Thank you 2019! Hello 2020!
I hope you are all having a wonderful year-end. In my case, I am celebrating it in Seoul in South Korea. Also this year I am celebrating Christmas and New Year abroad.
Wow what a year 2019 has been! So much has happened that I am kind of struggling to remember everything now when I am thinking back. But I thought I would share with you some of the highlights from my 2019:
Trips to Japan
There has been several trips to Japan for me this year and the majority of them were to bring groups around showing them the country I call my second home.
Of course, we visited the main cities such as Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, Hiroshima as well as smaller cities such as Kanazawa, Kiso, etc. I had such wonderful group members every time which made the trips even more memorable.
(A few photos from three of my trips →)
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.louisebylund.se/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/20190528_145828.jpg?resize=3968%2C1880&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.louisebylund.se/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/20190403_175244.jpg?resize=4032%2C1908&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.louisebylund.se/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/20190407_092434-1.jpg?resize=4032%2C2268&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.louisebylund.se/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/wp-1577493918147-scaled.jpg?resize=2560%2C1440&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.louisebylund.se/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/wp-1577494386488-scaled.jpg?resize=2560%2C1440&ssl=1)
Guiding and interpreting
We had a beautiful summer this year and also a record in the number of tourists visiting Stockholm by cruise ships.
During the season from May to mid September, I guided tourist groups from English speaking countries and Japan as well as business groups.
One of maybe the bigger challenges this year was to interpret during a sales presentation and tour in the factory by two Swedish companies to their Japanese clients at two occasions. But I learned so much from it!
Music
There were three larger events this year that were especially memorable:
First one was my nyckelharpa and I featuring in the Japanese drama called “Idaten” broadcasted by Japan’s public boradcaster, NHK. So happy that the nyckelharpa got a few seconds of fame!
Another event was during the Dan Andersson week in the end of July in Ludvika. The dance group I am a member of presented own choreographed dances to the poems and music by Dan Andersson. I was playing and You can see the whole performance here.
A very memorable evening was in Uppsala in November this year. I played during a dinner where Swedish and Japanese universities attended and it was such a special feeling when I played and sang the Japanese song “Furusato” and you could hear the voices from the university representatives rising one by one singing with me. I got goose bumps. You can read more about the evening here.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.louisebylund.se/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/IMG_20180830_142612_870.jpg?resize=1080%2C1350&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.louisebylund.se/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/IMG_20191211_063335_273.jpg?resize=5000%2C3333&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.louisebylund.se/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/wp-15776015159745799465520928027450-scaled.jpg?resize=203%2C360&ssl=1)
Best of all!
I met my Prince charming, in Tokyo! 😉
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.louisebylund.se/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/20190415_1810271-scaled.jpg?resize=173%2C367&ssl=1)
Thank you all for your support during this year! I appreciate it very much! Looking forward to seeing how 2020 will be!
Happy New Year!
/Louise