South America 2011 - Part 1

South America 2011, un album sur Flickr.

Here is part 1 of my trip in South America, visiting Dany in Buenos Aires and going together to Peru, Bolivia and Brazil!

Part 1:

Argentine: Buenos Aires
Peru: Cuzco, Inka Moutain Bike, Machu Picchu, Puno

First day of Work and Hikking in Nara!

Last Friday was my first day of official work at JTEKT in Nara! Because of several problems with the VISA I couldn't start on June 1st as it was supposed to be, anyway I had a nice first day of boring papers to fill! Then my bosses explained me the actual projects we are working on and it's pretty exciting! They are all pretty confidential so I won't be able to tell more about them, sorry...!

I am working at the same place as before with almost the same team. There are two new team members but one will start in directly in Nagoya.

I also received my beloved Uniform that I had to wear to go in the laboratories with Tamura for some project explanations...

Finally I received a brief introduction about my working conditions, salary etc... This month I am still considered as a Trainee because of late VISA (Thanks Nagoya people!)

As a foreigner in the company you expect the papers to be written in English as you have a special status of Global Staff as they call me but no, everything is in Japanese and not easy Japanese and not 1-2 pages, more than 20! This is meaningless! Actually in JTEKT Coproration (12'000 employees) there are only two foreigners with the same status including me! That's crazy!

I came back home very tired and with the only wish to take a shower as it is very wet these days!

Saturday was a chill out day at home with some shopping in the Geek street's of Nipponbashi. But sunday was intensive! 20km hiking and running in the mountains of Nara with a group of 7 people! It was fun and good for our bodies! The track is pretty difficult with lot of slopes! That's good for the hips... Yeah do I need it?

Next time I hope I can go there by car and do some biking! The road is nice and you get a crazy view on Osaka!

Until next time, Sayonara! Aris

PHOTOS: Japan - Gökhan & Nicolas

Japan - Gökhan & Nicolas, un album sur Flickr.

Photos with 2 videos of our crazy trip in Japan!

Back in Japan!

Hello everyone,

I am finally back in Japan for my Job. After the great earthquake and the nuclear problem, coming back to Japan or looking for a Job elsewhere was a big deal. As the situation in Kansai region hasn't been affected by this terrible event, I decided to return to Japan for my job at JTEKT.

I should have started it today but because of VISA problems (JTEKT's team screwed up!) I should start in one or two weeks hopefully. Anyway I have my apartment in Uehonmachi (center of Osaka) completely equipped! I have to thank my mother for helping me out during almost two weeks! I just love my place and I feel good now, not like JTEKT's dormitory...

Thanks to Aiko for also helping me out renting a car and with my apartment! Being a Gaijin is always difficult... Even more when you don't have a Japanese ID card!

Anyway I finished sorting all my pictures from South America and Japan. I have more than 5000! I will make my best selection and post them on my flickr account and on my blog!

Stayed tuned for the updates!

Wow Long time no see!

Hey everyone,

Merry Christmas and Happy new year 2011! Haha 1 month late! Sorry for this long time no see on the blog. I have been soooo busy these 2 last months in Japan and Switzerland. I came back in Switzerland for the Christmas/New Year period and enjoyed wonderful moments with my family and friends in Villars! This was so great with all that snow that fell on 24th December which also made my connection cancelled but I could make it by train ;)

In January I made lots of Trips on weekend, starting with Nagoya to visit Daisuke with Akira and party in the Gaijin-crowded streets of Nagoya! We had nice moments as we also visited a very old castle, 犬山城 Inuyama Castle (Means: Dog Mountain Castle) and is said to be the oldest castle of Japan.

Then on the second weekend I went back to Kanazawa to visit my homestay family that I was missing. On saturday I had the chance to go for a Ski ride with the father in the Ishikawa mountains (45 minutes from Kanazawa). The father is a Pro! I couldn't follow him everywhere, actually I was more doing the snowball next to him riding in the powder snow! That was funny and pretty cold...

On the third weekend I went to Tokyo to make a presentation about this almost done :( 1 year in Japan program to the Japanese Professor who organized this internship. We had to make a 5 minutes presentation about our job and a small discussion about the homestay experience and as my job is confidential I couldn't really talk about my actual job and made a "fake" presentation about a one week job I did in JTEKT. At the end of the presentation we had a small party with students from the Professor's laboratory. We ate Okonomiyaki (which is a Osaka meal :D) and had few discussions with the shy Japanese students ;)

And as we were in Tokyo, we had to party in the Tokyo clubs of Shibuya and Roppongi! I met many Gaijins (Foreigners) and enjoyed different clubs mainly in Roppongi where we joined the Birthday of a friend's friend's friend so we had cheaper prices :D

Finally last weekend was 100% Osaka! Party with Daisuke, Akira and Claudio!

To complete these crazy weekends, I am actually looking for a job in Japan so it takes me lot of time. I may be working in JTEKT in the future but I am looking for other opportunities such as in the biggest Swiss company ;) I hope I can find a job that is quite interesting and with a good location (Osaka, Kyoto or Kobe!) As soon as I have more informations, I'll post them ;)

Last but not least: THE PICTURES! I am currently working on them as I have so many to upload!
I hope I can upload a selection on flickr today!

またね！See you

Kouyou in Sanda and Kyoto by night!

Hello everyone,

Here are new pictures of the wonderful Autumn leaves (紅葉　- Kouyou) in Japan. The first pictures are taken from Sanda-shi, north of Kobe and where Claudio, another Swiss doing an internship in Japan, lives. The landscapes are wonderful and we could enjoy a typical small restaurant inside the mountains of Sanda with the Kouyou! In the Sanda region there are also tea bushes which gives some very authentic point of views.

Then the second part of the pictures are from Kyoto Kiyomizu-dera (清水寺　- Pure Water) by night during the Kouyou light ups. It was pretty crowded specially to go to the temple but hopefully we could go through and enjoy the beautiful power of Nature!

Enjoy...

Wonderful Autumn in Japan!

These two last weekend have been very exciting as I visited new places! First, as my brother suggested me: Naoshima. A small island located in Kagawa-ken and which is know for its contemporary art museum and sites like the Chichu Art Museum and the Benesse House project designed by Tadao Ando.

It took around 2 hours by car to get there with a small ferry boat and we could enjoy most of the main attraction of the island before the sunset... Naoshima is very small and can be visited in a day by car, bike, bicycle or bus. I've made a small selection of pictures like the Chichu Art Museum with the gorgeous view. Some cool animals :P and a Temple with the stairs being built in glass... Enjoy...



Secondly (this last weekend) as my friend Ryoko was coming to visit me in Osaka, we decided to go to Kyoto and enjoy the Autumn Leaves 紅葉　"Kouyou" with its beautiful colors! We first headed to the Fushimi Inari temple, south-east of Kyoto Station. Fushimi Inari is dedicated to the God of Rice (Inari) and the merchants used to build up a sub-shrine for its business wealth. Fushimi Inari is said to have more than 30'000 sub-shrines! It is very impressive as you walk under those shrines with the names of the people who built it. As you can up the hill it never ends...! Finally we could enjoy a small Matsuri on top of it.

To end up our journey we headed to Takao, north-west of Kyoto near Arashiyama (Over-crowded during the Autumn Leaves). There we could enjoy the beautiful colors of Autumn. It is completely unrealistic and it feels like you are walking in a painting... And by night there was a small Koto concert inside the forest. I will post a small video of it soon.

Anyway here are the pictures!