Hanami2
Writing a post to let you all know that I met up with Kazu again today, and I survived the meetup. XD
I discovered that one of my local metro lines turns into a local train line after a while, this made it really easy to get to Kichijoji from my location, even though it's kind of far. I didn't have to transfer to a different line or anything!
The red dot near Koto marks my starting location, the pin marks the lake in Inokashira park in Kichijoji.
I WAS SO TIRED THIS MORNING, stepping off the train at Kichijoji, I was half thinking I should just e-mail Kazu telling him I'd changed my mind, because I felt I was too tired to struggle my way through Japanese conversation. But I stuck to the plan, and met up with him 5 minutes later. We strolled around the park, ate dango, drank mulled wine (!!! this really surprised me, mulled wine is strictly a Christmas thing in Norway, but this shop was all "PERFECT FOR HANAMI, LET'S ENJOY HOT WINE!!!" XD), he took me to his favourite ramen place, since I told him I loved ramen (it was really, really, really good). It was a good day. I'm super tired.
Kazu is a typical Japanese salaryman, and he confessed to me that he really wants to quit his job, but he feels very conflicted about it. This was such a serious talk, it sort of threw me off. He was relieved to have someone to tell this to, he could never mention it to any of his co-workers. I talked about my experience quitting my old job and starting my own freelance business, and he said I was like a real inspiration to him. Hopefully I won't have inspired him to make any poor life decisions. Culture differences are difficult!
We ran out of conversation topics a couple of times, but it didn't really feel awkward. At least not to me, I have no idea how he felt. He was very polite in that typical Japanese fashion that makes it sort of hard to tell whether they're honestly enjoying themselves or not. I guess we'll keep in touch. I hope we'll keep in touch. I'd like to learn more about him.
Inokashira park, really pretty and lively. There's a small zoo here, and this is also where the Ghibli museum is located. The cherry blossoms had just started blooming, more or less like in Ueno park. I should go back next weekend, looks like the blossoms will be at their peak then.
A couple of more pictures over at my gallery. Click "Fortsett (some number)" to see more.
I discovered that one of my local metro lines turns into a local train line after a while, this made it really easy to get to Kichijoji from my location, even though it's kind of far. I didn't have to transfer to a different line or anything!
The red dot near Koto marks my starting location, the pin marks the lake in Inokashira park in Kichijoji.
I WAS SO TIRED THIS MORNING, stepping off the train at Kichijoji, I was half thinking I should just e-mail Kazu telling him I'd changed my mind, because I felt I was too tired to struggle my way through Japanese conversation. But I stuck to the plan, and met up with him 5 minutes later. We strolled around the park, ate dango, drank mulled wine (!!! this really surprised me, mulled wine is strictly a Christmas thing in Norway, but this shop was all "PERFECT FOR HANAMI, LET'S ENJOY HOT WINE!!!" XD), he took me to his favourite ramen place, since I told him I loved ramen (it was really, really, really good). It was a good day. I'm super tired.
Kazu is a typical Japanese salaryman, and he confessed to me that he really wants to quit his job, but he feels very conflicted about it. This was such a serious talk, it sort of threw me off. He was relieved to have someone to tell this to, he could never mention it to any of his co-workers. I talked about my experience quitting my old job and starting my own freelance business, and he said I was like a real inspiration to him. Hopefully I won't have inspired him to make any poor life decisions. Culture differences are difficult!
We ran out of conversation topics a couple of times, but it didn't really feel awkward. At least not to me, I have no idea how he felt. He was very polite in that typical Japanese fashion that makes it sort of hard to tell whether they're honestly enjoying themselves or not. I guess we'll keep in touch. I hope we'll keep in touch. I'd like to learn more about him.
Inokashira park, really pretty and lively. There's a small zoo here, and this is also where the Ghibli museum is located. The cherry blossoms had just started blooming, more or less like in Ueno park. I should go back next weekend, looks like the blossoms will be at their peak then.
A couple of more pictures over at my gallery. Click "Fortsett (some number)" to see more.