Sangorrin

Playing soccer in Japan

2009-11-16T05:08:00.000-08:00

Although I don't like watching soccer very much, I really love playing it since I was a child when I used to play with my friends Denis Arconada and Francho in San Sebastian.

When I moved to Cantabria at the age of 10, I went on playing almost everyday at the school's breaks (Sagrados Corazones, Argomilla de Cayon). Soon I entered to a local soccer team, the Ayron de Vargas. For many years, I had such a good time traveling with my team Ayron around Cantabria, playing matches every weekend, having dinners. I feel very grateful to all the people at the Ayron club.

I managed to play in the 3rd Spanish league which sounds quite cool when I say it here in Japan, but in reality it was not that hard I think. Unfortunately, when I entered the University I didn't have time for playing anymore. I just played occasionally with friends, and especially with my previous laboratory colleagues.

Note: thanks to Hara-san for her photos of the matches

I got my ankle twisted just a month before coming to Japan, which was really a shame. I have been waiting to play again for several months because I wanted it to fix correctly. Finally, a few weeks ago I played soccer with my current laboratory colleagues in Japan. We played a small league against other laboratories in the University. Although I felt that I needed to practice more to recover my normal level I really enjoyed playing again! :D

Magome - Tsumago trail

2009-11-09T07:15:00.000-08:00

My second trip with the Chubu International Hiking Club (CHIC) after visiting Iwayadou park, was to the Magome-Tsumago trail.

This trail is part of the Nakasendō (中山道 means centre-mountain-road, check the Kanjis in the picture above) route, which was one of the five main routes of the Edo period. It connected Tokyo (known as Edo in the past) to Kyoto.

From Nagoya station, we took the JR Chuo line and got off at Nakatsugawa station. From there we took a bus to Magome, where we started the route to Tsumago. For coming back, we took a bus to JR Nagiso station and then a train back to Nagoya.

We started the route by tasting some delicious goheimochi (五平餅). It is made of rice and grilled with a tasty sauce based on soy sauce and walnut.

From Magome we could see the Mt. Ena (恵那山). Maybe another hike.. :)

During the trail we could already see the first colored leaves indicating the Autumn. In Japan, this season is very popular and the phenomenon is known as kouyou (紅葉).

The trail crosses a very rural Japan. People living a quiet live, agriculture and even fish crops.

Along the trail, you can see lots of different versions of pottery statues of Tanuki.

There are also lots of waterwheels (suisha 水車 in Japanese).

The trail goes through a beautiful natural environment. There were also some waterfalls which were called Man-Waterfall (男の滝) and Woman-Waterfall (女の滝), although I could not figure out the reason hehe.

Tsumago, the end of the trail, was a very nice village with traditional houses that hosted souvenir shops. Although it is quite a touristic place I think it was worth walking through its main streets.

Finally, we went to eat Soba. I had Bukkake Tororo Soba, which had a quail egg (in Japanese uzura).

Note: sorry for the bad quality of the pics, I forgot the camera and took them with my mobile phone :)

Ayaya concert あややのコンサート

2009-11-07T06:19:00.000-08:00

On the 3rd of October, I went to Tokyo with my friend Raul to see a concert by Aya Matsuura (松浦亜弥), also known as Ayaya.

He has been her fan since before coming to Japan. As he belongs to her fan club, he got some special tickets near the stage.

Ayaya is a very famous Japanese singer (J-pop) originally from Himeji, as she mentioned during the concert. Before going I was expecting lots of young noisy Japanese teenagers at the concert, but it was completely different. In reality the average fan was a man of around 35 years old completely equipped with lights, Ayaya t-shirts and bracelets!! The concert was full of Otakus that knew all the movements and dances, and when to use the lights!And most of the concert was actually based on this interaction between the idol and the fans. She talked to them quite a few times and listened to their requests about songs to perform.

The concert was held in the Sun plaza hotel at Nakano (around 10 minutes from Shinjuku), which includes a very good hall for this kind of events.

The trip was quite tiring because I used night buses for going and returning. Still it was worth it, because it was a very unique Japanese experience :).

Early morning pictures in Nagoya

2009-11-01T00:51:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I like going to walk or run by a river near my house.

View Riverside walk in Nagoya in a larger map

In the map above, you can see the path I usually take. In case you live in Nagoya, you might want to take a look at it.

There is nothing touristic along the path (apart from the football stadium) but you can contemplate real Japanese life there.

There is one place I like in particular, which is the train intersection (see the mark point in the map).

I took all these pictures one day that I woke up very early in the morning and couldn't fall asleep again so I decided to go around the path by bike to take some pictures.

Iwayadou park (岩屋堂公園)

2009-11-01T00:21:00.000-07:00

Recently, I joined the Chubu International Hiking Club (CHIC). Every weekend there is some excursion organized by volunteers and everybody can attend them freely.

My first excursion was to a placed known as Iwayadou park. This place is popular because of its rocks, caves and waterfalls. It is close to Seto city, where I already had gone after my visit to Sango town. From Nagoya (Sakaemachi station) take the Meitetsu train to Owari-Seto and then take either a taxi or a bus to Akazu.

The name Iwayadou is composed of three Kanji symbols: Iwa (岩) which means rock, Ya (屋) which means roof and Dou (堂), meaning hall. And I think the main reason for this name is the rock formation that is shown in the picture above.

It was a nice walk and also I met nice people during the excursion.

South Korea

2009-10-31T20:36:00.000-07:00

My first trip outside Japan, since I started living in Nagoya, was to South Korea. Although there are flights from Nagoya, the cheapest option I found was to travel from Osaka airport to Seoul Incheon. I received lots of suggestions from my Korean friends who were always happy to hear I was going to visit their country. I bought a Korean Rail Pass in order to use the fast KTX trains as much as I wanted during 3 days.

Seoul

Seoul, the big capital, is the heart of the Korean peninsula. I visited several districts and the general feeling after coming back was that I still had much to discover in this great city.

I stayed in a hostel called Namu guesthouse, which was really nice. It was located near the Hongik University district, full of youngsters, restaurants and entertainment places.

One of the things I enjoyed the most in Seoul was its theaters. I went to see two great performances: "The drawing show" and "JUMP". The former was a very funny show were several artists were drawing in life and with different techniques to the amusement of the attendants. Although it was not allowed to take photographs or record video during the show, I found this video on youtube. The latter was one of the most amazing shows I have seen in my whole life!! It mixed comedy with martial arts and it was really funny. I also found some videos on youtube! There are more performances that I couldn't see due to time restrictions like for example the Nanta show.

The district of Myeong-dong was full of fancy shops and other trendy business. It reminded me of Shibuya district in Tokyo. I walked by and I arrived to the city hall where there is a big square good to make concerts and similar events.

I wanted to visit some historical place in Seoul as well and I decided to visit the Gyeongbokgung palace. It was worth the visit and I could take pictures with a nice light thanks to the good weather. I also visited the nearby district of Insadong.

Jeonju

I went to Jeonju using my Korean Rail pass. I was told it was a very good place to taste Korean food and that is the reason I went there. However, I didn't feel like it was very touristic as I couldn't see any foreigner there and children in the streets were stopping to say 'hi' to me! :D

Jeonju looked quite poor compared to Seoul. There was a huge open market where peasants where selling their products. Although I think they didn't have the necessary higienic conditions!

I walked all over the city and saw Jeonju streets (Film street, youth street, chinatown..) but I had not prepared the visit enough so probably i missed a lot of interesting things. The most cultural asset I visited was Gyeonggijeon.

In the above three pictures I am showing some details about Korea environment that surprised me. First, the LG brand on the yellow lines for blind people. Second, the deep penetration of the Christian church in Korea (although I already had noticed about it in Nagoya during Easter). And finally, the huge blocks of flats that are all over Korea. Specially surprising if you compare them with the urban landscape of Japan which consists mainly of small houses.

Gyeongju

Gyeongju is a city in the southeast of the Korean peninsula with lots of interesting cultural heritage. Unfortunately I didn't have time to see everything and had to leave some places for another visit.

I started seeing the Daereungwon royal tombs, which were like small mountains in the field.

Then there was a nice walk near a famous astronomical observatory from the past.

Imhaejeon site had a very nice pond called Anapji and some traditional temples.

A Korean old woman carrying food on his head.

One thing I noticed in Korea was that the traffic lights had 4 lights! I guess the forth one was for turning right or something like that.

After visiting Gyeongju I passed by Dongdaegu station in order to take the KTX train to Busan, where i would spend the nigth. I had a feeling that Daegu would have been a good city to visit though.

Busan

I didn't see much about Busan and definitely I will have to come back once again.

The hostel where I stayed (Zen backpackers) had great views.

It was near the center of the city which is the only place I saw in Busan. Full of restaurants and very lively! It was a Saturday night and I was walking alone among the crowds of Koreans having fun and eating tasty food with their friends.

Korean Food

Food is one of the best things about Korea.

Most of Korean restaurants expected you to go to eat with a friend so sometimes I preferred to buy something in the supermarket to eat alone. Fortunately, I made some friends in the hostel and went for dinner with them. Everything was delicious despite being so spicy!

My favourite dish was the Bibimbap. A bowl with vegetables very typical from Korea.

Tokyo, Lost in Translation and Gundam

2009-10-31T18:16:00.000-07:00

From Kawaguchiko we took a bus to the capital, Tokyo, where we stayed two nights. Check Maria's post about Tokyo for more information. You may also want to check my previous posts about Tokyo when I came to Japan on holidays two years ago: 1, 2 and 13! :)

We stayed in a youth hostel near the busy area of Asakusa. I hadn't seen that district before and I really liked it.

I went with Maria to some famous districts like Shinjuku, Akihabara or Shibuya.

Although the weather was really bad, it was good for taking pictures. Some parts of the city under the rain, covered with transparent umbrellas, reminded us of some scenes from the movie Lost in Translation.

In fact, we went to the same Karaoke room that appears in the movie Lost in translation. Check Maria's post to know more about it.

Finally we also visited Odaiba, an artificial island famous for its huge bridge, its replica of the statue of Liberty and its huge Gundam statue. It was a bit hard because at the same time a Typhoon was passing by Tokyo!

Shizuoka and Kawaguchiko　(河口湖と静岡市)

2009-10-31T17:19:00.000-07:00

The next day after being interviewed by the Spanish television, Maria and I took a train with direction to Shizuoka city (静岡市) using a Juu-Hachi-Kippu ticket again.

When we arrived to Shizuoka we met my Spanish friend Raul, whom you may already know from my trip to Hamamatsu. He dedicates part of his time to maintain his blog.

We had lunch in a Sushi restaurant in the train station. There we tasted a local specialty called Sakura Ebi (cherry blossom shrimp).

Raul also took us to see a market with lots of fresh fish and seafood. In this market you could buy whale　meat (クジラ) as you can see in the picture. Raul also told us that sometimes you can also buy dolphin meat.

We were going to stay just for a couple of hours in Shizuoka so we went for a short walk and visited the Sunpu Castle (駿府城).

After this short visit to Shizuoka we took a train to Gotemba and then a bus until Kawaguchiko (河口湖) which is a famous place to stay if you want to climb or have good views of Mount Fuji.

We spent the night in a nice hostel near the station.

Unfortunately it was too cloudy to see Fuji even from such a short distance and we could juar enjoy the views of a nearby lake that gives name to the town.

Note: the pictures of this post are copyrighted by Maria.

¡Mamá tú no mires! - TV interview

2009-09-25T17:19:00.000-07:00

During my Summer holidays, a TV program from the Spanish channel Antena 3 NEOX came to Japan to interview some Spanish students. They were kind enough to make a stop in the underrated city of Nagoya (the best!) to interview me as well.

The name of the program is "¡Mamá tú no mires!" (Mum, don't look now!)and its about Spanish students around the world. The different episodes and promotional videos will be available through their website for free.

People from the TV consisted of a cameraman and the interviewer, who also was the boss of the program. The usual presenter couldn't come because she got pregnant. Basically, I was taking them to different places and they were filming it in the street and asking me questions.

After showing them around Nagoya station, I took them to my home where I explained them how to classify the garbage and other daily-life stuff. I also showed them the neighborhood and the manga shops around my house.

Then we went to my University and I showed them the campus, my laboratory and I explained the details of my grant and what the 'hell' I am doing here :D.

We also went to the cafeteria where I usually have lunch and dinner. They recorded me washing (lightly) the dishes after eating and explaining the system to make suggestions for improving the service.

After filming around the University I took them to Osu Kannon, where there was a flea market, which make the visit to Osu's temple more interesting.

Some people were showing interest in us, specially groups of young girls and children, and they used to say "hi" or smile to the camera and wave their hands. I even heard some of them wondering if we were from the ABC television :). It was like being a movie star hehe

Finally, during the evening I took them to see a dancing festival called Nippon Domannaka Matsuri, which I believe, rounded the interview!

Fortunately, Maria was there to report about that day and she not only took fantastic photos of the interview but also about the places and people that we passed by.

I specially like Maria's pictures of people. Normally I would just take pictures of buildings (or tomatoes) because I'd be too shy to take a photo in front of the person.

This one for example is lovely and she took it just two meters from them and very fast!

Note: all the pictures are copyrighted by Maria.

Iga, Mie prefecture (伊賀,　三重県)

2009-09-25T09:24:00.000-07:00

Traveling to Iga, in Mie prefecture, is an easy though interesting one-day trip from Nagoya.

Iga was famous for being one of Japan's leading ninja schools. Ninjas were basically spies and assassins that were able to use lots of techniques and tools.

The town of Iga itself was quite nice. A typical Japanese village with Japanese style houses, boys going to high school, just like in the Anime Captain Tsubasa ;).

The village is crossed by the river Hattori, which is a name of a famous Samurai (Hattori Hanzo) and also the legendary sword maker in Tarantino's movie Kill Bill. By the way, it is also the surname of my Japanese sensei hehe.

And we also enjoyed a plentiful lunch, especially Maria hehe whose dish looked bigger than her! :)

When it started raining we went to the Iga Ueno Castle. It was not that interesting after having seen the one in Himeji.

The main attraction of Iga is its Ninja museum where they explain the tricks that Ninjas used to do, the tools they used, etc.

At the end of the visit there is a show where some actors throw shurikens and other Ninja tools.

Check Maria's post about our visit to Iga!

Nagoya with Maria

2009-09-25T08:30:00.000-07:00

After seeing Himeji and its castle we went back home to Nagoya.

However a big city, Nagoya is safe for riding a bicycle and its quite common thanks to its wide sidewalks. It was a great way to see the city!

Nagoya Castle, which may not be as valuable as the one in Himeji and yet interesting enough to pay a visit. We contemplated it from Meijo park.

The sunset light was perfect for a photograph session and we took some nice portraits of each other.

I did not carry my camera so I could only take some crap pictures with my phone. Next time I should carry mine as well because it's not fair for her :).

We went back to Sakae (downtown) and watched the TV tower from the Oasis21 complex at night. Probably one of my favorite views of Nagoya.

Just behind Sakae's famous big wheel there is a manga shop called Tsutaya where Maria and I discovered a great manga called "Saint Oniisan" (eng. "Saint Young Men"). Check Maria's post about it here.

And also very close to the TV tower there is a very nice restaurant called Saizeria. Although it claims to be Italian, they have also Spanish food like paella or jamon. But the main point of this place is that it offers a nomihoudai (drink as much as you can), which means that for 180 yen you can drink coffee and soft drinks without limit.

Talking about food、 I took Maria to the cafeteria where I usually have lunch in the University　everyday. In Japanese it is called gakushoku 学食　and it is very convenient because you get a lot of food for a more than acceptable price. We also enjoyed sushi in restaurants called Kaiten Sushi, check Maria's post about sushi here.

And to put an end to this post, check this interesting photo that we took near the University showing the words Gaza, Love&Peace :)

Himeji Castle - 姫路城

2009-09-12T17:14:00.000-07:00

After visiting Kyoto, Maria and I took a train to Himeji in order to see its famous Castle. Perhaps the most interesting castle in Japan.

Once again we used a Juu-Hachi-Kippu ticket for the trains which made the traveling expenses much cheaper. Trains in Japan are very punctual and I could plan all the train routes very easily thanks to the website hyperdia (click English) and my mobile Internet :).

I love trains since I started using them to go from the village of Renedo to my University in Cantabria (Spain). Back then, I got used to reading and studying during the journey and it seems there are habits you never lose completely.

Himeji Castle was really interesting. Even for me who likes more the traveling part rather than sightseeing buildings or monuments. We entered inside the different departments of the castle, imagine what the rooms were like in the past, etc.

As we didn't have enough time, that day we ate o-bentou in the train.

The views from the train back to Nagoya were very relaxing. Finally some rice crops and fields instead of so much concrete and urbanized areas.

Note: Pictures by Maria-chan

Rediscovering Kyoto with Maria

2009-09-07T01:51:00.000-07:00

It was a bit more than two years ago when I visited Kyōto for the first time.

We used a ticket called juu-hachi-kippu to travel to Kyoto from Nagoya.

The previous time I visited Kyoto, I rented a bicycle to get around. But this time we decided to use the complex Kyoto Bus system with a one-day ticket. I guess I am used to Nagoya's subway and that's why I found urban buses in Kyoto slow and messy.

The first temple we went to see was the Kinkakuji (golden temple). Thanks to the pond in front of it and its nice colors, it is not difficult to take pictures that look great here.

Then we head for the famous Zen garden of the Ryoanji temple. Although maybe not that amazing, I think it was relaxing to watch it.

In the city center, we entered to a Game center where Maria pretended to be playing a drums game which looks similar to the one that appears in the movie Lost in Translation.

Finally, we visited the famous Kiyomizu temple which had great views of the city and it was probably the most interesting temple in Kyoto.

After watching the Kiyomizu temple, I showed Maria a fantastic cemetery that nobody seemed to have interest in. I found it by chance two years ago when I was trying to get to the mountain to have a nap! :)

We saw lots of people wearing the traditional kimonos and at night we saw for a few seconds what looked like two Geisha apprentices. There is this kind of service where you can rent a kimono and wear it around the temples, or even get photographed by professionals.

We spend the night in Ayado Gyon hostel, which had nice surroundings. The hostel was a nice place to stay, clean and friendly.

One of the places I liked the most was the Gyon district. It was especially interesting at night when the narrow streets where full of open restaurants and lights and there were couples sitting by the riverside.

Note: Pictures taken by Maria-chan

Watching the Dragons

2009-09-07T01:00:00.000-07:00

Maria-chan came for a few days to visit me in Japan and we had a great time together.

We decided to spend the first day after she arrived in Nagoya so she could have time to rest from the long trip. I took her to some of my favorite places in Nagoya, like Osu Kannon or Sakae area.

While walking in Sakae we saw a street concert by some Japanese band. It looked like they were quite popular among Japanese as the public was following their songs with strong interest and waving their hands and arms.

We also went to the nearby Oasis21 area where there are nice views of the Nagoya tower and other buildings.

Very close to Oasis21, also in Sakae area, there is a place where there is always somebody playing on the weekends. In our case, we had the "luck" to see this hilarious group of imitators of Kiss :).

Finally, we went for the main event of the day, the Dragons baseball match!! We made a stop in the commercial centre AEON that is in front of the stadium (Nagoya Dome) and bought two Dragons bracelets and a T-shirt. She got the number 3, from Tatsunami, and I got the number 1, well.. because I am her number 1 hehe.

A Japanese friend called Ayumi, who is a fan of the Dragons, came with us and she also brought two more friends. She had all the necessary equipment to become a Dragons supporter hehe

The stadium was great and everything was well organized. Unfortunately the Dragons lost against the Yokohama Baystars, but nobody can always win. I more or less knew the rules of baseball but Maria filled the information that was lacking. Although I consider this sport a bit boring for the players that must be waiting for their chance to participate in the game, I admit that I had a good time :)

Note: Pictures taken by Maria-chan

Sango, Nagoya city 「三郷、名古屋市」

2009-09-01T15:16:00.000-07:00

During the middle of August, I had some days off thanks to the Obon (お盆), which is a traditional Japanese festivity similar to the "Day of the Dead".

View Larger Map

As I had not prepared any trip, I decided to check by bike one place near Nagoya that I had seen in a map before. The place was called Sangō (三郷) and the reason for going there was that the short version of my family name is also Sango :). Actually, after visiting Sangō I went on further to Seto　「瀬戸」, which made the trip even longer (and brought double pain to my bottom hehe)

Leaving the city there are some great views of elevated highways crossing in amazing ways that I have only seen here in Japan.

After the highways, some bits of peace and quite life. These photos remind me of some Animes like Captain Tsubasa and others :).

But to be honest, the "rural" part of Nagoya could be the center of some small cities in Europe. You hardly see anything else than buildings or cars. The only piece of nature that I managed to see was the Shinrin park (森林公園).

And finally, after around 20Km by bike under a killing sun (it felt as if I were in hell!), I arrived to Sango's crossing, which looked like the pic above.

In Sango there is also a Meitetsu station so I could have gone by train but I think it is always much more interesting to go by bike.

And here I am in front of a building called Sango hehe. I also saw several shops, hotels, post office with the word Sango written on them :).

Probably a stupid trip that no one will ever want to repeat but at least I took some ordinary Japanese streets photos that might be interesting for fans of Japan (sorry that the quality is bad, I took them with my cell phone). Next will be trying this burgers hehe

My new apartment in Nagoya

2009-08-24T05:51:00.000-07:00

During my first five months as a student of Nagoya University I have been living in the International Residence (check the views from it).

The residence is a great idea because at the beginning you get a very cheap place to stay until you get used to the new environment.

Unfortunately, this stay could only be extended for 6 months so I had to start looking for a new apartment to move out and I found one in the building above.

I decided that I wanted to be close to the University but also have shops around and live in a busy area. Fortunately, there was such a place, it's name was Irinaka. So I went to the Irinaka office of a famous state agency called Minimini. A very kind Japanese woman, Mami-san, showed me different apartments by car and it was very easy to find the one that I wanted. If you are looking for an apartment around Nagoya University I recommend you to contact with her (she can speak English very well): irinaka@minimini.jp

I am very happy that my apartment in Irinaka, apart from being close to the University (around 10 min by bike or by subway), is very close to a Book-Off store (my favorite shops!).

In this zone, there is also a great bookshop and rental shop called Sanyoudou (三洋堂書点) which has several floors.

On the top floor there is a big Manga shop where I can buy materials for drawing comics. I have the intention of drawing new comics soon.

In the second floor I can rent movies, animation series and even mangas. It is a great way to read mangas for a very cheap price and not having to store them at home.

I pay around 36000 yen/month and I have a simple apartment with a bed, desk, small kitchen and bathroom. Just what I needed!.

World Cospay Summit Parade, Nagoya Aug 1st, 2009

2009-08-14T22:30:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of the month I went to see the World Cosplay Summit here in Nagoya. The word cosplay originates from COStume and rolePLAY and to summarize, it consists of people dressing up as their favorite characters.

Some days before the event I attended a conference by one of the organizers, Edmund Hoff (Vancouver, Canada). The conference was aimed at AGGN guides mainly and its title was "Popularity of Otaku Culture Abroad, what's good to see in Nagoya?". Edmund talked about manga and anime, shops in Nagoya and about the event itself.

The event was divided in two days and I went to see the first one which consisted of a parade around Osu Kannon (the manga district of Nagoya). The main temple in Osu Kannon was full of people waiting to see the outfits of the participants.

I took some videos in a crossing at Osu Kannon to show the parade. They all look like they were having lots of fun.

Naruto and its characters were very popular and I saw quite a few people dressing up like them.

There was also a great variety of participants, from young girls to more mature fans.Probably they had been working on their outfits for a long time before participating in the event.

Apart from the parade, there was an international contest with around 15 participating countries. It's amazing to know that they just came to Japan to participate in such an event!

Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament July 18th 2009

2009-08-14T19:12:00.000-07:00

I had some more "Sumo" experiences that I would like to mention.

Some days after the Sumo chankokai party, I received a nice present from them consisting of a piece of good Japanese paper with my name written on it in Kanji (it reads "Dani") by a master of Japanese calligraphy (shodou 書道)

Some weeks later I attended another interesting event called Nagoya Rave 2009. During the event, which was near Nagoya Castle, there were lots of Sumo amateur fights, including foreign wrestlers that wanted to experience this Japanese sport.

Finally, some weeks later I attended a professional event, the grand sumo tournament where I took the video above. The Sumo stadium, called Nagoya Basho and very close to the castle, was full of people. I liked the fights very much and also the traditional rituals that were involved.

I had the luck to be guided by volunteer members of the AGGN (Aichi Goodwill Guides Network). They explained me the situation of the tournament, the names and characteristics of the wrestlers or details about the ceremony. Thank you very much for your help! :)

Manga in Nagoya - 名古屋のマンガ店

2009-08-01T05:43:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been visiting a lot of Manga shops here in Nagoya so I thought I should make a post about it.

There are Mangas everywhere! thousands of titles in the shelves! tens of magazines are published every week with new series! It's really a paradise for me and a great incentive for me to study Japanese even harder.

Inside Manga there are lots of genres but the main difference is the target audience they are written for. For example, recently I have become interested in Josei Mangas (also called ladies comics レディースコミック, check the sign). It is aimed at an adult female audience and they are about daily life stories and romances from a short of adult point of view.

Comics for girls between 10-18 (teenagers) are classified typically as shoujo (少女, check the sign on the shelf). They are mainly about cute girls having romances and sometimes they become quite cheesy (thanks Si for this word :D).

The equivalent of shoujo for boys is shounen (少年) manga. One of the main shounen magazines is probably the Weekly Shounen Jump (週刊少年ジャンプ). In the photo above the shelf has tankoubons from that magazine. In my laboratory, we buy this magazine and one of the most popular series that appears on it is Naruto.

Mangas for adult men (and I don't mean porno XD) are known as seinen (青年) Manga. In the shelves above they are classified depending on the name of the magazines where they first appeared in: Big Comic (ビッグコミック) and Young Magazine (ヤングマガジン).

Such a huge world to explore! It feels like when I found out about Internet which gave me the chance to get information about almost anything. I have bought several Mangas and Manga magazines and I can understand about 50% of the text. When I can't, I try to look the meaning up in the electronic dictionary. It's a good way to learn new words.

In Nagoya, the main place for Manga is Osu Kannon which concentrates several good shops. But this is not the only place, so I will make a list of the places I know:

1.- The BEST place to buy Manga (or a book or anime) in my opinion is in a BOOK-OFF shop. In Nagoya there are lots of book-off shops. For the moment, I have bought mangas in Ikeshita and Irinaka shops. The good point of these shops is that as the mangas are second-hand (although the quality is as if they were new!) they are very cheap (typically 105￥ per manga, although today there was an offer and I bought 3 mangas for 105￥ which is less than 1 euro!). Also, in these shops Mangas don't have a plastic wrap so you can take a look before buying. Actually there are lots of people literally reading them without paying (which is called in Japanese tachiyomi 立ち読み, meaning reading while standing up).

2.- The only problem of book-off is that they don't have all the mangas or new publications. If you want to stay up to date then you want to read manga magazines. The best place in my opinion is in one of the million convenient stores that are spread out throughout Japan. Most of them open 24h and you can do tachiyomi there to check that you like the drawings or the stories before buying it (or not! :D). You can also buy magazines in the next shops I will mention but they will be wrapped in a plastic bag most probably.

3.- In front of Irinaka's book-off there is a huge bookshop with several floors. In the second floor there are mangas that you can RENT as if it was a DVD (there are also DVDs to rent of course, with lots of anime). This way you can read the manga for a very cheap price and you don't have to store it in your home, just give it back. Also in this bookshop, they sell materials for drawing manga (paper, ink, color pens, etc). By the way, I think I would like to get an apartment around Irinaka hehe.

4.- Manga cafes, also known as mangakissa (kissaten means cafe or cafeteria), are a good option too. Basically you go there, have a coffee and read the mangas they may have. You pay for the time you stay there.

5.- And finally i will mention the main manga shops in Nagoya that i have visited:

Wonder Goo (in Osu Kannon): very good shop, with several floors and very spacious.
Animate (in Nagoya station): very good shop, with several floors and it has all kind of materials for drawing. For example, they have books with reference photographs, a software that is used to make mangas called Comic Studio (there seems to be an English version, called Manga Studio), light tables, patterns, color pens, mannequins, etc. Also they have a big section with self-published mangas, called doujinshi.
Gamers (in Osu Kannon): good shop that is alway full of people. It's not as big as the previous ones but its very popular as well.
Mandarake (in Osu Kannon): it is famous but i didn't like as much as the previous ones. It has several floors but there is not too much space.
Sanseido bookshop (in Nagoya station, JR Takashimaya Department store, or in Nagoya Dome, Aeon Shopping Center)
K-books (in Osu Kannon): it's quite big but i didn't like it too much.
Rashinban (in Nagoya station): strange shop with two floors, one underground and other one in the 4th floor. They had lots of doujinshi also.

And I am pretty sure there are still much more that I have not seen! :)

PD: It seems that my friend Alberto Muriel is going to draw a comic as a professional, congratulations! :)

1seg TV - ワンセグテレビ

2009-07-31T17:56:00.000-07:00

Recently, I made a post about my gadgets here in Japan. This time I will show you my new gadget to watch TV on my EeePC netbook anywhere.

My gadget is a 1seg TV tuner: IO-DATA GV-SC300. It is just a small USB stick with an antenna to tune the 1seg Japanese TV on the computer.

1seg is the name of a low quality digital TV broadcasting service that is mainly aimed at small handsets like mobile phones. The way it works reminded me of the SMS in the GSM mobile networks, in the sense that it makes use of some spare resource.

In Japan, digital TV is broadcast using the ISDB-T standard, which divides the UHF spectrum 470MHz ~ 770MHz in 50 channels of 6MHz. This channels are then divided in 13 segments (in the time domain) and 1seg uses 1 of these 13 segments (that's why it is called 1seg).

Good points:

I can watch the TV everywhere I take my EeePC (for example, in a trip or to the park).
A lot of programs also come with Japanese subtitles (transmitted with BML, a XML-based standard) so I can practice Japanese much better.
It's cheaper than a normal TV (in Big Camera it cost me 6000 yen) .
It doesn't occupy space like a normal TV, and I don't have to carry a TV when I change apartment.

Bad points:

If you move fast it loses synchronism easily so you can't watch it in the car, bus or train.
The quality is not very good, only 320x240 pixels coded with H.264/MPEG-4 AVC (but in the EeePC I put it in fullscreen and the quality is acceptable for me)
I can only choose among around 5-6 different channels. So the programs I can see are limited. There is not too much Anime for example (but I watch it on the Internet instead, which is also mobile :D)

Spring Sakae 2009

2009-07-24T22:15:00.000-07:00

During the last weekend of May, I went with my friend Cesar (Panama) to a live music festival in Nagoya called Spring Sakae. Sakae (栄) is the name of the downtown district in Nagoya. It is full of stores (for example, Lachic, which organized the event), people, high buildings and some famous tourist spots like the TV tower or the Oasis 21 complex.

The festival lasted two days but I only went the first day. There were lots of artists performing in different live houses around Sakae. Basically, people could make their own schedule according to their taste and attend the concerts they were more interested in. Also for me it was a great opportunity to see a lot of locals in Sakae within a record time and without needing to pay extra! The groups were all Japanese and most of them were on their beginnings, although some of them were already quite famous.

This is the list of artist/local that I saw:

小泉ニロ (Koizumi Nilo) / Nagoya Blue Note: the local was great and the music was not bad (Brazilian music).
城南海 (Kizuki Minami) / CIPHER the underground: my favorite of the festival, I really liked her voice. She had the ability to sing with a very high-pitched voice like in traditional Japanese Enka songs. Last weekend I was in HMV (a music shop) and I saw a leaflet of her saying that her 3rd single, 白い月　(shiroi tsuki = white moon), was going to be released on the 22th of July 2009, and her 1st album will be on sale on August 19th!
UPLIFT SPICE / PLUS PARK: this group was a bit more heavy compared to the previous ones and I really like the singer's voice, I think it is very special. The guitarist was also good and i loved his haircut, which covered his face completely. And the guy on the drums was also great. It seemed to be a popular group by judging the public behavior.
Sonomi / Spiral: not worth it
AFNICA / Nagoya Blue Note: it was a very cool performance and the music was kind of Jazz. The best were the drums.
瓜生明希葉 (Uryu Akiha) / CIPHER the underground: nice voice and violin, the style was like in an animation movies
Platinum / CIPHER the underground: funny but not worth it
Ayuse Kozue / Ozon: this was one of the stars of the night I think, she reminded me of the singers from the eighties. Good performance.
Metis / Club Quattro: I don't remember liking it especially.

It was a very nice day and I am glad I went because it was a very Japanese experience and I felt integrated with them. Everything was very well organized and after each performance you had time to go out and walk to the next local or to drink or eat something.

Sumo chanko party - 相撲ちゃんこ会

2009-07-12T00:26:00.000-07:00

The day after Mt Gozaisho I went to a traditional party called chankokai (ちゃんこ会) in a Sumo gymnasium of Nagoya. In this party you get served a dish called Chanko by Sumo wrestlers.

There are several kinds and flavors of chanko and the most popular, nabe (鍋=pot), is served by the wrestlers directly from the pot to your dish.

I was invited by Kikuko-san, a very kind woman that volunteers to help international visitors know better about Nagoya and Japanese culture. I met her when I arrived to Nagoya, and she helped me and some other international students with several administration procedures. She also invited me to participate in a Samurai parade which I enjoyed very much.

During the event I was sitting down besides the guy on the left in the picture above. He told me he is manager of several Sumo wrestlers. There is something special about that Sumo belt he is holding but I don't remember exactly (maybe it's the winners belt?). It was quite heavy!

And of course I took the obligatory photo with a wrestler. In this case Shimasegawa (嶋瀬川) born in April 4th 1980, height 177cm and weight 147kg. Actually my favorite wrestler was Tokusegawa (徳瀬川) but he was very busy with other people trying to take pictures with him because he was the last champion of some secondary Sumo league. By the way Tokusegawa is Mongolian not Japanese, and he was born in August 6th 1983 and 191cm 154kg. In the video bellow, he is the first one from the left.

The party ended with the Sumo wrestlers singing and clapping. Although all of them were in pants, the most funny one was one that was wearing Calvin Klein underwear hehe. I took a first shot in my video. His name is Kongoufuji (金剛富士), March 10th 1983, 183cm and 90kg.

Mt Gozaisho - 御在所岳

2009-07-11T22:35:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I went for a hike to Mt Gozaisho　(御在所岳), a 1210m peak (35° 01' 13" N 136° 25' 28" E) not very far from Nagoya in the border between Mie and Shiga prefectures. From Nagoya I took the Kintetsu (近鉄) Nagoya line, changed in Yokkaichi　(四日市) to the Yunoyama　(湯の山) line and got off in Yunoyama Onsen　(湯の山温泉) where there is a bus that takes you to the ropeway. It takes around one hour or so.

Although normally I would like to climb it on foot, this time I decided to go up on the ropeway and get down on foot. The main reason was that it was really hot and that it was an opportunity to see the landscape from the cable car. It reminded me of when I went to Picos de Europa and got on the cable car.

On the top of the mountain, like in Picos, there was a restaurant, places to buy drinks and even a shrine.

Fortunately there was also a lot of nature and nice views, even though it was a bit cloudy. I managed to spot a deer among the bushes and took this picture with zoom.

While I was having lunch (a sandwich with ham and cheese :D) suddenly I heard some voice calling me. I turned my head and it was one Japanese friend that I had met just one week before or so. It was such an amazing coincidence to meet him in the middle of the mountain that I couldn't help thinking about how small the world is.

We shared the way down and it was great because he knew that mountain very well so he could explain me a lot of things about it. For example, he showed me a place protected by some rocks where he had spent the night once. Also on the way down he showed me some interesting rock formations that are famous in the mountain.

There are several paths to go up or down Mt Gozaisho but the easiest one was washed out because of the rain some weeks before and it was impossible to take it. Still, the mountain was being climbed by hoards of Japanese people, you couldn't feel lonely in that mountain :).

When we arrived to Yunoyama onsen, we relaxed near the river in a place called　ooishi kouen (大石公園 = large stone park)where we put our feet in fresh water. It was really relaxing. Actually, the most typical tradition is to go to the Onsen (thermal baths) but for me it was too hot for that so I preferred the cold water of the river stream.

Summing up, I think that Mt Gozaisho is good for a one-day hike because it has very good connections by train and the views are really good. I was told that the best time is in Autumn because of the red/orange colors of the trees (momiji) or in winter because actually on the top there is a ski resort as well. By the way, the pic above is some bamboo coming out from the asphalt and I found it scaring hehe like if it was from a horror movie! :)

Okehazama Historical Battlefield Festival

2009-07-01T07:22:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of June I participated in a Samurai parade to commemorate the historical battle of Okehazama (桶狭間古戦場まつり). The festival takes place every year in the city of Toyoake.

Some days before the festival, I was invited to take part in the promotion of the festival in the media for one day.

First, we went to the NHK offices in Nagoya where we appeared in the program Sarasara.

The stage was right at the entrance to the building and there was a clown to make the audience laugh and relax at the beginning of the program (which was in live!). The Japanese girl on the right asked her mum to record the video for us. When she gave me a copy in DVD unfortunately I coudn't see it because it was protected with CPRM. Fortunately, this protection is crackable with relCPRM (in Japanese).

After appearing in the Japanese TV (sounds cool hehe) I was invited to one of the best lunchs I have ever had in Japan. Then, we went to go on with our promotion to the Chūnichi Shinbun newspaper (中日新聞). They published it both in paper (see picture above) and on their internet website (here). Finally, we also went to a cable TV called CCNET which recorded the whole festival. Their video is here in streaming but I can't access it without a CCNET contract.

Some days later, on Saturday, we had the first rehearsal. During the parade we were going to represent the battle and I had the luck to perform the role of Kinoshita Tōkichirō (木下藤吉郎), who in the future would become Hideyoshi Toyotomi, one of the most important figures in the Japanese history.

The next day, Sunday, we did more rehearsal but this time with the real armours.

Finally, we went out, walked in the streets of Toyoake city and made our representation of the battle of Okehazama.

The representation was filmed and at the end of it, the presenter asked me some questions in Japanese :D.

Here you can see more pictures and get more information about the festival. It is the website of Kikuko, the person who invited me to the festival (thank you!), and it's probably one of the most useful websites to know what things you can do or see if you are around Nagoya.

Intercultural lunch

2009-06-27T18:57:00.000-07:00

Some weeks ago I had an intercultural lunch with some friends in the residence where I am living at the moment.

My korean friend Daeheon Choi (also known as Kevin for those, like me, who can't pronnounce his name :D) prepared a delicious Korean pancake.

Although I am not a good cook, I decided to prepare the typical Spanish dish "seafood Paella". I was trying to remember how Michael used to prepare it in our department barbecues. Finding the main ingredient of Paella (saffrom) wasn't a very difficult task, although it was quite expensive.