This picture was taken in Tsukuba City during my first week in Japan. A summer festival has taken place while I was there, and the Europeans could wear traditional Japanese clothes.
Here I'm in Shinjuku near the station. Shinjuku is one of the most exciting districts of Tokyo.
A shopping street in Shinjuku. It is really unbelievable how many neon lights there are in Tokyo.
This picture was taken from a big shopping mall. The neon lights are the center of Shinjuku. You can see that Tokyo is quite a concrete behemoth.
On this picture friends and I are sitting in a Ramen bar somewhere in Ginza.
This is in the NEC dormitory. We've spontaneously decided that we are going to make our own Sushi - and it was surprisingly good!
Daniel couldn't get enough Sushi... ;-)
Here I am in Asakusa in front of the Senso-ji temple. Asakusa is considered the heart of the old Shita-machi, and it has a very traditional style for a Tokyo district.
In front of each temple you can usually find basins for the joss sticks, like on this picture. It is said that its smoke purifies the mind. However, it didn't work for me as you can see.
Friends and I are resting in a small street bar somewhere in Asakusa.
We usually were quite a big group. This is still in Asakusa in a traditional Japanese restaurant.
This picture has been taken from the Hachiko-Square of Shibuja. Shibuja is the heart of the Japanese teenage culture and very similar to Shinjuku, with lots of huge shopping malls and an exciting night life. As Shibuja was not far away from our dormitory, we usually went there to have fun.
The crossing at Hachiko-Square is said to be the busiest one of the world, and after I've been there I believe that.
On the picture you can see two of the three video screens and maybe 30% of the skyscrapers that surround Hachiko-Square.
Here I am in Akihabara, a district of Tokyo also called "Electric City". It is completely specialized on all kinds of electronic devices and computer stuff.
On the picture I'm strolling around in a kind of subterranean high-tech bazaar.
After having lived some time in Tokyo I was convinced that there doesn't exist a single normal garden with trees in that city. Fortunately, Mariko wanted to convince me of the opposite, and she showed me Kichijoji, a suburb of Tokyo City where she lives.
On the picture, you can see Mariko, Shoji and me in the Park of Kichijoji. It is indeed a good place to live.
Now I know that there are really normal trees in Tokyo, you just have to know where you can find them!
This was in a Yaki-Niku restaurant. In that kind of restaurant you grill your beef on a barbecue in the middle of the table.
Shoji is just taking a slice of the beef.
On this picture I'm turning around the beef.
Every Wednesday was our Squash Day. We went to a fitness hall and burnt a lot of calories. On that picture Shoji and I are standing in front of the fitness hall after the Squash.
After we had burnt a lot of calories, we were hungry and went to the next Izakaya restaurant, which was right across the street. On the picture Shoji is showing us the menu.
In Japanese restaurants, there are often pictures of the dishes you can order. This can be very helpful if your Japanese is not sufficient, as in that case sign language can be used as a substitute.
Overview