Japan is not homogeneous

One of the first things I experienced about Japan was how easy it is to get around here.

I was in my new apartment for maybe a week when I received an email from a very good friend and colleague telling me she'd be in Kyoto for a conference within a week, and whether I'd be able to head out there to do some sightseeing on the weekend.  After some research, I discovered that it would be possible to ride the shinkansen ("bullet" train) from Yokohama to Kyoto after work and still get to Kyoto at a reasonable time.  I just had to get myself to a ticket office to purchase the tickets.  So I headed down to Yokohama and tried my best to request -- in Japanese -- the ticket and return I wanted.  Surprisingly enough, it worked!  I had just completed my first transaction with both participants speaking entirely in Japanese without once having to resort to English!  Granted, I could tell the ticket agent was getting a little frustrated with how slowly I was speaking, but everything I thought I had said ended up on my tickets, so it must have worked.  My Suica card (local rail card, similar to many Metro areas in the US) from the Tokyo area worked just fine on both rail and bus in Kyoto, so it was a breeze getting to and from the shinkansen stations on both ends.

Anyway, after a two hour ride to Kyoto from Yokohama, I arrived in Kyoto.  In the ten minute walk from the train station that served as the terminus of my travels, I saw more people wearing kimonos than I had in the (to that point) four weeks I had spent in the Tokyo area!  And there were many more such sightings to follow.  Kyoto is very different culturally from Tokyo.  And from my limited reading of Japanese history from both fiction and non-fiction, I understand it has -- rather more than not -- always been that way.  We managed to spend a day exploring Kinkaku-ji and Ginkaku-ji (Gold Temple and Silver Temple), and the Fushimi Inari shrine.  I think at a later date, I'll post some of the photos from that excursion.  But, for now, I think I'll call it a night.  My next topic ought to be somewhat related to the work I am doing here!

A New Beginning

That's it, they're gone.  They've left me here.  That is the only reasonable conclusion.  And now I am on my own.

That was something similar to the train of thought running though my head just over two weeks ago, when the last of my American colleagues returned home following the Science Working Team Meeting.  I was feeling a little bit like Mark Watney / Matt Damon in The Martian.  That I had signed up for this, open-eyed, and knew -- sort of -- what I was getting into only tempered that feeling slightly.  As Mark did, I knew my team had no choice, they were working according to the existing plan.  I was to stay here to work with our Japanese colleagues, to help them in any way that I could, and to help facilitate the science that the NASA scientists hoped to pursue.  But, still, as my colleagues departed one by one to Narita Airport and thence home to the USA, I had to slowly come to grips with the fact that, from now for the next five months, I was on my own.

What that means practically, however, is that as of tomorrow, 6 June (remember: in medias res ;-) ), I can get to work.  I have my housing worked out, I've identified a number of places I can eat, as well as some good supermarkets.  So, food and shelter are taken care of.  Transportation to and from the office is still an unsolved problem (more on that in a few days).  So, that means I can start directing my mind to coming up with ways of making sure I can get out of here alive. :-D  Or, rather, ensuring that I can make the most of my time here, both professionally and personally.  And they way to do that, of course is to dive right in (but I always think too much, so I'll have to walk all the way round the pool, first).

Comings and Goings

Yesterday, I went with three of my housemates (the fourth was out of town until today) to the next stop on the local rail line, the Odakyuu-Odawara (小田急-小田原) line to Machida (田町).  We were celebrating both my arrival as a new resident, and the departure of a resident who had been here for the past year.  As the fellow who is departing Japan noted, we were eating in an Italian restaurant, with a French name, and which served its dishes in the Japanese style (what we might call "family style" in the USA).  It was a little too much cognitive dissonance for him, so he continued drinking his Belgian beer.

The stone stairway leading up from my front door.

During this trip, I have decided to stay at a somewhat traditional Japanese house that has been converted to a shared house with six individual sleeping rooms.  I selected it for the garden and the tranquility of being removed a bit from the urban-dominated landscape.  At night, I do not hear the trains, I do not hear the traffic.  I hear the rustling of the tree leaves in the steady sea breeze from the Pacific Ocean just 17 miles to the south.  I hear the sound of the rainfall splashing against the stone deck outside the sliding door.  I hear the sound of the neighbors cleaning their dishes.  And, yes, I hear the occasional sirens, reminding me that the city remains just beyond my horizon.

It'll be sad to see this housemate go, though I've known him only briefly.  He was the only resident with whom I could readily speak English without worrying that I was speaking too quickly for comprehension.  Speaking with my other housemates is an enjoyable exercise that allows me to practice my Japanese and they their English; but sometimes it is nice to just drop into your native tongue and speak freely without having to think so hard about what it is you are (or think you are) saying.

An American Scientist in Japan

It's been a while.

Mostly because I've been busy preparing for my stint in Japan as a NASA Participating Scientist in Residence with the Akatsuki mission.  I had a lot of loose ends to tie off on the home front before heading overseas for five months.  I didn't quite get everything done, but almost everything that is left can be finished now that I am here.

Anyway, I'll be keeping a running report of my time here at this blog site.  Maybe one day people will even start reading it.  Now, I've already been here two weeks, so we'll be running "in medias res."  The reason for the delay is the time it took me to get settled with housing, internet, phone, etc.  But, I'm settled now, and ready and able to dive in.

日本へようこそ!