This log has been troublesome to put up for various reasons, but here it is, finally.

There are some weird shows on Japanese TV let me tell you. Recently I saw this eating competition where people ate sushi rolls. However these were not ordinary cut-up sushi rolls, but entire 1-meter rolls. The two people who ate most ate over 10 meters! It would be interesting to see x-rays of their stomachs before and after the meal... Later there was an even bigger competition where they ate and drank as much as possible within an hour. Then they were weighed, and the one who had gained most weight within the hour won. The winner had gained an incredible 11.80 kg. That is about the same weight as three big babies ready to be born. I wonder how the body feels after the competition. The whole competition just seems like a huge waste of food to me.

One weekend in mid September I, Kyeong and some other friends made a trip to Biei, northeast of Sapporo. Along the way we stopped at an old mill, a waterfall and other interesting places. When we got hungry we stopped for a meal at a restaurant with a lot of different wood art, and the thing that caught our attention the most was a sugar bowl, shaped as a toilet. I'm not sure I'd like it on my dinner table though...
The scenery in Biei and its surroundings are a bit interesting. There are harvest fields that look like the ones in Sweden; only they are not on flat ground but over hills. And then of course there are the trademark flower fields in different tones and colours. They were beautiful of course. Then we rode around trying to find places that have been used as shooting locations in commercials. There are apparently many such spots around there, but we couldn't find them. Finally we stopped at a place where a bunch of other people stood and looked around, but after looking around for a while we realized that there was nothing to see there either. There were probably many people in the same situation because more and more people showed up and looked around to see something. However, when we were about to go back to Sapporo we came across one place with a tree that had apparently been in some commercial, and we stopped. I was more interested in the fields around it though.

It is always fun to get mail (unless it is a bill or something like that, of course...) and this time I got some really great stuff. First I got a CD from my friend Hans, with all the pictures from our previous exchange studies at Tokai University in Sapporo. It was really great to see them again, but it was frustrating not to be able to talk to anyone about them. I'll have to do that when I get back to Sweden. In one photo I was surprised to find Daniel! I had no idea the others in my class at that time had met him.
Next, a big package from my family arrived, containing Swedish food that was to last more that a month. I was so happy I had to do a little dance.

I have eaten a lot of delicious Chinese dishes that Kaku has cooked for me in his apartment, so I thought it was time to pay him back and brought some of the food my parents had sent to cook a meal for him and Kyeong. I made pea soup (of course served with mustard and accompanied by Swedish bread) and pancakes, but the pancakes were kind of a failure. The pea soup was delicious though, and I almost sighed of happiness when I tasted it. Kaku said that there is a similar dish in China, and I don't doubt it (is there a country with more traditional dishes than China?).

Autumn has finally arrived and the trees literary explode in colours. I don't know if it is my imagination, but it seems to me that the autumn in Japan features a wider spectrum of vibrant colours than in Sweden. Anyhow, the trees in the parks and the surrounding mountains are colouring the sky and horizon in wonderful colours, and I could just walk around in the parks taking photos for days in a row.

In the end of September Kyeong had to go back to South Korea. Her friends threw a big party for her and another classmate named Hai-kei (is that how it should be spelled?) with sushi-making and other fun stuff. After eating and drinking and talking a lot half of us went to a restaurant and continued the eating, drinking and talking there. Unfortunately I got a bellyache and didn't feel very well, but I tried not to let that spoil the evening. After that we headed for an all-night karaoke-place and spent the night in a room there, singing, drinking and talking. I didn't do much of either; I just tried no to look too miserable with my bellyache. Fortunately, when dawn arrived and we left the place the bellyache was pretty much over. After a walk in the refreshingly silent streets we headed home. After a good morning's sleep I went into town again to meet Kyeong for a bowl of shio-ramen (ramen noodles in a salty soup) and then we said our good-byes. 

Soon after Kyeong had left, the class temporarily stopped studying the normal textbooks and started studying for the upcoming Japanese Language Proficiency Test in December. Every other week we had an old test as practice and to see approximately what score we could achieve. In the beginning I was just below the score needed to pass, but slowly but steady my results got better. 

The following weekend Kaku invited me to a party at his friend's house. Most of the people were Chinese and so there were little conversation in Japanese, meaning that I didn't understand a thing. They made a big pot of soup with meat and various vegetables in it, but when I tried it my tongue almost burst out in flames. Kaku is from Sichuan - a province in China where the food is really spicy, and I guess most of the others were used to it to, but I could barely eat it. It was delicious, but just too spicy. And while I was trying not to seem too bothered by the burning sensation in my mouth some other guys were actually complaining that it wasn't spicy enough... Later that evening we went to a Turkish restaurant and had some delicious kebab. 

Around this time my friend Tsuyoshi had finished his studies in Gothenburg and returned to Japan. One day when he came to Sapporo to play a soccer match I met him in a café and had a chat. It was great to hear about everyone in Gothenburg. It is a shame we can't get together more often although it isn't so far to Asahikawa, where he now continues his studies. But then, I hardly even see Nicke, and he lives right here in Sapporo. It is hard to find time when both are free.

As a break from the Japanese Language Proficiency Test studies, one day the classes went to Geijutsu no Mori (The Art Forest) in the southern edge of Sapporo. After walking around for a while we were led into a building where ceramics were made. Everyone were given brushes and special paint to paint on either a teacup or a plate, which would then be glazed and burned, pretty much like what Emma and I did this summer. However, these ceramics were of better quality than the ones Emma and I painted and had burned. I painted a cup to give as a Christmas present to Emma, and it turned out better than I had expected; painting on the curved surface of the cup is quite difficult. After finishing and wandering around some more we went back to school and then home.

And so autumn passed by in Maruyama in Sapporo. Here are a few photos I took in the Maruyama Park, which I passed through each day on my way to school. I often spent over an hour walking around photographing or just enjoying the scenery, eating my lunch.

Autumn brought vivid colours but also a slightly chillier weather. The real cold is closing in...