My third week here in Japan is over now. This is also the last week with no university and just chilling and sightseeing. There is not much Iāve done this week, or rather I was too lazy to take pictures or write something. Hmm. You know the usual stuff. Still, Iād consider this week an absolute banger of a week. And do you know why? Well let me tell you why:
The most important thing to do when visiting a new place is ā¦
ā¦visiting the local kebap store. I made it a tradition for myself to always eat a kebap in cityās Iām visiting the first time. And because this is my first time ever in Japan, this one was especially important. I jokingly non-jokingly say that Iām gonna rate the whole visit to the city by how the kebap tastes and this time was no different. And I gotta say, this thing was nothing like what Iām used to from a kebap back home. The bread and the meat are different, there are barely any vegetables on it and the fact they also sell Bubble Tea at the kebap store makes this whole thing a culture shock I was not prepared for. However, I gotta say: this thing is fucking amazing. It actually tastes better than 90% of all kebap stores in Munich. Well thatās more on the kebap stores in Munich, because except for a few ones they are all just hot garbage. The price here is a little high with 500 Yen (~4.20ā¬), but still reasonable. All in all this thing, kebap or not, is really good and Iām definitely gonna eat it more often.
The Gray Area
Do you know what happens when it rains for 3 days and then a sunny and warm day comes along? You scrap all your Korea Town plans for the day, pack your biggest towel and some sunscreen and fuck off to the nearest beach available. And thatās exactly what I did. I took the train to Enoshima and first just wandered around the side of the beach. The whole beach and consequently the water was occupied by surfers, who were more than happy for the warm and at the same time very windy day.
Across the whole beach there was not a single person there who actually wanted to swim in the ocean. Some just stood ankle deep in the water and took pictures of themselves (All Hail the Gram), others just sat there a safe distance away from the water. Some even went as far as building a giant wall in front of them, so they are really safe from the water, even though they were like at least 30 meters away from it. The reason why no one wanted to swim there is so obvious that you would never think of it. The swimming season is over. With the beginning of September the swimming season at the Enoshima Beach has ended. It doesnāt even matter that itās 30Ā°C outside and the perfect weather for swimming. The season is over and that means the painfully law- and rule-abiding Japanese people will not go anywhere near the water with a swimsuit on.
The beach itself was beautiful, with its grayish sand and the Enoshima Island in the background. The wind made the burning hot sun a little bit more bearable. However, from time to time the wind was a bit too strong and blew sand onto you with such a force that it felt like a sandblaster. Oh well, you canāt have everything in life.
Island of the Hornets (and Hawks)
Enoshima is a small island about 500m away from the coast of Fujisawa south of Tokyo. There is a temple on the island (well of course there is) and they have a lot of souvenir shops and restaurants here. They also have a lot of hawks flying in the sky, sometimes against the wind so they look stationary in the sky, like in some buggy videogame. And of course they have giant hornets flying around the entire island. Apparently they are pretty harmless unless provoked, which I was definitely not in the mood of finding out.
You can walk around the island and then up to the top where you have a pretty nice view all around you. Also there is a tower build on top of the mountain from where you can see Mt Fuji, if the weather is good. I didnāt go up there, for the sole reason that it costs money. Yeah I know, stop judging me. At the top of the island are also a few shops, one of which sells paper thin octopus. Now you probably ask yourself how they make those. Well, they take a little octopus, put some batter on it and then pressing it with a giant waffle-machine-looking thing to a few millimeters width. It has the consistency of that edible paper some people back in school had and tastes like fish. Now that I think about it, itās kinda weird.
From the top you can go down the other side of the island where you will reach the side of the island facing the open sea. It had one of the most beautiful views I have ever seen in my life. Only the sound of waves crashing against the island, the sun setting in the background and legs hurting so much I could not fucking move anymore. It was gorgeous. And now I finally have a cool background picture for my homepage.
I donāt get this, but I like it
Lastly I also managed to visit the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo. The museum showed Japanese art from about the year 1500 to modern art only a few years old. It was really interesting to see how different Japanese art, in particular paintings, look in comparison to European art. The art-style, the colors and even the way of presenting the paintings considerably differed from the ones I am used to seeing back at home. Unfortunately, I have absolutely no fucking idea of any technical terms used in art and as such any description of them done by me would make me look like a stupid 3rd grader.
I also visited the Museum of Modern Art for Crafts. The exhibition consisted of art with bamboo, which was woven into specific forms. About 90% of the exhibition were different looking flower baskets and some art that looked like home decorations. I gotta say, this exhibition had some really cool and interesting looking art in it. Especially the last room was filled with weird shaped figures, which looked fucking amazing. I may have absolutely zero knowledge and understanding of art, but these moments show me that art is something you donāt need to understand or be able to describe. The only thing that matters is what you yourself think of it and the emotion, whether positive or negative, they invoke in you.
Thank you for reading! :)
Ash