Stockholm by night

Stockholm is big (geographically) and there are many places that are probably technically "Stockholm" where there is no one in sight. I took a few photos when walking around in the dark.

Wedding photos

My friend who got married sent me some photos taken by the professional photographer at the wedding. I did some magic there, and there was one funny photo from that performance.

Funny faces and funny underwear

I met a guy who runs a ramen restaurant and we had to put on coasters that you hang on your nose to make the lower part of your face look like an animal.

There were also coasters with human faces

I was also asked to show my underwear (this happens to me all the time in Japan). I had on a pair that says 粗品, which means "trifling gift" and is decorated like envelopes that you give presents with but where you have to excuse yourself for the present being such a worthless and trifling thing.

One more try at the Sapporo Factory Trick Art Exhibition

Another of my friends wanted to go to a trick art exhibition again, and it was a good opportunity for me to go back and try things that were not possible when I wore a yukata last time I was there. So I wore a jinbei instead. Very easy to move around in.

This exhibit was difficult to get right, it was impossible to find an angle where the pillars on the right and the pillars on the left were all straight.

It was difficult to get the pillars straight here too,

I finally managed to get the settings on my camera right to get photos of me jumping that were not blurry and not extremely dark.

This pose was one of the recommended ones but it was very difficult to get the hands and feet into the right locations at the same time. Maybe I am too short?

After an hour or so in the trick art exhibition, we also had some food in the Sapporo Factory food court like atrium. I had a "super spicy" steamed bun. It was good, but not as spicy as you might expect from the name.

Weirdly colored milk shakes. The green one is banana.

German beer garden in Sapporo

After the trick art exhibition, my friends had a scheduled English conversation practice lesson. This day it was held in the Odori park beer garden (4 weeks during the summer we have a few kilometers of beer garden, i.e. tables outside where you can eat and drink cheap stuff for expensive prices). I was invited to tag along, and did not have to pay the lesson fee. Someone even gave me a bottle of tea for free.

"Beer for children". Non-alcoholic, but still...

While we were sitting there having fun, a woman with a huge camera came up to us and asked if she could take a photo for the Facebook page of the German beer garden. We said sure, and in the end they put a photo of us on their Facebook page. We all got 100 yen coupons as a thank you for being on the Web.

"German potato" in Japan means potato, bacon, and pepper.

"German" sausages, and some sauerkraut.

Pretzel

Trick Art exhibition in Sapporo Factory 2015

Back in May, I went to two different "trick art" exhibitions in Sapporo. There is another one open here for one month during the Japanese summer holiday too. "Trick Art" in Japanese means 3D paintings on walls and floors that give you a 3D appearance when watched from the right angle, and which you can interactively join in, e.g. sit on the floor and look like you are inside a painting. Some are illusions, some are just 3D paintings.

My friends doing the "Titanic"

I asked a friend that had said that she wanted to go to a trick art exhibition when she saw my previous photos, and she joined me together with her husband. We decided to go in yukatas, because summer is yukata season and it could be fun to have trick art photos with yourself in a yukata.

The suggested pose

I tried to stand upside down too, which caused me to flash my underwear to all the kids in the room. It also made me tired, since my friends kept saying "Lower. A little lower. More to the left. A little more. Too far." Moving your body around on bent arms was very tiring...

Some things looked good with the yukatas, some things were difficult in yukata. Doing hand-stands is difficult, because you end up being mostly naked when the yukata falls down. Many strange poses are impossible in yukatas (your freedom is restricted). But it was a lot of fun.

Trying to look hot (literally) when in the frying pan

First try with the frying pan

Someone should have pointed out that I should move towards the camera...

Again, the person in the frying pan is not in a good position, and we blame the guy with the camera, haha.

Juggling seven clubs when balancing on a ball.

Getting kicked in the head was easy.

Getting kicked off your feat was difficult, all photos of me are blurry. The example photo of the exhibition made it look easy, though.

I managed to take the best photo of anyone jumping, on my first and only try holding the camera.

I liked the "ninjas rappelling down from the ceiling" painting.

More ninjas

Slightly different facial expression

Climbing on the wall instead of hanging on the rope.

My super strong fingers allow me to hang on to the ceiling in this pose.

Hanging upside down.

My friend was surprised by my "so cute" pose in this painting.

My normal style is not "so cute"

Saved from falling

Not sure what is going on

I am going to pull this tongue even if it is the last thing I do.

You could also borrow cool hats.

The fan is mine, the hat is borrowed.

The flying carpet painting was bad in the sense that it was pretty much impossible to get the pillars on the left side and on the right side to look straight at the same time. In this photo, as a compromise neither side looks good.

Again, the perspective is weird. But I like the facial expression.

Falling off

No day is complete without some "tettere!". And the pillars almost look good.

Not sure if being pushed or being saved

Again, not sure what is going on here

Cute couple juggling

I like this photo. And not only because I am the one who took this masterpiece.