Charles and Christy’s Weblog

Yesterday and today were spent visiting universities.  I had no idea that Tokyo University is ranked in the top 20 universities in the world - it is quite impressive.  After Tokyo University, we traveled by Shinkasen (bullet train) to Sendai, where we just completed another day full of presentations and lab tours.  Following our work day, our hosts took us to a Sapporo brewery for our banquet.  Here we had beer (of course) and cooked meat and vegetables on a grill in the center of our table.  I spent a lot of talking to one of the young Japanese professors about science and politics.  He evaded my questions about the amazing lack of Japanese women scientists but had quite strong feelings about guns in the U.S.  Overall, a very interesting day.  Tomorrow morning, we will tour Sony Corp. and then head to Kyoto via Shinkasen (a long ride).  I have been a bit under the weather and will probably sleep the whole way.

Yesterday and today were spent visiting universities.  I had no idea that Tokyo University is ranked in the top 20 universities in the world - it is quite impressive.  After Tokyo University, we traveled by Shinkasen (bullet train) to Sendai, where we just completed another day full of presentations and lab tours.  Following our work day, our hosts took us to a Sapporo brewery for our banquet.  Here we had beer (of course) and cooked meat and vegetables on a grill in the center of our table.  I spent a lot of talking to one of the young Japanese professors about science and politics.  He evaded my questions about the amazing lack of Japanese women scientists but had quite strong feelings about guns in the U.S.  Overall, a very interesting day.  Tomorrow morning, we will tour Sony Corp. and then head to Kyoto via Shinkasen (a long ride).  I have been a bit under the weather and will probably sleep the whole way.

I do not have much to write today that will be interesting to most people.  We visited the Japanese equivalent of NIST.  The scientists here seem to be only men.  They are very excited about their work in the area of nanoscience and doing some very cool stuff.  Their labs and instrumentation are beautiful, and they have a lot of programs to bring foreigners in for sabbatical… an idea for the future, perhaps.  After a day of lab tours and giving a talk.  Our group headed out for sushi and sashimi in Ginza.  We drank a lot of sake and then headed back to the hotel.  Today we visit Tokyo University and then leave by Shinkasen for Sendai.  I am a little sad to leave Tokyo - it is a very fun and interesting city.

We started today by going to some shops in the fancy shopping district of Ginza.  This street has every designer store you can imagine: Prada, Gucci, Dior, etc.  One of my colleagues wanted to buy pears from Mikimoto, so we started there.  The store (and the jewelry) was beautiful.  I saw quite a few items that I would have loved to own… just too many zeros in the prices though (especially in yen).  After Mikimoto, we had lunch with our whole group (8 people) and then went to a chic teahouse on Ginza where we had sake, green tea, and sweets.  There were lot of women dressed in fancy clothese with a lot of shopping bags relaxing and chatting in the teahouse.  I definitely felt out of my leage.

 After shopping and tea, we headed toward Tokyo Bay.  We found a huge garden and walked through it.  There are lots of flowers this time of year (irises and peonies mostly).  Then we got on the water bus and enjoyed a 1 hour cruise around the Bay.  Tokyo has some very cool architecture (I will post my photos when I return).  After the boat ride, we headed to the Tokyo Tower.  This is a replica of the Eiffel Tower (but red).  We took an elevator to the 150 m observation deck but did not pay the extra money to go to the 250 m observation deck.  Tokyo is a huge city.  I guess if we had gone during the day, we would have been able to see all the way to Mt. Fuji.  To end the night, we had a drink in our fancy hotel bar.

 Overall, my impression of Tokyo so far is that it is a beautiful city with a very interesting mix of old culture and new culture.  For example, we found a beautiful Bhuddist temple at the base of the Tokyo Tower.  The people are polite (I have not heard a cell phone ringing yet and people are not walking the streets talking on their phone) and welcoming to foreigners.  It is very expensive but I think I could live here.

Today my real work begins.  We are touring the Japanese version of NIST and their advanced photon source.  I am giving a talk this afternoon as well (which I still need to look over).

Yesterday was gorgeous - perfect weather.  We started by visiting Senso-ji, the most famous Bhuddist temple in Tokyo (I was here last August).  We got our fortunes while we were there - a complicated process where you choose a stick from a box and match the symbols to a drawer on a card catalog-like piece of furniture.  My first fortune was horrible - it pretty much said that everything in my life was bad.  If you want to release this fortune, you tie it to a special rack and then get another.  My second fortune was much better.  We also visited a Shinto temple before shopping in the area.  After lunch, we headed to Kokodan dojo - the most famous judo dojo in the world.  We sat in the spectator gallery and watched a practice.  It was awesome.  I would have been so intimidated to be on the floor.  After the dojo, we sat in our swank hotel bar and had fancy drinks while looking at the Tokyo skyline at sunset.  Finally, we decided to go to a Japanese nightclub.  We were the center of attention on the dance floor with many of the Japanese dancers hugging (women) and shaking hands or high-fiving (men) us on the dance floor.  One major cultural difference… all the men actually dance.  Together.  In a circle.  All they played was disco and 80’s music.  I am glad we went dancing because I was exhausted upon returning to the hotel and finally slept until the alarm went off this morning.  I think I am officially over my jet lag.

 One more day of adventures before my work begins to tomorrow…

Yesterday started with a simple Japanese breakfast (miso soup, rice, and veggies).  Then, we headed out to get tickets for the sumo tournament.  It rained all day yesterday, so the streets of Tokyo were filled with umbrellas.  I am still getting used to walking on the “correct” side of the street, and this is more complicated with umbrellas.  The train system here is wonderful - very easy to figure out, clean, and fast. Anyway, the sumo tournament is a big deal here.  Saturday and Sunday are the last days of the tournament, and they are completely sold out.  We bought reserved tickets for Friday because we were worried that we would not be able to figure out the protocol for choosing unreserved seats.  After buying tickets in the morning, we decided to shop for a while before heading into the tournament (it lasts from 10 am - 6 pm, and I thought we might get bored).  So, we went to “electronics city”, a shopping neighborhood, and one of my colleagues searched for a digital camera.  I think she was hoping to find something cooler than she would find in the US but it was all pretty much the same.  After lunch at a tempura restaurant, we headed to the sumo stadium.  Our seats were pretty good.  In the center is a small ring, maybe 12 feet in diameter, with two lines.  Each section of the tournament starts with a ceremonial presentation of the wrestlers.  During matches, the “referee” is in traditional Japanese samurai dress, and the wrestlers are wearing only the briefest garment.  They are quite huge though their legs are astoundingly muscular.  Most of the time is spent when the two wrestlers are trying to psych eachother out before actually wrestling.  Usually, the actually physical contact lasts less than 30 seconds.  Their goal is to push one another outside of the ring of send them to the ground.  There is a lot of grand-standing by the wrestlers, foot stamping, shouting, and slapping of their bellies and legs.  The crowd really gets into it, yelling wrestler’s names (I think).  At the end, there was a particularly contentious match, and the crowd started throwing cushions down toward the ring.  Overall, it was very interesting.  I feel lucky that I happened to be here during the tournament.

 Jet lag had really kicked in after that but I made myself stay awake by walking around Ginza for a while. 

 I am not sure what I am up to today… I think we will head to a Bhuddist temple and do some shopping.  One of my colleagues wants to go to Mikimoto.  More tomorrow…