Martijn's Japan photo collection
After my graduation in August 1995, I participated in the Dutch goverment's
Japan Prizewinners Program.
This program consists of a four-month preparation at Leiden University,
followed by living and working in Japan for seven months.
Below you can find a small collection of my photos. They have been categorized
into eight pages; clicking on the links takes you to each of them.
The first two month of our stay in Japan, we lived in the Ajia Kaikan in
the center of Tokyo. Although the Japanese language courses were still
going on at the Japan-Netherlands Institute, we preferred exploring Tokyo.
On this page you'll find some first tourist-like impressions of Japan:
the packed subway trains, the
Toyota car gallery, the fish
market, a sushi restaurant
and a ramen (Japanese noodles)
restaurant.
In the period that I lived in Tokyo, many festivals took place at temples
and shrines. On this page, you'll find some photos from Adults'
Day, Asakusa temple, a mikoshi
(portable shrine) from a festival at Asakusa, a little statue
as you find many at temples and a whole row
of these statues.
Within travelling distance from Tokyo, one finds Hakone, which is famous
for its hot springs and is a popular day out for Japanese living in Tokyo.
Here's a photo of a cemetery in Hakone
and of a group of school kids
waiting for the bus to come. Another nice visit from Tokyo is Nikko, where
we stayed for a weekend in a Japanese youth hostel. On this page, you'll
find a picture from a pagoda in Nikko.
As a part of the program I joined, we had Japanese language courses at
the Japan-Netherlands Institute. On this page, you'll find the Japanese
side of my business card from the
institute and a class photo.
Also, I decided to include a photo of Yanagisawa-san,
as I'm sure all my friends from JPP will miss her dearly. Next, there's
a photo of our attempts at shodo,
which is Japanese for calligraphy, at a Buddhist temple.
From March till August 1996, I worked at the External Affairs Department
of Hitachi's headquarters in Tokyo. On this page, you'll find my businesscard
from Hitachi, a photo of my excellent dormitory
in Shimura, pictures of my room - Room 101 that was - at the beginning
and end of my internship and
a photo of Maaike and me participating in a tea
ceremony which had been arranged via Hitachi.
In May, there's a number of national holidays in Japan, and several companies
close down for a period of a week, which is called the Golden Week.
Together with Cindy, Maaike and Erwin,
I visited both Kamikochi, which
is an area commonly referred to as the Japanese Alps, and Matsumoto,
which is famous for Matsumoto
Castle.
During my stay in Japan, I have visited the beautiful city of Kyoto on
two occasions. The first time was on a trip to the Kansai area together
with my nineteen fellow students from the Japan program. A second time
has been with Hitachi during the so-called HISTEP
teacher exchange program.
On this page, you'll find some pictures of Kyoto's impressive shrines
and temples. Although there are many more, I've only included pictures
of Sanjusangendo, Kiyomizudera,
which is my favorite and therefore deserves one,
two, three
photos, the Golden Temple and sake
barrels at Heian-jingu.
During the Kansai trip with the Japan Prizewinners Program, we visited
Nara, and we stayed at a ryokan (a
Japanese style hotel) on Mount Hiei,
where we also took part in a Buddhist zen session at five o'clock in the
morning. With Hitachi, I had the opportunity to visit Hiroshima. Here's
a picture of what has been turned into the A-bomb
memorial. Close to Hiroshima is an island called Miya-jima,
which is famous for its tori (gate to a shrine) in the sea. It is
said to be one of the most beautiful places in Japan.
Back to Martijn's homepage.
First
impressions
Festivals
in Tokyo
Around
Tokyo: Hakone and Nikko
First
two months
Internship
at Hitachi
Golden
Week
Images
from Kyoto
Kansai
area