Japan internship update
"...studying Oriental ideas not in the spirit of saying to the West, 'You ought to be converted to Oriental ideas,' but in the spirit of saying, 'You don't understand the basic assumptions of your own culture if your own culture is the only culture you know.'"
--Alan Watts
I'll start off with the last event from last night, and from there I'll continue from where I previously left off and connect the two points.
For a while, when asked what I would be doing this summer, I replied that I would be modeling in Tokyo. And from there I clarified that I'd be mathematically modeling polymers for a chemical company near Tokyo.
It seems that life didn't find my little joke very funny and decided to trump it.
Last night I was sitting on a railing at Harajuku station with Eileen, waiting for some techers in Tokyo to call and tell us their plans. I had been approached by a few people asking for directions in English - even though some looked Japanese. Anyway, this time a Japanese man approached me and asked me, "日本語で喋ますか‚" (Do you speak Japanese?). I replied that I spoke some, and he asked me if I lived in Japan. I replied in the affirmative, and he beckoned one of the women he was with to help him explain. They asked how long I was living in Japan, and I told them until September.
At that point they thanked me and it looked like they were done asking questions. I asked them why they wanted to know, and they explained that the man is a fashion designer and he wants me to be a model for him.
I briefly considered what it'd be like to have such a job that is so antithetical to my nature. It was easy to discard the possibility, though the notion is entertaining.
I haven't posted in a while, mostly because of the physical and mental exhaustion from climbing Mt. Fuji throughout Saturday night, fighting the cold to watch the sunrise, and descending through searing sands of pumice the following afternoon. But I'll get to that shortened story later.
Three weekends ago, I met my family in Narita airport, outside of Tokyo. I found my mom only a couple seconds before she reached to insert some coins into the public telephone to call me. They were still in one piece (well, four), though Sam hadn't slept on the flight. We took the trains to their hotel in Chiba, grabbed some traditional Japanese dinner, and went out to see the fireworks festival at the other end of Chiba. I like the fact that there are so many occasions for fireworks here. In America, there's really only the fourth of July. (I stole most of the photos taken during my family's trip from Craig)
That night, though, I discovered that among the main channels available to the Japanese public there was one giving a proof of the Cayley-Hamilton theorem, which is that a square matrix is a zero of its own characteristic polynomial. My point is: would you ever see proofs from intermediate linear algebra on American television? Instead, people are content to just say they're bad at math. No one admits they are bad at reading or writing, because it's embarrassing, but mathematical inability is proudly touted by American high school students. I digress, mainly because I'm sad to see the U.S. loosing its edge in math and science.
The next day we went into Akihabara, where my dad bought a digital video camera. We ate that night at a pretty good sushi place on the top of the enormous electronics department store, Yodabashi Camera.
On Monday they headed off on a bullet train to Kyoto, the old capital of Japan.
Somewhere in that interval they found the time to visit a driving range. As an aside, it was during this time that Sam missed the rankings for his high school golf team, but after his return he has already ascended to the top spot, even as a sophomore </bragging>.
I met them on Friday in Tokyo. That weekend we did all sorts of things that have since turned into a collection of unordered memories. We ate at an Italian restaurant that uses squid ink in its dough, so that it turns completely black. It tasted the same, though. During one particularly hot afternoon, we watched "Ocean's 13" in Ginza and ended up next to a kind of crazy, friendly, 83-year-old man. He spoke English pretty well and drew a sketch of my dad that was amazingly accurate, though it made him look slightly Japanese. He claimed that people said he looked like John Wayne from the nose up, and I could kind of see what he was talking about. He fell asleep for most of the movie.
During one sweltering morning, we visited the Imperial Palace Garden.
The next weekend I went with Andrew and Eileen (two Caltech students) to Odaiba by way of a ferry from Asakusa. On the boat I sat next to a Dutch man in his seventies. He was bone thin, but he looked like he was in his late fifties, and after a bit of conversation, I learned that he had command of at least six languages: Dutch, German, French, Italian, English, and Esperanto. He was in Tokyo with an Esperanto tour group, but he didn't know those in the group very well; there weren't any other Dutch people in the group. He said he loved Italian the most, as it's the most beautiful. Apparently he used to teach French, but since his retirement he likes to travel and learn languages. I can only hope I will still be able to learn at that age.
At Odaiba, we walked around and looked at things. Here are some pictures of those things:
Afterwards we saw Tokyo Tower.
The following weekend we decided to climb Mt. Fuji. Andrew was sick, so Eileen and I took a bus to the fifth station on Mt. Fuji.
Leyan and Cathy arrive
On Saturday's misty morning I awoke at 10 am, showered, and asked Mrs. Yamamoto how to get to the right bus stop. We realized I only had 4 minutes to get there, and she couldn't convey exactly how to get there since she knows very little English and the route was complex, so we went running down the street for a little way-she in flip-flops-until I understood exactly where to go.
I boarded the bus for Anegasaki Station and, once there, I took the train to Chiba Station. After some hunting, I found the right place to get my hair cut. I showed the stylist my driver's license and Caltech ID, and that was enough to get what I wanted, aside from the occasional request. The whole operation took about ten minutes, so I grabbed lunch and took the train to Narita Airport to meet Leyan and Cathy as they arrived from China. I soon found out the hard way that "Narita" means the city, and a few stops after that is Narita Airport. So I had to wait an hour for the next train to go a couple stops to the airport. Then I found out the hard way that there are two terminals in Narita Airport and of course I would choose the wrong one first.
Miraculously, Leyan just appeared by my side as I walked through the arrivals area. So he, Cathy, and I hopped on a long series of trains that would take about 3 hours to arrive at Eileen's station.
We had a nice dinner consisting mostly of sashimi, but Eileen was sick and accidentally ordered an alcoholic drink that exacerbated her condition.
The next day we took a few trains to Hiratsuka to attend the Tanabata festival there, which is the largest celebration in the Kantou region. Tanabata is a traditional Japanese star festival that celebrates the meeting of Vega and Altair. There were tons of people flowing in from Tokyo, many wearing kimonos.
All the streets were lined with tables selling food or offering games, and overhead there were very large decorations that were apparently part of a contest. One popular game consisted of trying to catch goldfish with a small, flat, circular paper net. The challenge comes from the fact that the paper breaks easily when wet. There was a tiny turtle version.
Cathy thought the turtles were particularly cute and pointed out this little one riding the big one.
There were all sorts of fried meats and wondrous new foods. Here was a chocobanana station.
Here are Cathy and Leyan drinking their fizzy drinks called "Ramune."
Leyan got ikayaki (fried squid). It was pretty good.
I caught the elusive "eww" face.
Leyan transforms.
After the Tanabata festival, we went to an onsen (hot springs/spa) in the countryside. Afterward Leyan carried Cathy down the hill. I liked these blurry pictures better than the sharp ones.
I took a few photos of the inada (rice fields).
At 6:15 pm, I left from the station near Eileen's place and headed for Shinjuku station by train. On the way, I met a university student who looked up the fastest route home for me on his cell phone. With his help, I was able to jump on a rapid express train that allowed me to return to my room at 9:00 pm. All in all an exciting weekend.
Akihabara with Takase-san
Takase-san and I went to Akihabara, in Tokyo, by train today. I wanted to get a wireless router and he wanted to get an electric guitar.
I took the following random picture of an old man on the train:
Akihabara is known for its many electronics and anime/manga stores, and for the many geeks that flock there. There were plenty of people dressed up as anime characters and street performers and such. I found Pikachu:
There are also plenty of "maid cafes," where the waitresses dress up as French maids, but we stayed away from those.
Takase-san and I both found what we wanted at reasonable prices. For lunch I had yakisoba, which was so delicious I was angry that I hadn't ever had it before. For dinner we had sushi, which was like having sushi for the first time. There are little differences that make sushi here the best. First of all, the freshness and selection: superb. Also, the rice is slightly warm, and the wasabi is put between the rice and the fish in a little dab, when the sushi is made. Maybe I was just hungry, but it was very tasty.
And another thing, breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the last 5 weekdays before this has cost me about $45.