Life in Japan, part 2

Tokyo is now cold but still exciting, good food and expensive.
So, what can I tell you? I have now been here for a period of close to
four months and still have another month to go. I now know some of the
Japanese language, so it is also a hell lot easier for me to actually
live in Japan than it was earlier.
I haven't been able to do any fly-fishing while staying here (due to
work) but since I now have a plane ticket to New Zealand for eight days
of fly-fishing with Myron Buck and Clark Reid, in the area around Taupo
beginning the 26th of January, I no longer feel that it is such a big
loss.
Just spent Christmas with members of the project team that didn't go
home for the holiday and although they are a nice bunch I couldn't
help but missing my kids, this being the first time that I ever spent
Christmas without them. Anyway, my kids arrive here on the 2nd of
January to spend a week with me in this the largest city in the world.
The Japanese, BTW, being Buddhists, are amazingly interested in
Christmas. I guess they will try anything that allows them to celebrate
(they are also very liberal about their religion).
There are a lot of things that I feel I have experienced here that made
the stay interesting, apart from the work as a project manager.
For example I now have tried three different strength earthquakes at
5.3, 6.2 and 6.9 on the Richter scale, although the last was way out in
the sea and didn't feel as strong as the one at 6.2 that was only
30km away.
Another experience is the fact that I could wear T-shirts until
December, for natural reasons that never happened before in my life ;-)
My greatest loss, staying in the south of Japan, is definitely the
absence of nature. Sure, there are parks and even remote mountain areas
that I guess could be considered nature. But you know what? When
walking a trail only to find a Coca Cola vending machine in the middle
of the forest it doesn't really compare to the wilderness that I'm
used to. I know....I know..., I'm probably a bit spoiled living near
the Arctic Circle, but still. I didn't get to visit the north of
Japan, so I can't say about what it looks like there.
If you ever want to impress Japanese people, try describing the beauty
of the Aurora Borealis and you will have an audience that are
absolutely spellbound.
Last time I wrote about life in Japan, I mentioned the shopping. There
are a couple of things that I have bought and that are so much cheaper
here that it is kind of hard to resist. Went to Kappabashi before
Christmas and bought two Damascus forged kitchen knifes and whetstones.
Also went to Akihabara and Ginza to buy both an MP3 player and a Nikon
D70 digital camera.
It is a bit strange how the longing for home grows stronger and
stronger for every day that I come closer to the actual return date,
would almost have thought it would be the other way around.
A fun thing happened during Christmas, celebrated with parts of the
project team but also two Japanese families. There I was cooking and
preparing a Swedish Christmas dinner, when one of the Japanese women
came into the kitchen looking worried and asking if I was feeling
alright. Hehe, the explanation was that neither she nor her sister ever
experienced a guy cooking for an entire private party.
I have had some ideas that actually generated business, here in Japan,
for the company that I work for, so it might be in the future that
there will be more opportunities for me to visit Japan. All in all I
think it has been quite fun so far.

With 165.000 frequent flyer points on my Star alliance card I have now
started to plan for summer. One idea was to once again join an American
clave, another to join riverman in Maine, to try the fishing there for
a week or two. More on that issue later.

BR/ Roger Ohlund
For info on flyfishing in the north of Sweden, Lapland, visit
http://www.imsoc.se/angler/