Osaka

Our very last presentation took place by the sea in Osaka. The ComIn team greated us early in the morning and at once we felt just like home. We spent the entire day at the store and even got a guided tour of the store! Now we are really becoming experts on japanese life at home. Thank you so much Osaka-friends!



On the way to the train



this way to the IKEA shuttle-buss



It is very important to be organized, and it is even better if you do it kawaii



IKEA Osaka

They have a really tallanted carpenter! He built this ginger-pread house and the staf in food-cort decorated it!

Setting up for the last swedishness presentation. Maybe we will come back some day with a new and even better presentation!





Osaka ComIn team with us.

Train tickets for Sannomia station.

A special cart for women only. Not that we think that japanese men are very dangerous, but there is a risk that some pervert will touch you inaporopriatly.

Our new Osaka-friend! She is a graphic designer and works in communications at IKEA.

Kobe

It is the last weekend of our big IKEA-tour. After 2,5 days in Kyoto we took the Shinkansen to Kobe to prepare for our 4th swedishness-presentation.

CITY NUMBER TWO IS KOBE

Going to Shinkansen

We are totaly facinated with these airplane like trains

Arriving in Kobe on the way to IKEA.

Sweden has taken over this train station

Here she is! IKEA Kobe

Really cute comunication on the doors.

Our new Kobe Friends!

An such great friends they are! 2 of the took us to their favorite yaki-tori resturant

Sweet girls! Thank you for makeing this day even better than perfect!

and the food.... we really need to come back to this restaurant!

Afterwards Louisa bought japanese grilled sweets. A kind of rice-ball with sweet bean paste inside. very very yummy!

Back to the hotel.

Kyoto

The last week has been fully booked, and we have managed to visit 7 citys an 2 countrys. That means we have a lot to show you guys. So lets start!

CITY NUMBER ONE IS KYOTO





Our first time on the Shinkansen! It looks like a plane and also kind of fells like riging a plane aswell.



Arriving to the hotel



bought a one-day-buss-pass for 500 yen. it is sooo kawaii

arriving at our first tempel.

a dragon spitting water at the entrence

the leaves were changein, so very beautiful

lunch!

takeing the subway back to the hotel after recognizing that every siteseeing place closes at 5 pm.

day 2: the golden pavillion

Every place we visit semes to be more beautifull than the next!



throw some money




great view




place 3: rock garden




is it said that no matter on what angle you look at this rock garden, you can never see all 15 rocks at once. one is always hidden.




Anna found a paying mentess




More breattakeing sceenery




Lunch!



Louisa on the train

Right now I'm sitting on the train from Malmö to Gävle. I decided to go home earlier becouse my mom missed me to much. otherwise I would have stayed in Malmö untill Sunday.
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The flight went smootley. The first 12 hour we had a TV screen on the seat, they had a lot of movies to choose from. I saw "dinner for schmucks", "salt" and "chicken little" among others. And we got food and snacks all the time.

Sweden is sooo cold! Ah, well, it was 5 centigrades in Malmö. I couldn't fell my toes. It is quite some snow and about -7 in Leksand, so i have to go shopping for new shoes this weekend.

I miss everybody in Japan so very much! Most of all I miss all your smiles and the sound och your laughter right now, it is very booring sitting alone on the train. My biggest dream right now is to be able to return to IKEA Shim Misato to be hired. I will work very hard to to forfill that dream! And I am sure Anna will do the same :)
It feels a bit strange not to have that woman attached to me any longer... Louisanna the siamese twin.

So strange. people do not sleep om this train, and I'm not tired eather... only in japan ;)

Pretending: see you to morrow!

While the intense feelings are still bubbeling deep inside of us.

This was our last day in Japan. Tomorrow we are going back to Sweden again.
There are no words that can describe our gratitude to all the people that has made THE DREAM come true. Yes, you really have made our dreams come true!
It is incredible how much we have learned. The places we have been to. The people we have met and the opportunitys we have gotten during these 2 months. Can you change the world in one day? Well, it sure feels like it.

We can't explain the feeling we have in our bodies right now. We so happy and sad that we are feeling sick. The eye sight is out of focus and the body is trembeling. Are we going I going to faint?  Feel like crying, but so happy don't know what to do! This trip has changed every thing about us. Thank you Japan for makeing us complete!!!

Remember everyone that dreams do come true! If it is meant to be it will happen to you to! So don't be afraid and do not hesitate to go for those dreams, you never know where you will end up if you just go for it and belive in yourself. Louisa and Anna is the proof of that!

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We love you much guys! Don't forget to add us on facebook. We will see you again soon. Otsu kare sama desu for ever.



William, you have a special place in our hearts. Longing to see you again really soon! Thank you for taking us in!

Sunday in Kyoto

Our very last weekend in Japan! It is so hard to believe we are going back to Sweden. Japan is like a second home to us now. But it isn't over right yet! We still have 3 days left and they are fully booked! There is still 2 more IKEA stores that will receive our presentation. Tomorrow we are going to Kobe and tuesday is Osaka's turn. IKEA gave us Shinkansen-tickets. Shinkansen is a bullet train that travels at a speed of 300 kilometers per hour!
On wednesday we have a whole day for saying good bye and see you later to all our wonderful friends... We have come across many difficult tasks on this trip, but leaving Japan will definetly be the hardest one of all!

Right now we are chilling out in our hotel room, exhausted from a whole weekend of sightseeing and buss riding. We managed to visit 4 temples and 2 gardens and some shopping aswell.
(pictures will be posted later)
Kyoto is built just like an american city with square blocks, so finding your way on a map is no problem. But calculating the distance is more of a problem... a way that looks like it should take 20 min actually takes around 2 hours. That goes for the buss aswell. Yesterday we were taking the buss from the first temple to the rock-garden. The trip took like 1,3 hours!!! It was already dark when we got there and the place was closed, but we all had a really nice nap on the buss, haha.
We went back and had dinner in a restaurant instead.
Thank you William for coming with us to Kyoto! It has been real fun and many laughs =)

In the jacuzzi at the hotel this evening we were talking about how to survive in Japan without knowing japanese. Asking our selves how we have magaged? So what have we learned? First of all you need to show appreciation to your co workers by thanking them for working hard, and then you should show a general interest in the location that you are in.
These frases we have learned by heart and is the "quote of the day"

Otsukare sama desu! (something like "thank you for working hard")
koko wa doko desuka? (where am I?)

That is surely true entreprenourship and about the only usefull japanese we have learned in 8 weeks!

And today we used a new frase aswell.
Oishii desu, arrigato goisamasta (this is delicious, thank you) becouse we have been eating so meny free sampels of sweets today!

Oh yeah, one more thing.
Mamonaku shim misato, shim misato desu. (next shim misato, shim misato)
that is the frase we are looking forward to hear every morning on the train going to IKEA Shin Misato.

Time for bed now. Tomorrow we have new exicting day! First of all we will try to find the station, and then the right shinkansen train and after that our hotel and before 1 pm IKEA kobe! Good we've practised map-reading.

C U soon party with our friends

Returning to Shin Misato today felt really good. We have been away to Nagano and really looked forward spend some time at our home store. We had had our third presentation yesterday in Funabashi and it was as always a very nice experience. But now we where at "home" again.
The Com-In team where very busy with light workshop. We did´nt see them. Just some random glance passing each other in the corridors. Actually we where also busy.  2 showrooms needed to be finished with Xmas decorations. It was very fun to do this for us. We get more experience every day.

After work there was a party for us in Matsudo. A CU soon party to be exact. We felt very happy that so many people could join us. We had som really good food, good company and very nice presents.

Take of your shoes B 4 entering

Coocking noodles, meat and vegetables live on the table.

Here we (some of us) are! OMG, we are going to miss you like crazy!

Oops. Anna hiding behind a chicken wing.

Gifts given to us by the ComIn team at IKEA Shim Misato. They know us so well! Thank you for making this night so special for us. You have a special place in our hearts!


Anna's



 Louisa's

OTSUKARE SAMA DESU!!!