Ohanami, Spring 2012

Hanami (花見), in English literally means "to see flowers".
It is a Japanese custom to see and enjoy the beauty of blooming flowers (mostly sakura) during spring time. Normally done during mid March until mid April, when sakura flowers bloom all over Japan.
In Hanami, Japanese do some kind of outdoor party; they go to koen (公園 ; park) or other public places where there are sakura trees, bringing their mat, food and drinks, just like picnic.

Last spring I had this Hanami with my colleagues in Tsutsuji Park Iwata City near our dormitory. Pictures below! :D

Ohisashiburi!

Means "long time no see"!

Yes, its been a year since my last post on this blog.
Many things happened in this one year. I got a job at one big automotive manufacturer company in Japan, graduated from Hiroshima University and got my master degree, going back home to Indonesia and back here again to Japan.

I now live in Iwata city, Shizuoka Prefecture. A small city, but its enough. There is post office, Konbinis, supermarket and hospital very close from the company dormitory where I live in, and there is a quite big shopping mall with cinema easily accessed. Pretty convenience actually. And if I want to go to big city, Hamamatsu is less than 15 minutes away by train.

Here are some pictures of Iwata city near my dormitory.

Now I still do the training program, being machine operator. Yes, machine operator. They pay more than 200,000 yen a month for an operator. No wonder their production cost is very high. Ha!

I was just joking.
Its common for a Japanese company to ask its new employees to feel what its like to be at the very bottom. So, when they got into managerial position, they can make wise decisions for the company, considering every segment of the company, not just the people who work behind their desk.

Work starts from 8 to 5 mostly. After work I take a bath, have dinner, watch movies, and call my gf. Far less friends (not colleagues) here, compared to Hiroshima.

So glad to update this blog again.
More stories will follow, for sure.

By the way, I just added the twitter update widget to this blog. I you feel like following me, just give a click on the blue bird logo under the update (not the "+ blogger" logo).
See you then.

Tentang Gempa dan Tsunami Bulan Lalu

Iya, gw ngerti ko. Kayanya telat banget baru ngepost tentang ini. Hehe.. Tapi gapapa lah. Secara ada pepatah "lebih baik terlambat daripada tidak sama sekali". *excuse haha

Dan post kali ini dalam bahasa Indonesia karena gw males mikir. Gw emang pe-ma-las.

Gw masih inget banget waktu itu, Jumat 11 Maret 2011 siang, gw lagi ikutan seminar cari kerja di kampus, tiba2 nyokab nelpon. Nyokab jarang banget nelpon gw siang-siang karena waktu itu gw bilang kalo mau nelpon baiknya malem aja, soalnya siapa tau gw sibuk atau lagi ada kelas, dan sebagainya. Dan waktu itu dia nelpon siang-siang, yang pertama ga gw angkat, terus dia nelpon lagi. Gw mikir ini pasti penting, kalo ga nykb gw ga akan nelpon siang-siang, dan waktu itu gw udah mikir yang jelek-jelek aja. Siapa tau ada saudara yg tiba-tiba sakit, atau meninggal, atau ..., atau.... Akhirnya gw permisi dari ruang seminar itu dan gw angkat telponnya.

Nyokab: "Kamu gapapa?" *nada panik

Gw: "Iya, gapapa ko mah. Emang kenapa?"

Nyokab: "Yang bener? Kan tadi ada gempa besar sama tsunami di Jepang"

Gw: "Hah??" *tertegun "Iya, aku gapapa ko. Di sini malah ga kerasa sama sekali kerasa gempanya mah."

Gempa? Iya, gempa. Dan tsunami. Kemudian masalah reaktor nuklir PLTN.

Wow, bencana bertubi-tubi bagi Jepang.

Setelah seminar itu, gw liat di tv kalo gempanya di daerah Tohoku dan tsunami di Miyagi. Tsunaminya bener-bener luar biasa, mirip yang terjadi di Aceh 2004 yang lalu. Bedanya di stasiun TV Jepang ga ada tayangan setiap beberapa menit dengan lagu sedih dan sok-sok didramatisir, kayanya mengekspos penderitaan yang dialami korban.

Iya, Jepang emang tangguh banget. Selama gw tinggal di Jepang (emang sampe sekarang baru 1,5 tahun sih), baru kali itu gw liat ada orang Jepang nangis-nangis di tv, baru kali itu gw liat ada kotak sumbangan di mana-mana, baru kali itu gw liat orang-orang baris di depan eki (stasiun) pake seragam sambil teriak-teriak, kira-kira artinya "tolong sumbangannya buat orang-orang Tohoku". Selain itu, siaran berita di TV habis kejadian gempa dan tsunami itu kurang lebih memberitakan kalo walaupun mereka habis kena bencana gede gini, mereka akan bangkit dengan sekuat tenaga. Padahal mereka baru kehilangan anggota keluarganya, kehilang rumah dan harta bendanya, tapi bisa ngomong kaya gitu. Terharu ga lo? Beda kan sama siaran TV di Indonesia waktu habis tsunami Aceh?

Malem harinya gw nerima banyak tweet dari temen-temen gw yang mau make sure kalo gw baik-baik saja.

Thx guys! It means a lot to me!

Iya, di Hiroshima emang sama sekali ga kerasa gempanya, dan Hiroshima letaknya 800 km lebih dari lokasi PLTN Fukushima. Mudah-mudahan Hiroshima ga kenapa-napa juga sih. Rasanya lega, tapi sedih juga karena gw punya banyak temen-temen yang tinggal di Tokyo, ikut kena gempa kemaren, dan jaraknya ga terlalu jauh dari PLTN Fukushima itu. Dari cerita-cerita mereka, banyak yang trauma, ga bisa tidur, air mineral langka, dan lain sebagainya. Untung kayanya sekarang Tokyo udah kaya biasa lagi sepertinya.

Yang agak-agak bikin kesel adalah pemberitaan di mass media Indonesia yang isi beritanya seolah-olah seluruh Jepang udah dalam keadaan gawat banget. Bikin keluarga kita khawatir berat tau ga!

Yak, demikian saja postingan gw kali ini. Dan buat yang ga tau, di gambar di atas itu tulisannya: "ganbare Nihon, ganbare Touhoku." Artinya kurang lebih "semangat Jepang! Semangat Tohoku!". gitu. Hehe.

Denger-denger juga daerah Touhoku dan Kanto kemaren kena gempa lagi 7.1 SR. Mudah-mudahan ga ada korban dan kerusakan yang berarti.

がんばれ日本！

Tokyo Disney Sea

Heyho!

It has been ages since my last post. Hehe.

In this post, I will tell you about the one and only, Tokyo Disney Sea! Yeay!

In December 2010, I had to attend job hunting seminar in Tokyo. I am now looking for job in Japan, and if you want to do job hunting in Japan, going to job hunting seminar is a must-do thing. It actually sucks because you cannot apply in the seminar, just hear presentations from companies, but you have to attend that seminar, because that is the part of job hunting system in Japan. By attending many companies' seminar, you show your interest to them, and it will be very helpful for you in the selection proses. Enough about job hunting system, anyway, the next day I decided to go to Tokyo Disney Sea.

Tokyo Disney Sea is located in Tokyo Disney Resort, not exactly in Tokyo but in Chiba, a city next to Tokyo (On the map above, Tokyo Disney Sea is marked with letter B, and Tokyo station with letter A). Inside Tokyo Disney Resort, there are two theme parks, Tokyo Disney Land and Tokyo Disney Sea. I chose Tokyo Disney Sea because my friends told me that Disney Land suits kids and early teenagers more but Tokyo Disney Sea suits adults more. According to http://bit.ly/g32PhW site , Tokyo Disney Sea is the best theme park in the world. Well, I don't know many theme parks, but after going there, Tokyo Disney Sea is definitely far better than Universal Studio Japan in Osaka.

As shown in the picture above, Tokyo Disney Sea is divided into some areas. One area is like Broadway in America, one area is like Venice in Italy, one area is like Arabian Kingdom in the movie of Aladdin, one area is like jungle and ruins in Indiana Jones movie, and one area is like the kingdom of mermaid in the Little Mermaid movie.

When I went there, my only and vital mistake was I went on the weekend!!! The lines were unbelievable. If you want to go to a famous ride, you have to wait in line for about 2 hours (if you're lucky) until 3 hours. Even buying hot dog or buns in a snack stall needs 1 hour of waiting. So at that time, I spent the whole day in the park but only got 3 rides. But it was worth it! Pictures below are some of pictures that I took there.

Huuuuugee christmas tree!

Christmas holiday! Yeay!

Artificial volcano, named mount Prometheus

Wow! The artificial volcano can produce real smoke and sound just like a real volcano!

(I wish I were in) Venice!

Look at the building! So artistic!

The marine

Venice in Japan

Mermaid Kingdom area

Gate to Agrabah Kingdom (Kingdom in Aladding movie)

It was so crowded in Agrabah

Still Agrabah. The shape of that building is just like a mosque!

You need to wait for a loooooooong time to buy food

Journey of the center of the earth, one of famous rides in this theme park. I need to wait more than two hours for this ride only.

Sorry, I forgot what area this was

Beware of the pirates!

I do not need to go to America for Broadway! Haha.

Christmas decoration

Still in Broadway area

Beer truck

I was not in Tokyo, not in Chiba, but New York!

People wait for the parade

The parade. Sorry it was too crowded so I could not get a better shot

McDuck's Department Store

Christmas spirit!

Another christmas tree inside the park

Going back to the hotel. Look at the shape of the train's window! Mickey!

That's all about Tokyo Disney Sea. You have to visit this theme park if you have time to visit Japan because unlike Disneyland, there is only one Disney Sea theme park in the world! If you have chance to go there, my suggestions: plan your day and make sure you know the rides you will go because it will save a lot of time, buy bread or onigiri (Japanese rice balls) before going to the park, and most importantly, do not go on the weekend!

See y'all!

Sake Matsuri 2010

First of all: its been a year since I first came to Japan. Time flies too fast, really.

So, this year's Sake Matsuri was my second Sake Matsuri. My first experience of this festival ("matsuri" is Japanese word for festival) can be read in here: http://jopantob.blogspot.com/2009/10/sake-matsuri.html .

For you who wants to know about Sake Matsuri, I'll explain it.

If there is one thing, this small city of Saijo is famous for, it is Sake (Japanese alcohol drink). Well, I'm not sure, but I think this festival is held to celebrate the beginning of Sake brewery season every year. This festival is held in October (Sake Matsuri 2010 was held on 9th and 10th October), and near Saijo station (there are many Sake factory there). You need to know that Saijo is among top three Sake producer area in Japan. Every time Sake Matsuri is held, there are so many people come (Japanese and foreigners) and I think the population of Saijo can be doubled at that time. In Sake Matsuri, you will see lots and lots of stalls selling food (not only Japanese food, but also food from other countries), snacks, drinks, toys, used goods, and of course, sake.

I didn't enjoy this year's Sake Matsuri as much as last year, though. On the first day, it was raining and on the second day I got invited by my friend to her place so I could only spend around 2 hours in the festival area. But still, I managed to take some pictures there. Here they are! Enjoy!

Sorry, I don't know what stall this was

A high tower with bright color, trendmark of Sake factories here

A stall of Tempura, Japanese fried snacks!

The crowds. The officer close down the road so that people can enjoy walking around.

Performance of Japanese traditional dance

Performance from Hiroshima University Jazz Club. They are soooo great!

Korean food stall

The crowds

A man in Chinese traditional clothes selling Sake

Yakigaki (grilled oyster)! My favorite! (Not that girl. Hahaha)

More crowds

Even more crowds.

That's it! See you in the next post! :D