Paul Balluff – Page 3 – Young professional with strong experience in marketing, events and fundraising.

Winter is coming – 冬到来

11 Dec 2012 Japan Kyoto

Just right after Halloween had ended, the enterprises in Japan switched their decoration to Christmas inspired themes. So starting from November I could listen to Christmas songs while I went shopping, and admire Santa Claus figurines advertising the latest products. Autumn is known to be the finest season in Kyoto and therefore thousands of domestic and international […]

Things you should do in Japan

26 Oct 2012 Japan

As my time in Japan is slowly coming towards an end I started thinking about if I really have made good use of my time so far and what I am still missing. I came up with this list:

Visit at least 3 major Islands (Honshu, Kyushu, Hokkaido, Shikoku, Okinawa)
Do Karaoke until dawn
Stay at a Japanese friend’s house
Visit Onsen regularly
Talk to a Japanese person every day
Go to a Karaoke with a girl you like
Get lost in Tokyo
Visit a rural place
Go to a Hanami (花見) with only Japanese people
Go to a Purikura (プリクラ)
Sleep at a temple
Sleep in a Ryokan (旅館)
Soak in a wild hot spring
Eat Sashimi (刺身)
Spend a night in a Love Hotel
Visit Yasukuni Shrine (靖国神社)
Eat Fugu (ふぐ)
Have a BBQ with Japanese friends

Some items are already checked, but others are still open. . .

More suggestions are always welcome!

Chapter II – 第二章

25 Sep 2012 Japan 立命館大学インターナショナルハウス常盤

The summer vacation is almost at its end and autumn is getting closer. The first semester is definitely over now and changes came with the vacation. Our dormitory was almost empty at the beginning of the vacation but now it is filled up with people again. Almost four dozen new students brought new life into the empty […]

Back in Kyoto

2 Sep 2012 Japan 立命館大学インターナショナルハウス常盤

At around 7 am I took the local train to get closer to the next parking area. The way was rather far and I was exhausted when I arrived at my hitchhiking site. But the effort was worth it.

パウロ in Nagasaki

31 Aug 2012 Japan Nishizaka Park 西坂公園

In the 16th century the Portuguese came to Japan and brought trade and Christianity. The Emperor of Japan tolerated the new religion at first, but soon it was banned. There used to be three Japanese Christians who got baptised with the name Paulus (パウロ).

Nagasaki – 長崎

31 Aug 2012 Japan CasaNoda

After a relaxing but short sleep I made my way to the next highway entrance. Unfortunately the location was not very good at all. Not many cars were passing by and there was also not much space to pick me up. So I decided after one hour to take the local train to access the […]

Fukuoka – 福岡

29 Aug 2012 Japan ホテルニューガイアイン中洲東

This morning I left my hostel and took a local train to get closer to the highway. I took a 30-minutes walk to the next Service Area (サービスエリア). Accessing it was easy and legal. Like a miracle it just took me less than 5 minutes until a truck driver picked me up.

Hiroshima – 広島

28 Aug 2012 Japan Backpackers Hostel K's House

This morning I took the local bus to get a bit outside of Matsuyama. From there I started Hitchhiking towards Imabari (今治). The first ride appeared after more than an hour. It was a young man with a tattoo on his right arm. He took me to Imabari and from there I tried to get […]