My landlord

Today I got a letter informing me that I need to hand in a signed document to allow him to transfer my security deposits to the new owner of the property.

The trouble is that the letter was not delivered by any mail service, hence there isn’t a stamp or postage date on it. Nothing at all in fact, just a window to show my address through the envelop.

In this letter im asked to hand in the signed document until the 15. March 2019 and the date of the signature is the 27. February 2019.

I feel like someone just forged something here and that I might have trouble getting back my security deposite.

Not to mention that he informs me to pay rent to the new owner starting in March.

Meaning I’ve paid rent to him for 2 month now for a flat that doesn’t belong to him anymore….

I hope he has an accident that leaves him unable to reproduce and a liability to his family… As European law seems to be unable to do anything against him besides compiling more paperwork. :(

Although him getting arrested and imprisoned would still be more to my liking…

Since today is April fools day I’m publishing old photos I took in the year 2011 :)
My last photos of Fujiyoshida :)

Fujiyoshida to me means Udon and the smell of wood as well as rain between 3 and 4 p.m. :D
At least during the weeks I spent there in 2010 and 2011 it seemed to rain every day between 3 and 4 p.m. :D

This place felt so calm and nice to me :)
I could enjoy the rain each day due to it only falling during a short time of the day and the buildings and landscape making the rain look and sound beautiful :3

Back then I was just starting out exploring the places somewhat off the trodden paths :)
The possibilities of booking hotels and getting to places like this were far less documented and translated than they are now so I did most of my research doing google maps :D It was challenging and thrilling and right now I’m still feeling the same way every time I’m laying out my trips and looking at the places I’m wanting to visit :3
Fujiyoshida did strike me as a place that was rarely mentioned in the guide book to Japan that I was using and that I do still possess :D
The only thing it mentioned about Fujiyoshida was Fuji-Sengen Jinja (of which the Torii can be seen in the last photo :)
I was not sure what to expect of this place that had barely anything written about it in sources that I could read. Naturally I was nervous about what spending a week in a foreign place like this would be like as there might be the chance it would not be interesting enough and make me feel like I would rather be somewhere else.
I still took the chance and went there anyways :D
At first I wasn’t sure if I was at the right place as Fuji-San could not be seen from the ground (^-^;) and my ascend to Fuji-San was kind of a disaster due to massive amounts of rain but I fondly remember Fujiyoshida :3
I decided to return next year to climb Fuji-San again :)
I stayed for a week in Fujiyoshida again and this time the weather was just wonderful. :3

I went hiking in the surrounding mountains, rode the cable car from Tenno-San and ate lots of delicious Udon :3
I also remember all of the kind people I met in this place and the delicious Udon I ate :3
2011 was a hard year for Japan but I admire the calm determination and perseverance with which the Japanese are facing the challenges nature and technology gave them that year.
In many ways I feel like Japan has grown from that experience without taking rash decisions. I do not say that everything went perfectly but it went well enough considering what had happened :)

In some way I feel like I have grown too since then :)

Fujiyoshida is one of the reasons I fell in love with exploring Japan :)
There are many wonderful places and this is the reason why my passion matured and the desire to know more about Japan is still burning within me :)
My photos from Fujiyoshida are also one of the main reasons I started writing about Japan on my blog as friends told me they liked my photos (^-^)
In many ways my passion for things Japanese matured and I’m also much more familiar with the not so nice sides of Japan but! in many ways I learned to like something about Japan that is hard to grasp.
For most of my life my aesthetic preferences have felt off to myself and one of the reasons I started making things was that I couldn’t find things that just felt right to me so I started making them. I found inspiration in Japanese things and in the way Japanese work on things :)

I hope one day I can visit Fujiyoshida again (^-^)
I want to say Thank you to this wonderful little town with its nice and kind inhabitants :)

I think last weeks interview went well :)
Sadly I’m incapacitated again (>_<;)
Usually I’m rather robust but I guess working a lot and having all kind of things to do makes me a bit more susceptible to that…

I wish everyone a great new week with sweet dreams and happy memories 
(^-^)/

Continuing my stroll through the Shallow Gras (Asakusa :)

Japanese fruit and vegetable store always feel enjoyable as the produce they are selling always looks exceedingly fresh :3
I always miss Japanese fruits and vegetables while being in Germany (^-^;)
Their quality is superb and the taste is so wonderful :3
Especially with small farmers you can feel how they try to make the best produce for their customers :3

I also found, what i probably, the worlds smallest car repair shop :D
It looked quite nice actually and the guy running it seemed quite competent :)
Don’t know if this is his main job or just a hobby but I like this one :)

Skytree stands above all and is visible from almost every angle, guarding over the Shallow Gras, gently, patiently reminding one that you are still in Tokyo.
Even if the view from Tokyo Tower is nicer I do like Skytree a lot and it carries on the spirit of Tokyo Tower being a sign of Japanese engineering and craftsmanship prowess and cooperation :)

I’m not sure from which era or which Manga this display came from but it kind of fit the scene of Showa Era and modern houses :D

A wall one bearing  a big mural :o
It seems like there has been a fire inside this house (at least the tops of the windows were singed and there was some damage on the top of it…
The remains make me wish that I could have seen it when it was new (*´ω｀*)

The small old and worn house donning the nice and fresh leafs as well as a new bamboo blinds makes for a nice sight that reminds me of the film Spirited Away :3
I found this place to be oddly charming despite of its cramped position :)
It feels a bit like seeing a dandelion, not getting discouraged by being born from a seed that fell into a crack in the hard concrete it will grow and flourish :)
I like dandelion although most seem to see them as a nuisance (^-^;)

One thing I can recommend everyone to eat in Asakusa is Tendon (天丼、てんどん :) which is kind of like the special dish of Asakusa :3
Its Tenpura with rice :3
I like it a lot :3

One thing I also enjoy in Japan is Calpis (๑ ॣ•͈ٮ•͈ ॣ)♡

This week I could finish an important lab report that had taken me an eternity to complete (^-^;)
Now I can finally tackle some other tasks at work ((((((((((っ･ω･)っ
I worked in a team with student intern to complete some experiments but all the data had to be sighted, sorted, described and put into the report which took quite a bit of time…

For some time now I have been very disappointed with parcel services in Hamburg… once again I couldn’t get what I ordered and will have to order it again :(
Paying a second time for shipping…
The record so far was ordering a book 5 times to get it once taking 2 month for it to arrive… (this was the wonderful book Onibi by @atelier-sento which I can recommend you a lot for its charming and nice story and the wonderful illustrations that make me dream about my next trip to Japan :)

This year is very busy and a lot of things feel like whispering “give up your dream, give up your dream.” it being living in Japan.
It’s partly having to find a new flat with most landlords requiring you to rent a flat for at least 2 years with you being at the landlords whim when it comes to quitting your contract early…
I wish I could spend more time researching jobs in Japan but I feel stuck sometimes. I don’t feel much of a connection with my surroundings in Germany and while I’m appreciated by my coworkers for the work I do I don’t feel much appreciation by people outside of work. Feeling more like a stranger walking through a foreign place that I’m just visiting. 
It is not a nice feeling and it might seem strange to most but it feels like part of why I’m appreciated at work is this independence from most things surrounding me. Living here feels oddly numb.
So I cannot give up for the life of me as giving up would be like giving up on life to me.

Sorry for my odd ramblings (^-^;)
This Friday I’ll have a job interview :) I hope I can become so good as to be desirable to hire by a company in Japan :)
I’ll continue studying Japanese in the meantime :)

I wish everyone a great time with sweet dreams and a goal to work on achieving  (^-^)/

Somehow the landlines in Japan grew on me :)
I have to admit that at first I looked down on them but over time I learned more about Japan and somehow they became a part of the image of the Japanese identity that formed inside of my mind :D

This area features quite a few Showa era architecture gems :D
The architecture from that period is a wild mix of modern materials, European elements and Japanese elements and a general cluelessness about what to do with these :D
It’s charming once you look at it from a perspective of someone who read a lot about the history and culture of Japan :)

Recently a friend reminded me of the guerrilla gardens Japanese homeowners tend to set up in front of their dwellings :)
She told me she wants to have a house with a garden or she’ll just plant things wherever she can find space to do so 笑笑 (:D)
hearing this made me happy :D
I also met a Japanese who apologised to me and a German friend when we talked about the littering and dirt problem foreigners are bringing to Japan…
She apologised a lot for it despite us telling her that Japanese are not to blame for this (;_;)
If you litter in Japan or leave a dirty toilet behind I hate you :D
Seriously just do as the Japanese do and don’t be rude :)

I still like to think of Skytree as the hub or glue that holds the Shitamachi together :)
It feels weirdly out of place to me but somehow it also doesn’t and the pride with which people in Ueno see it makes me happy because it really is a great achievement and a landmark that would lose its charm should it be rebuilt in most other places because I feel like one of its appeals is the spirit with which the inhabitants of Ueno see it :)

I hope I can see this place again soon (^-^)
In the meantime I’ll keep on writing to fuel my dreams (๑ ॣ•͈ٮ•͈ ॣ)♡

This week I was supposed to have a job interview but sadly it got delayed until next week…
Right now I’m working as a contractor but my boss is so happy with my work that he is trying to get me into his company :)
It would mean more vacation days and an at least 10% higher payroll :)
Both are things I would like :D
Although I still hope to find a job in Japan (^-^;)
In the meantime I’ll continue to do my best :)
I like the company I’m working for and my job so I have nothing to complain about here :)

During the past week I have been working on restoring an old German electric handplane :)
It’s fun but now I’m waiting for some spare parts :D I hope I can finally get around to taking some photos of things I made because it has been a very long time since I published anything like that….

I wish everyone a great time with sweet dreams (^-^)/

Exploring the not so touristy part of the shallow grass (Asakusa means shallow grass :)

The first photos shows the entrance to the oldest amusement park in Japan which is located in Asakusa (right next to Senso-Ji :)
Because i travel alone most of the time i never went in there (^-^;)
But I would really like to go there :3
Going there would be a blast with a girlfriend or a wife….

The north of Asakusa is more of a residential area than an area with famous sights but sights it does have and they are well worth seeing :3
This used to be the Yoshiwara in the past. No one cared to rebuild it after the big Kantou earthquake so it became a residential district although it still has quite a few details that betray its past. It is a fascinating to see this calm and gentle remembrance of the nice and beautiful things of the past that shine through like the first sprouts shining through the snow making you remember the pleasures of spring and the warmth it brings with it (｡˘◡˘｡)

It feels like this place is a bit like a Tokonoma that shows off the daily spirit of the inhabitants to their best advantage (๑´•.̫ • `๑)

It is a place best savoured by setting the goal to go to a post office and taking a detour to reach it :)

I hope that people will enjoy the photos I took there (^-^)
It would be a place I would like to live in :)

Work is continuing to be busy and recently my weekends have been busy as well (^-^;)
I hope I can have a little time to myself again soon :)
Recently my wish to be back in Japan is intensifying as the realisation of how little I can share with people around me is sinking in.
For some time I had hoped that I could call Hamburg my home to some degree but outside of the every changing Japanese community I have no one to really connect with.
A contractor I talked with who has also spent some time in Japan kind of gets it and it is wonderful to talk with him about our common experiences.
I have always been told that I’m making myself a stranger and that I should try to foster my interest in the things people around me do like.
I tried that but I cannot sustain it as it takes a lot of energy and time to do something I’m only vaguely interested in. 
I’m on good terms with my coworkers and I feel like I’m well liked by them and it makes me happy.
I just don’t know.
I guess my soul has been reborn here and cannot help missing what it has left behind.

Sorry for the not so happy thoughts I shared here (^-^;)
I guess I’m a little exhausted…

I wish everyone a great time with sweet dreams and someone whom you can connect with (^-^)/

On my way to Kamakura station  ヽ(=^･ω･^=)丿

Leaving Tsurugaoka Hachimangū felt a bit like walking through a Ghibli film :3

I enjoy the openness and cheerfulness of religious buildings in Japan :)
In Europe most of them are imposing in a way that feels like being impolite to you and the surroundings and once you are inside it feels like you are getting put down.
Obey, don’t speak unless you are spoken to and don’t question things while in Japan, places are wide, natural and cheerful :)
The scary Nio guardians are at the gates not like the cruel scenes on the insides of churches reminding you to leave bad things outside :)
The high doorsill one has to step over at the entrance enhances this feeling of leaving the world outside to recharge even if it is just for a short time :)
I also like how couples, families  and friends could meddle and casually talk with each other. It feels like a place you want to go to, to should you need a slight boost in power or should you feel down :)
This might also be due to the anthropomorphic characteristics of Shinto gods which makes it feel less grave should you make a mistake :)
All in all it just feels gentle and nice to be there :)

The side roads in Kamakura are also well worth seeing as they are framed by old buildings or new and interesting ones :)

Something that struck me on my way back to the station was that I overlooked the big old Sake store right on the side of the road :o
It is Mikaya Honten (三河屋本店 :) it is one of the oldest Sake stores in Kamakura :3
I don’t drink alcohol so it doesn’t mean much to me but I do like the meaning of Sake in Japanese culture and the shops looks :3

Today was kind of an exciting day (^-^;)
Work was normal and enjoyable but nothing out of the ordinary happened :D

I went to a demonstration against article 11 and article 13 which was fun as I met up with a friend there :)
If you are not from Europe, it is basically about making it hard for bloggers like me to do what we do and to establish a technological platform that can be used to censor dissenting opinions (if i learned anything while reading history books it is that a technology that can be used in this way will be used in this way sooner or later). 
So I decided to do something and join the protest despite the cold and rainy weather :)

On my way back I had a run in with a rather disagreeable person visiting a Mc Donalds…
I was very hungry and getting home late, hence my decision to eat fast-food (^-^;)
As I was waiting for my food to be ready (which might take anything from a few seconds to 15 minutes) I heard a commotion going on and a guy harassing the staff over claiming to having ordered one more something but the staff telling him he only paid for what he got and that he was welcome to buy another one.
At this point he started fixating on 2 guys from the staff who seemed to speak the same language as he did.
I didn’t get involved at that point and he left for a short time before returning.
He targeted the same guys again, when the manager (a women) stepped in and offered him to go to the side to talk about it he ignored her and after her telling him repeatedly that he is standing in the way of other customers he told her he doesn’t need to talk about it with her and continued his abuse of the 2 guys behind the counter just before pushing me away from my waiting position to harass the guys some more. He pushed me around some more while doing this so I kind of snapped pushed him aside and told him that he is annoying me.
I told him that his behaviour is shit. His reply was if I had a problem.
I said yes and that it was his shit behaviour. He stared at me intently.
He asked again “Allah” do you have a problem. I stared him in the eyes and said “ Yes your shit behaviour”. More Allah Allah Allah and one Kafir later and more cursing from his side while were staring in each others eyes.
I said again that his behaviour was annoying me and that it was shitty.
He lowered his gaze being visibly upset and loudly mumbling some stuff.
I’m not sure what happened but basically he got between me and my food…
Maybe it’s the Belgian side of myself that cannot tolerate the interference of an outside person with my food…
I really don’t like this kind of person… while holding his stare I did feel nothing besides being annoyed. 
He was well groomed, middle aged had very shortly cut hair and was wearing a jacket with a colour reminded me of tarnished brass.

To some degree I felt proud.
I stood up to a bully. Something I was ridiculed for at school.
I don’t know what the staff were thinking about me at that moment…
I hope they don’t mind my meddling with heir business too much…

I do not want to go too far on a tangent but lets say that I do not have too many nice memories about my time in school… I remember being called ugly most of the days and my clothes being used as rags during PE classes. I tried standing up to them which made it kind of worse but it didn’t matter. Germans hate people who differ from themselves but don’t look different. It brought me close to committing suicide at some points back then.
Anyway I’m happy I did what I did today. Although I do realise that other people might have acted differently in this situation.

I wish everyone a great time with sweet dreams and few rude people around you (^-^)/

Arriving in the shallow gras (Asakusa :D

I always enjoy going to Kamakura :3
It is a peaceful and enjoyable place (^-^)
But I still enjoy going back to Asakusa though :)
During the night even the area around Senso-Ji is peaceful and quiet (*^-^*)
This peace is also easily visible by looking at the number of cats coming out of their hiding places at night :3

It is so nice that even in such a busy and bustling place like Asakusa the nights are calm and enjoyable :3

The cat above was so adorable :3
It was a bit scared though (;_;) it was very cute with its collar :D

I miss being in Japan. I miss the cleanliness and that things around you are just working well :)

In some way the name Shallow Gras is still accurate for Asakusa as it is quiet and peaceful at night. So you can feel like you are resting in the shallow gras ✽(′ॢᵕ ‵ *ॢ)✽ஐ

I’m sorry but I’m a cat person so there are many cats here (^-^;)

Recently work has been very busy again :)
I kind of enjoy it but it is hard to keep up sometimes.
Also sometimes you find unexpected surprises :D
I got some other tasks at hand as well :)
Recently some people asked me to repair things for them which made me feel honoured and happy :)
I’m looking forward to doing this for them but the other side is that I cannot take any more commissions from other people around me (^-^;)

Anyway I’m looking forward to this weekend and to working on my various projects :)

This article is all over the place (^-^;)
I’m sorry m(_ _)m

I wish everyone a great time with sweet dreams (^-^)/

The sea breeze felt very pleasant on this hot day :3
It also made for a very nice clacking sound of the Ema (votive tablets :) against their stand (not the JoJo kind of stand :D

Sadly I got there too late and couldn’t put up a Ema…
I put up an Ema at every shrine I came by asking for the same things but one of my wishes didn’t get granted (-_-) A friend I like a lot lost her mother and I always wished for it not to happen (I did always wishEs for this ever since I learned about her mothers condition by the end of 2016) sometimes life is cruel to the people we like and we cannot help but feel a part of the pain of this person.

I’m not religious and don’t expect too much from doing this but it helps a bit and thinking about a friend who’s in trouble or hurt is sometimes the only thing you can do and putting up Ema helped me deal with the feeling of helplessness.
There are few people I hold in such a high esteem as I do with this friend.

So that evening I still had hope it is only in hindsight that it fills me with sadness and nostalgia.

I’m sorry about the sad tangent m(_ _)m

I’m wishing you all the best including sweet dreams (^-^)/ 

Keep smiling and cry as much as you want but like getting up after falling you need to start smiling again even if it hurts a bit sometimes. :,)
After all my friend is still there.

Tsurugaoka Hachimangu (^-^)

This is a very enjoyable place to visit as it is wide and open and the atmosphere invites you to slow down, take in the view, enjoy the fresh and clean air and feel like you left your every day worries and toil behind you (๑´•.̫ • `๑)

As the day was nearing its end I was lucky to see the beautiful light from the top of Tsurugaoka Hachimangū :3
Since this was the first time I went to Japan without a tripod I was limited to taking photos during the day but fortunately the days in Japan are quite generous when it comes to light :3

Another thing that makes it feel like being in another world is the view of the modern city just outside of this shrine :)
I do also like the countless tiny shrines on the precincts of larger shrines :3
It is a bit like the big mother shrine is taking care of its kittens :)

I enjoy that in Japan it’s enough to put up a sign politely asking you not to go inside :3
I miss this very much (｡˘◡˘｡)

This weekend was quite nice and I could get a few things done :)
Since 2 weeks ago I got my first power tool I paid for myself :3
I bought a circular saw (^-^)
I used it to make tracks for sliding room dividers for the tea school i’m taking lessons in (裏千家 :) also a friend asked me to help him with his shed so we will either need to reinforce it or to build a new one :D
I could build it using it hand tools but to be honest I only have so much time on my hands to tackle projects and while it would be fun to do everything by hand I hope to spend no more than 6 weekends working on it before my friend can use it… (I hope to get it done much quicker but well). 

Anyway I’m happy with my choice of circular saw (^-^)
Also I’m hoping to find a suitable new flat which would necessitate me to build some new furniture there quickly and it is hard to beat power tools when you need to make a lot of cuts…

I went to a super interesting exhibition about Japanese lacquerware too :3
I hope I can find the time to publish a few photos of it here. I did publish some of my photos in Instagram though :)

I hope everyone had a great weekend.

I wish everyone a great new week with sweet dreams and something pleasant to look forward to (^-^)/

After arriving at Zeniarai Benzaiten Ugafuku I decided to go to the Kamakura Daibutsu :3

I have been to this place before but this time I wanted to go inside of the Daibutsu :)

I was quite happy about this decision as I could take this nice photo of oranges/Mikan on a tray in front if the statue :3

Also the Daibutsu spread its tiny wings :D
Going inside is very affordable at 20¥ :) It was very interesting and super hot on the inside (^-^;) 

Seeing how the sections were secured together was very fascinating and interesting :3
It seems like there was quite a bit of insecurity on how to pull this off they seem to have tried out different ways on how to connect them :)
All of them seem to be fine though as none of the joints have failed so far :D

It is an impressive feet those craftsmen achieved back then :)

Taking a walk through Kamakura is always pleasant so I decided to go on and walk through Kamakura since it was still early afternoon :)

This was quite busy but also very interesting :)
It had many rewarding moments and quite a few things that got me scratching my head like screws holding up to more abuse than they ought to {{{(ﾟДﾟ;)}}}
I mean there was more stress on them than even the highest rated bolt that size should have been able to withstand…
Of course you couldn’t tighten it a second time but still I’m quite impressed :D

Still I got praised and my boss told me he liked my analysis of some of the issues and my stance on how to tackle a complex problem that is a design issue remedied by the assembly workers (^-^;)
Sometimes there are so many small problems with a small, seemingly simple device that you don’t know where to begin so you need to make an educated guess, try to tackle one issue first, maybe fail (I did in some way as it worked in the lab but assembly trails didn’t go well…) so with what I learned I started working on another issue and it worked in both the lab and the assembly trails (^-^)
It’s a great feeling when you show your boss what solution you came up with and the trails and he tells you to go ahead and your design will be part of all future devices (*^-^*)
Time to tackle the next issue ((((((((((っ･ω･)っ
Until I’ve defeated them all ヽ(=^･ω･^=)丿

I wish everyone a great time with sweet dreams and the pleasant feeling of having solved a small issue (^-^)/