Friday, July 18, 2003
Konnichi wa!
Not too many days left that you will be reading that as my introduction. I only have 1 week left in Japan before I get to come back and enjoy heart-stopping burgers and fries, Atlanta summer smog and those charming Dawg fans. Oh, so much to look forward to! It's sort of sad that the best thing I can say about Georgia is that my wife is there. And, to be honest, she isn't right at this moment.
I've had a busy two days. Yesterday, I toured the labs for the non-oxide ceramics group at NIMS. And I finally uploaded the picture of Dr. Otane, the guy that showed me how to make a large, single CeB6 crystal from powdered material. This is the RF induction furnace we used to make it. If you caught the PS on the last post, it may finally make a little more sense. Do a Google search on 'electron beam emitters' and you may get a better clue. There is definitely some very interesting and groundbreaking research going on in materials science. We can make materials that we haven't found nature capable of yet. Granted, we do have a microcosmic reference frame with relation to the universe, hence the use of the word 'yet.'
Tuesday evening, I had dinner at a nice Japanese restaurant with Dr. Sekine, his daughter and some Meikei science teachers. The room we were in was very nice with a fancy chest on display. These chests were used after weddings to carry the brides belongings to her new home. I don't know the full story, but they may have also sometimes contained a dowry. I'll need a second opinion on that. I actually went to this restaurant just to observe the garden a few weeks ago. The place specializes in tofu dishes. Most Americans think tofu is a tasteless, gelatin-like, white blob of goo but tofu here in Japan is quite different. Here, there are actually many types, and in all cases, it seems that the way it is prepared makes all of the difference. For those that don't know, tofu is soy protein curd derived during the processing of soybeans. Every dish we had at this restaurant featured tofu prepared in some unique way. Even the dessert was tofu ice cream. That probably brings up images of ice cream with tofu chunks, but it was actually the typical texture of plain ice cream and quite delicious.
I also spent a good bit of time observing the last few classes at Meikei yesterday and today. Today was okay, but all of the science classes I could find were testing or watching a video. Their summer vacation starts next week in the school year that runs from April to March so not too much is going on before the 6 week vacation. I went to a class that Dr. Ahmadyar was substituting for. An English teacher is out from time to time with pregnancy related issues and they don't have a substitute system, so the other teachers fill in on their 'free periods.' It was an English conversation class so it was actually pretty easy to follow along for once. The real fun was yesterday, though. I went to a physics class taught by one of the two females in the science department. The students were making pinhole cameras and it was exciting to watch. Well, I guess in that picture they were developing, you can see some black cameras set up on the right. I was about to leave to see something else when the teacher brought me the materials and diagrams to make one myself. I couldn't be rude and not comply, and consider the fact that it looked really fun, I had to jump in. My actual photo turned out pretty badly. Exposure time was 20 minutes and I took one of the last remaining places in the window so my 'shot' wasn't bright enough to expose the film enough. I took a photo of some girls setting up their cameras. One of the few female photo-ops in a physics class!! And you can see what my pinhole camera saw! I'll bet you expected some girl-on-girl action after the intro to that one, you sick puppy!
Continuing with the tradtition of being treated to dinner, I had dinner tonight at a restaurant just 2 blocks from Ninomiya House. I was the guest of the school principal, the science division head, the director of student affairs and his wife and, of course, Dr. A. The meal was mixed Japanese fare, but the highlights were a beautiful dish of sashimi that you can glimpse in the photo of Mr. Kano, the director of student affairs, Japanese beef, the sweet bean jam dessert, and of course, the sake.
The last touristy bit I'll leave you with today is a short clip of students practicing kendo. Kendo is traditional Japanese sword fighting and competitors score points for head blows (they wear heavy masks), body blows, wrist hits and throat skewering. It's not as violent as it sounds, they use bamboo swords, but it actually sounds violent. The bamboo swords make a loud popping sound when a hit is delivered. If you saw the movie Kung Pow, the grilled mask guy in the field near the beginning of the movie was wearing a kendo helmet.
No, no! No punchey in facey!
Muddy-san
Not too many days left that you will be reading that as my introduction. I only have 1 week left in Japan before I get to come back and enjoy heart-stopping burgers and fries, Atlanta summer smog and those charming Dawg fans. Oh, so much to look forward to! It's sort of sad that the best thing I can say about Georgia is that my wife is there. And, to be honest, she isn't right at this moment.
I've had a busy two days. Yesterday, I toured the labs for the non-oxide ceramics group at NIMS. And I finally uploaded the picture of Dr. Otane, the guy that showed me how to make a large, single CeB6 crystal from powdered material. This is the RF induction furnace we used to make it. If you caught the PS on the last post, it may finally make a little more sense. Do a Google search on 'electron beam emitters' and you may get a better clue. There is definitely some very interesting and groundbreaking research going on in materials science. We can make materials that we haven't found nature capable of yet. Granted, we do have a microcosmic reference frame with relation to the universe, hence the use of the word 'yet.'
Tuesday evening, I had dinner at a nice Japanese restaurant with Dr. Sekine, his daughter and some Meikei science teachers. The room we were in was very nice with a fancy chest on display. These chests were used after weddings to carry the brides belongings to her new home. I don't know the full story, but they may have also sometimes contained a dowry. I'll need a second opinion on that. I actually went to this restaurant just to observe the garden a few weeks ago. The place specializes in tofu dishes. Most Americans think tofu is a tasteless, gelatin-like, white blob of goo but tofu here in Japan is quite different. Here, there are actually many types, and in all cases, it seems that the way it is prepared makes all of the difference. For those that don't know, tofu is soy protein curd derived during the processing of soybeans. Every dish we had at this restaurant featured tofu prepared in some unique way. Even the dessert was tofu ice cream. That probably brings up images of ice cream with tofu chunks, but it was actually the typical texture of plain ice cream and quite delicious.
I also spent a good bit of time observing the last few classes at Meikei yesterday and today. Today was okay, but all of the science classes I could find were testing or watching a video. Their summer vacation starts next week in the school year that runs from April to March so not too much is going on before the 6 week vacation. I went to a class that Dr. Ahmadyar was substituting for. An English teacher is out from time to time with pregnancy related issues and they don't have a substitute system, so the other teachers fill in on their 'free periods.' It was an English conversation class so it was actually pretty easy to follow along for once. The real fun was yesterday, though. I went to a physics class taught by one of the two females in the science department. The students were making pinhole cameras and it was exciting to watch. Well, I guess in that picture they were developing, you can see some black cameras set up on the right. I was about to leave to see something else when the teacher brought me the materials and diagrams to make one myself. I couldn't be rude and not comply, and consider the fact that it looked really fun, I had to jump in. My actual photo turned out pretty badly. Exposure time was 20 minutes and I took one of the last remaining places in the window so my 'shot' wasn't bright enough to expose the film enough. I took a photo of some girls setting up their cameras. One of the few female photo-ops in a physics class!! And you can see what my pinhole camera saw! I'll bet you expected some girl-on-girl action after the intro to that one, you sick puppy!
Continuing with the tradtition of being treated to dinner, I had dinner tonight at a restaurant just 2 blocks from Ninomiya House. I was the guest of the school principal, the science division head, the director of student affairs and his wife and, of course, Dr. A. The meal was mixed Japanese fare, but the highlights were a beautiful dish of sashimi that you can glimpse in the photo of Mr. Kano, the director of student affairs, Japanese beef, the sweet bean jam dessert, and of course, the sake.
The last touristy bit I'll leave you with today is a short clip of students practicing kendo. Kendo is traditional Japanese sword fighting and competitors score points for head blows (they wear heavy masks), body blows, wrist hits and throat skewering. It's not as violent as it sounds, they use bamboo swords, but it actually sounds violent. The bamboo swords make a loud popping sound when a hit is delivered. If you saw the movie Kung Pow, the grilled mask guy in the field near the beginning of the movie was wearing a kendo helmet.
No, no! No punchey in facey!
Muddy-san
Tuesday, July 15, 2003
Number 2 on the "Why I Love the Japanese List": The Food
Oh man is this food good! They even do Western dishes better than we do. How in the hell is that possible? It seems like there should be some natural law prohibiting something like that from happening. The greatest characteristic of a Japanese meal is the small servings. How does it fill you up, you ask? You get about 10 separate dishes, that's how. In the States, you get one big, overseasoned piece of grilled meat, a side of fried potatoes and a large chunk of community bread. Here, you get 4-5 slices of slighly seasoned meat garnished with some subtle sauce and colored vegetables, a few other similar dishes and your own plate with a small serving of bread. I can definitely say that I have only felt over-full once on this trip. The second greatest quality would definitely be the presentation. Rarely have I had a dish here that was not absolutely beautiful when presented, garnished with colorful and edible vegetables. None of that parsley sprig BS. The awesome cooking teacher at Wheeler said it best when she said, "You taste with your eyes before you taste with your mouth." The Japanese definitely understand the importance of all five senses in the dining experience. In the smaller restaurants, the sound of preparing the food is enough to make your mouth water. The food is so beautiful you are ashamed to put utensils to it. The smell is subtle, yet savory. The taste is to die for and the texture, while depending on the food obviously, is almost always just right. You are probably wondering, "It sounds so great, why number two?" I will definitely miss the wonderful food, but even more, I will miss the freedom and opportunity to buy beer in vending machines. Especially on Sundays.
PS - Today, I learned how to turn $10 worth of material into $10,000 worth of material. And I have a sample.
Oh man is this food good! They even do Western dishes better than we do. How in the hell is that possible? It seems like there should be some natural law prohibiting something like that from happening. The greatest characteristic of a Japanese meal is the small servings. How does it fill you up, you ask? You get about 10 separate dishes, that's how. In the States, you get one big, overseasoned piece of grilled meat, a side of fried potatoes and a large chunk of community bread. Here, you get 4-5 slices of slighly seasoned meat garnished with some subtle sauce and colored vegetables, a few other similar dishes and your own plate with a small serving of bread. I can definitely say that I have only felt over-full once on this trip. The second greatest quality would definitely be the presentation. Rarely have I had a dish here that was not absolutely beautiful when presented, garnished with colorful and edible vegetables. None of that parsley sprig BS. The awesome cooking teacher at Wheeler said it best when she said, "You taste with your eyes before you taste with your mouth." The Japanese definitely understand the importance of all five senses in the dining experience. In the smaller restaurants, the sound of preparing the food is enough to make your mouth water. The food is so beautiful you are ashamed to put utensils to it. The smell is subtle, yet savory. The taste is to die for and the texture, while depending on the food obviously, is almost always just right. You are probably wondering, "It sounds so great, why number two?" I will definitely miss the wonderful food, but even more, I will miss the freedom and opportunity to buy beer in vending machines. Especially on Sundays.
PS - Today, I learned how to turn $10 worth of material into $10,000 worth of material. And I have a sample.
Monday, July 14, 2003
Ok, I promised the other day and I didn't follow through. It happens. You have to learn to be flexible.
I mentioned last week about visiting a new Japanese home, with all of the amenities that one could expect, including a toilet lid that opens automatically as you enter the house. I have been mulling over the issue after seeing this house and after spending the last few days shopping for and I have decided that the Japanese are far superior to Americans as far as product craftsmanship is concerned. Let's do a little case study: my house versus the new Japanese house.
Item 1: Drywall
This house had mine beat hands down. I know the day laborers are paid to finish the job and I know that using them keeps my house priced reasonably, well supposedly. How come this guy can pay a comparable amount for his house and have immaculate walls and ceilings? <'Johnny Cochran>That does not make sense!<'/Johnny Cochran> All of the corners were perfect. All of the cutouts were smaller than the plate that covered them. Everything was nice and smooth. Am I saying he shouldn't expect any nail-pops? No, but I am sure they will do a fine job fixing it.
Item 2: Light Fixtures
Absolutely wonderful. No upgrading required, great lighting is standard. We got an allowance at a lighting store. They made it very easy to go over budget if you didn't want crappy light fixtures. We had to cut corners, change designs, nix the lighting on the ceiling fan. Why? This guy's new house came with nice lighting. He had one or two that they had hand selected, but all of the other ones were standard. Do we just have low standards?
Item 3: Bathrooms and Kitchen
Ok, everything was immaculate. No shoddy tile work. No second-rate caulking jobs. No construction dust. I guess that one applies to the whole house. The fixtures were spotlessly shiny. I wish we hadn't had to clean drywall putty off of almost every surface when we moved in, especially in the bathrooms for some odd reason.
Item 4: Flooring
This house had wood floors on the first level like we do. Same type of floor, probably a different wood and manufacturer. Hell of an installation job. No bulges where someone accidentally nailed moulding to the floating wood floor. No places at the wall where it didn't quite end under the moulding. No seams where it wasn't quite flush. At least not that I could find. And I was being very nosy or inspective, if that's even a word.
Item 5: Brick work
This house had bricks not only outside, but also inside. Two columns covering structural supports, to dress them up a little. I am sure that I could have taken a level to each and every brick. And the masonry was immaculate. No places where it sort of hangs over the bricks. No places where they scraped too much out or didn't scrape enough.
I could go on and on but this would get very boring and I would get more infuriated than I am now. I feel like I should have kicked my own ass for agreeing to buy my place in the condition it was. Not that it's not a nice place. Don't get me wrong, I love my place. I am just really ticked off that the people building my house didn't put as much effort as obviously went into a comparable home in Japan. It's not like I got such a bargain on my house that the builder should have sacrificed quality craftsmanship. And it's not just my house. It's a lot of my friends and family that have bought new homes recently as well. You shouldn't have to go to The Home Depot during your first week of residency unless it's to buy that fancy paint they couldn't do, or to buy a hammer to hang up your pictures. I shouldn't have had to look for tile sealant, a dust mop, cleaning supplies and sandpaper. The place is brand new! It should have been taken care of. I've heard of cutting costs, but at the sake of sacrificing quality? Personally, I'm a believer in you pay for what you get. I guess I feel like I paid for more than I got in this case. And like I said, I still love the place I have, I just wish the illegal immigrants hadn't been in such a rush to get home and watch Telemundo.
The attention to detail doesn't only apply to homes, either. It's in almost everything I have seen while I have been out and about shopping. From hand-painted pottery to little wooden jewelry cases, for prices comparable to some of the crap in K-Mart, you get a far superior product to any I have seen in the US. That goes for some of the larger furniture items as well. I almost crapped my pants when I saw how cheap this awesome table was in a fancy department store. The thing was solid, too. I crawled underneath it to check out the joints and it was immaculately jointed, glued and bolted. If it would fit in a suitcase, I would be the owner of a new table. Shipping is expensive and I'd probably have to pay import taxes on it, so I think I'll let it go. It was the kind of table that you could further the human race on without having to retighten any parts afterwards.
I'm not trying to be all Mr. Anti-Jingoism. I'm definitely not trying to sell my home country short. My friend Mike accused me of 'coming to the dark side.' His dad describes him as a Nazi. Not a skinhead type, just the kind that would wipe out all of the people with an IQ less than 115 if you put the button in front of him. He's been on the 'dark side' for about 10 years. I don't think I could do it. I still like paying $1 for my McDonalds fries, not the $4-5 it would cost in a world without stupid people. I think a lot of Americans do take pride in their work, and I know quite a few people that do, I am just saying that maybe we should demand more, kind of like the scorned black ladies that demand free dessert because their popcorn shrimp and strawberry lemonade were brought out more than 10 seconds after it was prepared. I told you about taking them hoes to the Cheesecake Factory! Yeah, maybe white people shouldn't quote hip-hop music.
I mentioned last week about visiting a new Japanese home, with all of the amenities that one could expect, including a toilet lid that opens automatically as you enter the house. I have been mulling over the issue after seeing this house and after spending the last few days shopping for and I have decided that the Japanese are far superior to Americans as far as product craftsmanship is concerned. Let's do a little case study: my house versus the new Japanese house.
Item 1: Drywall
This house had mine beat hands down. I know the day laborers are paid to finish the job and I know that using them keeps my house priced reasonably, well supposedly. How come this guy can pay a comparable amount for his house and have immaculate walls and ceilings? <'Johnny Cochran>That does not make sense!<'/Johnny Cochran> All of the corners were perfect. All of the cutouts were smaller than the plate that covered them. Everything was nice and smooth. Am I saying he shouldn't expect any nail-pops? No, but I am sure they will do a fine job fixing it.
Item 2: Light Fixtures
Absolutely wonderful. No upgrading required, great lighting is standard. We got an allowance at a lighting store. They made it very easy to go over budget if you didn't want crappy light fixtures. We had to cut corners, change designs, nix the lighting on the ceiling fan. Why? This guy's new house came with nice lighting. He had one or two that they had hand selected, but all of the other ones were standard. Do we just have low standards?
Item 3: Bathrooms and Kitchen
Ok, everything was immaculate. No shoddy tile work. No second-rate caulking jobs. No construction dust. I guess that one applies to the whole house. The fixtures were spotlessly shiny. I wish we hadn't had to clean drywall putty off of almost every surface when we moved in, especially in the bathrooms for some odd reason.
Item 4: Flooring
This house had wood floors on the first level like we do. Same type of floor, probably a different wood and manufacturer. Hell of an installation job. No bulges where someone accidentally nailed moulding to the floating wood floor. No places at the wall where it didn't quite end under the moulding. No seams where it wasn't quite flush. At least not that I could find. And I was being very nosy or inspective, if that's even a word.
Item 5: Brick work
This house had bricks not only outside, but also inside. Two columns covering structural supports, to dress them up a little. I am sure that I could have taken a level to each and every brick. And the masonry was immaculate. No places where it sort of hangs over the bricks. No places where they scraped too much out or didn't scrape enough.
I could go on and on but this would get very boring and I would get more infuriated than I am now. I feel like I should have kicked my own ass for agreeing to buy my place in the condition it was. Not that it's not a nice place. Don't get me wrong, I love my place. I am just really ticked off that the people building my house didn't put as much effort as obviously went into a comparable home in Japan. It's not like I got such a bargain on my house that the builder should have sacrificed quality craftsmanship. And it's not just my house. It's a lot of my friends and family that have bought new homes recently as well. You shouldn't have to go to The Home Depot during your first week of residency unless it's to buy that fancy paint they couldn't do, or to buy a hammer to hang up your pictures. I shouldn't have had to look for tile sealant, a dust mop, cleaning supplies and sandpaper. The place is brand new! It should have been taken care of. I've heard of cutting costs, but at the sake of sacrificing quality? Personally, I'm a believer in you pay for what you get. I guess I feel like I paid for more than I got in this case. And like I said, I still love the place I have, I just wish the illegal immigrants hadn't been in such a rush to get home and watch Telemundo.
The attention to detail doesn't only apply to homes, either. It's in almost everything I have seen while I have been out and about shopping. From hand-painted pottery to little wooden jewelry cases, for prices comparable to some of the crap in K-Mart, you get a far superior product to any I have seen in the US. That goes for some of the larger furniture items as well. I almost crapped my pants when I saw how cheap this awesome table was in a fancy department store. The thing was solid, too. I crawled underneath it to check out the joints and it was immaculately jointed, glued and bolted. If it would fit in a suitcase, I would be the owner of a new table. Shipping is expensive and I'd probably have to pay import taxes on it, so I think I'll let it go. It was the kind of table that you could further the human race on without having to retighten any parts afterwards.
I'm not trying to be all Mr. Anti-Jingoism. I'm definitely not trying to sell my home country short. My friend Mike accused me of 'coming to the dark side.' His dad describes him as a Nazi. Not a skinhead type, just the kind that would wipe out all of the people with an IQ less than 115 if you put the button in front of him. He's been on the 'dark side' for about 10 years. I don't think I could do it. I still like paying $1 for my McDonalds fries, not the $4-5 it would cost in a world without stupid people. I think a lot of Americans do take pride in their work, and I know quite a few people that do, I am just saying that maybe we should demand more, kind of like the scorned black ladies that demand free dessert because their popcorn shrimp and strawberry lemonade were brought out more than 10 seconds after it was prepared. I told you about taking them hoes to the Cheesecake Factory! Yeah, maybe white people shouldn't quote hip-hop music.
