January in Japan!

This month in Japan has certainly gone by quickly!

大黒天

After my participation in the Toka-Ebisu festival in Osaka I spent the first evening drinking wine and chatting with Yuma's parents until 2 am.
Last year they took really good care of me after I had broken my shoulder, and this time they helped me again in getting ready for the Toka-Ebisu festival. I am so lucky to have such amazing people in my life.

The day after the festival in Osaka I went along with Yuma's father and three of his father's friends to Kobe's version of the Toka-Ebisu festival. We went to see the Imamiya shrine along with another local shrine, and after a round of local food and festival snack we stopped by an izakaya (Japanese traditional bar) where we had traditional Japanese food and drinks.

今宮神社

Fish for luck. Notice all the coins on and around the fish! (Although I have to say もったいない.. Haha..

Hanging out with Yuma's father and his friends (^o^)

An old poster from the izakaya we went to

Finally it was time to leave Kansai and reunite with my overworked boyfriend in Tokyo. You have probably heard about it already; people often work way too much in Japan. No wonder why it was necessary for them to come up with the word "Karoshi", which can be translated into English as "death from overwork" (過労死).
To put it short, Yuma spent the first week after the holiday by working overtime everyday. Which is not unusual, except for this time he even had to work until 5 am. Talk about efficiency at the workplace! ><
When I arrived things had luckily calmed down a bit, but of course he has been quite busy still. The same has been the case with me too though, I have been writing like crazy on my thesis the last couple of weeks. Since I have two of them to finish before the next semester is over, I certainly can't rest too much..

I have however had time for a little bit of fun here too, including catching up with some old SKP-friends from my first year in Japan (including Michelle, who blogs about her stay in Tokyo here).
In addition, there is this really awesome shared house complex owned by one of Yuma's friends called Ryozan Park, and we went there together for a Mochidzuki-Taikai where we among other things made.. mochi (Japanese rice cake). It was my first time going there, but apparently they do have frequent events there.. And the place looked so nice! (Although I'm not to sure what to think of that kind of creepy horse-lamp.. Lol..)

A collection from a Mochidsuki-taikai we went to in the shared house complex Ryozan Park

Last weekend Yuma and I also visited a place called Toshimaen, which is some kind of an amusement park. We went skating there for a couple of hours, and afterwards we visited a nearby onsen (Japanese hot spring). I have to say though, the most interesting thing about the amusement park was all the Japanese people doing cosplay all over the park! Apparently Toshimaen is a great spot for photoshots, and you can see so many strange people here^^ Some are cool, and some are.. Well.. A bit creepy too:p

Ice-skating in Tokyo's Toshimaen

So, anyway, my month in Japan is over, and I'm ready to leave for Korea tomorrow. Japan was kinda cold in comparison to the Philippines, and I'm pretty sure that Korea will be even worse! ...助けて〜w

I'm taking a 3-week intensive course in Korean that starts next week, and I'm really looking forward to improving my Korean! Yay! However, it seems that I will be back in Tokyo for a week in the end of February, since it seems like I will have a job interview with Rakuten then. This will be my fourth interview with them, so fingers crossed for a possible job offer coming up..
Anyway, I hope that you are enjoying the cold season as much as I am! I'm rounding off this blogpost with a beautiful picture of my home country Norway:

Picture from Northern Norway: http://www.nordnorge.com/en

PS: I'm from the south, and it never get as cold as this in my city ;p