Tuesday, June 17, 2003
Monday, June 16, 2003
Last time I will cheat, I swear.
The best thing about Japan so far:
I got to meet my host researcher, Sekine san, today. He does research in shock physics for the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), a government laboratory. He showed us around the laboratory. They have some pretty cool stuff going on there. He is part of the Advanced Materials Laboratory so he is working to build the materials of the future. (insert cheesy echo sound effect) This was after a bus ride from Narita to Tsukuba, Japan's Science City! Every square inch of farmable land between the two cities was utilized, or so it seemed. The countryside was remarkable and the architecture is mostly what you expect from Japanese films. Immaculate gardens, steep roofs with those funky shingles for ninjas to fly from rooftop to rooftop on, bonsai trees, three car garage. The works.
We have a pretty sweet pad. The room isn't huge, but it's big enough for my scrawny ass. I'll have to figure out how the butt washer on the toilet works. It's a typical Western toilet. I have yet to see the infamous Japanese squatting toilet.
We also went to the supermarket. Further emphasis on the fact that I can't read a thing. Luckily, Dr. Sekine was with us as a guide. I ended up with about 5000 Yen (about $43) worth of strange food that I will have to guess how to prepare. My plan is to have breakfast at home, a reasonable lunch and then I'll have to option to use the rest of my per diem at some decent restaurants in the evenings.
Finished the evening with an Asahi beer from our
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