Diary

November 27, 2005 - Sunday

Woke up to the worst day in my life. Have to leave Japan today. My home. Two years have passed so fast. So many new friends. So many things I have never dreamed of doing. Thank you so much all new friends that have made it possible to experience so much in such a short time. Especially you, Chie. Thank you so much.

I will meet you soon again. I am fully determined to come back to Japan.

Chie drove me to the airport. We had breakfast in the car on the way. When I checked in I upgraded to business class by using my Star Alliance milage points. That allowed me more weight and best of all better seats.

Then Chie and I waited. Talking. Hoping to see Brad Pitt and Angelina Joulie (is that her name?). They were coming to Tokyo for promoting the Mr. and Mrs. Smiths movie. We did not spot them.

Then I had to go. It was only 10 minutes before starting boarding. But almost no people so it was fast. i had to leave my alien registration card where they check the passports. Then I exchanged money. Japanese for Swedish. Not so good. you loose some zeroes.

When I got to the gate they had just started the boarding for business class passengers. So I just passed all the poor people in the economy class and found my seat.

After takeoff I started my PowerBook and tried to conenct to the Internet. Yep, you read correctley. Conncet to the Internet. SAS is the first, and maybe still the only, airline company that provides Internet access for long flights.

So I actually write and update this diary from somewhere over Siberia. It's dark outside so I cannot see exactly where I am. And even if I saw it I wouldn't know.

But the cool thing is that I have had a chat with Chie over iChat and sent some e-mail to Patrik back and forht. Makes the time fly... Hehehehe. Sorry for the bad joke.

In several hours I will land at Arlanda airport outside of Stockholm. It is almost on the day two years since I left. That time my landlord at the time gave me a ride. This time I will take the train. But not before I meet with Patrik. That was what we decided over e-mail just a few minutes ago.

So right now I will upload the last diary entrance for my stay in Japan this time. This diary will over the next couple of weeks or so transform. Stay tuned to see into what it transform.

Again I want to thank all of my friends in Japan for making these two years so happy and full of new experiences. Please let us continue to have fun when I come back... Soon...

November 26, 2005 - Saturday

Last day. My flight is tomorrow. Not so fun. But I will be back.

In the morning Chie and I went to Roppongi Hills and the Virgin Cinema there. We had made reservations for the new Harry Potter move, The Goblet of Fire. On the way there we had breakfast at Doutor.

The movie was quite good. One of the better Harry Potter movies I think. In some parts funny. Many kids laughed a lot, including Chie and me. I think we were the oldest kids there.

In the afternoon Chie and I went to Ebisu. She met her mother and I went to Vodafone to end my cellular account. Cost me 4200 JPY to do that because I ended it early. At least that is what I think it was. The girl I talked to could not speak any English.

Then I went to Kinko's to print some documents I had to send to Professor Kimura's secreatry. I forgot to sign them before I left. Something needed for the JSPS, the organization that payed for my two years here in Japan.

But then it was time for Sushi at Kiichi. Kiichi is a great sushi restaurant. Traditional in the sense that there are no prices marked on the different fishes. you just eat and then you pay with a big smile on your face. And so we did. Actually it was Chie who payed with a big smile on her face. Thank you Chie, for everything.

Besides having a great dinner it was fun to see Chie's mother again. We talked and ate great sushi until Chie's mother had to catch her train to get home. Chie and I walked home just a little bit later. After finishing our dinner with Miso-shiro (miso soup).

November 25, 2005 - Friday

Stayed home today to pack everything and to organize the storage room I rent. I will keep the room and keep a lot of stuff there. For my return.

The organization of the room took about an hour. Then I went back home and started packing. And thinking about the dinner tonight. At Shiraishi.

Then I got an e-mail from Professor Kimura. One of his friends work at IBM Japan and had time to see me at 6:30 pm the same day. no Shiraishi then. Instead business suit and business meeting. It was kind of a job interview. But in Japan it is differnet from in Europe.

In Japan it is a long process of finding the right person and then to find the right position for that person in the company. Today was a meeting where Mr. Takeuchi talked about IBM and job opportunites at IBM. And asked me about myself.

The meeting took and hour and ended with Mr. Takeuchi telling me that he would look for job opportunities at IBM and also to send it to some of his colleagues at, for instance, Honda. I just have to wait and see what happens.

While I was at the meeting Chie went to Ginza. We met again at Ginza station and went to Ebisu. We were very lucky because Shiraishi still had two seats available for us. So, afterall, we could have a dinner at Shiraishi. And what a dinner. Yummy!

November 24, 2005 - Thursday

Went to the office to have a meeting with Professor Kimura in the morning. 5 minutes before the meeting he told me he was late and could not make it until an hour later. But then we had our meeting.

Mainly it was about a paper we will write after I go to Sweden. I had already made a synopsis and today he agreed with it. Then we made clear who is writing what.

My aim was to leave the office for good before lunch time but I had to talk with Miyaoko-san too. He will take over from now. Because of that I was late and stayed for lunch as well.

After lunch I went back home, after stopping at Ginza to buy a Christmas gift for Chie. Last time we were here she had seen a pair of indoor boots in pink lamb furr. They looked really warm and cosy. And she liked them very much. So today i went back there and bought them along with another surprise.

At home I continued packing and working. Until Chie came back home. Then we went to Yasaka for dinner.

We had made plans to meet with Uwe and Jochen from Germany there. They both attended the Japanese class with me. And this was kind of a bye for now dinner.

We enjoyed the delicsious food of Yasaka while talking about everything and nothing in particular. At 11 pm they had to leave for their trains home. While Chie and I walked back. Last dinner at Yasaka for this time. I said goodbye to the owner. And promised to be back soon.

November 23, 2005 - Wednesday

Woke up to a national holiday today. Which meant no office. Instead Chie and I had udon nabe for breakfast at home.

After breakfast we went to Shimbashi to buy new contact lenses for Chie. While she did that I walked around looking at shops and restaurants in the area.

Then we walked from Shimbashi area to Ginza. There we did some Christmas shopping and Chie got her shoes back from the shoemaker. She was so disapointed because her Chanel shoes had lost all her Chanel logotypes on the soles. One pair of shoes had only half a logotype.

Ginza was followed by going to Kankyoshuten, a chinese restaurant. Chie had made a reservation to have Shanghai crab. Right now is the season.

The crab was qite small but expensive. And it tasted more like a shrimp than a crab. Mina-san enjoyed it as well. But Mario (an Italian guy that resently joined Kimura lab) could not make it.

Chie and Mina-san also had Chinese alcohol which was brewed in 1989. 1000 JPY for a glass of 150 ml, or about 70 SEK. Phew. Very expensive I think. At least compared to Jasmin tea, which was what I was drinking.

Before the dinner was over Mina-sensei gave me a farewell gift. It was a surpise. It was a mizusashi. It's a thing for the tea ceremnoy in which you have water. you can see it on one of the pictures to the right.

After the dinner it we went back home. We took the Mita line back to Meguro and walked from the Meguro station. It was a nice walk. But it feels so strange to have to leave Tokyo and Japan in just a few days.

November 22, 2005 - Tuesday

No office today. Instead I worked at home. Mixing office work with packing. Kind of cleaned out the wardrobe, but Chie did not agree that it was cleaned out. I kind of have to agree with her.

I also had time to burn some photo CDs from our last trip to San Francisco. And i made some surprise DVD from those photos too. I hope Raider Nation Japan will enjoy them.

When Chie came back from he office we went to the gym together. First time in a while since first Chie had a cold and then I have had a cold. But it felt great doing some excercises again.

November 21, 2005 - Monday

Monday. Had to go to the office. Had my last presentation. Final report of my results from these two years. It went fine.

At home Chie and I had mabu-nasu for dinner. Left over from the Saturday night party. Yummy.

November 20, 2005 - Sunday

Shopping day. Chie and I went to Ginza. The main district for serious shopping.

Chie bought me a Christmas present. And I have to confess... I have already opened it. Sorry. It was a black tiny little iPod Nano.

After shopping Chie and I went to Ebisu for dinner. My last dinner at Red Pepper for a while. Dry tomatoes. Nicose salad. Parma ham. Spaghetti carbonara. And a beef steak. Chocolate mousse and peach sorbet for desert. Yummy.

At home after dinner I charged my new iPod and uploaded some songs. So tomorrow I can start using my new Christmas present. Thank you Chie, for everything.

November 19, 2005 - Saturday

All morning was cleaning and preparing for the party time. Then we had a hot bath and got ready.

At 4 pm Mina-san - my tea ceremony sensei - arrived. She had promised Chie to help her cook. The rest of the guests arrived around 5:30 pm.

We had a lot of delicious food like three different kinds of salad, ebi-chiri (shrimp in chili sauce), mabu-dofu, su-buta (sweet and sour pork), yurinchin (fried chicken spicy onion sauce), chinjorosu (pork with bamboo shots and bell pepper), komatsuna-itame (Japanese spinach with garlic), nikumiso (minced meat with Chinese miso), and Chinese BBQ spare ribs.

After the food we continued talking and had glüwein brought by Jochen, okashi (Japanese sweets) brought by Koji-san, Mango pudding brought by Mina-san, Strwaberries, and Swedish Punsch brought by Astrid.

I want to thank all of my new friends in Japan for making these two years so great and happy. I have seen so many places and learned so many things about Japan that I would not have done without you. Thank you all!

November 18, 2005 - Friday

Went to the office today. Felt better, and I had an appoitment with Professor Kimura at 1 pm... Which was postponed to 2:30 pm. It lasted 5 minutes.

After work I met Chie and we took the car to the grocery store. We had to buy groceries for the farewell party tomorrow. I have invited some friends that I want to say goodbye to.

Afterwards we had dinner at Misoichi. Ramen. Yummy. A lot of garlic. Yummy, yummy.

When we got home Chie started to prepare for the party tomorrow and I continued to work. I have quite a few things that I have to finish by next week. And I am a little behind. But I will make it... I think.

November 17, 2005 - Thursday

Felt worse in the morning so I stayed home. No office. But working from home all day. That is the good thing with research. Get yourself an Internet connection and you can do most of your work anyhere in the world.

In the evening Chie brought home some curry dishes. Quite spicy and they made my nose clear up a little.

November 16, 2005 - Wednesday

During the afternoon my nose started to run. So no gym tonight. Instead Chie and I went home and had shabu-shabu for dinner. Yummy.

November 15, 2005 - Tuesday

Arrived at Narita airport an hour early. Had to wait for a while so that our gate could get cleared of another aircraft.

We (Chie, Mash-san, and I) took the train to Nippori where we changed to JR Yamanote line. At Tokyo station Mash-san got off to take a Shinkansen back to his home. Chie and I continued to Meguro where we took a taxi back home.

After some unpacking we went to Yasaka for dinner. Just too tired to do any cooking today - it was bout 3 am in San Francisco when we finished unpacking. Yasaka was great as usual.

November 14, 2005 - Monday

Going home day. Returned the rental car. Bot our boarding passes. Did some shopping. Baorded. Got seated. Slept, read. watched movies, had dinner, talked, but mostly just bored. The flight might have felt shorter if Raiders had won but now it was a loooooooong flight.

November 13, 2005 - Sunday

Gameday. Woke up at 7 am to get ready for the game. Left the hotel at 8 am with the rest of the Japanese Raiders fans. At this hour of the day it was no traffic at all and it took us only 20 minutes to get to the McAffee Colliseum.

When we got a parking space we unpacked our things for the tail-gate party and started the grill. It took a while and a lot of help from Mash-san and Power-san to get the grill going, but once it fired up it kept on going for the rest of the tail-gate party.

Chie cooked miso-soup and I grilled kushiyaki - Japanese type of grilled things on a stick. Tebasaki (grilled chicken wings), Tomato maki, Asparuga maki, and a lot of other kushiyakis.

We enjoyed eating the kushiyaki and when we finished we had birthday cake for Chie. It was her birthday today and the best gift of all would be a Raiders win over Denvers. We were all hopefull.

Then it was time. Game time. We packed our things in the cars and went to the stadium. Had time to see some of the pre-game warm up. And then the pre-game show.

Today it was some parachuters from - maybe - the marines or whatever. And then the mandatory national anthem. No American eye were dry after that. Lucky I am not American; I hate tyo cry in public.

Then the teams entered again. First Denver Broncos to a symphony of boooooooos. After them the Oakland Raiders accompanied by applause and exciting screams.

At 1:05 pm Raiders' Janikowsi kicked off. The first Denver drive showed that theRaiders defense was still as good as they have been most of the season. Now the hope was on the offence. Please, make the plays.

But the first drive ended quickly. Raiders had to punt. And it was like that all game long. Only good thing was two TDs by Moss and Gabriel. But that is nothing when Denver scored 33 or whatever.

Cannot blame the defense. They made great plays and gave the offense good field position several times. The blame has to go to the offense and their inefficiency. No production. The main opinion in the stadium was that Collins (QB) was the one to blame. In the end we could hear 'Tui, Tui, Tui...' which is the nickname of the backup QB.

Enough about the game. There were other things that happened besides football at the stadium. Figths. First in the section next to where we sat. About 10 meters away. A white guy and a black guy. Taking trash at first. Then pushing some. Until the police came running. Then the black guy was gone. And the white guy was gone after the police went away.

The other fight was between some Denver and Raiders fans about 30 meters from where we sat. Close to th field. Too much alcohol and too much testosterone.

Some good things happened too. Since it was Chie's birthday she had gotten a tiara with 'Birthday Princess' written all over it. So many people came up and told her 'Happy Birthday'.

After the game our Japanese group went to Ricky's to drown our sorrows. We had dinner as well. And the owners cam over and said hello and brought Raiders fans to our table. To show the crazy people that had traveled all the way from Japan to see the game.

One of the people they brought was Rod Martin, a linebacker from the 1980s Raiders. A twice Super Bowl champion. He had both the rings on as a proof. We were impressed. Most of us at least. I had no idea who he was. I just recognized that it was two Super Bowl rings. Because of their ugliness. Afterwards I found out that he was one of the great players in Super Bowl 15. With an interseption for TD and several tackles.

Another that came by was Afro Deesiac. A big black guy with half his face painted even blacker and half painted silver. He promised to send some pictures to us so Shimura-san's wife gave him their address.

The remarkable thing is that allthough most Raiders fans look terrifyingly scary they are, most of the time, very friendly. And they want to share their Raiders experience with others.

We said farewell of Ricky's and those in the Japanese group that live in San Francisco. And went back to our hotel. Packed. Talked about what to do about the Raiders offence. Watched recap of today's football games on TV. And then we went to bed. Tomorrow will be a long flight back to Tokyo.

November 12, 2005 - Saturday

Colleage game day. We went to Berkley where USC (University of Souther California) played against Berkley Bears. USC was undefeated before the game so it was high expectations on the game. Fun for people to watch one of the best teams in US this year.

It was a fun game to watch and the weather was fine. The USC won by 35-10. And are still undefeated. More than 72000 people watched the game.

This we noticed on the board during the game... It said 'Audience 72198', but more so after the game. The small town of Berkley was packed with cars that did not move at all. After driving for 15 minutes and only get 200 meters we parked the car and had dinner at a Chinese restaurant.

To our surprise the Chinese restaurant was a Chinese vegetarian restaurant. So we had vegi-dumplings, sweet and sour fish (fish is obvioulsy a vegetable in China), and some deluxe vegetables. Quite tasty.

Then we continued to our hotel. The traffic was still slow. It took ages to get to the Interstate. Then we saw that it would take 76 minutes to get to San Francisco ariport and our hotel was past the airport. Lucky for us that this was the way over San Francisco and we took the way over Oakland. No traffic jam here.

finally back at the hotel we started to prepare the kushiyaki for tomorrow. After a while Shimura-san, his wife, and Power-san came too. Talking, drinking, making kushiyaki all night long. But still get to bed early enough to have strength for the game tomorrow. Beating Denver is the most important thing of the season. Go Raiders go!

November 11, 2005 - Friday

Woke up at the around the usual time but today was no office day. It was a going-to-San-Francisco day. Third year that Chie, Mash-san, and I are going to San Francisco for a football weekend.

Chie and I met Mash-san at the Nippori station. From there we continued by train to Narita. The check-in, boarding and flight to San Francisco were eventless.

When we arrived in San Francisco it was 7 and something am the same day. The guy in the immigration was very friendly and let us through with a big smile. He also told us that we should watch some real football like New England instead of Raiders. At least he was not a 49ers fan as the guy in customs that search Mash-san from top to toe last year - after he understood that we were Raiders fans.

After getting the rental car we went to our hotel and checked in. Got readey and went to the grocery store to shop for the tail-gate party on Sunday. It was not so easy since everything is just so big in US, no kidding. We wanted chicken wings but they only got the whole wing, and only 20 pieces packs. Too much, but what can you do.

When the shopping for the tail-gate party was done we continued to shop for our selfs. Went to Stanford Shopping center. I bought some books. Mash-san bought something for his dog. And Chie bought some things for herself.

Then it was time for dinner. We went to Ricky's. There we met with Shimura-san and his wife. A lot of food again. In Japan the style is to eat a lot of small dishes and share everything. In US they want big dishes. Ordering like we were in Japan and getting the food here in US ment A LOT OF FOOD. No wonder they are a bit on the big side over here.

On our way home from Ricky's we passed the mall we went to earlier. On the parking lot we could see ambulance and police cars. I have no idea but we felt quite lucky to not be there any more.

November 10, 2005 - Thursday

Went to Tsukuba today to have a job interview at the AIST (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology). I thought I could do it as a practice because I really don't want to work in Tsukuba. It is far from everything. And I want to work in the industry and not in the academic world or at a research institute.

Then, after 5 years when this project would be over it would be really difficult to get a job in the industry. At that time i would be forced to continue in academia. Now, I still have a choice. And if I don't like it in the industry i can always go back to academia.

In the evening it was packing time. Packing for the trip to San Francisco tomorrow. Will be back in Tokyo on tuesday next week. It's a football weekend coming up.

November 9, 2005 - Wednesday

Raiders game on TV. Against Kansas City Chiefs. Exciting game. Defense played well. Offense was not as good as the defense. Still when only 4 seconds remained raiders was still in the lead. Then Chiefs scored with no time left. the TD meant Chiefs won the game :(

November 8, 2005 - Tuesday

Watched the football game of the ordinary season. Indianapolis Colts against New England Patriots. Exciting game that, finally, Colts won.

November 7, 2005 - Monday

Work during the day and relaxing in the evening. Watched NY Giants win against the 49ers. Poor 49ers. But they are on the wrong side of the bay. And too red if you ask me.

November 6, 2005 - Sunday

most of the day was spent in front of the TV watching 24. Now season 4 is over. Phew! What to do now?

November 5, 2005 - Saturday

Saturday. Had my last tea ceremony for awhile today. Quite sad. Everybody in the class hoped that i would come back soon. I hope so too.

November 4, 2005 - Friday

Went to the gym after work. But today was a relaxing day. Spent most of the time in hot bath. First washing myself throughly the Japanese way. Then spending time in the hot bath. Relaxing.

November 3, 2005 - Thursday

National holiday. Stayed home watching 24. In the evening Chie and I went to Walnuts for dinner. Yoshiki-san wanted to buy us dinner, but he was to sick joining us so we went alone instead.

The dinner was great as usual. Walnuts is a great restaurant which I highly recommend for anyone that wants to eat Mediterranean food in Tokyo.

This time was the last to visit Walnuts for a while. They made a special desert for me thanking me for my time in Tokyo. Besides being a very nice thing to do... The apple pie and ice cream was yummy!

November 2, 2005 - Wednesday

Another e-mail in Japanese today. This time from a research organization where I have applied for a job. I think they want me to come for an interview. But I am not sure about the details. I think they wrote something about 15 minutes of presentation about my research - 10 minutes of what I have done and 5 minutes about the future. Might be fun if I do that and they asked me about something totally different.

In the evening Chie and I met with Mina-san at our favorite Chinese restaurant Tonpo. As usual it was delicious. We had a kind of jelly fish salad, fried pork and some green vegetable, gyoza (dumplings), oyster omelette, and mabu-tofu.

The latter was one of the most spicy dishes I have ever had. One bite and the mouth and tung got numb. Although I was hot like H*ll it was still tasty. Although I am afraid my stomach will be a little bit upset tomorrow. No pain no gain... Might not be the appropriate wording but I could not think about anything else so it will have to do.

After our dinner at Tonpo we walked slowely back to the subway station with our mouths open to get rid of the numbness. At the subway station Chie and I left Mina-san and continued to the JR-station some hundred meters away. It was past 10 pm but still crowded. One of the reasons might be that it is a national holiday tomorrow and people tend to stay up later the night before such days.

But on the other hand, you always see a lot of people sleeping in the subways or on busses so I guess they don't sleep much at home. And since they don't do that they must be doing something else... Like staying in the Harajuku area.

November 1, 2005 - Tuesday

Got an e-mail from an international journal based in Japan today. I have submitted an article and now they confirmed they had received it and requested some more information... I think. It was written in Japanese, which I found amusing since it is an international journal with an official language of, well, English.

In the evening Chie and I had sashimi at home. Chie had ordered a fatty part of the tuna which is located somewhere around the gills. It tasted different from otoro which is another fatty part of the tuna, a part of the belly. But it was still yummy.