florian
hülsmann
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This blog began with a work-and-holiday year in Canada in 2017. After three years on the West Pacific coast in Vancouver, I spent some time back home in Germany, followed by a year in Japan and a short intermezzo in New Zealand. In 2024, I returned to Japan — which has since become my chosen home.

Here, you'll find short stories and photos from the Canadian West Coast, my hometown in Germany, and everyday life in Japan.
6. Mai
Grün, Grün und Grün
Nun habe ich bei uns auch die letzten kleinen Wege mit dem Fahrrad abgefahren, die man sonst gar nicht wahrnimmt bzw. die nicht direkt auf dem Weg liegen. Endstation war an einer Stelle am Fluss. Gute zwei Stunden war ich unterwegs, bevor es wieder zurück ging.

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A day for myself and finally again warm enough to properly go around town by bike. I spent a few hours riding through smaller roads and places I normally wouldn’t pass by.

Along the way I found an older house with a pretty nice view. I believe it is empty, but who knows. It didn’t really look like some of the typical akiyas around Japan, where parts of the roof or walls are already falling apart.

There are still quite a few buildings here in rough condition, including older apartment buildings and empty hotels with broken windows boarded up with wood. At the same time, some places are slowly changing. One bigger hotel complex on the main street is supposed to be renovated and turned into a public space in the next few years. Curious how it will turn out.

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今日は久しぶりに暖かい中で自転車に乗って、町をいろいろ回ってきた。まだ行ったことがない道や場所もあって、ちょっと楽しかった。


3. Mai
Start in die Goldene Woche
Die diesjährige Goldene Woche startete schon letzten Mittwoch mit dem ersten Feiertag. Manche Unternehmen haben dann bis einschließlich 6. Mai frei. Ich musste Donnerstag und Freitag arbeiten, habe aber nun seit gestern ebenfalls frei. Die Einzigen, die im Service arbeiten, müssen an den Feiertagen ran – ein wenig unfair, gerade weil manche dabei den meisten Umsatz machen, wenn das ganze Land unterwegs ist.

Ebenfalls frei ging es nach einem frühen Mittag entlang dem Fluss, und wir haben es genossen, endlich im Grünen zu sein. Wir waren übrigens nicht auf dem Wasser, aber dort war am meisten los.

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Golden Week came around a bit earlier this year, and while some people get almost the whole period off, I still had a couple of workdays before my break started. Since yesterday though, I’m finally off too. It’s mostly people in service who don’t really get to enjoy it, even though it’s probably their busiest time of the year.

We took the chance to get outside after an early lunch and went for a walk along the river. Everything is finally turning green again, which made it feel especially nice to be out. We stayed on land, but looking over the water, that’s clearly where most of the action was.

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ゴールデンウィークで休みになった。最初は仕事だったけど、今はやっと休み。サービスの仕事の人は大変そう。

昼ごはんのあと、川の近くを少し散歩した。緑が増えてきて気持ちよかった。自分たちは水には行かなかったけど、水の上は人が多かった。