Var det bättre förr?

Jag vet inte vad som flugit i mig. Börjar koppla mer och mer till det förflutna, jag vill spela om Zelda trots att den inte ger mig nån utmaning längre. Jag vill resa till en plats som inte längre finns, och besöka en inte längre besökbar by. När jag tänker på resan till mormor och morfar blir jag nästan ledsen när jag tänker på hur det var förr. Mycket av min barndom utspelade sig där uppe, vilket kanske är en av anledningarna. Hittade nyligen massa sånna här kassettsagor, beståendes av i princip samma röstskådisar men alltid lika härliga att lyssna på. Och dessutom en drös okända egeninspelningar där jag typ pratar skit (var säkert inte äldre än 7, 8 år....).. Jäkla läskigt...

Logikfel?

Jag förstår inte varför man fryser om man har feber. Jag sitter här med tre lager tröjor, gömd under ett täcke, ändå känns det som jag sitter på toppen av ett isberg. Varför?
Känns som en väldigt bra start att ordineras vara hemma från jobbet en vecka sträckbänk efter att ha jobbat knappt två dagar. Jag vet inte hurdant minne folk har där på terminalen. Hoppningsvis minns de vem jag är om allt är i sin ordning, eller så drog jag med mig hela frankeringsavdelningen till sjukbädden. Kanske väntar en tvåtusen vagnar backpost när man kommer dit.
Nä, nu ska jag typ se på film, om jag orkar. Det tog på krafterna att gå ner till vårdcentralen och tillbaka...
Det här blev ju en intressant historia.... *Feberflum*

Vadå sommar?

Jag tvivlar starkt på att vi verkligen bor på norra halvklotet. Hur tusan kan det annars vara sommar nu? Det är ju banne mig svinkallt. Och så gjorde den mig sjuk på köpet. Jamenar, jag hade trott att jag skulle gå omkring med en vanlig höstsnuva (kanske troligt när man hoppar mellan 29*C till 16*C). Istället får man feber, som fortfarande håller i sig efter 5 dagar... Känns ungefär som huvudet blåst upp sig till en ballong. Jag kan inte gå rakt, det känns som det blåser 26 m/s i sidled, att gå upp för trappor känns som att bestiga berg. Och så blir man sådär rysligt känslig för temperaturer. Ligger och fryser trots två lager täcken på sängen, samtidigt blir det kokhett inne på dagarna, och någon skillnad blir det inte om man öppnar alla fönster som finns.
Dessutom tampas jag med en nedrans slempropp i halsen som bara hatar mig och gör att jag konstant hostar sönder bröstkorgen.
Om någon har ett mirakelmedel får ni gärna maila det bums. Det här suger...

Jäkla stockholmare

(For your reference, the following text is in Swedish. Don't feel annoyed if some words sound like English words you shouldn't use in front of people..)

Då var man hemma igen, och vill redan åka tillbaka till Japan. Varför? Tja, den här asfrustrerande staden är full med nerdrogade svin som bara skiter i allt och hellre kastar en glass rakt i närmsta armhåla. Hela resan från T-centralen till Näckrosen satt någon på helspänn och skitade vilt ner sätena med sina namnlösa skor. En tant gick fram och skrek "håll käften" och en gubbe stirrade irriterat och viskade något som lät riktigt kusligt på finska till tanten med ögonlapp brevid.
På Gameshop säger killen i kassan ingenting mer än "mhm..", och ett diskret "tack" när jag lämnar fram pengar (jag undrar fortfarande om det verkligen var ett tack jag hörde...). I Japan fick man minsan höra typ 2-3 personer som skriker "IRASSHAIMASSE!!!!" och någon lämplig hälsningsfras typ Godmorgon... Och lika många vrålar "ARIGATOU GOZAIMASUH!!!!!!!!!!" när man lämnar butiken.
Sen var det ett jädrans tjöt i nallen (precis, en sån där brun sak med vitt pulver i man vinner på gröna lund) på vägen hem. Glada Agda skriker högt i telefonen att hon hittade Nils Bergh i Sollentuna, den mindre muntra Bert-Eric lackar ur på någon resebyrå för att hans biljett är blå och inte grön (jäkla intressant hörru...).
När jag då ska ta mig av vid Fridhemsplan så väller folk in utan att se sig för. Jag får armbåga någon i axeln (ja, jag vet att jag är lång) och få ett gräsligt "wtf?!" tillbaka inklusive moms.

Fasen vad jag saknar Zelda...

(Obs att namnen är fett påhittade..)

Ending

With only 5 hp left I managed to throw a Burning Super Flare Extra Mix Plus spell attack on the final boss and beat the game. *Ending theme starts playing*

The flight home was the most annoying I have ever experienced. First, when I entered the plane, I found when I got to my seat someone had placed some small shoes in front of my seat because they thought no one would sit there anyway. Also the lady in front of me really wanted to have her damn bag under the seat where my bag were supposed to be (just because she was sitting near an exit door, just like me on the way here, but I had to put my damn bag in the above compartment). I managed to survive the 12 hour flight watching two movies and reading Harry Potter, though I had to stand out with this guy behind me constantly sneezing and coughing (not the usual ahem-coughs, these were like something that could make trees fall).

At Heathrow my biological clock was past midnight, still it was bright daylight outside so my head went so dizzy and I seemed like a walking zombie when trying to find out about which gate to go to.

The final trip went on with a 2 hour nightmare of children running around and people waving their arms beside you constantly knocking me out of my sleep.

When writing this I am up and running after one night's sleep (actually woke up 4 am local time). At the moment it feels like I have this horrible hangover, even though I haven't had any alcohol since graduation.

Thanks for reading all this, whoever visits this place.

---Japan journey over and out---

Final battle

First a resume of yesterday's news.

Went on with my packing-mania and then after sending my 6,5 kg of books I finally went out to have some lunch and headed towards Harajuku. Found a nice EuroDisneyland soundtrack there and went on to Akihabara. Could find no catpaws for cosplay anywhere ;_;, so I went on looking for more game soundtracks, which I could find none of. Made a final visit to Super Potato to fight the boss before the evil nightmare king's castle.

After pwning the boss I went on home to continue packing. Brought a mix of food from an AM/PM shop and ate a beautiful dinner on the top of the guest house roof below the full moon. The moon is really one of the most beautiful things in this whole universe. If anyone dared hurt it, I would do horrible things to this person. Long live the moon.

--End of yesterday's news.

So, at the moment I am sitting and waiting for the gate to open here at Narita Airport. The time is around 10.48 local time. I am getting really annoyed by this lady in front of me shouting about some nonsense...
Soon I will reach the nightmare king's room and the final battle will begin. Wish me the best of luck. Thank you for reading this far.

Over and out. *Final boss music starts* May the winds be with you forever.

Quest of the game soundtracks

First of all I think one might wonder where in the world all the 800+ pictures I have taken are. The fact is, I thought it would be easier to put them up here, but since the transfer cable they have at the guest house wont fit into my camera I guess it will have to wait. I could try finding one in Akihabara, but I don't need more than the one I already have at home.

Bango. Couldn't get in touch with my friend so I practiced some kung-fu on the rooftop (wow, they actually had a rooftop here). Went on weighing my bag (nearly 20 kg) and went out to Ikebukuro trying to find Tower Records, but they did not have any game soundtracks at all *sob sob*, so I went to Shibuya (they actually warned me going here during weekends... no kidding, was really crowded). Found nothing of interest except a Mandarake store (someone in a restaurant I asked thought it was some kind of food). They had some Igarashi Yumiko manga at least, and a Zelda Wind Waker soundtrack.

Went to Akihabara continuing my quest to find game soundtracks. Fought the final boss at Super Potato and won a Zelda figure (yahoo..!). Found a wierd release of the Final Fantasy 7 soundtrack and went back to the hotel where it was really noisy (gosh, I hope I can sleep more than last night...).

Sailor Moon min vän, ödet är dolt, går ej att se, vad som väntar dig, står i stjärnorna...

Akihabara strikes back

Quite an interesting day today. First I went to Tamachou to take a look at Keiou university and the Aoyama cemetary (quite a walking distance west of Keiou), and also made a visit to the "real" Hikawa shrine (not really interesting though, just a shrine with no one there actually..).
Took a trip to Shinjuku (finally) and took a look at those two buildings I think are some kind of government office or something (Angel sanctuary vibes..). Very tall buildings they had around there anyway.

Later in the afternoon I went to Akihabara (again) looking for some dvd's for sale in a lot of shops around there. Visited Super Potato again *teary eyes* (really gonna miss this place) looking for music from Sega, Nintendo and Super Nintendo games (could find neither Zelda nor Final Fantasy though). Brought one of these Famicom Collection Cd's and another of those "making noises"-figures, then headed back home to do some coin laundry and buying some takeout tempura (I really like tempura). Tomorrow it is time to prepare for the final battle at Narita Airport *creepy final level music starts playing*

Over and out, may the winds be with you forever.
*Organ part in the final level music starts* *Feels creeped out and faints*

Delta zone...

Soo... yesterday I went to this little town in the middle of nowhere called Yokohama (yeah I think you know where it is...). Could not find much of interest except for this famous Landmark Tower, some boats (I think it might be one of the biggest ports in the world (?), not sure though) and a giant ferriswheel. Oh, and they also had a kind of Chinatown area where everyone tried to make you go into their store or restaurant like mad... And they shouted like "oni-san, one-san"... Not that I understand why in the world they want to call all people their "dear brother" or "dear sister". In Yokohama I also accidentally found a Japanese vhs of Duck Tales. Really interesting.

Back in Tokyo I checked out the Tennou Izle (they really called it Izle, don't know why), where the "Delta Zone" should be located. (Delta Zone? Yeah, the one from Sailor Moon S series where the evil guys and the new outer soldiers where "living"). It went dark really quick which made it awfully creepy walking around these areas, whistling to Sailor Moon songs...

En liten tjej med jättelånga flätor, sådär en fjorton år och rätt söt..

Like a fairytale

Woke up early today, felt like visiting a temple before going to Mitaka and the Ghibli museum. When I got into the museum it was like walking straight into a fairytale where everything is Ghibli style. Really wonderful. Didn't mind having millions of kids running around either, I was like one of them anyway. Though it was pretty expensive things in the souvenirshop, otherwise I would have brought a ton of Ghibli stu. There was this short film too that was exclusive for the museum which I of course had to see. A really great one.

After the Ghibli Museum I went to Azabu-Juuban again visiting the Tokyo Tower (250 meters tall) and tried to discover some of the Sailor Moon areas around there. Managed to find some of them at least, but still no trace of either Usagi nor Naoko-sensei's house... Are they living underground?

Over and out.

Who let the rain out?

Reporting in from the not so rainy anymore Tokyo.
Yesterday (day 17) was terrible. It was raining until late afternoon/early evening. My shoes did not really like this kind of weather, neither did my clothes...
Went around Akihabara and to a place my friend took me to yesterday called Super Potato.
It must be (at least one of) the gates to heaven. I mean, in heaven everything must be made of pixles, in the background you hear blip-blip music and when you speak there comes nothing but wierd monotone sound effects followed by a square box above you with pixelized text...

Later that day I went to a ward (Tokyo is classified in smaller areas called -ku) Minato-ku where the area called Azabu-Juuban was located. For an old Sailor Moon-fan like me it was like heaven walking around this area where these mysterious sailor senshi might have been living several years ago (I suppose they live on the moon now though (actually I think I saw a girl in sailor uniform with two "ponytails" (?) while strolling around the area)). I suppose I will return there later this week for some more exploring...

May the winds blow in the right direction, over and out.

Rain, period.

Quite a nice day we got ourselves today, rain, rainy season, phew, someone wanna hang on for some windowshopping?

Yesterday (day 16) I went to Ueno park and met a friend who is also visiting Tokyo at the moment. He and some of his friends took me downtown for some sightseeing visiting Harajuku and Todai University (for cheap lunch). The weather was good, the best I have experienced during this whole time staying in Tokyo. My friend also took me to Akihabara showing me some really nice shops.

Later in the evening I went to the Rainbow Bridge. The walkway was closed but I managed to get over by a really expensive monorail train (Y310 to go to the station on the other side of the bridge, plus the amout it cost me to get to the station right before the bridge walkway where I found out it was closed). Got home late that night and managed to find a Lawson store to buy a ticket to the Ghibli Museum.
Quite a day really.

Over and out.

Backtracking final part

Forgot about time and everything, just writing makes me totally lost.

*Day 8
Up early taking the local tram to Miyajima-guchi and ferry to the Miyajima
island. Visited the famous Itsukushima-shrine where the even more famous "floating torii gate" was located. It was still low tide when I got there but it looked like it was floating on the water. Really beautiful. *Teary eyes*
Headed for the top of the mountain by the ropeway. It is like going into peasoup, couldn't see a thing. At top there where monkeys that were said to take stuff from your bag if you weren't careful. Took me several hours hiking around the moutain and on the way I found an awfully scary shrine that looked quite abandoned.
Returned back to Hiroshima and ate some okonomiyaki at a local restaurant, though I must say it is pretty hard to eat it (since I am deadly scared of being burned I wouldn't dare eating with this little metal pan thing they gave me...). Found one of the Book Off (second hand books, etc) stores where they had loads of used manga too.

*Day 9
Had to move from my original "bedroom" to the livingroom because of some overbooking at WFC. Didn't actually mind but the bag was quite heavy dragging down there...
Headed off toward the Peace Park and the Peace Museum. The museum was quite an interesting and horrible experience at the same time. They had actual peices of bricks and parts of buildings there from the time the bomb exploded back in 1945, which made it really creepy and sad too.

*Day 10
Up very early to pack my bag and have some breakfast. Then I packed the overload of manga into a box I brought at the post office. Then I courageously managed to take the box to the post office (about a 15-20 minutes walk) and got it mailed by surface mail (it weighed around 10 kilograms). Headed back to WFC for my and checking out. Took the regular shinkansen to Shin-Osaka and managed to find the hotel really easy after taking the loop line to Shin-Imamiya. Took a hike downtown and rented a movie (random Doraemon movie) from the front desk of the hotel (movie rental was free).

*Day 11
Headed down for some breakfast (two pieces of bread and tea... what the...?!). Took a local train to Nara and hiked around the town area and surroundings looking for temples and sightseeing spots. There were a lot of deers in Nara and I think the town is famous for having them strolling all over there. Visited the Todaiji temple (lots of schoolchildren visiting too) and then visited the Kasuga Taisha shrine. After these interesting sights it was staight towards Kobe (a city I didn't get really fond of however..).

*Day 12
Wents by train early to Himeji castle west of Osaka, which should be one of the castles that are not replicas. Went around in- and outside of castle and visited a nice Japanese-themed garden near the castle grounds. Headed towards Kyoto by shinkansen (at least I hoped to see at least something of Kyoto before going back home). Managed to find the headquarters of Nintendo (which was not open for the public to visit however). Visited the legendary Inari (something) shrine which had these even more legendary 1000 torii gates.
Took a hike for a while through these tunnels of gates then headed back to Osaka when it got too dark to see anything interesting.

*Day 13
Decided to take an allday sightseeing tour in Osaka. Visited the Floating Garden Observatory (the observation floor located is around 170 meters above ground). Quite a nice view you got from up there. Founda a Pokemon Center (a shop that sells pure Pokemon goods) and met a nice german guy who had been living in Japan for around five years. Visited some Book Off stores and headed back after some more walking downtown.

*Day 14
Woke up with rainy and windy weather outside. Took a limited express to Kansai Airport which is actually located on a manmade island a couple of kilometers southwest of Osaka. At the airport there was a place called Sky View where you can try a real "flight simulator" or "air traffic control simulator". After several hours at the airport I decided to head back to Osaka again to pack my things for tomorrows check out of the hotel. Also bought some yoghurt and juice for tomorrow morning's breakfast. Watched another movie at the room (Highlander 2).

*Day 15
Woke up early again, ate my breakfast, checked out and then headed for Shin-Osaka station. Took a shinkansen to Tokyo station (took around 2,5 hours of travel time) and managed to get to Asakusa subway station. The guest house called Khaosan Tokyo was just about 100 meters from there. Went looking for somewhere to eat dinner and bought some "ingredients" for tomorrow's breakfast.

Period. Finally I managed to catch up. Tonight I will keep on writing more often so I wont have to do backtracking again.

See ya'ps

Backtracking part 2

Okay, here we go again...

*Day 4
Up early (around 7.30), had breakfast and then took the train to Shin-Yatsuhiro and from there the shinkansen train to Kagoshima-chuo. Managed to get to the famous (still active) volcano Sakurajima (quite interesting name, means 'cherry island'). This island was huge and I did not feel like taking a hike around it, though I actually walked to some volcano center 20 minutes from the ferry port. Was really hot and humid as usual. Found some couple of volcano stones (?) on the way then I returned back to Fukuoka. On the train back there were some wierd old Japanese men offering me Japanese candy and tried to speak English with me... (gosh.., kind of embarassing).

*Day 5
Woke up later than usual in the morning, had some brunch and visited a anime/manga-store called Animate. Got really fond if this singer Mizuki Nana. Bought some stuff then headed toward the north of Fukuoka looking for something interesting to see. Found a shopping mall where there was a huge place with loads of second-hand manga, cd, etc, you name it. Bought a lot and then visited a local netcafe. Went to a place called Canal City which is like a big building complex with movie theatre, restaurants and arcade gaming centers. Had some dinner at a place called Ramen Stadium (wierd...). Returned to the hotel and tried to use the coin laundry. The coin dryer however wouldn't make the clothes dry enough so I let them hang in the bathroom overnight.

*Day 6
Packed my big bag, dried the non-dry clothes with a hairdryer (had to use it for something...) and checked out. Headed back to the store from yesterday and bought some more second-hand manga. Made a brief visit to Fukuoka tower (just watched it, didn't head to the top of it), then it was finally time to head to Hiroshima. When I finally got there I had to ride with a tram packed with people making me not able to get off until two stops after the one I was supposed to get off at. Found the World Friendship Center and was greeted by a nice american guy showing me the room and telling me about Hiroshima. Took a hike downtown almost getting lost trying to find a telephone booth (Japanese maps are a nightmare..).

*Day 7
Woke up around 7 and headed downstairs to have "western breakfast" (American pancakes, etc). Heavy rain outside so I decided to go to Okayama. From there I went to a village called Bizen/Imbe (which was located in the middle of nowhere it seemed). Walked around in the rain, visited a shinto shrine and a nearby forest then took the local train to another place west of Okayama called Kurashiki. There was supposed to be some kind of old samurai-areas here which I tried to find, with success. Took a look around the samurai buildings and happened to find a Igarashi Yumiko-museum (WOW ^.^ ). A really nice exhibition to be honest, worth a visit for those who like Candy Candy or Georgie for example. Asked one of the staff members to take a photo of me in front of one of the Candy Candy characters (yay!). Visited another shinto shrine where I bought my first protective amulet (o-mamori... something the shrine maiden called it), then headed back to Hiroshima.

To be contined....

Tokyo, finally.

The final part of my trip has begun. Arrived in Tokyo by 14.43 shinkansen from Osaka and it wasn't that hard finding my way to the hotel like before. This guest house is a little more convenient because I wont have to travel to the 9th floor up and down every time I need to go out. Quite a small room, not the nicest of views from the window but that gives me more reason not to "live" in the guest house all days.

Today I am hopefully going to meet a friend visiting Tokyo too. He doesn't live far away from here, though he is a little hard to get in touch with.
Will continue my backtracking "dairy" when I find my logbook somewhere in my backpack. Now I'll head up to the room for packing up my things (I do hope my poor things survived this nightmare up and down the stairs all the way from Osaka (who needs an elevator anyway?))

Over and out.

Backtracking

There.. Finally a vacant computer. I mean, there are like four floors packed with people (?) and three computers for those to fight about. It`s like heaven when someone finally decides to leave them be.

Anyway. What have I been doing until this day?

*Day 1
Arrived at Tokyo Narita Airport late afternoon, weather was like... hot and humid, and since that plane was the total opposite of humidity, that was like I've always said, walking into a wall. Tired as any tired guy I got onto the next plane to Fukuoka/Hakata airport. Plane was totally not crowded, could almost pick whatever seat I wanted. However they felt like placing me in the total rear end of the aircraft, somehow closed off from the world (but whatever, I got a window seat ;) ).
When in Fukuoka city I spent one hour of looking, but couldn't find the hotel, so I asked this nice lady to ask a taxi driver to help me get to the hotel. Got there just in time for check-in personel closing the doors...

*Day 2
Took a limited express (whats the meaning of 'limited' anyway?) to Saga and took another local train to a station in the middle of nowhere to find Yoshinogari (a park with houses from the yayoi (not yaoi) period). After that I went to Nagasaki. Wandering around there for a couple of hours feeling lost until I got home around 10 pm totally worn out.

*Day 3
Looked for this tourist information in the Acros building where I meet this nice Japanese guy that seemed to be knowing about Malmoe (not Stockholm though...). Took a limited, whatever, train to Beppu. Since I arrived pretty late I didn't get to see much, just two of their famous "hells" (aka jigoku). Met this German backpacker letting me know of some nice places to visit whenever I got time. Back at Beppu station I found a small store selling used manga, where I got "Koko wa greenwood 1-9 + 11 for just Y1000.

...To be continued (coin laundry just finnished)

At last (lagging 12 days...)

At last I finally managed to set up this blogthingy... whatever you call it. Never done this before.
However. Right now I am sitting in this... by this computer in a wierd hotel in southern Osaka.
Just wanted to write something. Raining outside, not a lot but it`s still enough to make you wanna stay inside.
Let`t just end here and continue later on.

See ya