Everyday Life - Hans Around Tokyo

Sign in Subscribe

Everyday Life

A collection of 22 posts

Rainy sakura and long walks

Rainy sakura and long walks

It’s the beginning of April and the cherry blossom is almost over here in Tokyo. This year, I’ve avoided the usual spots, such as Meguro, Yoyogi, or Kichijoji pretty much entirely and instead, enjoyed Sakura in the neighborhood. Residential Setagaya has a whole lot of cherry trees and,

The agony of renting and moving in Japan

The agony of renting and moving in Japan

So we’re on the hunt for a new apartment again. Having spent almost two years in our current place, it’s time to look around for a new one. Why that is and why I’m dreading this process already has to do with the ridiculous customs of renting

Japan's Hortensia Season

Japan's Hortensia Season

One of the things I’ve particularly grown to appreaciate living in Japan is the stong sense of seasons. No matter what time of the year, you can be sure that there are special seasonal dishes, events, flowers, etc. – and people really embrace it! Sakura is only one example that’

Christmas in the City

Christmas in the City

Winter has arrived in Japan –in some places much harsher than in Tokyo– and temperatures have been dropping to the low single digits in recent days. It is this time of the year that I am reminded again just how insufficient the insulation in your typical Japanese apartment is. (Seriously,

Sundays in Ginza

Sundays in Ginza

Long overdue update after a few months of silence: I spent the Corona break mostly indoors, finishing my master’s thesis, changing apartments, and also changing jobs. Now, just in time for Japan’s annual typhoon season, I have two weeks of mostly free time on my hands to roam

Shibuya Sunset

Like many countries around the world, Japan is currently trying to strike the right balance between reopening and preventing a second wave of Covid-19 infections. For many businesses and public facilities in Tokyo, June 1st was the day strict preventive measures got lifted for the first time in over two

Hanami in times of Corona

Hanami in times of Corona

It’s the evening of April 7 and Japan’s prime minister has just announced a one-month state of emergency for several of the country’s prefectures, including Tokyo. However, there’s a chance that this move will bring about little change in everyday life, as there’s no legal

Sign of Life

I know, I know, it’s gotten a little quiet on my blog over the past couple of weeks. Lots of different things currently ongoing don’t leave much time for any creative output. I’ve started working on my master’s thesis, went through some personal changes, and work

Looking back at six months in Japan

Looking back at six months in Japan

Happy new year to y’all following along with my updates here. I hope everyone had peaceful holidays and a fantastic start into 2020. Naturally, the beginning of a new year inspires one to look back and reflect on some of the things -good or bad- that happened in the

Going on old-school holidays

Going on old-school holidays

As many film photographers, I usually refrain from experimenting with my film stock. Once you’ve found a favorite kind – in my case Kodak Portra for color and Ilford Delta for b/w shots – that’s usually what you gravitate towards again and again. You get a feeling for how

Tidying up Tama River

Tidying up Tama River

A while ago I wrote about typhoon No. 19, one of the strongest typhoons in recent Japanese history. Due to the heavy rainfalls throughout the whole Kanto region, the Tama River rose over 6 meters in certain areas, causing massive damage and leading to the evacuation of thousands that night.

Japan recovers from Hagibis

Japan recovers from Hagibis

Typhoon No. 19, a.k.a. Hagibis, was headed for Japan’s main island of Honshu this weekend and thus, messed up last week’s plans of going to Kyoto. Instead, I experienced hoarding for the first time: Already by Thursday evening, it was difficult to get hold of certain

Fishing for noodles

Fishing for noodles

It’s been another long weekend in Japan and the summer is still going strong. Hence, we decided to attend a popular summertime event called Nagashi Somen or flowing noodles – a very instagram-able past time involving a cold-water bamboo slide, spaghetti-like noodles and you and your friends trying to get

Shooting film with the Mamiya RZ67

Shooting film with the Mamiya RZ67

Film photography has been a love of mine for a couple of years now, but it was only last year that I first got my hands on a medium format camera (referring to the size of the negative). Back then, I was living in Prague and picked up a Flexaret

Japan's cookie-cutter summer festivals

Japan's cookie-cutter summer festivals

Japanese people looove food. They love it over everything – up to the point where you sometimes get annoyed over how dull conversations often end up being, because food is simply the main thing many people talk about. Nowhere does this become more apparent than at one of the abundant summer

Lazy Sunday in Akihabara

Lazy Sunday in Akihabara

The rain season finally seems to be over and the summer is here in Tokyo! And what do you do when the outside has more than 30°C and 90% humidity? You grab some of your colleagues and visit the arcade! The district of Akihabara will probably remain one of

Tiny urban gardens of Setagaya

Tiny urban gardens of Setagaya

Quite obviously, space is an extremely scarce resource in Tokyo. Everything is a bit smaller than what you’re used to as foreigner – cars, houses, apartments, you name it. But since looking at concrete and steel all day can really get you down, people in residential areas will still find

Sushi breakfast at Tokyo's biggest fish market

Sushi breakfast at Tokyo's biggest fish market

Over the weekend a couple of SA3 friends were staying in Tokyo for a 5G security workshop. Naturally, we went to see as many iconic spots in Tokyo as possible – the Tsukiji Fish Market being one of them. Even though, technically, most of the commercial business was moved to another

I found an apartment

I found an apartment

After I had shortlisted roughly a dozen apartments in Setagaya and Meguro, I reached out to the first agency to inquire whether any of them would still available. None of them were. Either occupied, not available until way later in the year, or would be rented to females only. Luckily,

Visiting the Mori Art Museum

Visiting the Mori Art Museum

Located at the 52nd floor in downtown Roppongi lies the Mori Museum of contemporary art. And since I had some appointments in Roppongi anyway today, I thought why not have a look? Their current exhibition by Berlin-based artist Shiota Chiharu involved several large-scale wool installations, which were truly impressive in

Views from atop

Views from atop

Yesterday was a productive second day: I managed to get a bank account, a Japanese SIM card and registered with the local ward office. What that actually means is that a nice lady from the agency that is supporting my onboarding process did all of these things for me, of

This is it.

Yesterday afternoon, I finally set foot on Japanese soil and became a resident of the island nation. Saying that all of this still feels a bit unreal to me is an understatement. Which is why it will probably take a few days to realize that this is actually my new