Parents in tokyo pt 1. 

Mum and dad visited for a week. Such luxury, both to hang out with them and do all the things i never have time to do and try more amazing food. 

We spent one night in the legendary Fuji-ya Ryokan in Hakone, the oldest hotel in Japan, where people like Einstein, Charlie Chaplin and John Lennon have stayed. 

We visited som many nice museums, the Hakone open air museum was a pleasant surprise.

Above are some pictures from the Hakone trip!

Downhill Japan

One of my biggest hobbies is going really fast down a steep paved hill on a skateboard. I have the great honor to ride with the best Downhill Longboard team in japan, @Kanto, which I found through the community silverfishlongboarding.com. Here are some pics from our search for the perfect hills outside Tokyo. 

These are some photos from an event just after new year. It is an event called Mochitsuki where friends and family gather to take turns and beat up soaked rice with an enormous mallett. Completely normal of course. Well who is a swede to talk about weird traditions…

A panda ate my computer so I haven’t been able to update in a long time. No seriously, a Ninja stole it and sold it to Korea. 

Well, either way, I’m back and will deliver stunning content from this period of absence. Just don’t expect it to come in a very chronological order. 

From now on I’ll try to update a little more regularly, even if it’s just one picture or one line of text. Short form content is all the rage these days so it should be ok, right?

I climbed Takao-san a 900m mountain. A 45 min train ride west of Tokyo.

New year in tokyo

Well to say the least it was a night of contrast. It started out with a superb traditional new years dinner at home with friends of the Yokota family. They had brought a traditional new year food bento box from Kyoto. The food found in this beautifully arranged box has to be preserved or cooked so that it lasts for at least three days. No fresh food. Traditionally, this is because the cook was on holiday over new year so nobody could cook in the household. Therefor, on new year, the japanese only eat food that is preserved or pickled in different ways. Apart from this, every food item has a symbolic value that will benefit you during the new year. For instance, roe is served because it symbolizes new babies being born. Long noodles are served that symbolizes long life. 

After this very nice dinner Carl and i headed to a party at Mandarin Oriental, a five star hotel. This proved to be the place to go if you wanted to mingle with rich british businessmen, look at the elite of japanese supermodels and stand in line for 40 min to order a beer that left a 1500 yen hole in your wallet. Which wasnt really what I was looking for. Together with Carl, Kana and her friend we left after midnight to a calm and nice izakaya to have more food and drinks. This time much cheaper and in a more intimate setting. But we weren’t finished. We ended up at the afterparty to the first party, this time reduced to mostly drunk western people, bad trance music and stale champagne. Tired and confused I went to bed 7am. The evening was far from the cosy new years I’ve had before but hey, a bizarre memory is never wrong. And somehow, I’m still of the opinion that most thigns get a little bit cooler if you do them in Tokyo. 

On new years day, as tradition bids, I went to my local shrine to ring the bell and say my prayers for the new year. 

A day in Asakusa. This area of Tokyo was Tokyo’s main entertainment district before WWII, after which it had to be rebuilt due to heavy bombing. It is still a very interesting district, however a bit touristy for my taste. The temple with its garden pond is very famous and one of the biggest in Tokyo. 

Afterwork Karaoke in Harajuku with Steve, Alban, Kana and Shuhei! Highlight was defenitely Kana and Shuhei’s duett A whole new world from Aladdin. Epic.

This friday was a public holiday in Japan because of he emperors birthday. Me and Shuhei met up for some brainstorming at a café, look out for our upcoming project! Later we joined with Carl for some serious arcade gaming madness in Shinjuku. 

After a bowl of hot soba noodles we met up with yet another USN member, Tomoko, to head fo a special house party. A friend of Shuhei’s works at the agency PARTY, and had invited his friends 8mostly advertising people) for a relaxed evening in his studio in Shinjuku. A lot of nice people and valuable contacts! 

Oh, and merry christmas btw! For those who don’t know, christmas is not celebrated as a religious holiday in japan, it is more of a date night for couples. I celebrated christmas in good company last night, eating, drinking and sharing gifts with the people that lives in my house. Pictures from the night are still to be developed (taken with a dispensable camera)!

Shuhei in front of Shinjuku Neon

This guy.

There’s a skull in my beer!!!!

Nishiogikubo hobby store