination. I rode my bike on the route one over 30km until a stupid police officer stopped me with his motorbike and tried to explain me that I can´t ride my bike on this motorway. So I had to leave the route one. I find a small place for my tent somewhere in “Shimizu”. Until this place, I rode my bike over 200km with this fucking awesome, heavy suitcases, and I want to travel by train to Nagoya. But this is so expensive and I had to disassemble my bike. No! That is too much work for me. I pitched the tent by the riverside.
The next morning, as I was about to start, an old women began to talk to me. She invited me in for a cup of coffee at her house. This old woman gave me new hope and power to continue my fucking hard journey. I rode down the street until I crossed the route one once again. I followed the Route a few kilometers. I had to climb a lot of slopes. There were also a lot of fucking tunnels. I love tunnels, because it is easier as to ride over the mountains, but the stupid trucks behind me didn’t love me on the road. That was just a little bit too dangerous sometimes. </span>
For the next night, I pitched the tent a hundred meters beside the route one near a small river. Two old women recognized me as I start to assemble my tent. One of them gave me some heating pads for the night, because it could be cold. The other woman brought me a rice ball and a bottle of hot green tee. That was so kind of these old women. It was unbelievable.
The next day (the sixth week in Japan began now, left Tokyo two weeks ago), I traveled trough some more tunnels and really beautiful landscape. I reached a point where Tokyo is now over 200km far away and Nagoya 163km far away. I rushed through a small town and stopped for the night near a bridge beside a river.
At this night, some idiots walked around to my tent. One of them said "Ohayo". I responded with "Ohayo gozaimasu". The two men were very surprised. The one talked in Japanese to me, but I couldn’t understand anything. I said "eigo onegaishimasu" The man responded with "wakarimasen" Yeah, I thought so too. I asked with "ima nanji desuka" for the time. The man looked up the time at his watch an says something with "sanji…". I thought, what the hell. Tree o´clock in the morning? Where is my Mobil phone? Damn. 0320 on a Sunday morning (08.04.2012)! I crawled out of my tent and asked what happened. A damn police officer and his stupid colleague! They wanted to know where I´m going to, I thought. So I say Nagoya. He asked some other kind of "..doko.." and I says Tokyo. He was confused. He asked "Start in Nagoya!?" I answered "No, start in Tokyo, go to Nagoya. He couldn’t believe that I´m traveled so far with this bike. He wanted to see my passport, but I showed him my business card. But this was not enough. I showed him another card. As had recognized that I come from Germany, he wishes me a nice trip and then the two cops left me alone. That was such an amazing story!
After more than one week of traveling by bike, over the fucking mountains and through the dark tunnels and such a beautiful landscape I finally reached Nagoya. What an incredible story, isn’t it? Sometimes it was so hard that I want to give up. I tried to hitchhike, but nobody stopped. I tried to use the train, but only if I throw my bike away. Now, I´m in Nagoya! What happen next? What will I do in this city? Or better, what can I do in this city?
My Route in names:
Asakusa - Shinagawa - Saiwai - Kawasaki - Tsurumi - Kanagawa - Nishi - Minami - Yokohama - Totsuka - Izumi - Ebina - Isehara - Matsuda - Oyama - Mt. Fuji - Gotenba - Susono - Nagaizumi - Numazu - Fuji - Shizuoka - Shimizu - Suruga - Shimada - Kikugawa - Hamamatsu - Toyohashi - Maibara - Nagoya - ?
Name = stop for sleeping
Week six to eight - Story’s from Nagoya City
The first night in Nagoya was not the best and not the worst. But I had to find a place for my tent for a long time and a job for a short time. I asked at the local Hello work. No chance, without Japanese skill. I can´t believe it. Is this the end? No, not until I have some money. I try to find a place for the tent. North o Nagoya Castel is a big park. I will try my luck at this place. There are so many people, sitting on a blue tarpaulin. This looks interesting and I try to make some photos. One man recognized me and invited me to join him and his colleagues at the hanami-party. This was such a kind guy. So many people from these company where interested in me and my story. I could stay one night at the flat from the man how has invited me to the hanami party. So many people are very helpful in this country. This is unbelievable. This is so awesome, amazing and fucking wonderful.
At the next Morning! (10.04.2012 - sixth week in Japan) I had a lot of time and travel without a destination across the city. I meet one old man on the street. He asked me if I'm from Germany and if this is my bike. He invited me to a cup of coffee. Then he joined me for lunch in a curry restaurant. He was so kind to pay the bill at a curry restaurant for him and me. He says he had more money than I. Maybe he is right. Next, he showed me the Atsuta Shrine. He lives next to the Shrine.
After this, I travel back to Mejio park, north of Nagoya castle to set up my tent for the next few weeks. The next morning I thought I should detach the suitcases from the bike, so that I can ride faster across the city. But I started at this day with the suitcase to explore the city. That was a fucking luck, because only with these suitcases I was able to meet an American guy called Victor on the street. He was so impressed by my suitcases that he stopped me to take a photo from my bike. I asked him for an internet café. But he says, I can use his internet access at his school. That was great.
At this Point, the longest journey began…
The first three weeks - Tokyo.
I arrived in Tokyo Narita Airport on a sunny Saturday (03.02.2012). Around 12:00 noon. I traveled by train (Keisei Line) from Narita to Ueno Station in Tokyo. I asked several different people for directions. From Ueno I took the “JR Line” train to “Minami Senju”. From there, I walked to my hostel where I stayed for the first week.
The first week in Tokyo was easy, because I had planned everything out in advance. I ordered an alien registration card, visited different interesting places (Akihabara 3x, Harajuku3x, Shibuja 2x, Shinjuku 3x, Tokio Tower 1x, Tsukuji Fishmarket 2x, Ginza 3x, Asakusa 4x, Roppongi 2x) I took a lot of photos of nearly everything (over 1,200 in three weeks).
I meet a young boy from “Boston” one day at my Hostel. He planned to go to “Shinjuku” to take some photos by night. I asked him, if I could join him. So we went to “Shinjuku” together and took some nice shots. He shows me the beauty of the night shots. From this day on, I started to use the manual modus of my camera more often to take pictures. It was a great pleasure to meet this guy.
On a few occasions, I met several German people at my hostel. They stayed only a few days in Tokyo. One group of five young people wanted to travel around Japan by car over a ten day period. That must have been a nice adventure too.
I wore my Cosplay two times in “Harajuku”. The first time was on a Sunday. The second was the day I stayed in Tokyo. I hoped to see some Gothic Lolitas on this day. But I couldn´t find anyone. Shame! On this day, I brook one nail of my left foot. The nail was a little bit too long for my shoes. What a crap. What a damn fucking crap! This hurt at every step and I had no shoes to change into. It will take a lot of time until this nail is totally recovered. Next time I have to take care of my nails.
The second time I’ve wore Coplay in “Harajuku” was in the third week. Some people wanted to take a photo with me. That was fantastic. One guy, after taking a picture with me said says “Cosplay makes life more interesting…” He was right.
I visited the "Tsukiji Fischmarket" two times. I wanted to visit the Tuna auction. I was there at 0500 but they kicked me out of this area. Visitors can access this area only after 0900. For the tuna action you have to register first. Shame! So I wasted my time at this place two times. But I could see a big fat rat between all these fucking fish. Hm. Not so clean I think…..
I visited the "Tokyo Tower." From the 250m platform I took a picture out of every window. Later, I want to make a 360° panorama picture with all these photos. This will be good practice.
I had a job interview at a BAR, called “The new Matrix BAR” but the boss searched for someone who had a little bit of bar experience. Shame too.
I had a Job interview in a restaurant. They sell sausages from Germany. But without Japanese skill, I couldn't get this Job. Fucking crap!
For the second and third week, I had to find a new hostel, because of, the hostel didn’t had enough free rooms. So I moved from “Aizuya Inn” to “Kohasan Annex” in “Asakusa”.
I search a long time for a good bike. Yes! Searched! Because, I inspected a lot of bike shops in the districts I´ve visited. I found one good bike. But it was more expensive than I wanted to spend on a bike. But, shit! This is a nice bike and I want this one. So I bought it for 378000YEN. Damn! Quite expensive!
Most the time, I walked alone around the different districts. I had a step counter. Every day I walked round about 20km. One day the counter stops at 25km. I guess, that I walked over 500km in this three weeks.
I wasted most of my money on the hostel. And some money for the food and restaurants. I decided to buy a “mini SuperDollfie” for round about ￥40,000 yen. That is the last thing I want to buy in Japan, before I have to leave this country.
The next two weeks - Leaving Tokyo to arriving Nagoya
First I thought that I´ve booked one more night in the Hostel, but shit! I have to leave Tokyo one day earlier as I thought. So I had to find a solution to carry all my stuff with me. No trailer for my bike. No Bikeshop think it is possible to build a rear carrier to this MTB. I was nearly to stay this night under a bridge, but I had to find a damn good solution. I traveled the whole afternoon across the city to find a trailer for the bike. No chance! I found a big Store called “Olympic” I bought a rear carrier for 27inches bikes (my bikes is 26inches) and some tools. With this, I was able to assemble the rear carrier to the MTB. First problem solved! Next was to stretch the two big suitcases to the rear carrier. This was not so easy, but finally I made it. I can´t go very fast, with the 50kg suitcases and the 15kg backpack.
I started in Tokyo at 2200 on a Saturday (24.03.2012) and travel south. Always south, on route number one. I stopped at “Tokyo Big Sign”. I want to travel over the “Rainbow Bridge”, but at 2am on Sunday, the damn bridge was closed. I stopped at convenient stores several times to buy some food for the journey and to take some photos at night and early at the morning (5am on Sunday) at a McDonalds for breakfast.
I traveled ahead to “Kawasaki”. I´ve made a nice panorama shot, near a river. I was riding the bike along this river, crossed some roads and went in the wrong direction. I only had a small map and a compass. I was riding in the north direction in state of south. In one village I asked a young man for the way to Mt. Fuji. He says I can follow the route one to Yokohama - Odawara. So I continued my journey on the Highway. Most time, it was easy to climb up the slopes. But this will change in the future. Damn!
I stopped a lot of times for taking photos, asking for the way, eating something and going to the toilet. Finally I reached Totsuka at 3pm on Sunday. I pitched my tent under a small bright next to a river. Not very comfortable, but the best place, in case it started to rain. The total distant was over 57km. First I want to stay only one night, but see what happened.
Next day, I sit at a McDonald's to charge my batteries (laptop, camera) I was to tired to continue today. So I stayed one more night. Next day, one young Japanese student was sitting in front of my tent and he invited me to go with him to "Kamakura". This was the first time, that I meet a kindly Japanese student. And it was so great, that he had shown me "Kamakura".
The next day, I planned to start. The young guy came around again and asked me to visit Yokohama Chinatown with him, but I told him I want to travel ahead to Mt. Fuji. Only 30 minutes later, an old man talked to me and invited me to stay at his flat until Sunday to join him and his friend at a Hanami party on Sunday.
At this small home stay, I was able to visit different places around Totsuka. Yes, “Yokohama Chinatown” too. This damn friendly old man, have a restaurant. I could work at his restaurant for two days, to pay for the Hanami party. This was fine with me. I could use his internet connection and bathroom. So I had no problem working for him.
On Monday (one week after I left Tokyo) I continued my journey to Mt. Fuji. I left the family at 9am and I rode until 4pm. I pitched my tent next to road 246. This wasn´t a quite night!
The next day, I had to leave route 246. I needed to search for a bank to get some money and a supermarket to get some food. On this day, my total distant is round about 6km, because it started to rain. I build my tent next to the road and I hoped the rain would stop soon. Holy shit! This wasn't a normal rainfall. This was a fucking hard storm. At the evening, I had to find someone to help me to rescue my tent, my suitcases and myself from the storm. I found a nice family near my tent. They helped me save my stuff and I could stay there for the night. The friendly woman made a damn good lunch and breakfast for me. I was so glad to stay there for the night.
On the next day, I reached the bottom of Mt. Fuji after a quit hard journey. There was some incredible slopes on the way, but finally I made it. I try to climb as high as possible up to the surface of the mountain. My way was blocked by an avalanche on the road and finally by snow. First I thought it is no problem for me to reach the top, but as I saw the snowstorm on the top through my camera, I was so angry. I had to reach the crappie top but for me it was impossible at that moment. Now I wanted to leave Japan as soon as possible, because I could reach my goal. It was my plan to take photos from the top of this fucking snowy mountain. But NO WAY! At this evening, I had no plan, as to what I should do next. From far, far away it looks so easy to climb the mountain. But if you come closer and closer it seems more and more impossible. Grrrrrrr….
In front of a Lawson Station I meet a guy from the Japanese Army. He was so kind to bring me and my bike to “Numazu” in the next Capsule Hotel, so that I can sleep this night in a warm bed. He wished me a good journey and I have to thank this young man for his incredible kind help. I wish I could meet him once more again to thank him.
The next morning, I decided to continue to Nagoya. Thanks to meeting this solder I had new hope to reach my final destination. I rode my bike on the route one over 30km until a stupid police officer stopped me with his motorbike and tried to explain me that I can´t ride my bike on this motorway. So I had to leave the route one. I find a small place for my tent somewhere in “Shimizu”. Until this place, I rode my bike over 200km with this fucking awesome, heavy suitcases, and I want to travel by train to Nagoya. But this is so expensive and I had to disassemble my bike. No! That is too much work for me. I pitched the tent by the riverside.
The next morning, as I was about to start, an old women began to talk to me. She invited me in for a cup of coffee at her house. This old woman gave me new hope and power to continue my fucking hard journey. I rode down the street until I crossed the route one once again. I followed the Route a few kilometers. I had to climb a lot of slopes. There were also a lot of fucking tunnels. I love tunnels, because it is easier as to ride over the mountains, but the stupid trucks behind me didn’t love me on the road. That was just a little bit too dangerous sometimes. </span>
For the next night, I pitched the tent a hundred meters beside the route one near a small river. Two old women recognized me as I start to assemble my tent. One of them gave me some heating pads for the night, because it could be cold. The other woman brought me a rice ball and a bottle of hot green tee. That was so kind of these old women. It was unbelievable.
The next day (the sixth week in Japan began now, left Tokyo two weeks ago), I traveled trough some more tunnels and really beautiful landscape. I reached a point where Tokyo is now over 200km far away and Nagoya 163km far away. I rushed through a small town and stopped for the night near a bridge beside a river.
After more than one week of traveling by bike, over the fucking mountains and through the dark tunnels and such a beautiful landscape I finally reached Nagoya. What an incredible story, isn’t it? Sometimes it was so hard that I want to give up. I tried to hitchhike, but nobody stopped. I tried to use the train, but only if I throw my bike away. Now, I´m in Nagoya! What happen next? What will I do in this city? Or better, what can I do in this city?
My Route in names:
Asakusa - Shinagawa - Saiwai - Kawasaki - Tsurumi - Kanagawa - Nishi - Minami - Yokohama - Totsuka - Izumi - Ebina - Isehara - Matsuda - Oyama - Mt. Fuji - Gotenba - Susono - Nagaizumi - Numazu - Fuji - Shizuoka - Shimizu - Suruga - Shimada - Kikugawa - Hamamatsu - Toyohashi - Maibara - Nagoya - ?
Name = stop for sleeping
Week six to eight - Story’s from Nagoya City
The first night in Nagoya was not the best and not the worst. But I had to find a place for my tent for a long time and a job for a short time. I asked at the local Hello work. No chance, without Japanese skill. I can´t believe it. Is this the end? No, not until I have some money. I try to find a place for the tent. North o Nagoya Castel is a big park. I will try my luck at this place. There are so many people, sitting on a blue tarpaulin. This looks interesting and I try to make some photos. One man recognized me and invited me to join him and his colleagues at the hanami-party. This was such a kind guy. So many people from these company where interested in me and my story. I could stay one night at the flat from the man how has invited me to the hanami party. So many people are very helpful in this country. This is unbelievable. This is so awesome, amazing and fucking wonderful.
At the next Morning! (10.04.2012 - sixth week in Japan) I had a lot of time and travel without a destination across the city. I meet one old man on the street. He asked me if I'm from Germany and if this is my bike. He invited me to a cup of coffee. Then he joined me for lunch in a curry restaurant. He was so kind to pay the bill at a curry restaurant for him and me. He says he had more money than I. Maybe he is right. Next, he showed me the Atsuta Shrine. He lives next to the Shrine.
After this, I travel back to Mejio park, north of Nagoya castle to set up my tent for the next few weeks. The next morning I thought I should detach the suitcases from the bike, so that I can ride faster across the city. But I started at this day with the suitcase to explore the city. That was a fucking luck, because only with these suitcases I was able to meet an American guy called Victor on the street. He was so impressed by my suitcases that he stopped me to take a photo from my bike. I asked him for an internet café. But he says, I can use his internet access at his school. That was great.
At this Point, the longest journey began…
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