Adventures of Anette: Embassy

Showing posts with label Embassy. Show all posts

Friday, October 4, 2013

Japan Hardanger Club (日本ハルダンゲルクラブ) Performance at the Norwegian Embassy

Anette 12:09:00 PM

Yesterday we arranged a welcome concert at the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Tokyo for seven mayors from Hardanger in Norway who are visiting Japan on a short business/promotion trip, and on that occasion members of the Japan Hardanger Club held a great Hardanger fiddle performance in the Arctic Hall. I’ve uploaded a short video of one of their songs for those who might be interested.

Representatives from Japan Hardanger Club led by Rio Yamase and seven Norwegian majors at the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Tokyo

For more information about Japan Hardanger Club, please check out their homepage.

Related blogposts

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Tokyo

My Embassy Internship in Tokyo!

Anette 6:30:00 PM

Although I was supposed to graduate from university this summer I decided to extend my studies by one semester after I was offered a six month position as a trainee at the Norwegian embassy in Tokyo. It has been a month since I started working, so it's time for a short update about recent happenings! With that said, this will be more like a very general overview of how it is to work at the embassy. The reason for this is that working for the foreign department of course involves a certain degree of confidentiality. All I can say is that so far my time at the embassy has been very rewarding. The good working environment at the embassy and my nice colleagues makes it particularly nice to be here, and I felt welcomed from the very first day at the embassy.

In front of the embassy, ready for duty

I am one of two interns who have been employed since the end of August, and our duties have been many and varied. We participate for instance in various press conferences and seminars which we then write reports about. To give a couple of examples it can involve a press conference with a minister, or seminars held by professors from the top Japanese universities. For me it was especially great to participate in a luncheon with Hiroshi Mikitani, the CEO and founder of Rakuten, as I will start working in Rakuten from April next year. I even got the chance to ask him a question directly, which I somehow managed to deliver in an understandable manner despite being nervous as can be..

Hiroshi Mikitani from Rakuten at a luncheon at FCCJ

Yohei Sasakawa, chairman of the Sasakawa Foundation, holding a speech at a seminar about the Northern Sea Route

There are also some daily tasks we are in charge of, such as sending out newsletters or updating the embassy’s homepage. In addition we help out for instance when there are special events at the embassy, and get to participate in quite a few of them ourselves. With regular newsletters and rapports coming to my inbox every single day from other embassies all over the world I can easily stay up-to-date about recent events, something I surely will miss when the term is over.

Holding events at the embassy

I also want to mention that with my 2-year experience of living in Kyoto I find it particularly delightful to be a part of the Norwegian environment here in Tokyo. We were not that many Norwegians at my university in Kyoto, and we did not really have a “Norwegian community” there either. Now that I work at the embassy I get to meet a lot of interesting people coming all the way from Norway for various reasons, and it is nice to have the chance to share experiences and knowledge about our country of common interest; Japan. Going to karaoke with Norwegians who love to sing traditional Japanese enka in perfect Japanese is for instance not something you get to experience every day.

I look forward to the coming months and challenges, and I’ll try to keep the blog updated with my leisure activities here in Tokyo as well. Thanks again to all readers for taking the time to read my blog^^

Related blogposts

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Tokyo

Celebrating Norway's National Day at the Embassy in Tokyo!

Anette 6:25:00 PM

Here in Japan people really love festivals, and you can find them all over the country in all variations. It is therefor not unusual that I get asked about festivals celebrated in my home country, and every time my answer is the same. If there is one festival you should not miss, it is the National Day on the 17th of May. On this day the streets gets filled with people; there are parades and food, people dressed up in their national costumes (bunad) and music in the streets.

In Norway the 17th of May is a national holiday, but as this isn't the case abroad the celebration of this day is usually moved to one of the closest weekend. For this year, the day was set to be on the 13th.
I had taken the decision on going to Tokyo to participate in the celebration at the Norwegian embassy, like I did last year as well, and had therefor booked tickets with the night bus about a month ago. Personally it was also a great chance to meet up with Yuma, who moved to Tokyo to work for Hitachi about a month ago. So in addition to the event at the embassy I also got the chance of enjoying his company for a couple of days! And then we're talking nice dinners, shopping and partying in Roppongi..

On Sunday it was time for the celebration at the embassy, and after I had dressed up in my bunad we left the hotel heading for Hiroo, the area where the embassy is located. On the way to the embassy Yuma made a funny comment about me looking very Norwegian in my dress. We spent some time on the train practicing self-introductions; I have been teaching him a little bit of Norwegian too, so we hoped he would get the chance to practice a bit. Learning Norwegian can be hard when there is nobody around who speaks it..

Time for speeches at the embassy

Further, living in a foreign country, especially when you come from a small country with few citizens, there aren't too many opportunities to interact with others in your own language. Arriving at the embassy it felt quite strange seeing so many people with blond hair gathered at one place (yeah, it's quite a stereotype, but being used to seeing "only" Asian people every day made all the Norwegians look blonde.. ><), not to mention hearing the Norwegian language everywhere around me. With that said, it was still quite an international environment with people from a lot of different backgrounds both idiomatic and culturally.
But although there were a lot of Japanese ladies present, it turned out the Yuma was the only Japanese man attending the celebration. Too bad, he had looked forward to see if there were any Japanese guys in the same situation as him; being in a relationship with a Norwegian girl. I guess we might be rather a rare couple.. However, we did meet a lot of nice people, both new friends and some I met at the embassy last year. I was almost overwhelmed to see the number of people attending: the number had at least doubled since last year. But considering the situation in Japan last year it really isn't that strange after all..

Delicious food... Yummy..

Besides meeting new people we also got the chance to eat a lot of delicious food! But not until after all the official speeches were done. There were of course two things that particularly were in focus: Last year's earthquake in Tohoku, and not to mention the terror attack on Utøya and all the Norwegian people. As the trial in Norway against the terrorist Breivik still is ongoing, and continues to affect people's daily life in Norway, it was a natural part of this year's speeches. Still, it felt quite strange to be situated on the other side of the globe with so many people affected by the attacks, especially since it has been almost two years since I left the country and lately rarely see any fellow countrymen at all.

17th of May parade in Tokyo

The rest of the day mostly included a small 17th of May-parade around the block (last year we didn't have any parade at all, because of the situation in Japan), some dessert and a small lottery. It is quite far to travel all the way from Kyoto to participate in the celebration, but it was worth the trip (perhaps mostly because I had the chance to be with Yuma too, haha xD). Next year around this time I just might be in Korea instead of Japan, so we'll see if I have the chance to participate or not.. Anyway, I survived the night bus back to Kyoto, so hopefully there will be more possibilities to go back to Tokyo in the near future on other occasions.

And to all other Norwegians out there, I'll start off a bit early with a hurra for søttende mai!

In front of a picture of the Norwegian King and Queen.

Related blogposts

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Tokyo

Weekend in Tokyo II: Night at a Capsule Hotel, Bunad, backpack and 17. mai

Anonymous 12:50:00 AM

After a long Saturday in Tokyo, it was finally time to get some sleep, and I had pre-booked the night at a Capsule Hotel in Asakusa near the Kaminari-mon.

Finding a Capsule Hotel was actually harder than I would have thought, because most of them are only usable by men. But after spending quite some time searching I found one called Hotel Asakusa & Capsule (ホテル浅草&カプセル) that had rooms for women in addition to the ones for men. I found it through Rakuten travels, and the (student)price was 1800 yen for a night. (Arriving there I found out that the price actually is 2200 yen unless you book the room in advance;))

The Capsules are like small boxes, and at first I was a bit skeptical looking at the tiny entrance to my room: I had to crawl on all fours to get in.

Looks more like a prison than a hotel. My room was number 518, and the entrance was almost the same size as my backpack..

But inside the size of the room was a lot better than what I had imagined, and it even had a small locker and a TV (though it was 100 yen/hour to use it).

My bunad and my hotel room.

The small locker and the entrance to my capsule-room.

In addition to the room, you also get access to a common bathroom and a room that has an onsen (温泉is the Japanese word for hot spring, but of course these ones don't have real onsen water though).

Me by the entrance to the capsule I slept in.

Anyway, check-out time was 09:30 so I had to get up a little earlier than what I would have liked. Getting ready for the events at the embassy later the day I got all dressed up in my bunad (Norwegian folk costume) and hit the road.

I had a lot of time to kill, and since the famous Kaminari-mon was right by my Capsule Hotel I decided to take a walk over there for some sightseeing.

The famous Kaminari-mon 雷門

..and a close-up.

I guess I must have looked a bit strange walking around in Tokyo in my bunad, but on the other hand, after seeing what some people actually wear in Harajuku I think you need a lot more to surprise the Japanese people. It still was kind of fun.

I spent some time walking around in the area before changing direction and heading for the embassy down in the Hiro-o area of Tokyo.

I walked around all day in my bunad, which was kind of hot in the warm weather. Here by the Tokyo Sky Tree (under construction)

At the embassy everything was ready for a fun celebration.

The only thing out of the normal was that usually there are normally some parades being held where people are carrying Norwegian flags while singing songs and marching in the streets, but due to the earthquake in Sendai in March the 17. mai-committee had decided that the arrangement would be a little bit quieter this year than usual. In other words, there weren’t any parades this year. We still had a really good time though; with Norwegian pølse i lompe, waffles, buffet with Norwegian food and cakes for dessert. And of course, some speeches and some traditional 17. mai songs like the national anthem Ja vi elsker.

The 17. mai committee giving a short speech

Buffet!

..And not to mention pølse i brød/lompe, which is a must when celebrating 17. mai.

Another picture of my bunad. The design of this one is typical for my hometown Bergen.

Kids organizing their lottery tickets

And a second buffet: this time for cakes! :)

A picture of the King and Queen of Norway

Outside the embassy

Tokyo Station by night

After a nice and busy weekend, it was time to go back to Kyoto again. I took the underground to Tokyo Station and spent the rest of the evening doing pretty much nothing, waiting for the night bus to take me home to Kyoto.

Recommended Hotels in Tokyo

More Tokyo hotels

Robot Hotel - Henn na Hotel Maihama Tokyo Bay

Henn na Hotel
★★★★ → review
.

The Centurion Classic Akasaka
★★★★ → review

Hundred Stay
★★★★ → review
,

Kaisu Hostel
★
.

This page contains affiliate links, and if you follow a link and make a hotel reservation through these links you help support this blog without any additional cost to you. Thank you so much for your kind support!

Thank you for reading! Please feel free to leave any comments or questions below
- Anette