Amigo!

Hello to all faithfull readers of this blog! Japanese, German, French, and all the other people from all over the world!
It's very nice to have friends from all over the world! You come to two very important conclusions! Women are beautiful =D And there are no boundaries for friendships!!
Well a third conclusion would be that people are the same all over the world, and the differences which #indeed# exist are definitely bypassable to build real deep friendships!

Well why do I say this? I was yesterday in an event organized by the "Amigo Group" a group of older and and not so young Japanese ;) who want to practice their English, meet international people to broaden their horizon and bring people all over the world to Japanese culture, very very fine group.

We went to "Banpakukoen" the park of the World Expo which was organized in Osaka in 1970.

A wonderful mix of people from all over the world, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Bengladeshi, Swedish, American, Egyptian!! And others...

So enjoy these nice pictures and remember that friendship knows no boundaries!!



Han, a very very nice and kind chinese guy from Shanghai! Or should I say a Shanghai guy ;) We had much fun speaking and joking together!



All the boys in one picture!
From the left: Husein from Turkey, Muin from India, Han from China, Ali from Egypt, me from Germany, and the kind guy from Bengladesh but I forgot his name..



Last but not least, nice women ;) from the far left an Uyghurian woman!! Akiko-san one of the organizers of this event, and Yan the wife of Han, she is from Nanjing and does not like Shanghai very much because its so polluted! Very very nice girl!

Sapporo Beer

I still don't know what to write about these posters, but they look nice I suppose ;)
And they are some old? publicity for the Beer brand of "Sapporo beer".

The Cherry blossoms

As you know the cherry blossoms season in Japan is very famous all over the world, This picture was taken at the peak of the season..

Newcomers Party

Yesterday we had a very decent party for all the newcomers who moved into our new dorm!
This means that there were many people who left! And with them some good friends of me..

Well Still! I enjoyed eating, dancing Salsa, speaking with many people and simply chilling around and relaxing. Please enjoy these pictures with a very ugly looking, BUT still very happy laughing Arafat :D



In the first picture I am with a Chinese friend, his name is Liu! Very nice guy but he always wants to meet me, and I as am very busy I couldn't do something with him till today!




The Second picture shows my really very very good friends in the dorm, with one exception!
Starting from the Left: Matthias, a guy always wanting to know what I think about the world! ;)
Leoooo the cool Cuban guy who is teaching me right now Salsa! Well me.. Vincent! He is the exception! Not because I don't like him ;) He only came for a 2 weeks trip to see Japan, and his standard sentence after coming from his daily sightseeings is always :" Ufff WoooW OHHH, boff.." =D We became very good friends in a matter of days! And he's really a very very lovely person!
AND FINALLY The FAMOUS BEBS this is Bertrand one of the loveliest people I met!
He's doing his Doctor in Maths (Number Theory) and we already passed much time in many many places together!
And yes.. We already established the World formula..



Last but not least! Two new wonderful poeple I met, the Bangladeshi guy studying Nano-Physics, and that very fine Japanese girl scouting for foreigners to participate in a very interesting Exchange program to know more about Japanese society and maybe build a future career with the opportunities you get.
Her Name is Yoshimi and we spent a long time speaking together!

Den Den town!

So finally after 4 months, I could go for the first time doing some real sightseeing alone. As sightseeing is very scarce because I am too busy, and if, then its coupled with people who want to pass some time with me, it was a big pleasure to go alone on my own. Explore the "Second" Akihabara of Japan with my own pace.
Den Den town was once THE electronics hub for the kansai and chuugoku regions of Japan, as Osaka is the second largest city in Japan and Kansai the second largest metropolitan area after the Tokyo Area, AND electronics one of the most important fields in Japanese economy, I am sure you can understand what places like the famous Akihabara or the equally famous den den town meant to Japan!
After the rise of the "New economy" in Japan, with big department stores eating up every mid and small retailer, these playgrounds lost their customers and with them their energy and vitality.
Now in Den Den town, what you find are mostly Sex Shops and some Anime shops coupled with a very fine selection of video games shops, definitely better then Akihabara!
For me, Den Den Town is THE Videogaming Mecca of Japan.

As one example I am very happy to present you this nice picture:




This picture was taken in a Shop for Retro-games, wonderful shop, very kind Shop owner and the selection of games was top notch!
As someone who witnessed everything starting for them NES till the N64, seeing an N64 for 1300Yen (roughly 8 Euros) made my knees shiver.. =)
The selection of games was very big and you could find Chrono Cross for 300 Yen!!! Incredible..
AND the best of it, the Shop has its distinctive flair with that very nice flooring and the shelves to the right and to the left.
Very nice addition to my "must visit" places for every Japan lover..

Louis Vuitton

Reminds me of paintings of Toulouse Lautrec; old women lost in the middle of the turbulent and crazy nightlife of the red districts of Paris, still wanting to be beautiful, but looking ugly and whith them their aura around them..
Notice the Louis Vuitton bag and the man in the back..
The shot was taken in the "Hankyu Department store", this is a really big department store belonging to Hankyu railway company!! Which also runs super markets under the name "Hankyu Oasis" and shopping plazas like the "Hankyu Sanbangai" Which nearly means "Hankyu -the third shopping street-"

Some basic rules

This stuff is mostly taken from this site but filtered to the really important points.

Uchi Soto

Japanese have been raised to think of themselves as part of a group, and their group is always dealing with other groups.
Japanese are extremely sensitive to what others might think of them.


Some comments: Totally true with some important points to add.

First, Japanese act, when working, as a collective group. The group is not imposed on them nor it is something they want to do to feel good.
When working everyone has one little thing to do and the whole group makes the result, every step is taken after a conversation between ALL groups members.

If someone knows Star Trek and the Borg, then believe me, Japanese working groups are EXACTLY like them.

When outside work, the Group is still the natural place to feel good, you give up a big part of your individualism to adhere in a sort of sphere of feelings where everything is shared.
In this dynamic setting being cautious to everyones feelings is the most important thing you MUST always remember. There is no hard me, there is a SOFT me and a HARD we.

to be continued...

Japanese people

Now that I am here for more then 4 months I'll start a series on Japanese mentality and Japanese people, and how I see this country!
Please enjoy, and stay tuned ;)

SUMO

So I finally got to see my favourite sport.
It was MARVELOUS one of the best events I had in my life! I enjoyed it very much :)

Simply enjoy the picutres with me!!



The first picture shows the "dohyo", Me and Keiji went at 8 am to buy the tickets, the line was long but we got easily two tickets and then we entered the hall to take a look as it was not so full!
We could enjoy Sumo from a very near perspective which surprised me and was very entertaining.



At the evening the Media covered tournament was in its full going, many many people and GREAT atmosphere, poeple shouting the names of their favourites and me shouting TAKAMITZAKARI =D






After the tournament was over I could snap a picture with famous sumotori Kokkai.




The event ends with some picture taking and souvenir buying, I went with Keiji to some delicious restaurant and to a very strange Temple built inside a mansion..