Being back in Japan again was a weird feeling, even though it had been 2.5 years since I left I came to Japan just feeling the exact same as I had when I had lived there. It was like I had never even left. Maybe it was just the feeling of "this is normal" that came over me and made me a little bit bored initially.
Of course I was glad to meet my friends, that was the main reason why I wanted to go back to Japan in the first place. I guess I had also thought that if I went to Tokyo and not Osaka I would not get the feeling of "this is normal", but I did. So the days I spent in Tokyo weren't super interesting, except for going to the Ghibli museum, because that was great.
Anyway the feeling didn't last long though because me and a friend quickly left Tokyo to visit another friend in Ibaraki where just staying in their apartment and eating the home made food and going to places in Ibaraki made it feel like I was experiencing something new.
It was an interesting few days, I got a bit down because of the jet lag I guess and then I got sick for maybe half a day too and caught a cold pretty early on. Then my friend got a bit sick too and left a day earlier than me. It sounds like a mess, and it kind of was, but all in all it was fun! We weren't really able to do any of the things we planned, like BBQ (it was raining) and going to a big park nearby (because they closed it on that day), but we found other things to spend time on!
After spending a few days in Ibaraki I came back to Tokyo and stayed at my friends place there. They were working for like 3 days (?) in a row so I spend a few days alone in Tokyo. I went to a Samurai museum, a cool park-thing in Todoroki and bought some Harry Potter books that I sent back to Sweden right away (hopefully they will arrive after I get back).
The main part of the trip though was me and my friend going to Nagano for 3 days. It doesn't sound like a long time but we did quite a lot of things and it was a really fullfilling trip. Our first day we went to a little town called Obuse where we ate a lot of good food and saw many beautiful houses and mountains.
The day after that we went up on a mountain and hiked through a forest to various places. Throughout the forest they had put up signs saying "Beware of bears!", which kind of scared me a little, but thankfully we did not encounter a bear.
In the forest you can take a trail to a lake which is called "Mirror lake" and on clear days it will show you a beautiful reflection of the mountains behind. When we were there we saw nothing, and the big mountains lay hidden behind clouds. It was okay though, I liked the weather, it was a perfect temperature which I already miss.
To end the day on the mountain we ate some delicious cold soba, and some ice cream and went to a ninja museum!
Lastly after the trip to Nagano I had about one day left in Tokyo, and was able to meet a friend who came up for a quick visit. We didn't really know what to do or where to go though since we couldn't go anywhere too far from the city center. In the end we just ate some food at a "Mexican restaurant" (it was basically Japanese food in my opinion) and then went to Tokyo station to find a café where we could sit and talk. Turns out though that that was harder to do then we planned and we ended up not getting in to any cafe because the lines were looong. Honestly it was kind of a fail day but I had fun, and I hope my friends did too!
So, that was my Japan trip, in very short terms. Maybe later when I am not so lazy I can go in and edit this post to add pictures... we will see!
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Up next is Korea, where I went right after being in Japan and I am still here! It's gonna be long "vacation" here (I put it in quotation mark because I have to spend most of my days studying anyway) and the first week has not been as expected.
In Korea I am staying in Daejeon. It was pretty easy to get here from the airport but it took a long time! And in Korea I´ve been eaten by bugs every day, doesn't matter if I stay inside my room with all doors and windows shut or outside, they still come and get me! There is always somewhere where I've been bitten and subsequently it starts itching. I can live with it but at first I thought it was lice or something in the room so I got a bit scared that I might have to find another place to stay. Luckily it worked out, the little bastards are creeping in from the outside.
I didn't expect all the bugs. I've never been bitten in Japan. And another thing I wasn't expecting was that there would be 30 degrees celcius heat outside in September/October. Of course I try to research these things but it's difficult when it comes to weather.
Last time I was in Korea coming from Japan, Korea was a lot colder so I just assumed that generally in fall/winter it would be a bit colder than Japan, but I was wrong.
30 degrees is fine, and it is slowly dropping, but I honestly had hoped that I would not have to walk around in sandals and shorts on sunny days.
Okay, that's it for now. More on the Korea trip later, it's long so might as well give it its own post!
