last last

back in norway

it`s strange writing about tokyo, when I`m not there. I`ve kind of lost the tokyonese feeling. but I thought I should post my last photos. everytime I take a look in my "my pictures folder"..it`s becoming a habit these days, I wish I was back in the city of subway perfection, sushi, convinis, salary men, sleepy people, umbrellas, identical old taxi drivers...etc. but I must say, I`m glad I don`t have to wear havaianas in the shower anymore, and if I should feel like it, I can cook in clean environments.

these shoes were made for walking

my converse are dead.

may they rest in peace in the well recirculated japanese garbage.

they made a great deal of effort during their lifetime, walking a whole lot of meters in;

oslo

århus (aarhus)

porto

københavn (copenhagen)

ås (aas)

namsos

trondheim

beijing

new york

amsterdam

tokyo

rotterdam

boston

lübeck

osaka

istanbul

frankfurt airport

helsinki airport

heathrow airport

the list of numbers

3,52 million people "floats" through shinjuku station every day, that`s almost every existing norwegian. imagine the chaos if they all were norwegian..o lord...(noo gunnar, I know it`s that direction!! no turid, it`s to the left..look at the sign, goddamn it!..well, if you say so honey)
35 million people living in tokyo+suburbia
4 the number of pregnant women I`ve seen during 4 months..true, where do they all come from?
3 nuns
8 pair of shoes paid by mr. visa, only six will make it back to europe..ops, small suitcase.
5 times I`ve been jogging in yoyogi..so much for that healthy livestyle
4 yoga sessions...hmm
3 gb with tokyo photos on my computer
8 books read, some good, some bad
7 (6) the number of japanese words I can read and know all the characters, calori, karaoke, coin laundry, coca cola, yen, nora...oo, damn..promise, it`s seven.
13 withdrawals at 7-11
40-60 meters below streetlevel, you`ll find the subways
21 coffee shops (japanese style) and convinis in my neighbourhood
24 billion one-time-use chop sticks used each year in japan
130 million japanese people
200 exits at shinjuku station
3 visitors during my stay, thanks mum,dad and hilde!
11 trips up in the sky (skyscrapers, 8 in tokyo, 1 in osaka, 1 in yokohama, 1 in kyoto)
4 rides with the shinkansen ( I found out why I never got to ride with the 700 series, it`s beacuse I had a jr-pass..they only work on the 300 series, oh well)
1 one trip to china, beijing...huge ugly airport, huge city, huge streets, huge blocks, hugehugehuge, hard beds.
115 splendid days of urban delight

1. hold on

lesson nr 1: remember, always two hands on that mic. hold on real good.

karaoke stories

maybe I`ve already written about the following story, I don`t remember and I`m not going to check..suntory times. the first time hilde and I went for karaoke, we freaked out when we realised there was no english menu and the remote control was all japanese. hilde did her ususal stunt, tried every button until something happened. the only problem was that we didn`t know what was happening. totally stressed out, I ran down the stairs, in high heels I might add, to the lobby and got one copy of the english menu. here we found the number for each song, we decided for AC/DC "highway to hell". we dialed the number and nothing happened, we dialed it again and again, but to no response on the TV screen, suddenly the unmistakable tunes of this rock `n roll hit filled the tiny room and the party was going in the right direction. we sang the song with great drama and unpitched voices. the song ended, and we immediately started the search for a new song..but then, to our surprise, the tunes of the same old rock `n roll hit filled the tiny room once more...and once more...and once more... in the desperate attempt to get the party going, we had managed to schedule "highway to hell" no less than nine times. I mean, it`s a cool karaoke song, but NINE times, was kind of an overkill. and now you`re thinking; but what about the delete button? well, do I look like a japanese??

wednesday last week, we met up with the norwegian girls form the park hyatt elevator, for an evening of karaoke and beer. we did it the old teenage way, smuggled the alcohol in backpacks and shopping bags, because the karaoke beer cost, are close to gold. rikke and ida were really into rap music, hilde and nora is not so much into rap music, so we had major problems trying to follow the lyrics. basically it came out like one long sound with no words, there were some highlights whenever the refrain arrived. after singing for 3,5 hours, and discovering the smallest garbage bin ever in the girls toilet, we went for golden gai. here we ended up in a bar with two old japanese men, and a karaoke machine. the old men bought us beer and sang english songs...we ended up wasted, like teenagers. theme of the night. old homeless men always get a crush on hilde, so when we were standing outside mcdonalds waiting for rikke, a member of the homeless gang came up to us and asked hilde if they could meet the next day. and the day before, as we were eating our dinner in a rather cheap establishment, an old, of course, man took pictures of her with his cellphone, and it`s not like he tried to be discreet, he just sat down right in front of us and started a photoshoot. he was a charming guy, standing up scratching his ass right in our faces, and picking his teeth/nose.

yesterday, alex and I met for "one beer", the night ended at 5 am after several hours of karaoke and golden gai.
the first karaoke place had a special sound feature, echo. but I`m not picky when it comes to karaoke, as long as I can sort of recognize the tunes and read the lyrics, I`m satisfied. bring it on. today has been a hardcore hangover day..but in the end it`s worth it. karaoke forever.

last week pics

rising curve

today I was hoping for sun and shine, park, a blanket and some hours of geekness together with the grand magazine: wired. but the weather situation when I woke up was everything but sun and shine...freezing cold and rain. and I realised I`ve read wired from cover to cover. the fridge is empty and so is my shelf. I`m really hungry, but I don`t want to go outside, I rather stay hungry. hilde left for norway this morning, it`s almost an echo in my 7,5 sq.m room without her and her huge suitcase. it actually feels like a sad monday, not a merry saturday. but on the other hand, I rarely know what day it is, unemployment do that to you. I hope I never suffer from unemployment again. (do not quote me on that..) ..eeh, atleast not for more than two weeks...back on save ground. my plan B, when plan A died a brutal death, was to draw, but guess what, I have no paper...and guess what again, the store you buy paper, tokyu hands, is further away than both the supermarket and the bookstore where they sell wired. I`m fried, big time. happy times in tokyo this afternoon. I just post some pictures from last week.

it`s not as bad as it might sound, I`m exaggerating un petit peu. my computer is 100%, and so are itunes. feel good music saves all days, including this one. I`ve made a list of stuff that makes you love tokyo+japan:
1. accsessible sushi..convini sushi, but still..sushi
2."free" skyscrapers, the opposite of empire state building where you have to stand in line until you drop dead
3. food in general
4. my beloved vending machines
5. the metro/jr system, always on time
6. the fact that you just buy a new umbrella everytime it rains
7. shinkansen
8. polite people and their queue system
9. clean country, very nice..except tsukuba..haha
10. beautiful but loco boys (not everyone are beautiful, but everyone are loco)
11. some birds that says: heia heia heia ( it`s a cheering word in norwegian)
12. the taxidoors that opens and closes without any effort from human beings...eh, skip the button part
13. the billboard next to the runway at narita airport that says "down with narita" instead of "welcome to narita"
14. the fact that I lost my bike key for one month, and when I found it, it was in the lock on my bike, outside the building where I live in central tokyo...lovelovelove it.
15. and you may park your bike unlocked outside the store when you go shopping, and when you return, it`s still there!
16. shopping
17. the hand in hand of crowded and deserted places
18. drunk old salarymen, rolling around on sidewalks laughing or puking
19. the view of shinjuku and shibuya by night
20. the view from my room every minute of the day, regardless weather
21. great people watch possibilities
22. take trips on jr-lines until the signs only shows japanese characters
23. hunt down architecture

probably more
24. oh yeah, the rice boiler
25. ka ra o ke
26. the atmosphere
27. the elevated highways/layered roads

hilde!

my friend hilde has arrived! my plan to meet her at the platform didn`t work out so well. we sat one hour waiting for each other, hilde on platform 2, nora on platform 1..finally she went upstairs and called me. clever girl. the last couple of days, we`ve been shopping, eating, drinking, singing, walking and sleeping. today we went to the park to relax and play badminton as real japanese do. then we went to park hyatt hotel (lost in translation) for a drink, in the elevator we met two norwegian girls from trondheim, they joined us. the drinks at park hyatt is amazing. tastes like perfect drinks..good. then we got a taxi to shinjuku to drink more drinks to regular prices, but rikke and ida had to leave before we found a suitable bar. so hilde and I went karaoke. karaoke is my new addiction. the list goes like this;

vending machines

parks

ginger ale

yamanote line

skyscrapers

dumplings

karaoke

karaoke is so much fun and so exhausting!

today we had dressed up in high heals and skirts (because of park hyatt really..), singing songs we neither knew the lyrics or tunes. it works anyway. "one way ticket" by the darkness or "the seeds" by the roots, will never be the same again. I think I`m going to persuade my parents to refurnish the sauna in the basement to "the karaoke crib" when I get home. if you`re really enthusiastic the "karaoke crib" will work in the same way as a sauna, you get warm and you sweat, and imagine coming home from a hard run or skiing turn and end the business with some heavy singing. I like the idea.

tomorrow we`re going for electric town and more.

guess hilde is going to check her mail, she is so much in love, and writes about 10 mails a day to her beloved.

sweet, so sweet. sugar written all over.

if you stand up singing karaoke, the dancemoves adds a new layer to the experience.

just a tip.

wakeywake

and today I woke up with a frightened feeling, in a half conscious state I heard an unfamiliar sound in the hallway, first I thought it to be some kind of beast (still in the grey zone between awake and asleep...), but then I realized it couldn`t be. but the noise was so loud and brutal, and I didn`t dare to open my door to investigate the situation. I was afraid that it might be some vicious trick to get defenceless girls to open their doors, so that this thing in the hallway would have the opportunety to get inside and steal all my money..I actually thought this, but remember folks, the clock was somewhere around 0530 am, and my brainfunction is not yet up and running. then I heard that my neighbours, two small italian girls, opened their door so I dared to do the same.

on the floor in the hallway a guy lay on his back with his hands neatly on his chest, the intimidating sound was him snoring..I`ve never heard anything like it. my first thought when I saw him was; isak? but from my 1 1/2 months of camping in isak`s dutch residence, I`ve learned that isak is a silent sleeper, it was impossible that this could be him.

my next thought; I need a photo of this guy! so I got my camera and took a shot. unfortunately the picture wasn`t straight, so I had to try one more time, but the second time the unindentified guy moved and looked around, so my chances were gone.

the following morning I met one of the italians, and she told me that the hallway monster was stu, from downstairs. she thought he had been seriously drunk or on drugs, I suggested that he might also be a sleepwalker. the italian girl didn`t buy this possibility, but then I told her that I`ve seen and heard a great deal of weird sleeping behaviour during my long life and handed out a long list of examples, but still she thought him to be drunk or drugged up.

stu had been lying in the hallway for an hour before I heard the noise, she could tell me, and the reason why he woke up, was because she poured water on him. we have no idea how stu got back into his room, cause it wasn`t like he had a key in his briefs...

oh yeah, I photoshoped the picture.

just a day among the others

today I woke up to heavy rain, in my bed.
it was the result of a brisk wind (as a nearly professional weather girl, I would claim it was a storm), rain and my open window. I decided to dedicate this particular morning to a feel good movie and a huge breakfast.
when the movie reached its end, the weather had changed to the better.
I walked the short walk up to yoyogi station where the yamanote line arrived the same second as me,
the next 30 minutes I spent sitting down reading a book. my mission this afternoon was to investigate if it`s possible to get all the way down to the narita express platform without buying a ticket. it is. this is great news.
now I know how to catch hilde before she wanders off into the big maze of buildings, cars and people, also known as tokyo.

when that was all settled, I went for lunch and tokyo international forum. ate my sushi on a bench surrounded by half-sleeping salary men, beneath greenery, with the view of the forum straight ahead. I must say, an urban deluxe lunch.
the forum I didn`t like much, but took some pictures just to prove that I have been there.
then I went approximately 200 meters south, to ginza. ginza got a lot of shopping possibilities and architecture, in both categories, good and bad...my subjective perception. saw some famous buildings, one: the mikimoto by ito, a building I thought to be white, turned out to be pink..it looked like a cartoon. and the name enhancer the opinion. aslo got a glimps of the nakagin capsule tower by kurokawa. I really liked the example capsule on the sidewalk. couldn`t see a kitchen in there, but it had a stereo. guess it`s a good thing the "apartment" doesn`t have a kitchen when you`re supposed to live on just 8 sq.m. including bathroom, you need to be as thin as possible.

my abilities to find the buildings I`m searching for is increasing.
tried to do some shopping, but I couldn`t find anything. don`t know how it`s possible.
my visa was cold in my wallet, desperate for attention and light. but no, sorry mr. visa, maybe next time.

lamp metamorphosis

work in progress.

at the time being, I`ve settled on the second last suggestion.

17th of may

17th of may is norway`s favourite day. this is the day we eat as much icecream and hotdogs as we possibly can and drink champagne for breakfast, dress up in traditional costumes and march for hours to the tunes of mediocre band music, regardless weather. it might not seem as much fun, but it`s one of those things you have to experience to understand, I guess.

this year I celebrated 17th of may (we got our constitution 17th of may 1814) in tokyo. the embassy arranged a party, and according to my fathers stories from the parties at the embassy in vienna during the 1960`s, it would be a party to remember. when I got there, it turned out that tokyo style a la 2008 is different from vienna 1960`s, the present crowd were mostly small kids and their respectable parents. I couldn`t see a single glass of champagne, not even cava. at my arrival the ambassador of norway, a guy named åge, was close to preaching about the greatness of norway. after a while it became obvious that åge was a member of PWLTOV; people who love their own voice. finally, when the majority of the present audience were sleeping, åge came to an end and those of us still awake sang; ja, vi elsker. (ehh..yes, we love..haha, the national anthem). I was already heading for the buffet table, but it turned out that ragnhild also wanted to say a few words, and we had to sing several songs before we got access to the food and joy.

as mentioned, those present, were not my age. I would say the agerange were between 0,4-10 and 32-60 years.

even though you would think the conversation among all norwegians would be smooth and stimulating compared to norwegian-japanese, think again. the first 1,5 hours I was attending this "party" alone, alex and inga were running late from tsukuba, so I had to survive all by myself. I made some attempts starting a few conversations, but since I don`t have a miniature person to show for, the mutual interests were few. I soon realised that the bar would probably be the most entertaining area at the party, plan B; no talk, only drink. but finally I found some young guys beneath a small tree in the end of the garden, they all studied japanese and two out of three came from bergen. they let me join the mid twenties club, and squeezed together so I could sit down and eat my hotdogs with lompe, bread, ketchup, mustard and onion..and drink my beer..mmhmh.

alex and inga arrived, and according to the schedule we were supposed to gather up and walk around the swiss embassy, it`s the most painless "barnetog" I`ve ever participated, and the mediocre band music was none existent.

not even an unsteady trompet. the day ended with a draw, you could win tripp trapp chairs, salmon, blankets, aquavit and salmon caps, bags, knives and pens. typical children stuff. I didn`t win anything, the stupid kids only picked blue notes, mine were yellow. not that I was dying for any of the prizes, but it`s always fun to win something. and those salmon caps were not bad, not bad at all.

at 4 pm we were allowed to leave, we headed for harajuku, shopping and dinner. later that night as I dressed to go out, I fell asleep and woke up rather late..no anti-embassy party for me. 17th of may still have great impact on the energy level.

weather report; sunny and warm..no snow in sight.

parents

my mom and dad came to visit me this week.

they adapted incredibly fast to the local way of spending time on public transportation.

we also saw some architecture, one building was hana midori cultural center.

atelier bow-wow design. a big hit.

a little laugh

this picture always make me laugh.

she was a poledancer at a club called "warehouse", during an ipod battle.

doing polegymnastics on a stage, dressed in smallsmall panties.

and for those of you that wants more partypictures, visit sanna`s; thevagabondset.com

just for the record; I don`t smoke.