Funny travel on the hard seat in China.1

Hello,

It's gonna be red hot from tomorrow here in Changsha.
up to 35 for 2-3days...

Today's blog goes as follows.

From Hangzhou to Changsha,I could only buy the ticket for hard seat for

12hours, leaving Hangzhou at 19;00 and arriving in Changsha at 7;00 next morning.

No need to say, I got so tired that I immediately went to bed after I arrived in the hostel and when I woke up, it was already past noon.

By the way, you will rarely feel bored during the long train ride in China, if you like it or not.

First of all, in the hard seat coach(there are usually hard seat coach, sleeping coach, dining coach in the train), they don't even turn off the light during the night.

In exchange, they have so much to entertain passengers, (this,too,if you like to be entertained or not). Around 1;00am, there came a woman having some cosmetics and started to sell them with a cheerful expression.

And then there came 1 yuan "Mimikaki", then titan neckless...all came
with funny selling talk. At last, a man with a box of "Chie no wa" came
and "Chie no wa" party began in the coach,from 1;30am. On top of that, a man in front of me bought 10 yuan "Chie no wa" set and all of 4 passengers
including me started to play with them.

Untill then, all of us including me were looking at some screen, some using
cell-phones, I was reading Kindle... but the atmosphere all of a sudden
turned into party-like atmosphere...

Stay in Hangzhou

Hello,

I safely arrived in Changsha,hometown of 毛泽东

Looking back, I rarely write anything about the place I stayed,haha.
Let me write some about Hangzhou（杭州）which I stayed for about a week.

To express in one word, the city of Hangzhou is "green"
”西湖“, which is even famous for people from foreign countries, lies in the center of the city. And one needs 2or3days to see the whole sight-seeing places around 西湖.

There are so many rental cycling spots around the city and they are very cheep.

Public buses are using hybrid energy and later I learned that
Hangzhou was famous for eco-friendry city. On the other hand, especially
in China, eco-friendly means it costs some amount of money. And prices
in Hangzhou are bit higher compared to other cities I think.

I think it is more or less the same in Japan too, but being eco-friendly, unfortunatly, costs much more than usual.

I can only come up with a common conclusion, but that's something I felt most during my stay in Hangzhou.

My next stop is Changsha,home town of 毛泽东

Culture export

Hello
Today's blog goes as follows.

There are a variety of ways to export culture.
Let's say in Japan, pop culture is very famous around the world.
In Korea, their electric products are very popular.

And those exported cultures build the image of the country, especially
for the people who never visited that country.
Traveling in Japan usually costs a lot for everyone, and not so many
have a chance to visit our country, even if they want to.

So the image of Japan relies heavily on those Japanese exported
culture, whether you like it or not.
The French lady I talked with yesterday said Japan is a mysterious and
attractive country for French people because of its pop culture, and
they don't show much interest in Korea because Korea exports only electricity.

And then one day, I luckily was invited to dinner a few days ago, and those
cultural topic popped up as usual.
Many people in China like Doraemo, or Kureyon Shinchan, or those
Kawaii culture, so I'm usually well prepared to talk these topic in Chinese.(I read almost all the comics on Doraemo when I was young.)
But they came up with a topic of Pornography contents from Japan,
and on top of that said it's very good compared to that of China,lol.

Well... I froze for a moment and couldn't give them Japanese perspective in that field.
Well, pornography, electricity, cartoon, or whatever it may be, you have to
keep close watch on what your country is exporting...

World Cup in South Africa

Hello

I think I'm staying in the best hostel ever during my stay.
They invited me dinner just now and so friendly.

Today's blog goes as follows.

Title;World Cup in South Africa

I think so many people in the world are crazy about World Cup held in
South Africa these days.
Even in China its so popular that you can't miss it when you get to
bar or common room in hostel.
Because China failed to be qualified from Asia, they mainly back for those
famous countries or players, it seems to me they like Messi so much.
Of course I'm also very excited about Japan game and sit in front of TV
almost every night.
To me I feel more attracted to the country by seeing its players in
the field, rather than seeing souvenirs or eating dishes of the
country at Expo.

Those mixed feelings players express, joy, disappointment, etc...
Something we human have in common is the thing that I'm often attracted.
Whether its on TV, or the street, or whatever, it's in Japanese "Ningen no
Kibi" I may say.


By the way, the following URL is one of my favorite columns.
I learned a lot from his article so if you like soccer, take a look at it.

宇都宮徹壱
http://southafrica2010.yahoo.co.jp/news/cdetail/201006220006-spnavi

Hot, hot, hot!

Today,the day temperature was above 34 degrees,and at Hangzhou, which is
my nest stop, it was 35. Although I believe I am relatively used to be in this kind of climate,its still middle of June! Somebody let me know nice Noryo food in China...

Anyway,I'm enjoying Tapioka milk tea to get something cold these days. Since I was in US when Tapioka had big boom in japan, I'm not used to this drink, but its tastes nice.

And I met one of my friends in Ningbo yesterday. She's working in a big hotel as an internship trainee from AIESEC from March, and said planning to work in Ningbo until end of this year. I
met(and planning to meet ) some of trainees from AIESEC during this trip. I think they are so brave all the way come from their home country for such a long time.

In my opinion, just going to abroad is next to nothing, that's something only rich Japanese students can do. However, fortunately, people around me rarely do such a poor oversea experience.
Once they determine to go, they always come back with something worthwhile, and I'm often encouraged by their attitude. So don't be too humble, be positive, realize how great thing you are doing right now, my friends!

And for me, I don't mean I'm doing something great,but I believe I'm making my step forward.--

Rainy season

Hello

I'm eating pretty well since I arrived in Ningbo.
One of my friend working in Ningbo introduced me lots of nice food!

Today's blog goes as follows.

I haven't written articles these days,yes, I realized...
Needless to say, it's really difficult to write something if you haven't
strong desire to express. Being asked whether I didn't have anything to write after a usually
long day, of course there were something, but just drank a little bit too
much Chinese beer and sometimes public PC is being used by others when I
wanted to use...


'''sate,
In China too,it's now rainy season.
Here in 宁波 where I’m staying right now also see lots of rain these days.
In 宁波 I feel something in common with that I felt in 大连， and may be with
Makuhari，which is my hometown.
In coastal area like 宁波 one should try seafood, and I had some with one
of my friends yesterday.
I think food is something that I can't cut the expense of.
One who's visited China would know how people in China, from the
bottom of hierarchy to the top,put stress on every meal.
To realize how important it is, I tried one-day fast yesterday, just for fun.

I am encouraged by so many comments everyday and I'm afraid that I
can't get you back for each comment, but I'm reading!

I'm stuck in hostel today, its too hot today!

Staying in 华南 area

I've been 华南 area for these 2weeks and now accustomed to this humid climate.
Actually its more close to Japan,lots of rain,high moisture in the
air, I'm used to it.

One of my friend wrote me comment(thanks Yamada!) that Japan got into the Tsuyu.
I think here in China more or less the same,it rains a lot especially
in southern provinces, 广洲

，福州，浙江,for example.
Those southern areas, or coastal areas in other word, are developing
rapidly especially in current

China.I felt like I was living in "forest of Neon light" in Shanghai.
And personally I come from Chiba,which is next to ocean so I will more
ease at these places.

I drank coffee for the first time in the last month and a half to
get stuck in McDonald's cheering Japan from TV. Hope coming June will be filled with joy of blog Worldcup!

上海にて

久しぶりに日本語を書く機会に恵まれました（無理を言ってホステルスタッフのPCを貸してもらっています）

ここ上海は毎日曇り空か小雨の続く恵まれない天気ですが、友人に言わせるといつもこんな感じとのこと。今のホステルは市場から徒歩１分の立地にあり、安い食事には事欠かないとはいえ、やはり洛陽の２倍以上する宿泊費やホステルに溢れる外国人の多さから、自分が中国有数の発展都市にいると実感します。

火曜日には上海エキスポに友人と赴いて、朝８時から５時間の待ち時間の末日本パビリオンに入ったのですが、期待以上の出来栄えで驚きでした。ちなみに全体の中でも１，２を争う人気だそう・・・
正直なところ、最近日本のニュースを追っていてもあまり日本人であることを誇らしく思えるような機会も少なかったのですが、ソフトパワーの結集とはいえ今回の日本パビリオンの出来はすばらしかったと思います。相変わらずデザイン面はいまひとつでしたが笑
エキスポ参観予定の人は必見だと思いますよ！

次に日本語で書けるのがいつになるかわかりませんが、珍しく天気がよくなってきたので
早々に切り上げfることにします。６月は日中の友人に会う機会が多くて楽しみです！

long and short one month

Hello

I arrived safely in Nanjing yesterday morning.
I think famous three hot city in China is Nanjing, Chongching, and
Bukan, not Luoyang.

Anyway, here in Nanjing is not as hot as Luoyang, at least today.

About a month has passed since I come to Beijing on April 30th.

I've been to 北京，哈尔滨(Harbin)， 大连(Dailen)，洛阳(Rakuyo) so far.
Harbin and Dailen was really comfortable under the cool weather, then
used these one week to get used to the climate of south part.

But still its tough to walk so long under the shining sun.
I often go to supermarket to get rest. In China, Carfurr(not sure my
spelling is right), French based supermarket is very popular, and you
can find them frequently when you are in big city. May be Carfurr's
"sell a lot" style fits to the Chinese culture than that of Japan.

One thing new for me is, during self-cordinated trip like this, I feel
more sensitive to the amount of money I spend for my daily life.
For example, the hostel now I'm staying in Nanjing is 45 RMB（about
650yen）. The hostel in Luoyang was 30RMB. But the hostel in Luoyang
was more comfortable.
And I spend about 15RMB per day for food.200RMB from Luoyang to
Nanjing for train ticket, etc...

You always need money to live,so that is the biggest reason that (most
of the people, I may say)people work.
Yes we need to work to live.What for?

Let me continue this next time...