I have bought my FIRST SUIT EVER along with a plane ticket to Boston in October where I'll be running around like crazy trying to find a job for an American/Japanese company at the big Boston Career Forum. 頑張らないと！

My first suit.. Now all I need is a pair of shoes. Haha..

UPDATE: My blogpost from the career forum

Today the lady working at the hostel I live at told me about a graduation ceremony taking place in Seongkyunkwan University (성균관대학) right by my hostel. So I took my camera and went over there, and got some nice photos.

The graduating students and the main temple

Students and dancers

Traditional Korean dance

The dancers and the temple in the background

 I also got a couple of video with my iPhone. Please enjoy;)

On my first day sightseeing in Seoul I dragged my new Finnish friend Tommi along to the Seoul's City Hall where I was going in order to finish the alien registration necessary for foreigners who are staying long-term in Korea. We walked from the nearest underground station, and by pure luck we discovered that by the entrance to the temple on the other side of the road, Deoksugung, they offered tourists to try the traditional Korean attire called Hanbok (한복) for free. A Korean lady helped us getting the hanbok on, and it seemed we were quite lucky with the timing, because it was just the time for one of the many daily Changing of the Guard ceremonies. Here are some pictures and videos from the day:

Tommi getting dressed up

Half way there..!

Do I look very Korean now? Probably not, but still.. ^^

Peace!

The main gate to Deoksugung

The Changing of the Guard ceremony

The drummer

After the ceremony was done we got to take pictures with the guards.

Yellow guards. Yay:)

-Apparently you can try the Hanbok for free here between 10:30-11:40, and 13:30-16:00..!

Other blogposts:
South Korea
Seoul
                                  
Hotels in South Korea

Today I left Japan heading for Seoul in Korea where I'll be staying as an DMDP-exchange student at Kyung Hee University for a year. Arriving in Seoul I took the airport bus into the city, and arrived at the hostel I'll be staying at the first week a couple of hours later.

• All blogposts about volunteering
• All blogposts from Minami-Sanriku
• Ready for Volunteer Work in Minami-Sanriku (南三陸)!
• Volunteering in Minami Sanriku: United Earth
• Volunteer Report from Minami-Sanriku: Day 1
• Volunteering in Minami Sanriku and Kesenuma: An Introduction
• Volunteering in Minami Sanriku: The Seaweed Factory
• Volunteering in Minami Sanriku: Forestry
• Minami-Sanriku: The Story of a Hero
• Youtube: Minami-Sanriku's United Earth
• Blog Post for UE: 譬え、小さなアリでも成し遂げられること
• 8 Months After the Tohoku Earthquake: Trip to Ishinomaki
• Last update from Minami Sanriku: The Voice of a Survivor

• All blogposts from Japan 

Climbing Mt. Fuji was one of the things that had always been high on my list, simply because it is the biggest mountain (or in reality, vulcano,) in Japan, and the role it plays in the country. Mount Fuji is regarded a sacred mountain for the Japanese, and it has been depicted a vaste number of times, for instance through famous ukiyo-e (浮世絵) pictures.

United Earth is a volunteer group that have been contributing to the still ongoing recovery of Minami Sanriku since the area was devastated by tsunamis in March 2011.

The members are almost exclusively Japanese (there was a French freelance journalist here the first couple of days I was here); at the present I'm the only foreigner in the group which right now in the summer holiday counts close to 50 members. Still, if you have a certain level of Japanese knowledge you'll meet a lot of friendly and nice people coming from all over the country.

The volunteer group United Earth has been helping out in the area since the disaster stroke last year, and they are helping out the community through various projects. These projects covers a wide range of sectors including fishery, forestry, removal of weeds, farming, senior citizen's home, a seaweed factory, and their activities varies according to the demand from the community. The recovery of the community takes time, and there is a lack of manpower in the area even with a lot of available jobs.

In order to get to Minami Sanriku there is a bus running three times a day from Sendai at 8:00, 14:10 and 16:20, and registered volunteers has the opportunity to get picked up at Hotel Kanyō (観洋). Staying as a volunteer costs around 3000 yen pr. night depending on the duration of the stay (repeaters pay less than the regular price). This covers most daily life expenses, so you don't have to worry about special equipment or food during your stay.

Working at a factory cutting seaweed

Cleaning an area for trunks

Holding an event at a senior citizen's home

Some other post with activities I participated in:
-Forestry
-Kessennuma's Sea Weed Factory

-United Earth's members are almost exclusively Japanese. If you prefer a more mixed volunteer group, check out for instance It's Not Just Mudd.

• All blogposts about volunteering
• All blogposts from Minami-Sanriku
• Ready for Volunteer Work in Minami-Sanriku (南三陸)!
• Volunteering in Minami Sanriku: United Earth
• Volunteer Report from Minami-Sanriku: Day 1
• Volunteering in Minami Sanriku and Kesenuma: An Introduction
• Volunteering in Minami Sanriku: The Seaweed Factory
• Volunteering in Minami Sanriku: Forestry
• Minami-Sanriku: The Story of a Hero
• Youtube: Minami-Sanriku's United Earth
• Blog Post for UE: 譬え、小さなアリでも成し遂げられること
• 8 Months After the Tohoku Earthquake: Trip to Ishinomaki
• Last update from Minami Sanriku: The Voice of a Survivor

• All blogposts from Japan 

I want to share one of my experiences working as a volunteer in Minami Sanriku with my readers out there. The wife of one of the farmers we have been helping is a woman who always dresses nicely and seems like an energetic and friendly person. The first times seeing her I'd never believe that she had had any personal losses from the tsunamis. However, one day before we were supposed to start our work at the farm she told us about how she had been working in a senior citizen's home at the time of the tsunami and how she and the others had to evacuate to the roof when the tsunami flooded the building.
Here she told us about how she had seen a person being taken by the wave who was screaming out for help. His hand was so close that she could have reached it, but she had been to afraid to do anything. She saw how the guy got drawn into the water until only his reaching hand was visible.
She told us about how bad she feels about not being able to help, and how it still hunts her every day. About how she and the others spent the night sleeping on the roof of the senior citizen's home hoping to wake up finding that it all was a dream. But instead they woke up to a city totally destroyed, and how they had to stay there until helicopters came to their rescue. Who would believe that such a cheerful person would carry such a dark experience..

Here in Minami Sanriku there are a lot of people that despite horrible experiences like these still keeps going on working on the recovery of their communities.
There are a lot of things that can be said about the situation in Minami Sanriku, but these are the words I've heard most frequently from many of the local people while staying here:
"The worst thing for us is to be forgotten. Please tell your friends about your experiences here, and that the recovery still is going to take a lot of time. Please don't forget us."


My stay in Minami Sanriku is coming to an end. But there is still a long way to go for the city to recover, and a need for people who can help. I believe that not only volunteers but also tourists can contribute to make the community bloom once more, so if you have the chance please don't hesitate to pay the fantastic people of Minami Sanriku a visit..!

• All blogposts about volunteering
• All blogposts from Minami-Sanriku
• Ready for Volunteer Work in Minami-Sanriku (南三陸)!
• Volunteering in Minami Sanriku: United Earth
• Volunteer Report from Minami-Sanriku: Day 1
• Volunteering in Minami Sanriku and Kesenuma: An Introduction
• Volunteering in Minami Sanriku: The Seaweed Factory
• Volunteering in Minami Sanriku: Forestry
• Minami-Sanriku: The Story of a Hero
• Youtube: Minami-Sanriku's United Earth
• Blog Post for UE: 譬え、小さなアリでも成し遂げられること
• 8 Months After the Tohoku Earthquake: Trip to Ishinomaki
• Last update from Minami Sanriku: The Voice of a Survivor

• All blogposts from Japan 

• All blogposts about volunteering
• All blogposts from Minami-Sanriku
• Ready for Volunteer Work in Minami-Sanriku (南三陸)!
• Volunteering in Minami Sanriku: United Earth
• Volunteer Report from Minami-Sanriku: Day 1
• Volunteering in Minami Sanriku and Kesenuma: An Introduction
• Volunteering in Minami Sanriku: The Seaweed Factory
• Volunteering in Minami Sanriku: Forestry
• Minami Sanriku: The Voice of a Survivor
• Minami-Sanriku: The Story of a Hero
• Youtube: Minami-Sanriku's United Earth
• Blog Post for UE: 譬え、小さなアリでも成し遂げられること
• 8 Months After the Tohoku Earthquake: Trip to Ishinomaki

• All blogposts from Japan 

The number of United Earth members has been rising steadily since I came, and today we probably reached the highest number of attending members on the daily meeting with more than 50 people in the room. As you can see from the picture the room is pretty filled up, and in addition there were many members sitting behind me as well.