Jumat, 08 April 2011

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!

Kamis, 24 Maret 2011

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!

Jumat, 15 Oktober 2010

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


Selasa, 12 Oktober 2010

Minggu, 19 September 2010

岩国 (Iwakuni)

Heeeeeyyy..
It's nearly a month since my last post. Last month was one hell-hectic month, so here I am, having my holiday now. And as u know, holiday often makes us lazy. Haha..
I finished my internship presentation at company X on September 10, so before having lots of things to do in the coming semester, I decided to go for a trip! YEAH! Because I had low budget, so I decided not to go to a place too far, so I decided to go tooo: IWAKUNI!!

Iwakuni is located in Yamaguchi Prefecture. As u can see in the map above, my current place, Saijo is marked with yellow circle, Hiroshima is marked with blue circle, and Iwakuni is marked with red circle. I went there on September 17, and it took 1,5 hour (and 1280 Yen) to go there from Saijo by local train.
When you search "Iwakuni" in the internet, you will find the famous Kintaikyo Bridge. So, after reached Iwakuni station, I checked the bus schedule from station to the bridge at the bus stop next to the station.Because I still got time until the next bus, so I decided to go sightseeing around the station.

Wall of Iwakuni post office


A rare western-style building in Japan in my opinion

Actually, before heading to Kintaikyo, I wanted to have my lunch in a restaurant recommended by Wikitravel. Too bad it was closed. So I decided to have lunch in some restaurant near the bridge.
And, the bus came. It was a special bus for carrying the tourists who want to go to Kintaikyo bridge. The body of the bus is made from wood, and also the interior. You can see the pic of interior of that bus below. Sorry I didnt take the pic of the bus from outside thou.

The interior of the bus that took me to Kintaikyo bridge.

Okaaaayy!! Then, here we are!! The great Kintaikyo Bridge!!! Here are some pics that I took:

food stalls on the riverbank, beside the bridge

Kintaikyo bridge

The river is very clear!!! WOW!

The great blue sky above the bridge

Nisshiki River

After crossing the bridge, there is a park named Kikko Park just 100 metres ahead, so I went there. The park was, as expected, so so. Hehe..
Here are some pics of the park:





Talking about Iwakuni, we have to include ICE CREAM!!! Yea, I scream for the ice creaaaamm!! Iwakuni is well known for its 100 flavors of Ice cream. There are many shops of ice cream in the area of Kintaikyo Bridge and Kikko Park. Here's the pic of one shop:

I know that its not up to a hundred, but still there are lots lots of flavors, no?

I really wanted to buy the ice cream, but since I had not had my lunch, I decided to have lunch first, then have the ice cream. So I went to a restaurant that is located just on the 2nd floor in the same building as the ice cream shop.

Tadaaaa... I was surprised because apparently, Iwakuni has its own kind of sushi. I dont know the name, thou. So I ordered a set that contains sushi, soup, tea, and pickles (it was 780 Yen if I'm not mistaken). Here's the picture of my my lunch:

The sushi was okay, but the soup was reeeaaaalllyy delicious!! It contains somekind of mushroom and is very different compared to misoshiru.
After finishing my lunch, then I went downstairs to buy the ice cream!

I asked the shop clerk for her recommendation, and she recommended me to have this yellow-color flavor (I dont know the name, but the raw material of this flavor should be from Japan/not a common flavor like orange, straberry, etc). How was it? The ice cream was reaaallyy soft, but I should have chosen "matcha" (green tea+milk) flavor. T_T
Oh, and it was 200 something Yen by the way.

Another thing that is famous in Iwakuni is this white snake. There is a museum of white snake inside complex of Kikko park. The admission fee is 100 Yen. Inside the museum, there were preserved and dried snake skins, preserved white snakes and snake's eggs, the history of white snakes in Iwakuni (why do they even explain the history for snakes?), and of course, live snakes.

Besides restaurants and white snakes museum, there is also, so typical Japan, shrine in the area of Kikko park. Here are the pics:

Yes, the water was green. Eeeeewwwww...





Besides Kintaikyo bridge and Kikko park, there is also Iwakuni castle, located on top of the mountain next to Kikko park. We can get there by cable car. Next to the cable car station in Kikko park, there is Iwakuni Museum of Art. But, because of the entrance fee was 800 Yen, I did not enter the museum, just took its picture from outside. Hehe..




Charcoal Engine Car parked outside the museum.

Then I went to cable car station and bought the round trip ticket. It was also very expensive, 800 Yen, but by buying that ticket I can enter the castle for free.
The castle was not located next to the cable car station on top of the mountain, but we need to take a walk around 10 minutes to get to the castle from the station. Here are the pics.




"Iwakuni Castle"

So, here we are!! Finally reached the castle. I was suddenly disappointed. The castle was waaaaayyy much smaller than Osaka castle. It's okay, I had to enter the castle because I had paid for the tickets anyway. Hehe.
I tell you that every castle in Japan is a museum. So is Iwakuni castle. Here are some pics of things inside the castle.


Poster of famous bridges in Japan. Of course Kintaikyo is included. ;D

Miniature of the bridge

Japanese armor

Riffles

Katanas (samurai's sword)

Another picture of miniature of the bridge

Japanese traditional music instrument

View of Iwakuni city from the top of the castle. Stunning.

After that, before going home, I want to buy souvenir from Iwakuni for myself and my mom. Look what I found:

Yup, Kitkat special edition, just sold in Chugoku and Shikoku area of Japan. Of course I bought that! Haha. It's good, but I prefer the old style Kitkat chocolate. :|

After buying souvenirs (and Kitkat), then I went back home to Saijo. But, because on the way home I still have to cross Kintaikyo bridge, I took pictures again and again of this great bridge. Anyway, we have to pay 300 Yen for two times crossing the bridge.

So, these are (another) pics of Kintaikyo bridge.




So, That's all about my trip to Iwakuni.

My recommendation: Iwakuni is a good place to see, but do not stay overnight there. You'll get bored. You can go there and spend the night in Hiroshima. Its just 45 minutes by train.

Anyway, it took time for me to edit all the photos, so I can only publish this post now.

Bye, then. See you in the next post. :D :D :D