If you commute long enough it is inevitable to start recognizing the people on the train. We are following our habits, and our habits have the habit of placing us next to one another time and time again. So there is the man with a broken arm often occupying a corner priority seat. Then there […]
The last few days the winds have been strong and cold. It feels a bit like winter has finally come, although no snow, just clear skies and chilling winds. I worry about my wife’s stomach – her favourite coat is now too small and she cannot button it. I insist she wears a thick scarf,
Apples. I do not eat apples. I am allergic to apples. I like apples but I cannot eat them. They mess with my stomach. Last time I ate apples was in Sweden, I was invited to potato salad. And when I tasted apple in it, I was too coward to leave the potato salad on
Coming from Sweden with no history of mask-wearing except for doctors and dentists, it takes time to get used to all people wearing masks in Japan. In stores, on trains, on the streets – especially in winter there are many many white masks walking around. The reasons, as I understand them, are to not infect
I really feel like I am living in a dream. When I think of my life three years ago, having just started to study Japanese in Sweden, wanting to be able to better communicate with my nieces.… Meeting all the little kids in my family had become my source of joy those days, and I was
On the train today we managed to get a seat for my wife. I find that holding her bag with the maternity badge up in front of me increases the chance of someone obliging, offering their seat to my wife. So my wife was sitting and I stood in front of her, looking at her.
Happy new year. Our first New Year spent in Japan, and quite different from Sweden. After trying to celebrate a traditional Swedish Christmas (something that was quite unsuccessful, since my wife are very particular about what she eats and the range of pickled herring anyway is very limited) we decided to try to do a
Today is my birthday. And I am angry. I am sure there is some connection, but today I am just… I am simply angry, angry at people. And a little bit at my wife too. Those morning commutes on an overly surrealistically crowded train, where young people sit on priority seats, sleeping, playing games, ignoring
Today, the air seemed unusually clear; like the mountains in the distance suddenly had moved closer to Tokyo. But then, clarity always has that special power of cutting distances in halves, breaching voids that previously seemed unbreachable. A clear thought, untainted by the past, open to all possibilities, unattached to a predetermined outcome, connected to
December is always so special. Winter is coming, the beautiful autumn colors are replaced by beautiful trees filled with LED-lamps. In Omotesando the lights in the trees are even dancing to music – it is easy to sense the magic of being alive in a beautiful part of the world. The cool air, the lights,
My wife says I am a professional shufu. Even though I do not really have proper training and often I feel like a true beginner. But of course I am a beginner – everything here in Japan is so different from what I am used to from Sweden. But at the same time it is
Ok, it was inevitable that someday I would write about my number one complaint with Japan (come to think of it I actually have a few, but let me focus on this one for now). It was inevitable and apparently today is that day. In the train station there is a new commercial for washing machines