That was it! I took the Airport Limited Express down to Osaka the next day. That takes about 75 minutes, and ends with a great curving ride around the bay area. Kansai airport is light and airy, and was a great place to fly out of.
Thirteen hours later, and I entered the US through the port of Detroit. They have a pretty new airport too, and it's not a bad place to fly through. But there's no place like home, and now I'm back in Durham. Until the next trip....
Showing posts with label Japan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Japan. Show all posts
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Some guys homes really are their castles
The next day I joined another Sunrise tour--this one a 1-day tour of Kyoto. The itinerary was a history buffs dream--first Nijo Castle which the Shogun had built to occasionally keep an eye on the Emperor.
This was followed by a trip to the Golden Pavilion, and yes, that is pretty much a gold covered pavilion surrounded by lovely gardens and a lake that was essentially a mirror the day we were there.
Next off to the Imperial Palace, still the official residence of the Emperor while in Kyoto.
All this in the morning! Then we had two hours at the Kyoto Handicraft Center (essentially an outlet mall for all the souvenirs from the cheap knick-knacks up to the month's salary jewelry.) This was also were we had lunch--a forgettable buffet. I suppose if I hadn't spent two weeks in Japan the idea of all I could drink Coke might have appealed to me, but I had, so it didn't.
The afternoon began with the Heian shrine, followed by a visit to a temple that contained 1000 statues of Kannon. Finally, we hit the biggest draw in town--Kiyamizu-dera, the Buddhist temple built it seemed on the side of a cliff. It was a great day!
This was followed by a trip to the Golden Pavilion, and yes, that is pretty much a gold covered pavilion surrounded by lovely gardens and a lake that was essentially a mirror the day we were there.
Next off to the Imperial Palace, still the official residence of the Emperor while in Kyoto.
All this in the morning! Then we had two hours at the Kyoto Handicraft Center (essentially an outlet mall for all the souvenirs from the cheap knick-knacks up to the month's salary jewelry.) This was also were we had lunch--a forgettable buffet. I suppose if I hadn't spent two weeks in Japan the idea of all I could drink Coke might have appealed to me, but I had, so it didn't.
The afternoon began with the Heian shrine, followed by a visit to a temple that contained 1000 statues of Kannon. Finally, we hit the biggest draw in town--Kiyamizu-dera, the Buddhist temple built it seemed on the side of a cliff. It was a great day!
Third times a charm
Okay, the first two times I tried sushi were also good, but this last place was out of this world.
The conference went two days--after the second day one of the attendees, Tamara Kolda, told me that she still hadn't had a chance to try sushi. She'd looked up a place well away from our hotel in the Lonely Planet Kyoto guide, and the adventure began!
I'm happy to say I only got us lost once or twice, although finding the place once we were on the right street was still nontrivial. But oh so worth it. Other places has a clear counter with the fish laid out for the customers to see. This place has an aquarium where they'd take out something as needed. There was virtually no English spoken, but that's the beauty of sushi--point to the blowfish on the menu, and next thing you know, you're trying a delicacy.
If I remember right, Den Shichi was the name of the place, and it was excellent!
The conference went two days--after the second day one of the attendees, Tamara Kolda, told me that she still hadn't had a chance to try sushi. She'd looked up a place well away from our hotel in the Lonely Planet Kyoto guide, and the adventure began!
I'm happy to say I only got us lost once or twice, although finding the place once we were on the right street was still nontrivial. But oh so worth it. Other places has a clear counter with the fish laid out for the customers to see. This place has an aquarium where they'd take out something as needed. There was virtually no English spoken, but that's the beauty of sushi--point to the blowfish on the menu, and next thing you know, you're trying a delicacy.
If I remember right, Den Shichi was the name of the place, and it was excellent!
CASTA 2008
The conference began the next day, and it was quite a good one. And I'm not just saying that because my talk went very well. Although that never hurts.
No, I'm saying that because these small, focused conferences are a great way to discover what the local research scene is doing while getting to listen to the big guns. And it is small enough that you at least recognize everyone by the end, even if you haven't been formally introduced.
Moreover, two of my good friends were there. Rudy Yoshida was a postdoc at Duke, and I was assigned as her mentor. Since she already had a research program going, that meant more showing her the ropes than doing research together. Now she's at Kentucky. I had seen her a few months back at SAMSI, but it's always good to see people again!
Also, Yuguo Chen was there. He was a grad student at Stanford while I was a postdoc there, and also was at Duke for the first few years as well. We've actually written papers together, so it was great seeing him again. He's at Urbana-Champaign now.
The first night of the conference we had the banquet, and it was at a great restaurant with an exquisite grotto. The food was an umpteen course meal, covering all the breadth of Japanese cuisine. Sushi, sashimi, tofu (which we made right at the table!) and more different foods than I can name were served. The sake was pretty good, too!
No, I'm saying that because these small, focused conferences are a great way to discover what the local research scene is doing while getting to listen to the big guns. And it is small enough that you at least recognize everyone by the end, even if you haven't been formally introduced.
Moreover, two of my good friends were there. Rudy Yoshida was a postdoc at Duke, and I was assigned as her mentor. Since she already had a research program going, that meant more showing her the ropes than doing research together. Now she's at Kentucky. I had seen her a few months back at SAMSI, but it's always good to see people again!
Also, Yuguo Chen was there. He was a grad student at Stanford while I was a postdoc there, and also was at Duke for the first few years as well. We've actually written papers together, so it was great seeing him again. He's at Urbana-Champaign now.
The first night of the conference we had the banquet, and it was at a great restaurant with an exquisite grotto. The food was an umpteen course meal, covering all the breadth of Japanese cuisine. Sushi, sashimi, tofu (which we made right at the table!) and more different foods than I can name were served. The sake was pretty good, too!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Zoom, zoom
My last day in Yokohama I decided to see a zoo with more area to work with--which tends to mean more natural enclosures. The Yokohama Zoo Zooasia is a wonderful zoo that has a far better design than most zoos.
Most zoos fall prey to a classic landscape architecture problem: Paths that branch into two are pleasing to the eye and fun to wander. However, this leads to a problem: if an odd number of paths meet at a point, then it is impossible to cover all of the paths without retracing some of your path.
The Yokohama Zoo has found a great solution to this conundrum (similar to those paths found by optimization methods in Operations Research.) First, build a single path around the zoo intended to be followed that in one goaround allows all the animals to be seen. Second, build in shortcuts across the main path where there are no animals to be seen, but allows visitors to bypass sections of the main route should they desire. The result: a park that for once makes sense and is a joy to walk along.
And the animals are cute too. Earlier I extolled the virtues of the red panda, but the Japanese Macaques have the baby factor going for them.
Next stop was the bullet train--the shinkansen. This was a joy to ride: five minutes after buying my ticket, I was shooting my way towards Kyoto at near 300 km/hr speeds. Still the ride was smoother than an airplane, and you have more legroom to boot. Definitely a nice way to travel.
Most zoos fall prey to a classic landscape architecture problem: Paths that branch into two are pleasing to the eye and fun to wander. However, this leads to a problem: if an odd number of paths meet at a point, then it is impossible to cover all of the paths without retracing some of your path.
The Yokohama Zoo has found a great solution to this conundrum (similar to those paths found by optimization methods in Operations Research.) First, build a single path around the zoo intended to be followed that in one goaround allows all the animals to be seen. Second, build in shortcuts across the main path where there are no animals to be seen, but allows visitors to bypass sections of the main route should they desire. The result: a park that for once makes sense and is a joy to walk along.
And the animals are cute too. Earlier I extolled the virtues of the red panda, but the Japanese Macaques have the baby factor going for them.
Next stop was the bullet train--the shinkansen. This was a joy to ride: five minutes after buying my ticket, I was shooting my way towards Kyoto at near 300 km/hr speeds. Still the ride was smoother than an airplane, and you have more legroom to boot. Definitely a nice way to travel.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Weekend in Yokohama
The 4th World Conference of the IASC has begun! On Saturday, they had what they called a "Welcome Party". The Asahi beer and sushi were plentiful, and in between speeches from the organizing committee they had some excellent jugglers perform.
But an even bigger surprise awaited on the way to the conference. The Queen's Square mall in Yokohama just upped the ante on "best Christmas tree in Japan" in a big way. They spared no expense in decking this giant pine to the max. Not only that, but several times a night they would play a light show set to classic Christmas songs and other feel-good music. This was a spectacle--they darkened half the mall to make the show stand out better. Afterward, there was a flurry of picture taking with the tree. Yours truly cannot resist such a moment, of course!
But an even bigger surprise awaited on the way to the conference. The Queen's Square mall in Yokohama just upped the ante on "best Christmas tree in Japan" in a big way. They spared no expense in decking this giant pine to the max. Not only that, but several times a night they would play a light show set to classic Christmas songs and other feel-good music. This was a spectacle--they darkened half the mall to make the show stand out better. Afterward, there was a flurry of picture taking with the tree. Yours truly cannot resist such a moment, of course!
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