And Now for Something Completely Different

I'm currently sat in Birmingham airport waiting for my flight to Stuttgart. After the disasters in Japan I have been very lucky in getting a place at Tübingen University to study Japanese, and it's great as I can also learn German at the same time. I have nowhere to live when I get there so I am just going to see what happens.

I thought it would be nice to continue blogging about my travels in Japan but unfortunately my photos are on the computer at home so that will have to wait a little while. Instead I will have to blog about Japan in another way. I had two friends who I met in Japan over at the weekend – Yohei from Japan and Clara from France and it was lovely. Me and Clara ended up talking about some of our other senses in Japan (than just sight.)

Trains-

The feeling of not holding on to anything as you are pressed in on all sides by other people (it's actually fairly comforting- like a big hug.)

The feeling on your bum where the heated seats are just a little bit too hot.

The announcements in Japanese and then a horrible American English.

The noise in each station. Each station has its own tune, to help sleepy commuters know where they are and it's really loud. Some tunes are nice, others are dreadful. I particularly liked Mitaka and Higashi-Koganei.

The sinking feeling in your heart when you've just run to get on a train and then realise you are in the women only carriage.

The level crossings (there are many of them) near my halls played repeatedly a major 3^rd (C and E) on a piano when a train was coming.

Food

When eating riceballs wrapped in dried seaweed (my diet whilst I was travelling pretty much) your fingers stick slightly to the seaweed and then it cruches and breaks when you bite it.

The splatter of soup on your chin from slurping noodles.

CHOPSTICKS!

The song our rice cooker made when it was ready- the happy rice song.

The taste of Matcha- Matcha latte, icecream, biscuits, chocolate and cake. I will seriously miss this.

The smell of the kitchen when someone has been cooking with Kimchi (Korean spicy pickled cabbage- berry derishasu.)

The unhappy crossing the road song.

The happy crossing the road song.

The heavy japanese rain on your 100 yen umbrella (cheap but still open up at the push of a button.)

The incredibly loud sound of pachinko parlours (a type of pinball gambling?) if the doors open as you walk past.

The distant sound of someone singing (wailing?) when you enter a Karaoke place.

The feeling of metal to your lips when you get a bit too close to the microphone.

The rush of blood to the head and tingling fingers about 2 hours into an 8 hour long session of Karaoke. This is then followed by a bit of dip until about 6 hours in when you perk up again.

A lot of Japanese people of their clothes (rather than perfume etc.) which is quite nice and you can smell it much more when it rains.

The bump as you go up onto the pavement on your bike (then off again, then on again...)

The shock as you use a washlet (spraying toilet) for the first time, or if someone has changed the settings to extra strong spray and the water temperature to high.

And now for something completely different- I'm in Tübingen and it's very pretty. I've made a German friend already who showed me the town and helped me around etc. I'm looking forward to the next few months. Here are two photos I took.