sabaigabekoak, atxaga, japkara

Ueno parkean ikusi ditut hauek ilaran, platerrak eskuan bazkalorduan ahora zer eramateko zain. Hara joan naiz arreba eta koinatuaren Olentzeroa irakurtzera, Atxagaren 'Lekuak'. Orain dela asko ez nuela euskaraz ezer irakurtzen eta benetan eskertzen dut. Irakurketan ez dut beste hizkuntzarekin euskararekin bezala gozatzen. Gaur hasi eta erdia irakurri dudala esanda... Ba sabaigabeko hauek Uenon, baina lehenago Asakusa parkean ibili naiz (parke eguna gaurkoa), irakurtzen be, eta tipo bat pasatu da txirringan sabaigabekoen artean obentoak banatzen (obentoa atzoko argazkian agertzen dena da). Koinzidentzia, besterik gabe.

Geroago Aoyamara joan naiz ea Goethe Institutean probetxuzko zeozer egiten duten galdetzera, pelikularen bat, kontzerturen bat, konferentziaren bat... baina ezer, ez dabe ezer egiten. Bartzelonakoa agenda mardula du gero, Tokion holako zerbait espero nuen. Kulturizatu ezinik Aoyamatik Shibuyara paseoa egitea otu zait eta hara argazkia, topatu dudana: euskara eta japonieraren arteko beste hitz homografoa. Blai egon behar dute azkenengo pisuan, munduko itokinik handiena izan behar du horrek.


Amaitzeko hor esteketan fijatu bazarie barria dagoela ikusiko zenuten. Zenbatetan esan dot ez dagola euskaldunik Japonian eta hara, bat aurkitu dot. Eta horren atzetik beste hainbat. Euskal Etxea egiteko asmoa dabe! Bazen garaia! Taberna batera joan eta euskal jendearekin berebetan ibiltzea da Tokiori falta zaiona.

traveller=criminal

So I'm back in Japan although I could as well be back home. The only thing I'm doing in this country is having fun, getting to know it, learning the language... and all that spending my own savings. Yet this is somehow bad.

You can come to Japan for 3 months as a tourist, then you've got to go away. Okay, no prob, that's what I did. I came to this country back in September 2007 on the 26th and left December 18th. I came back on Monday and they almost didn't let me in. The reason? I haven't got a clue, really. And that adds to the fact that now they take both your fingerprints and picture. It is degrading, very upsetting. The immigration officer sent me to a room where another officer started asking me things like why I was coming back and what for.

I like Japan, its people and language, please arrest me. Yes, 3 months is not enough to see everything, even though that's not the case, the case is that I like it here. I've been working -hard or not, that's depending on the day- for the last years and I've taken a year off. Lapidate me. I've got the time and the money to travel around and I like it in Japan. Excomulgate me. Is there anything wrong with that? Apparently there is. The government considers staying too long is not visiting but residing. I showed them my savings account and that was the turning point for them to let me go on with my life, after making a copy of it of course. Disgusting.

Through all the process they were very nice, after all they're Japanese. The second officer said things like "I'm sorry, but I have to ask you" like implyimg it was absurd but he had to. To finish with, when he told me I could go on an enter the country, he recommended me a shorter stay because if not they most likely are not going to let me in a third time.

It is not one world, it isn't, there are governments to remind you it isn't.

Last trip

Tokyon nago jada, bihar Bartzelonara eta 24ean etxera! :) Hokkaido utzi baino lehen beste bidaiatxo bat egin nuen. Lehenengo geldiunea Oshamanbe izan zen. Ondartzan maskor kuriosoak aurkitu nituen. Bestela, kaleak nahiko huts zeuden.

Harritu ninduen, hustasunaz aparte, elurrik ez zegoela. Niseko eta Hakodate artekoak, hurrengo geldiunea, elurrik gabeko oasia iruditu zitzaidan. Azaldu zidaten elurra, batez be, Japoniako Itsasoko kostaldean jausten dela eta ez Ozeano barekoan. Ondo da. Oshamanbe eta gero, elurra berriz ere.
Hakodaten hotz asko pasatu nuen. Elurra eta haizea barra-barra. Kaleak izozturik zeuden eta irristaka jendea. Sinesgaitza iruditzen zait, irrist egin nuen hainbatetatik behin soilik lurrera joan izanak. Hau heldutakoan aurkitutako panorama, gauez, eta hurrengo goizekoa.Akojonantea japoniar ferrietan egiten dizuten harrera.
Hakodate menditik ikuspegi honen ostean tren geltokira abiatu nintzen, izan ere Sapporora gaueko trena hartu behar nuen, hotel gaua aurrezteko, you know. Geltokian eta trena irteteko ordu pare bat falta zenez, homelessekin bota nuen lokuluxka euren bankuetan. Kaskoak jarri behar izan nituen, alboan atso batek ez ziolako bakarizketa ozenari uzten.

Sapporotik at Ainu herriari (kulturari diote haiek) eskeinitako museo-inbestigazio zentrua dago. Hara ailegatzeko odisea hutsa da, denbora asko galtzen da, metroa lehenengo eta busa geroago hartu beharra dago eta hara heltzerakoan ez dago askorik ikusteko, nahiz eta ez nintzen ikusgarria izango zelakoan joan, baizik eta elkartasun zera batek mugitua. Ainuak Japoniarrak heldu eta garbitu aurretik Hokkaidon bizi zirenak ziren. Gaur egun oso gutxi geratzen dira, argazkiko emakumea kasu. Adituek asiarrak ez baina kaukasiarrak direla diote (zuriak). Ez dakit ba... Nahastu xamar, hola bada. Holako zentru bat Sapporo erdigunean egon beharko litzateke, japoniarrek benetan herri-kultura-nazio honen ezagutza bultzatu nahi izango balute, aldiz, urrun eta informazio ez garbiarekin azaltzen dute... Dena den, alboan onsen bat zegoen eta hara joan nintzen gero. Aaaah, ze ondo elurrez inguratuta bainatzeari...
Ez nuela ordaindu esatea ahaztu dut! Euskalduna nintzela esanda gainera! Europako ainuak ginela esan nien :)

Azkenik parke honetara joan nintzen, Sapporon bertan baina metroa eta busa hartuta be. Ez dut orain sortzailearen izena gogoratzen, aurrerago jarriko dut.
Eta orain Tokion nago berriro ere, Asakusan, beste poxpolu-kaxa batean bizitzen. Baina hori beste egun baterako utziko dugu orain.

みちゃんのコンゼルト

Anit vam tenir una parella de hongkongnesos de honeymoon a la pensió. Michan els hi va tocar unes peces amb el clarinet. Ja savia que el tocava però no que habia fet una gira per l'oest dels EUA! Era bo el cabró, però ho va deixar.

Azken egunak laburbilduz...

I went to Kutchan with Owner on his bus (ther owner of the pension, the Milky House, that's how we all call him) 'cos he needed to buy some stuff. The ground was frozen and so slippery. It is a costant adventure as you never now how long will it take for the stuck bus (or the car for that matter) to get on the way.
We went to a kind of mall with 3 or 4 big stores in it. Inside one of them I found this I already saw in Tokyo. You Barça lovers are going to like it. Guinness sells its beer here in 'blaugrana' stripped boxes with the numbers and names of Barça players. I might buy some for yee... actually I don't think I will, as the beer is the same in Barcelona, I might steal some carton instead.

These people are Fumiko-san, owner of the pension and wife of the Owner, her son Masahiro, Kelly from Hong Kong and co-worker Kayo. Masahiro is studying in Otaru and he came for a visit. The same day Kelly came too, a former pension worker, and then working on the chinese version of the pension's homepage. That same day Kayo started working with us as well. So altogether it was a bit crowded although Michan wasn't here as he was on holidays. So that on the table is a dinner for 6. It is not that's a special occasion, dinner is always like that, not so many dishes usually, just double this time (6 instead of 3 people). Needless to say it was delicious, as always.
On the other hand there's Christmas decoration: indoor fake snow flakes on Christmas tree and outdoor lights. Hard work! They asked about Christmas in Spain (! sometimes the realize and say "your country") and I told them about the three kings but also about home, about Olentzero. I draw a picture of him on the kitchen's board for them to see what Olentzero looks like.

It is all still white, and so it's gonna be until April. We've had a couple of days with no snow, but with temperatures scarcely rising above 0 there's no chance the already fallen snow is going to melt away. Plus it snows almost everyday, from little flakes to really heavy snow. I'll be posting more snowy pics. For the time being I add this pic of the full moon. Of course I couldn't get all the craters with my camera, but it was really close and beautiful.