A university student who makes 220 yen an hour meets 1,500 yen exclusive piece of sushi.

• A foreigner in Jinbei with sneakers, very unique combination!

  

  Vilem has arrived in Matsumoto city from the Czech Republic to visit Matsumoto Castle. Currently he lives in Ueda city, Nagano prefecture to study Japanese for 1 month. He's been studying at a university in Olomouc and is very good at Japanese language. He is dreaming of living in Japan some day in the future.

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  It's so tough! Need to study more to understand kanji.

  

  On the way to Matsumoto castle he stops at the map along the street to check the route but there are so many kanji that he can't understand. He decides to take photos of them so that he can look at them later and study. He is studying not only Japanese language but also its history and culture, anything that's related to Japan.

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• He studies the etiquette as well to show his respect.

  

  Along the way Vilem finds a shrine. He says he likes it but he is not going in and just staring from the distance. Apparently he's afraid of breaking the rules of Japanese culture that he respects so much, so our staff has offered to provide a lecture.

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  Your body needs to be cleansed before entering a shrine.

  

  Your body needs to be cleansed before entering the main shrine. First you will go to chozuya, water ablution pavilion, to wash your hands and mouth then cleanse your mind. First your left hand, then right hand, mouth using your left hand, left hand again, and finally the handle of the water ladle. Vilem looks happy finally getting familiar with the rules.

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  Nervous two bowings, two claps, and one bowing.

  

  Then Vilem moves on to the main shrine. The amount 5 yen is pronounced as "goen" in Japanese and "goen" also has another meaning of forming a lot of good relationships, which is why it is said it's good to throw 5 yen coin. He also experiences his first time "two bowings, two claps, and one bowing". He's fully trained up to try it again all alone!

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• Why does he like castles so much?

  

  Vilem explains his experience of suffering from bullying when he was 15 and to change himself, he decided to practice aikido. By learning aikido was a martial art that was created by samurais he became interested in castles where samurais used to live. He's so excited that he's taken over 100 pictures...!!

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  Matsumoto castle
  4-1, Marunouchi, Matsumoto city, Nagano prefecture

  View in Google Map

• A 22-year old university student experiences something that even a Japanese can't so often!

  

  Vilem has saved up all the money he's earned (220 yen per hour) for the past 2 years to come to Japan. He doesn't want to spend money on food and instead he wants to learn the culture in other places in Japan, he's been eating instant noodles and retort curries. Our staff kindly offers to take him to eat at a restaurant and he has chosen sushi. But the restaurant staff has chosen is a very luxury place where even for a Japanese it's difficult to visit, which has made him so nervous...

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  1,500 yen piece of sushi, same amount what he earns in an hour back home.

  

  First he tries the squid, then nodoguro, chu-toro, uni (1,500 yen a piece), ishigakigai, kohada, and kurumaebi, a very luxury set of sushi! Vilem is surprised at the price of uni as it is the same amount he earns per hour back home in the Czech Republic.

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