Your screenshot doesn’t show Denmark, no data points there?
Wow, many familiar places! 
My post got long so I put under a summary.
Screenshot + place
Polarsirkelsenteret:
I can’t remember where exactly, but I’m pretty sure I’ve driven through here:
While this roundabout is south for Trondheim (google maps):
And this is where you cross the border between Trøndelag and Nordland:
There are not that many ferries on E6, should be this one:
Returning to this thread after a long hiatus, I find I have this draft in my history:
No idea how I was planning on ending that sentence, but I stand by it.
Anyhow, I’ve been trying to engage more in Japan-related activities in my general vicinity, so I figured I’d share some upcoming ones here, for others who might be interested:
Helsingborg
18 april
Upplev hanami
A cherry blossom festival held in Furutorpsplatsen.
Göteborg
19 april
Hanami
A cherry blossom festival held at the Gothenburg botanical garden.
(I haven’t attended this one, nor the one in Helsingborg, but I always attend Körsbärsblommans dag in Stockholm, and it’s a lot of fun.)
Stockholm
18 april
Kulturnatt Stockholm
A lot of cultural institutions will be open late and have free admission this night. There are several events worth checking out, but the one most clearly Japan-related is probably Etnografiska Museet’s Japanska väsen, taiko och karaoke. As the title implies, there will be a couple of taiko performances, a karaoke event, and you can check out the Yokai exhibit if you haven’t already.
19 april
Hanami pop-up
Food and snack event at Yuko Ono Sthlm. Chez Iwata will be selling salmon bento (pre-order deadline 14/4) and onigiri (no pre-order needed), and Fikafabriken will be selling snacks (pre-order deadline was 12/4; not sure if they’ll have anything that doesn’t require pre-order).
https://www.instagram.com/p/DWODAH8j0Gu/
In related news, Hornstulls Marknad has opened up again. Both Fikafabriken and Chez Iwata have participated in the past, but I don’t know what weekends they’ll be there this year. In any event, I do recommend checking it out if you haven’t been there; lots of great food and a good atmosphere every weekend.
23 april
Exhibit: Wilhelm Kåge & Shōji Hamada
Nationalmuseum will be opening a new exhibit dedicated to the works of these two ceramicists. There are several events planned in connection with this exhibit, including a talk next week by Hamada’s grandson and a speaker from the Japan Folk Crafts Museum.
26 april
Körsbärsblommans dag
The annual sakura-matsuri in Kungsträdgården. The cherry blossoms seemed very close to full bloom when I was there a few days ago, so let’s hope they don’t expire before the big day.
Still, Körsbärsblommans dag is always fun, wheter the trees are pink or brown. Japanese food, taiko, yosakoi … you know the deal!
2-3 maj
Stockholm Sake Festival
I don’t actually drink alcohol, but the tickets are quite cheap, so I’m planning on attending for the food court, the taiko performances and the karaoke bar.
3 maj
Opening of the Zui-Ki-Tei tea house
There will be both informal tea servings and more formal tea ceremonies.
Japanska Thesällskapet will be hosting regular courses and tea ceremonies throughout the summer, which you can find in Etnografiska Museet’s calendar.
Haha I’ve also been researching furiously if there was any Hanami near where I live too! No luck unfortunately…
Also thought of you too recently because of that. Will be going to a karaoke for the first time next week and want to pick a Japanese song! Hesitated to pick Cruel Angel Thesis because of you haha, but it will be Itsumo Nando Demo 
Dang good song Cruel Angel’s Thesis can be a lot of fun, though; if there are any Japanese people present, they might join in with various コール (i.e. 神話になれ！神話になれ！神・話・に・な～れ！)
I noticed that Butter-fly is in the Singa catalog, which is what a lot of karaoke places in Sweden use, so I’ll see if I can learn it in time for either Etnografiska or the Sake Festival.
It’s also in the catalog of the place where I’m going (Denmark): In Japanese - KaraFun Playlist | KaraFun
Good luck with the practice! So many things to think about, not only the lyrics or the tone but also when to breathe, never knew singing was so hard 
They’ve got some good ones there; good to know next time I’m in Denmark
Hehe, yup. Fortunately, most people tend to be less demanding of you than you are of yourself
(and if they’re not … screw’em!)
The last time I was at a public karaoke event, somebody heard me singing Guren no Yumiya, and wanted to do a duet of Sasageyo.
Turns out, neither one of us knew the song as well as we thought … and yet, we lived to tell the tale
Haha that sounds fun
Excited to try! It’s a friend organizing and it will be a private event, so not sure if I’ll get interesting stories to tell with strangers (although technically I only know my friend so the rest will be strangers). But curious to see if I enjoy it, then maybe I’ll come back for more at other times! Taking it pretty seriously right now, rehearsing every night and considering getting a lesson with a coach or something to get feedback and advice before xD Totally overthinking it, I would never even practice if it was a song in my native language, but now I feel the pressure of showing something good in Japanese!
I just got back from a talk about the Mingei movement at Nationalmuseum, and am quite giddy about it I figured I’d report some more upcoming events I’ve learned about, and share a couple of event reports:
Upcoming events
Oslo
26 april
Sakura Vårmarked
A spring market with a Japanese theme, with taiko, traditional dancing and taiyaki and more.
I don’t know much about this event, but definitely seems like something I’d attend if I were in Oslo.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DXRwTmaCJCZ/
2 mai
Sakura Fest 2026
I know even less about this event (it came up as I was looking for information on the previous one), but it seems there will be origami workshops, Japanese films and takoyaki.
Stockholm
25 april
Hornstulls marknad
Fika Lab Stockholm will be at Hornstulls marknad, selling a number of sweets with Japanese influences, such as Genmaich and Sakura Basque Cheesecake and their vegan Yuzu Tofu “Cheesecake”.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DXb11GoDDlH
26 april
Japanese Afternoon Tea
Gluten- and lactose-free afternoon tea at Grained. If it didn’t collide with the Stockholm Sakura-matsuri, I’d be going for sure.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DXXGFFejFo4
29 april
Try Japanese calligraphy at Etnografiska museet
This is an event where you can … try Japanese calligraphy at Etnografiska museet.
2-3 maj
Japanese Spring Festival
Japanese food and market stalls with independent Japanese or Japanese-inspired artists.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DXeGS2QDDr6/
This coincides with the Stockholm Sake Festival, and I’m intending to visit both, so I guess I’ll be pretty full that weekend.
Event reports
18 april
Kulturnatt Stockholm
I had a bit of trouble deciding what to do on Kulturnatt Stockholm, but I eventually landed on this plan:
- Stop by Kungsträdgården to check out the cherry blossoms and the medieval market.
- Take the ferry to Nordiska Museet. Attend the 18.30 lecture about maran.
- Go to Etnografiska Museet to listen to taiko.
- Go to SF-Bokhandeln to get a book signed.
- Go back to Etnografiska Museet for some karaoke.
The cherry blossoms were in full bloom. I hope there’s still some pink left this Sunday for the 桜まつり.
There was a huge line to Nordiska Museet, but fortunately there was no rush to the lecture hall, so I was actually the first one seated.
Next, I needed to get to Etnografiska. The buses were shock full, of course, but I had plenty of time to walk there in time for the taiko concert.
The next part was a bit rougher. I was hoping that perhaps the bus from Etnografiska wouldn’t be as full as the one to it, but I was miserably wrong, so I had no choice but to jog the 4 kilometers to SF-Bokhandeln.
Upon getting there, I found that the line to signatures stretched all the way through the store and up one flight of stairs, and possibly up another flight as well; I couldn’t actually tell where it ended.
After standing in line for 15 minutes and barely moving an inch, I determined it wasn’t really worth it, and so I started heading back to Etnografiska.
When I got to Nybrohamnen, I noticed the ferry back to Nordiska Museet was about to depart. It wasn’t actually much of a shortcut, but I felt like sitting down for a bit, so I decided to hop on. I figured that if I was lucky, I could catch a taxi from there to Etnografiska, and skip the long queues that were running along Strandvägen.
Ferry detour in red.
I had some trouble hailing down a cab, but eventually one stopped. It wasn’t one of the well-known brands, which did give me pause, but there was no turning back now.
I told him “Etnografiska Museet”, and he seemed confused at first. I started to give more detailed instructions, but he said he knew where it was.
However, doubts started to seep in when he crossed the bridge and turned left. As we continued, I repeatedly asked him if this was really the way and suggested places where he should turn, but he insisted that this was the right way.
Finally, after a few crazy turns too many, I asked him to explain his route. It turned out, he was taking me to Fotografiska Museet, not Etnografiska Museet.
To his credit, he stopped the meter and apologized profusely. I asked to be let off at a nearby subway station, but he insisted on taking me to my real destination, and even let me name my own price when we got there.
He screwed up, to be sure, but he was honest about it, and I appreciate that; it helped to transform a terrible travel experience into a pretty wholesome human interaction.
By the time I reached the museum, the karaoke had been going on for some time. The previous time I’d done karaoke at Etnografiska Museet, it had been in the cafeteria, and with quite a small number of people. This time, it took place in the auditorium, with a lot of people both in the audience and on the waiting list.
Worse yet, some of them were really good.
I hesitated about signing up, but felt that I couldn’t give up after coming so far.
Still, I did decide to play it a bit safe; rather than picking any of the new songs I’d been wanting to try out, I went with 紅蓮の弓矢 from Attack on Titan, which I’ve had some practice with.
… and it was a good thing I did, because the lyrics screen ended up freezing a couple of times, which would have really thrown me off if I was performing a new song. However, fortunately, it only froze at places I knew fairly well, which meant I could freestyle it, earning quite a few cheers from the crowd.
(What they didn’t know was that in both cases, the lyrics came back just ahead of some parts that I don’t know by heart yet.)
Towards the end of the night, the curators announced that the list was full, but they could make an exception if somebody wanted to do an ABBA song.
Somebody volunteered, although his voice was drowned out by everybody singing along.
At around midnight, I started my last long walk of the night, back to Kungsträdgården, to catch a train home. As I got on the train, I noticed a drawing of Naruto that’s part of the current crowd-sourced subway art exhibition.
23 april
Keramik över gränser - en kväll om Wilhelm Kåge, Shōji Hamada och Mingeirörelsens arv
The exhibit highlighting these two great ceramicists have now opened, and since the museum has some Japanese guests in town, they’re currently focusing a bit extra on Hamada Shōji.
This talk featured Furuya Mayumi from 日本民藝館 (the Japanese Folk Crafts Museum) and Hamada Tomoo (grandson of Hamada Shōji, and a ceramicist himself).
It was a really great talk. I honestly hadn’t been all that interested in the topic (I just signed up because Japan), but their enthusiasm really rubbed off on me.
The Mingei movement focuses a lot on beauty found in objects that are used in everyday life, rather than ones that are created purely to be collected and displayed, and it made me reflect on some of the ceramics that I grew up with, and which I’d never really given much thought under their maker passed away last year.
It was also really captivating to hear Hamada talk about the experience of using the 登り窯 – a large, traditional kiln – and the sense of community that comes from dozens of potters firing their works together.
Another great thing for me was that the guests both spoke in Japanese, with an interpreter translating afterwards. This meant that I could do my best to understand them in real time, while still having the interpreter to fall back on.
Hamada-sensei had apparently wanted to visit Sweden for some time, and seemed quite excited to be here, visiting some of the same places that his grandfather visited back in the early mid-1900’s.
He also seemed quite surprised and excited when he asked if anybody in the room had been to Japan, and about 20-25% of the people in the audience raised their hands.
He said he was happy to be in our city, and expressed a hope that some of us would one day visit his hometown of Mashiko, where the Hamada workshop is located.
After the show, I had the chance to speak to him, and even shake his hand. I told him that I’d love to visit Mashiko, but said it would probably be difficult, seeing as I don’t have a driver’s license. However, he told me that it’s actually pretty easy to get there by public transport; apparently, there’s a direct bus from Akihabara that will get you there in just over two hours.
I’m currently planning my next trip to Japan, and am planning to spend nearly a week in Tokyo, so I think both a visit to the 日本民藝館 and a day-trip to Mashiko might just be in the cards.
Edit: An additional benefit is that I can finally remember the reading of 栃, because I’m planning on going to 栃木.
Let’s just hope I can still remember two weeks from now.
@ekg would really like that event…
I went to see the Kåge+Hamada exhibition today, and it was very nice; lots of beautiful objects, and some interesting artifacts of Japanese-Swedish relations.
During the talk, they’d mentioned that the purpose of the exhibition was not to compare and contrast, so I don’t think there were any mixed display cases; one part of the room was mostly Kåge, the other was mostly Hamada, and then there were a few other artists represented as well.
There also wasn’t a set route, which I believe is to abide my the mingei movement’s ideal of letting the art speak for itself, without contextualizing it too much.
Definitely worth a visit if you’re interested in pottery. If not, it probably isn’t worth an excursion in its own right, but of course there is a lot to see at Nationalmuseum. (The Badin exhibit is great, and of course the regular collection is also stellar.)
As I was leaving, I decided to stop by the gift shop and purchase the exhibition guide. At the cash register, a woman addressed me in English, saying she had worked on the exhibition and was glad to see that people are interested. She was part of the Japanese delegation, so we exchanged a few lines in Japanese (much to the confusion of the people at the cash register).
As I was heading out, I noticed the speakers from last night. The interpreter recognized me, but I hadn’t spoken to the curator from the Nihon Mingeikan yet, so I made sure to thank her for yesterday’s talk and to say I hope to visit the museum this autumn.
They noticed I was holding a copy of the exhibition guide, and suggested I ask for Hamada-sensei’s signature, which is indeed precisely what I’d wanted to do but was too shy to ask.
Speaking of Nationalmuseum, part of its collection is currently in Japan, as part of the exhibition Masters of Swedish Painting. It was exhibited at the Tokyo Met for a few months, and is set to be opened at the Yamaguchi Prefectural Art Museum on Tuesday, where it will remain until June 21st, whereafter it will be moved to Aichi.
Edit: There are currently some works from the Hamada kiln for sale in the Nationalmuseum gift shop. I think it was 200 SEK for a small plate, 520 SEK for a small pot and a bit over 1000 SEK for a big pot. I bought a small pot and a plate.
I sang my sang yesterday!
First I thought I wouldn’t be able too, the karaoke system was not the one we thought it would be, you couldn’t type in Japanese or search Japanese songs, and typing “Itsumo Nando Demo” gave nothing. Was quite disappointed since I had practiced the song a lot.
But then after one hour I figured I could try typing the English name, “Always with me”, and maybe just go for the English version. But when I typed the English name, what a surprise, the Japanese came out too in the results!
So me and my friend who has lived in Japan before sang it. It was full kanji version on the TV, no romaji or furigana. The other guests were floored, could hear their comments while we were singing it was hilarious “wait can they read this? what? maybe they just learned the pronounciation before by heart and now they just sing along?” xD
Picture of us at the karakoe, sorry you only get to see a bit of my hair xD
Looks like you wound up with Singa as well
The version that’s called Always With Me is also in Japanese, but written in romaji.
We had a couple of events at a bar in Stockholm last year where somebody brought in a DAM console; it was really nice having Japanese with furigana, since it makes pacing much easier.
Yes, you have good eyes, it was SInga!
Ah good to know for the song, thanks for the tip!
Hello again!
I hope you’ve all had a pleasant valborg/vappu/volbriöö/valpurģi/valpurgijos naktis, and that you didn’t wake up feeling too much like the wretched of the earth.
Tomorrow, I’m planning to stop by B.Sidan for the Japanese spring market and then head to the sake festival in time for the last taiko performance.
In the meantime, here are some more Japan-related events that have popped up in my feed recently:
Oslo
2 mai
Workshop with Tone and Kyoka
Not a whole lot of information about this event, but apparently it includes origami, chigiri-e and coloring.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DXw8J6ugv1v/
Nyköping
9 maj
Japansk festival
Screenings, tea ceremonies, haiku workshops, taiko, and more.
Lund
16 maj
Japanese school day
The Japanese student assocation Sweäters will host three events based on Japanese school life:
- 図工 (Art class)
- 給食 (School lunch)
- 体育祭 (Sports festival)
You can sign up for all three events or pick the one(s) you’d like to take part in.
Stockholm
13 maj
Paint & Taste Japan
A bit of a Japanese-Italian fusion event. Participants will learn how to paint Mount Fuji with step-by-step guidance, and snack on onigiri and matcha tiramisu.
17 maj
Urban Artists Stockholm 2-year anniversary
An event with food and crafts from Japan, Taiwan, India, Italy and maybe some other places.
A chance to try out pottery while snacking on onigiri (or, I guess, between onigiri; otherwise you’re gonna end up with clay in your mouth).
https://www.instagram.com/p/DXxBqmyjblA?img_index=1
23 maj
Mattarikon
An anime and manga convention in Huddinge. It will include some interesting lectures (such as one on 戦国時代), market stalls, gunpla guidance, karaoke and more.
13 juni
Kimono Punk: Styling and Photo Experience
A workshop and photo session to explore modern kimono-based fashion.
Japanese Taiko Drumming for Kids – Play, Move, and Feel the Rhythm
Taiko workshop for kids (ages 6-15).
Gratulerer med dagen, norrbaggar!
Image source: @fuglentokyo on Instagram
Lately, my feed has been filled with Nordic-related events in Japan, for example midsummer celebrations in Hokkaido and Ōsaka, and the fact that you can now order sillklämma at Åter in Tōkyō.
However, there have been a few Japan-related events in Stockholm:
Stockholm
23 maj
Language café with Japanska föreningen
There are always quite fun. 20 SEK for non-members. Application deadline is 21 maj, but it’s likely to fill up before then, so it’s a good idea to sign up sooner rathert than later if you’re interested.
Details: https://www.instagram.com/japanskaforeningen/p/DX6guIVCBWF/
Japanska föreningens language cafés only come around once every few months, but there are others in the Stockhom area that you can take part in:
- Wednesdays in Alviks bibliotek – Cancelled this coming week (20 maj); keep an eye on the calendar for updates on future events.
I’ve attended this one quite a few times, and it’s a great gang. - Fridays at Kungsholmens bibliotek – Check the calendar for updates.
The Kungsholmen library also has a large of books in Japanaese that’s worth checking out. There are children’s books and picture books on the bottom floor, and more challenging books on the top floor. - Prata japanska i Stockholm – It seems they usually meet on Wednesdays, but there are some extra events on other days as well (for example, this week they went together to see a soccer game with some Japanese players). I haven’t met this group before, but I’m planning on going on my first event with them on Tuesday.
Ai Ventura x MATCHA-YA pop-up event
Ai Ventura will be at Matcha-Ya, selling snacks and signed copies of the new edition of Japanska bakverk.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DYNay6oFK5g/
I’ll probably miss this one, because it starts at the same time as the aforementioned language café … but then again, it’s only a few blocks from there, so maybe I can make it to both.
On top of teaching about Japanese sweets in Sweden, she also holds Swedish baking classes in Japan, so if you’re in Tokyo this summer and want to learn how to make cinnamon rolls or prinsesstårta, you can check out [her website]( Bon Aibon Store).
24 maj
A Japanese Morning — Nerikomi Clay Canvas Workshop
Learn pottery, eat onigiri.
31 maj
Mother’s day pop-up
16-17 juni
Shingo Takeuchi x Urban Artists: Master Class
If you thought the nerikomi class felt a bit too casual for your taste, here’s a two-day master class with a Japanese ceramicist.
23 september
Prayer for Peace – JAPAN × SWEDEN
Perhaps some of you attended one of Yasukazu Kano’s and Mattias Lindberg’s concerts last year. I know I did:
Well, they’re coming back, this time as part of what they are calling the Japan Sweden Cultural Music Project.
4 december
Lunar Fest
Do you feel that there are way too few concerts combining the Swedish and Japanese metal scenes? Well, apparently the organizers did, and they decided to do something about it:
This event is organized in collaboration with the the Swedish-Japanese Performers Association, which is worth keeping an eye on if you’re interested in Japanese music events in Sweden.
Hey guys, as speakers of Swedish and Norwegian which are languages with pitch accent, can you naturally hear the Japanese pitch accent and copy it effortlessly? A lot of non-pitch accented native people have to train even hearing the Japanese pitch accent in the first place. Can you immediately tell the difference between the Tokyo and Osaka pitch accents?
I wouldn’t necessarily say effortlessly, but I think it does help, because even before learning that Japanese had pitch accent, it was something that I was subconsciously listening for and emulating.
I’ve never really spent much time studying pitch accent; I just say it the way that I hear it.
Now, actually remembering what words mean … that remains tricky, pitch accent or no.
I’d say so, to an extent; not so much based on pitch-differentiated lexemes (i.e. 酒 and 鮭), but more on the overall pitch pattern of the sentence. Of course, it depends on how pronounced the Osaka pitch is.
I don’t think I can distinguish much more than “standard” and “non-standard”, though, unless I hear some very regionally marked words. I’ve met some people that I thought were from Kansai, but who were actually from further out west.
Edit
Throwing in another event I stumbled across:
Oslo
30 mai
𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗼 𝗖𝘂𝗽 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲
The European Sumo Cup will be held in Oslo for the third year in a row, more specifically in Dælenenga Idrettspark.
Retired Estonian sumo wrestler Baruto Kaito will be in attendance, and there will be onigiri.
Edit2
Stockholm
19 maj
Learn to make Udon
An event with the student association SAKURA at KTH. Not sure if it’s too late to register, but the form is still up, so give it a whirl if you’re interested.
(I think I signed up the night before a previous event, mainly because I didn’t want to steal a seat from actual students, but I still got in.)