Better late than never ever 5: Birtday girl part 2: Japanese national romantic roller coasters

Eirin also has a blog, which you should read. Or not. I really don't think I'm
qualified to tell you what to do with your life.

Treated myself to a fieldtrip as a birthday present to myself*. I actually just rudely attached myself to my lovely friend Eirin and her crew of Norwegians from Josai International University in Chiba on their overnight trip to Fuji-Q Highland roller coaster park, because I have literally no shame.

*one of several, actually. It always ends up being several.

Theme park Halloween-themed for the season, of course.

This is what everybody wants to see before taking a big terrifyin' 'coaster, right?

We stuffed our luggage into some coin lockers, and I remembered that when I love Japan I really really love Japan.

I mean seriously. Look at those guys. THEY ARE ADORABLE!!

The area around Mt. Fuji is also the home of Fuji-chan, Japan's most amazing mascot:

Happy-Fuji

I love it, I want to hug it, and I want to bring it home.

I mean, from the highway it just kinda looks
like the world's largest pimple.

Gotta say, I think I've always kinda underestimated Mt. Fuji. I've seen it from faaaar off thinking "yeah, it's cool. Cool mountain bro". But getting up close... Holy bovine quadruped that guy is imposing! It basically covers half the sky. And there are no mountains of any kind of comparable size anywhere near it, so it just ... it big, 'kay? It really, really big.

The view from the ferris wheel was okay, I guess :)

Thinking about the fact that it's an actual active volcano gives me the heebie jeebies!

But then I remember this:

Omg.

and I'm suddenly okay.

The Fuji-Q park actually has the world's coolest* rollercoaster.
*by some official measure I can't remember.

Going up the 70-something metres* on a clear day gives you the best view of Mt.Fuji I could imagine anywhere ever.
*I can't remember, do your own damn research!

Disclaimer: photo not actually taken from rollercoaster.

It was awsome.

I needed some time to recuperate after that, so we hung around the Hamtaro-area for a while just chillin' and eating foods.

This Hamtaro-ride was really quite terrifying, as it was really old and kept jerking abruptly.

The haunted house was visited, too, lest I forget.

Live actors running after you through a horror-movie set hospital. Pretty damn cool!







Unfortunately, even though it was a regular wednesday, the lines were long, everywhere.



Some people came prepared:

Queue-chair. Genious!

Some people in the past have clearly tried to cheat:

Life is a jrpg.

But it was a beautiful autumn day full of those gently changing leaves that everybody loves. With Fuji in the background I guess it was basically Grieg in a Fjord-level Japanese romantic nationalistic imagery.

The area, however, was trying really really hard to be France.

No really. They had an Eiffel Tower.

This is not what Japan looks like!

#ParisSyndrome

Anyway.

It's very very common in Japan to buy little gifties to people in your life whenever you've been on a trip. Something local or a bit special, often edible. For this reason, and because the Innovation Norway people are constantly travelling, we more or less always have tons of sweets and candies and cookies and stuff hanging around the office.

I decided to contribute, so I bought these astoundlingly beautiful Mt. Fuji-cookies:

 ART!

Better late than never ever 4: Birthday girl

I celebrated a modest birthday in Tokyo on October 23rd.

The office celebrated my awsomeness by treating me to sushi.

Unfortunatly it's not all for me :(

Day 23: They still have not realised I'm not tuna

After lunch somebody had placed a small cake on my desk.

Hullo!

It was anonymous, but with my amazing detective skills I narrowed it down to the Embassy trainees. Those sneaky sneaks! :D

If you're wondering about the theme: Literally everything was Halloween at this point in time. It was completely inescapable!

I'm gonna be honest and say that in spite of everyone beeing super nice, and in spite of me saying I'm like never homesick anymore, I felt some tangs while I was sitting alone trying to work. 

Sadface :(

It's tough to be away from family and old friends and newer friends and everything familiar and safe for so long, and my birthday kind of reminded me of that.

But I got over it pretty quick*.

*Or I pushed it down into a ball of surpressed emotion that slowly but surely will manifest as mental illness. One of the two. 

The present from home had also arrived just in time:

Home knitted woolen sweater and my favourite ridiculous green christmas lue! Mothers are awsome! :D

I used my own Birthday Budget on a field trip, which you can read all you want about in Better late than never ever 5: Japanese national romantic roller coasters

Better late than never ever 3: A backlog of food-type-things

I have a real thing for Japanese sweet foods. Red beans, white beans, sugarsugarsugar rice things and green tea makes for the best combos!

It's strange to me that this does not look strange to me. Green tea, green tea shave ice, and a traditional sweet.

Japanese shave ice kicks the butt of pretty much everything and everyone.
I mean look at the size of that thing!

Basically ice with flavoured syrup and condensed milk. Delishh!
 But the white balls are slime. Not delishh! ><

Beans in dessert: Welcome to Japan!

Sometimes one of the guys in the office finds cheap avocados. He shares willingly, usually randomly, and always surprisingly.

It's like, I'm just sitting here working and then BOOM! Avocado!

Home-made okonomiyaki:

Litterally "Fry what you like". Perfect home food, because it's just whatever you have/feel like.

Restaurant okonomiyaki:

In typical Japanese fashion they basically give you the mix of inigredients and some sauce, and leave you to do the actual cooking yourself.
It is sooooo good though...

And then this:

Ehhhh.... 

It's a lot of hit-and-miss. Like, if you don't like really chewy tentacles, this is probably gonna be a miss:

I've touched upon the perhaps slightly overblown amount of wrapping things tend to get, and I feel like this just epitomizes the issue:

WHY WOULD YOU WRAP AN INDIVIDUAL BANANA THEY ARE THEIR OWN WRAPPING

On the other hand, getting a straw with your juice carton is something I will miss dearly:

This is so handy!

Sometimes I just long for something familiar. And then I remember I work at the embassy: familiar stuff all around!

Other things are also swimming around. Things like the Norwegian Seafood Council's promotional Norway Salmon sushi lollypops.

This one appeared on my desk one morning.

I find it incredibly adorable!

Unfortunately(?) it does not taste like salmon.

FYI Japanese apples can be HUGE!

LIKE THE HEAD OF A SMALL CHILD!

Oh, and then there was this:

This was a Chinese restaurant though, to be fair. One decorated with gigantic golden penises, boobs, butts, and vajayjays. It was a strange, strange place.

For more strange, strange things*, tune in tomorrow for Better late than never ever 4: Birthday girl
*This is a lie. Tomorrow's post is pretty boring.

Or you could navigate back to part 2. You know. If that's more your thing.

Better late than never ever 2: summer festivals

Oh, this is old, isn't it. It is officially winter*, so let's remenisce of warmer times by finally posting those pictures from the summer festival I went to way back when. This is the backlog of the backlog, so brace yourselves!
*even though it's still a toasty whole 16 degrees outside

There are many reasons to love japanese summer festivals.

For one, you get to dress up in your yukata.

You may also abuse the occasional innocent goldfish.

I named my fish Arne, and I'm pretty sure he died a slow
and painful death. :(

Play some of the more inocuous games and you may be rewarded with something a bit more guilt-free than a living gill-breathing creature. Like, for example, BUBBLES!

BUBBLES!!!!!

It's Japan! Of course they sell video games and consoles in some random market stall!

Also, lot's of seriously awsome probably unhygenic but definitely worth it street-stall-FOOD.

Candy apples <3

Yakisoba is not yuckysoba!

Plus the odd sumo-wrestling ring

But mostly it's all about the food!

CUCUMBERS ON STICKS! Is that too much phallic at once? 0.o
...at least it doesn't look quite as bad as the white-chocolate-dipped stick-mounted bananas...

Yo I put some water in yo water.

IF YOU TOO OLD FOR COTTON CANDY YOU DEAD!

And speaking of food... You probably shouldn't stay tuned for* Better late than never ever 3: a backlog of food-type-things.

*I mean really. I'm sure you have better things to do!

If you're really bored you could go back to part 1.

Better late than never ever: introduction

Holy...!

It's November? It's mid-November? Are you fracking kidding me?

Okay, this is getting ridiculous. I only had one post in october, I didn't even post about my birthday, it's pathetic! I have no excuse, other than these:

1. I've been really busy. (Big shock. Only the perennial excuse of content  providers anywhere)
2. I've been in Japan a while now, getting sort of used to stuff. It's not that new and strange anymore, so it's a tad less interesting to write about.
3. I haven't been homesick.
• Sorry homies. I still love you, I just haven't been sick from it!
• Confession time: it's a lot more fun to write home when you want home.

I've still been taking photos though, and lot's of them. My backlog is getting huge, so I've just decided to spew them out all at once in a minnimal comment extravaganza. It'll be just like a photo album, but funnier.

So announcing the imminent arrival of: What I've been up to the last month or so!

aren't you just excited?

Some actually intersting content* coming up in Better late than never ever 2: summer festivals
*well, content anyway.