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I just added there couple of albums of photos of my old photos that I’m sure all of you will like !
I’m off to bed now to watch the Ice hockey game between Finland and Canada! I’ll promise to update my site and my facebook page a lot !
Hellooo,
This is a post about a job I had a week ago. I was working as an attaché for the team of Japan in the world famous ski competition in my city.
Lahti ski games (Salpausselän kisat)
Is a yearly international winter sport event. It lasts about 3 days and there are three different sports that include cross-country skiing, ski jumping and Nordic combined.
I’m not that much in to winter sports so I did not know pretty much anything about the event but I learned a lot while working there. The second day of the competition everyone always gather there to see the beautiful fireworks that they have.
There were three different attachés for the team of Japan and since the team was competing in all three events we decided that each attaché was in charge of each sport ( I was the attaché for the ski jump team)
This was my team (I can promise that they are not happy that I post their photos here but let’s hope that they don’t read my blog)
I had my small sony with my so I got some nice shots here and there, technically I was not allowed to take photos but well my boss didn’t know about that I did.
these are the main ski jumps of Lahti and where the competition is held. Sadly that weekend it was so windy that the athletes had to jump from the second biggest ski jump.
Most of the time we were standing outside cheering our teams and being there just in case if they needed us for anything or sitting in our office and watching tv heh.
You can see how busy I am from this photo
Or not 😀
We did get free food tho and I have to say that it was not bad at all.
Some outside photos 😀
In this photo you can see many of the Attachés who worked there and some other people. (if you can find me I give you a cookie or two ! . The white bear? is like a mascot of the event .. I think 😀 There was a small girl inside.
One of the most famous Japanese athletes at the event was Noriaki “Kamikaze” Kasai. Very nice guy I talked with him couple times in Japanese of course. Got a love his nick name “kamikaze” hehe 😀
Next week I’ll tell you more specific info about my next flights to Japan and other info 😀 one thing I can promise, much much more photos ! 😀
Hi y’all !
I have been all day writing this very nice story of my trip from Tokyo to Helsinki and about 5 minutes ago when I got it all done and checked that the photos and text were ok and I clicked publish like I always do.. guess what happened?!?! it deleted everything I have been writing for hours now.. Also it did not make a backup of it like it normally does. Why did I have this amazing luck.. I will try to write it as good as I did before. Doing my best to finish it today or if I can’t than I will do it tomorrow.
So let’s start again..
I had to fly back to Finland for few months because of a family matter that I’m having but I will be flying back to Tokyo very soon. Actually I got my flights already for May. Normally I always fly via Paris but this time I will be going to London for 4 hours and than flying to Japan with British airways this time.
My flight was at 01.30am this time, we left to the airport at 9pm so we could be together in the airport a bit before my flight.
We were having our last cigarets in our normal spot in front of my favorite combini.
I do love Haneda airport because it is so easy to access from Tokyo, no need for some expensive special trains like Narita airport. You can just jump to the Asakusa line and you’ll be in the airport in no time!
I wish I could always use Haneda airport when flying to or from Tokyo since it is such a good airport compared to Narita.
When we arrived to the metro station of my terminal I truly did get that feeling of ” I’m really leaving my beautiful Japan again” luckily it is only for couple of months but you should already know how crazy I am of Japan.
As you can see from these two photos that Haneda airport is very comfy and has a beautiful architecture.
At the checking I was very stressed because of I thought that my luggage was over weight (like always I’m paranoid hah) but I got lucky and the bags were just to the limit!
Haneda also has this amazing looking old/modern/traditional shopping area that has everything you’d need. It’s not inside the gates so it is a good place to go shopping even if you are not flying, the prices are not that bad when you think of design clothes and such.
My tickets ! of course window seat as always ! Got a love that JAL (Japan airways) best airliner in the world 😀 Always flying in that economy class, my dream is that someday I could be flying in business class or 1st class!
While we were waiting for my flights we got a bit hungry so we were searching a good place to eat but most of the food in the airport was a bit overpriced. We did get lucky tho and found this great burger joint that had some different kind of burgers that I’m normally used to so I had to try ’em!
As soon as I saw that they had a hamburger called “Mt.Fuji” I had to have it 😀
that chain also has a place in Roppongi if I’m not mistaken, I have to try it again when I come back.
Big NEWS ! Haneda airport has the best toilet that I have ever tried! cleanest and most modern that I have ever been in! I would consider saying that this is the best public toilet in the world ! (Had to take a quick snap shot after I did my business hehe)
Haneda airport also has a huge outside observatory where you can see airplanes landing and it even has tables for a picnic 😀 I’m so going there next time to take photos of airplanes landing!
There is so much to do in Haneda without going through any kind of security checks or passport controls.
This is me sitting alone outside my boarding gate, missing my girl and sad to leave Japan even tho it is only for couple of months. That neck pillow I have is great ! I got it free from the buss company when I went to Aomori 😀
Time for boarding at 1am, sucked to leave but luckily the wifi there was very good as well so I could facetime with my girl at the same time 😀
Oh yes !! Would be so wicked to sit in these seats but sadly mine were not them ! Someday…. !
The flight did go pretty well tho ! Now that I have flown with JAL more than twice I can say that it is truly the best airliner in the world
Japan airways JAL
– Best service ( even better if you know japanese)
– most tasty food so far
– snacks were awesome
– beautiful flight attendants
– they make you feel like a king/queen no matter what class you sit in
Little comparison
Finnair
– Rude service
– food is not horrible but it is not good either
– snacks… expensive and blaahhh
– flight attendants are like 40+ easily and they do look older (I’m sure there are exceptions but haven’t seen any so far)
– you are considered and handled as cattle hehe if I can say this bluntly
but yes back to the story.
couple of hick ups on my flight from Tokyo to Paris
1st. I wanted to listen music/watch movies but I could not find my earphones, I was searching them everywhere but just could not find them and when I landed to Paris I checked my back pocket and guess what they were there hehe I felt so stupid but I laughed it off 😀
2nd. Nice french couple who were sitting next to me did not want to get up when I wanted to go to the toilet and so on
Everything else went ok and I landed safely back to Europe.
One thing I got say about the Paris airport, it has the worst Wifi in the world !
My flight from Paris to Helsinki was delayed for hours and hours which was awesome … awesome… heh not
(my flights are the delayed ones of course)
I was sitting in front of my boarding gate watching the empty space where the airplane should be for hours
I had my macbook pro ready with movies so I watched couple and before I noticed the airplane was there!
At this point I truly realized that oh my god I’m seriously flying back to Finland. So happy that I knew it was only for couple of months.
At the airplane I did not want to think of anything so I was watching walking dead from my ipad and eating a crappy week old bread that smelled funny
Was missing my girl a lot at this point as well but I had photos of her a lot that kept me happy. Long distance can be horrible but these days the technology is amazing with the skypes,facetimes and what not.
When I landed I got my luggage quickly and ran to the buss so I could get “home” fast.
It was not fun writing this two times no less.. going through sad memories but like I said I got my flights back to the promised land!
Also my girl is coming to Finland for a week or two before I fly to Japan so I can be her guide around this place!
Last week I was working in a winter sport event called “Lahti ski games” as an Attaché for the team of Japan, I’ll tell you more about it in the next post and show you some photos as well!
Thank you for reading my blog! “Like” my facebook page 😀
Couple of days ago I went to the Independence day party at the Finnish embassy of Japan. The Finnish embassy is huge compared to the other embassies I have been in other countries.
Of course my girl and I dressed up for the occasion, my girl was going to wear kimono for the party but since just to put it on costs 10,000 yen and was a bit difficult to find a place to do it in such a hurry so dress was a better choice.
Sadly it was a rainy day so of course had to bring an umbrella.
The party it self was great, a lot of people (much more than I was expecting) and of course open bar with wine,champagne and we can’t forget the Finlandia vodka.
Food at the party was delicious, what else could you expect from the embassy. A lot of Finnish christmas dishes with christmas ham as well.
Since the world famous game that you might have heard of called Angry birds is now hitting well in the Japanese market, the party was filled with angry birds merchandise and even a it’s own “game room” and cupcakes.
To me the party was a huge success, met many interesting people and old friends.
Need to try to make that a party to visit early ! Everything was free of course !
Yesterday I went to the X-treme car show and it was great, not as good as last year but good! Of course I took a lot of photos there and I hope you like them ! I’ll post here some and more you can find in my Flickr . Photos from last year you can find here
This car is amazing, someday I wish I had it 😀
Here are few car interiors
Now this is interesting!! a Motorcycle that has a sauna and a hot tub 😀
It’s on FIREEEE 😀
This guy was a bit freaky 😀 taking photos of all the women there.
But yea last year there were much more “pimped” cars but this year it was full of old cars, which are nice of course but the expo is called “X-TREME” and they weren’t that x-treme. Had lots of fun tho !
Ps.
Ari Helminen Traveling photographer 