As mentioned in an older post (back from the time when I was in Japan and still writing in German), the weather in Japan is really humid and hot during the summer. Back then, I was complaining a little bit about it. However, at the end of my stay there I realized I actually started liking this kind of weather. And when I think about how the summer here in Germany was so far this year… yeah, I have to admit that more sunshine, higher temperatures and all that stuff would be nice ๐
Category Archives: Japan
Speechless
Posted by defaude
on June 3, 2010
2 comments
When I saw that video for the first time I was just left speechless. First, I could not find the words to say because I was simply stunned and overwhelmed. I’ve been thinking about all the feelings it ignited in me and want to state this: It reminds me of so much, touches something deep inside of me. However, this video barely even scratches the surface of the sheer beautyย and all the nasty things I’ve seen during my stay in Tokyo! All the good and all the bad memories I have from that time have changed the way I think, no, the way I am in a very profound way and everyone who knows me knew that the original plan was to return to Japan for a few years – maybe even for good. Well, things turned out a little different and I admit that I was being resentful for not getting what I wanted most for quite some time…
However: I know my constant babbling about Japan annoys many people – especially those around me who would have missed me if I had left Germany. And I’m sorry about that, seriously. I don’t want to point out that living in Germany (or especially in Munich) sucks – not at all! Germany is great, Munich is even greater and I enjoy being here to the fullest.
I do, however, want to embrace this moment to point out that I’m really grateful for all the things I have here: Living in a city that’s (in my opinion) the best place to be in whole Germany (aside from Hamburg, maybe).ย Having a great job where I can actually do the stuff I enjoyย doing while decently getting paid for it. Tons of good friends who’ve been with me through all my ups and downs and who still stick with me even though I sometimes step on their toes by taking them for a little too granted and by not acknowledging their friendship in a more appropriate way. And most importantly: my family is here, my roots are here, the very essence that I came from is here. Even though I sometimes enjoy pointing out how not-German or how not-Bavarian I am, I still am and ever will be!
As much as I’m thankful for my time in Japan, I’m even more thankful for the time here! And that’s because of all of you crazy people in my life 
Always keep in mind that no one ever ends up where he or she expected to end up – it’s all about what we make of the chances that are given to us and how we overcome all difficulties and how we deal with all the setbacks that life throws at us.
A small taste of Japan
Posted by defaude
on May 1, 2010
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I had a nice dinner at a restaurant called Tenmaya a few weeks ago – and it was DELICIOUS!ย It’s been a while already, but I have to upload these:
Freddy & Shiho in Munich
Posted by defaude
on April 27, 2010
1 comment
Wow, time flies! I’ve mentioned it several times by now, I know, but it’s incredible. I wanted to post this for weeks now and just couldn’t find the time to do it…
Anyways, here it goes: On the first weekend of April, Freddy and Shiho visited me in Munich! It has been a while since we last met and therefore I was really happy to have them here. The weather was terrific and I could show them around my turf
Shiho, Freddy, it was so cool to have you here and I hope we can meet again soon! Maybe I finally manage to find the time to visit you in Marburg? Anyways, thanks again for the visit!!!!
Burning bridges
Posted by defaude
on December 29, 2009
1 comment
For someone very, very special… Farewell.
Japanese food
Posted by defaude
on October 12, 2009
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I really miss it – especially when I see posts like this one over at Marcus’ blog. ๐ฅ
Marcus in Tokyo – that bastard :)
Posted by defaude
on September 7, 2009
1 comment
Just a trackback to Marcus’ new blog where he’s reporting about the life I wish I had: Living la vida loca in Tokyo ๐
Koseki-san, Robot BBQ, Sax, final exams, summer festival, beach clubbing, NRJ in the park…
Posted by defaude
on August 2, 2009
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… well, it’s been a busy time for me ๐
Last weekend, I finally managed to meet up with Koseki-san who was staying here in Munich for a business trip. It was good to see him again and also to hear that his little daughter is doing fine! Life in Japan seems to be going on quite well ๐
The semester’s almost over so my colleagues and me have already taken all exams. Right then, everyone was only waiting for the grades to be published and there was plenty of time for barbecue, party etc. Especially at the university’s summer festival we computer engineers openly demonstrated being the biggest nerds at the campus: The grades were about to come out and of course the server broke down in the very moment everyone wanted to see theirs. We literally had three laptops and an iPhone hammering the server with requests like “Gimme my grades, hell yeah!” – on just one Biertischgarnitur ๐
Knowing my grades now, being fully satisfied with the certitude that I’ll never have to write exams again in my life (most likely, I hope), and knowing that all that stands between me and my diploma is the thesis I gotta write about the Ruby on Rails application I developed during the past few months, I happily returned to my parent’s place, where I was taken hostage by my friends and dragged to a beach clubbing event and the NRJ in the park festival ๐ Oh, and did I mention that the weather’s been awesome lately? Well, it surely was! ๐
The beach clubbing thing was okay. Well, for a small, off-the-beaten-track city like Bad Aibling it surely was one of this year’s major events. However, I was annoyed most of the time – maybe this is because I don’t drink ๐ Eventually, the electronic floor was fun for a while but then the DJ had the biggest, most epic FAIL in history: No music for roughly ten minutes (or at least it felt so), blank-faced morons fuzzing around with the mixers and the players, the MC desperately trying to keep the crowd’s mood up… And when they finally managed to start music again, it was just shitty *sigh* The day after that, some friends and I went to the NRJ in the park festival. The lineup was Jennifer Rostock, Jan Delay, Mando Diao and Franz Ferdinand. Being a person who almost never listens to radio and who doesn’t give a crap about the latest charts, I’ve never heard anything of Jennifer Rostock. The names Mando Diao and Franz Ferdinand were familiar, of course, but I barely ever heard something from them – apart from “Dance With Somebody”. Well well, Jennifer was … errm … okay. Definitely not my favourite style of “music” ๐ Mando Diao totally sucked and Franz Ferdinand was pretty cool. Ah, did I mention that their guitarist went to the same school as I did? Anyways, Jan Delay and his band really made the crowd jumping and it was definitely the best performance of that festival ๐
… and now, I’ll have to cancel every other party activities and write my damn thesis ๐
What a weekend this has been…
Posted by defaude
on July 14, 2009
4 comments
Wow, what a weekend! On Friday afternoon, a friend from Tokyo, Tomoko, arrived from Frankfurt where she was visiting a friend. To represent Bavaria and its hospitality, I took up the challenge of being her host and tour guide for the time she was staying here ๐ We started off with some delicious food at the Paulaner im Tal and some cocktails at the nearby Sausalitos bar.
After that we just returned to my place and called it a day. On Saturday morning I got up and did some jogging with Andi – who had nothing better to do but to strain his ankle… Awesome, now we can’t go to the gym because his thumb’s messed up and we can’t go running because of his foot! ๐ I’m gonna gain weight if his streak of injuries continues like this…
At the time I got back to my appartment, Tomoko was finally awake ๐ and we buzzed off to Schluss Nymphenburg. It’s one of the biggest royal palaces in Europe and features a huge park and impressive alleys from the outside. I’ve never seen the inside, actually and Tomoko wanted to take a look at the gallery of beauties in the museum. I’m usually not so much into old-fashioned architecture or arts but this was really impressive! Magnificent architecture, light everywhere and the original baroque stucco definitely are some things to remember.
After spending some time at the castle, we returned to the inner city where we took a walk around town. We then met Marcus at the Odeonsplatz, where the rehearsal for the open air classic concert was going on – pretty cool atmosphere there! Oh and San Francisco Coffee Company: Thanks for the great coffee ๐ (damn I should get paid for doing commercials like this…)
From the Odeonsplatz we went on to the Marienplatz in order to take a look at the new town hall of Munich and to climb up to the observation deck of the Alter Peter church tower. The view from there is just awesome – one can see most of the city and even into the mountains (on clear days, of course). Before we got there, we had a nice random encounter for which the chances might be even tinier than winning the lottery – let’s just say that maybe I got a first foot in the door at finding a job in Tokyo… Anyways, here are some pictures:
Oh and I completely forgot to mention that I was wondering the whole day what’s going on in the city because many people were there and a slight sensation of party was in the air – it happened to be Christopher Street Day! When we arrived at the Marienplatz, we finally found out about that ๐ Eventually we were really tired from walking and decided to spend the rest of the afternoon in the Englischer Garten, Munich’s biggest park area.
Having returned to my place for a shower and a few minutes of rest, we rushed out again to Hieu’s farewell party. He’s departing for his new job in Tokyo today and I ENVY HIM SO MUCH for that ๐ Unfortunately, my cam ran out of battery then and so I did not take any pictures there… In the end, it was a great party and I wish Hieu all the best for his future and hope I can team up with him in Tokyo soon – this is going to be legendary ๐
Found myself … in Nakai?!
Posted by defaude
on June 19, 2009
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Today, I toyed around with Google Maps and especially their Street View feature. It’s not available in Germany yet but will be soon, I guess. It is, however, already implemented in many other countries including Japan. Out of nostalgic feelings, I virtually followed the path from my appartment to the train station which I took so many times during my stay there. And guess what I found? Yeah: myself! 8)
On the second one, my legs are missing because Google is interpolating between multiple images ๐ Anyways, this is crazy and awesome, huh?