5-9-09 4:46AM EST.
In the airport, and judging by the time, you can tell I am very tired. Spent the last 5 hours getting to know John and Dylan better. They’re fun people. Dylan is much more entertaining when he hasn’t slept in 24+ hours. I’ve tried not to be nervous but, god damn, there is too much time to kill; too much time to have thoughts. Most of the hard stuff is done with. Bus to Boston: check. Taxi to Logan airport: check. Baggage check: check. Security check: check. Now I wait for the flight to board in fifty minutes. Found an outlet and plugged my computer in. I’m going to do my best to keep track of the writing I do so that I can have something to remember the trip by. You know, besides the 100s of pictures I’ll take and the souvenirs I’ll get and the local I’ll have a kid with…maybe not that. But maybe, if I’m lucky enough, someone will want to get in contact with me about a job after the conference. I’m hoping that happens, but I’m not banking on it. I know its looking ahead already, but I’m not looking forward to getting back from this trip. Between the various things I’m supposed to do with graduation and the chaos that occurs when relatives are around, the 16th and 17th are going to be hectic. And I’m going to have to grit my teeth and be a good boy through that. I’m really looking forward to this trip. Well…I’m not really interested in the ‘trip’ aspect. Six hour flight to San Francisco so I can get in at 9 and move on to the transfer to Osaka at 11. Oh yeah, and that’s a 12 hour flight, so that’s going to be fun. I really hope that the plug my mom gave me will work on the plane so that I can keep my computer charged. If not, I can use it for a little while I guess. If that’s the case, I hope that I’ll be able to charge it on the layover. Also, I’m really praying that I won’t get motion sickness trying to type/use my computer while we’re in the air. I actually read a newspaper on the train into Boston so that may be good signs to come, but a train is not a plane, and neither are a car, which is where my real motion sickness problem is. Fuck I’m tired. Okay now, I’m going to play mindless games on my computer. I’ll check in later…hopefully.
5-9-09 10:25AM PST
I’m trying to write a few of these now while I still can. I just plan on forgetting so I want to keep the attempt while I can. As you can see by the time stamp, I’m sitting in the San Francisco airport. They just announced that the national homeland security threat level is orange… I don’t know what that means. The flight here was pretty awful. I slept a little, but it was really only half sleep and I drifted in and out the entire time. I did listen to some nice classical music and oddly enough, it fit very well with the TV screen showing movies and TV shows. I was too tired to be interested in any of it. There were also some kids on the flight. They didn’t make the flight any better, but as far as kids go, they were probably the best of the best. Weren’t constantly cry or fighting or even talking; they had times of giddiness and then quiet. Best behaved kids I’ve seen on a flight in a long long while. The flight attendants were weird…at least one of them were. You could see her smile, but if you looked close enough, you could see past it. it was weird to see the forced grin and how she had to hold back the…I can’t think of the word….unhappiness is close enough. Oh yeah, it was one of the more shoty air planes I’ve been on. The inside lights were flickering, they were having technical problems with their instructional video, and the wall lights never turned off despite what the captain said. If that wasn’t a bad enough omen, I got a really bad pressure change and my ears popped hard. When we were descending into San Fran, I got a really massive headache because of it. I was actually worried that it might be something much worse. All that aside, the next flight is the important one. If the first one is any indication of how the second one is going to be, I’m fucked. Currently I’m running on about three hours of half-sleep over the last 24 hours. The ratio may not get any better either. I hope it does. I hope I get some sleep. Next blog will be Japan (hopefully I’ll write one entry before I get back).
5-9-09 10:35 PST
Damn wireless internet. It keeps tricking me into thinking I have some, but it really just various scams to get me to buy internet. Absurd.
5-9-09 4:10 PST somewhere over the Pacific Ocean
On the plane still. Roughly four hours down which isn’t even half. Got another six and a half to go. So far so good: I’ve been sleeping for most of the time and listening to music the other time. I don’t have a blanket so I’ve been kind of cold. How do you not have enough blankets on a 12 hour flight? That’s bush league. The important thing though is that these seats are wayyyy more comfortable. It’s a lot easier to fall asleep and I don’t think its just because I’m more tired. Another plus is that there isn’t anyone sitting behind me so I feel that I am allowed to lean my seat back the extra 6 degrees. It really does make a difference. When people do sit there, I feel like it’s rude to lean back. My butt is killing me, but if that’s my biggest problem, I’ll take it.
I realize I haven’t been talking about the trip so much and it’s partly because it hasn’t sank in yet. I’m not actually there. I brought my camera along and I plan to take lots of pictures. I really don’t have much else to say. I’m trying to stay busy on this trip. And in this case, busy is keeping from thinking about how long the damn flight is. Here’s a little perspective as to how I’m feeling. When I finally leave the Osaka airport, I will have spent more than 24 hours in an air something. Either the plane or the port, the past 24 hours will have been spent in one of those two areas. I want a change of scenery. And I’m getting it.
5-10-09 2:19PM J(apan)ST
I’m still on the plane, but I’m getting close. Its starting to settle in that this is real. I’m flying over the eastern most part of Japan going slightly to the middle. I’m looking forward to everything. Everything except for the customs check. They are taking extra precautions because of swine flew and everything. I don’t mind so much, but I do think it’s a bit much for the first thing as soon as you enter the country. It’s kind of silly that they are going to offer me a mask after I get off the plane. If it didn’t come with me, and its not already here, why would I need the mask? I have noticed that, at least with the flights I’ve been on, only Asians seem to care enough to wear the mask. Just a weird observation.
5-10-09 3:45 JST
Unboarding is taking FOREVER. They had the vaccination men and women on the plane for over forty minutes. Almost done. But hey: I’m in Japan.
5-10-09 5:30PM JST
Sitting on a bus traveling from Osaka to Kobe. Apparently I filled out my quarantine information wrong so in the event that they need to contact me, I’m not where I said I’d be. oh well. The bus ride is nice because I can open my window for a 18 inch by 30 inch hole. So I’m getting lots of fresh air. I could be mistaken, but I think I just passed the Sega gaming company headquarters. I’ve also been trying to take some pictures. If the camera is in my hand, I can take a picture within five seconds. That’s turning the camera on, focusing and snapping the picture. That’s pretty good time. Unfortunately on a bus that’s moving, sometimes its not fast enough. I tried to get a cute little playground, but by time I was ready, the view was impeded. Well, I forgot that I get car sick easily, so that’s the end of this update.
5-10-09 7:35PM JST
Finally at the hotel and settling down. With that said: holy cow! I just took one of the best baths I have ever taken. I could sit, entire stomach, submerged in water. I’m still figuring out everything else out. Also, I’m going to go eat before my dizziness turns into fainting-ness.
5-10-09 9:35PM JST
Dinner was great despite not knowing what it was. Pictures rule! Then I walked around the area around the hotel for a bit. But I’m way to tired because I’ve been immobile for the last 30 hours. It’s bed time. God, real sleep sounds soooo good.
5-11-09 2:47 PM JST
Running another bath. Seriously, the thought of taking a bath is what helps me get through the tougher times of the day. I’m still kind of jet lagged, leaving me in this hazy mood. But I explored a good deal of Kobe today. We started by exchanging our rail pass receipts for the actual rail pass. That was interesting because the language barrier was much harder. Luckily, I’m with someone who knows a little, but I doubt he knows much about transportation verbs. It wasn’t difficult though; just took a bit of time. Then it was off to lunch. Lunch was an egg on top of some rice, with ketchup squirted on top. A soup and a salad on the side. It was pretty good, but not nearly has good has last nights dinner. A little later on we went through this massive outside mall. It was more like a 5 block long strip mall. I bought a melon smoothie at a stand at it was good. While walking by a park, I saw two women pushing a stroller. I noticed that in the bottom carry on thing, a juice box was precariously balanced inside a plastic bag. A few minutes later, we decide that we want to actually go inside the park so off we went. I found two juice boxes lying on the ground. I totally called it. I picked them up and brought them with me. We found the ladies and I said “excuse me, you dropped these” to them in Japanese. They arigato’d me and they were on their way. It was nice; I felt like I fit in, because not only did I help, I did it in Japanese.
I’m pretty exhausted from all the walking and am really looking forward to this bath. I can’t stress enough how awesome the bathes are. Then, I’m going to read a few papers that are relevant to the conference and then…dinner. I’ve already scoped out a few places that look delicious.
5-11-09 9:03PM JST
Finding dinner tonight was harder than I thought. Its really difficult to read the language. When I went to Germany, I didn’t know any of the words, but I could at least phonetically make out the words to maybe figure out what they were. Here, I’ve got know clue what all the symbols mean. It is becoming increasingly frustrating. We ate at a Chinese food place by accident tonight. By accident meaning, I think we would have picked something more traditional had we known how to read the signs. After dinner, John and I spent about 6 bucks each playing time crisis 4. I think we’re going to make it a daily occurrence. Should be a nice way to unwind after days at the conference. You know; outside of taking my baths (I’m so stoked about these baths).
Also, I had my first and hopefully last encounter with a random Japanese person. After John Dylan and I got some Hagen-daz ice cream, we decided to sit in a little public square. A man came over to us and started speaking Japanese. We said we didn’t speak any and then he started talking to us in English. We talked for a little (emphasis on little) and then he invited us to see his other friends. They laughed to themselves as the man kept asking us questions. He confused us when he asked us how we like Japan gorlfs. Yeah, that’s pretty much how it was pronounced. It took him a couple tries before we understood that he was trying to say girls. We smiled nicely until the man realized that we wanted to be on our way. It sure was awkward, but I’m glad it happened. It’s something to add to the touresty experience. Even though its only 9, I’m considering going to bed. I’ve been walking around all day and I’m just really tired. Oooh, maybe I’ll take another bath. John is interested in going to a place with live music, but he was going to try and find something about thirty minutes ago and hasn’t checked back with me, so it may be leaning towards being done for the night. That’d be just fine with me. its been a long day, and tomorrow, we’re planning on going into Kyoto, which means lots of walking there too.
5-12-09 10:32 JST
Whew! What a long day. We left the hotel around 11 and had a nice curry lunch. When I learned we were at a chain restaurant, I was a little bummed; I was trying really hard to eat unique stuff. This did not stop the food from being super delicious. Then we went to the train station where we pussy footed around, buying train tickets to Kyoto. John was really worried about getting onto the wrong train. The information was surprisingly simple and I think that was what worried him; that it was too simple. The train ride was nice, but long. It was about 90 minutes, but at least I got to see some nice scenery. When we got to Kyoto, John again was worried about not having a map and was having trouble finding one. After about fifteen minutes of the blind leading the blind, we found a map and were on our way. The first place we went was the shrine of 1001 soldiers. It was overwhelmingly beautiful. We had to take our shoes off before going inside and the place was huge. I think it was 120 meters long. The 1001 soldiers surrounded and protected the emperor (I forget which). The soldiers themselves were all similar, but their hands were all different. In front of them, were 28 guardians, which were like Buddhist deities. It’s too bad that we weren’t allowed to take pictures but I understand there want to protect their 900+ year old symbols. Outside though, I was able to take pictures of their fountain of life. Before leaving, I bought some tea bag holders for my family. After leaving, we headed to the number one tourist attraction in Kyoto; a shrine (I’m not sure which specific one). On the way, we went up this massive hill where we stopped in a few shops. John bought an imitation samurai sword among other things. I bought a parasol, and a cool dragon prism. At the top of the hill was this massive temple. It was very impressive and I took lots of pictures of it because I was allowed to and was trying to make up for not being able to take pictures at the last place. After leaving the shrine, we made our way towards the shopping district. On the way there, I bought some tea out of the vending machine. I’ll try to get the picture attached because I want everyone to be warned about this stuff. It tasted so bad. It was really very bitter. When we got to the shopping area, John was looking for this mall/building. Of course, I found it (I’ve had the best sense of direction during this trip; go figure right?) It wass like having all the department stores, but without any of the walls. They weren’t divided by anything but space. The three of us each bought a traditional Japanese fan and John bought a kiMano (male kimono). After that, we had dinner. We accidentally went to a very expensive place and I had a 6000 yen stake (that’s about 57 dollars or so). You know what though? It was delicious. One of the best meals I’ve ever had. And the important part was that I was full afterwards. I’ve seen lots of places that make you pay way too much for not enough food, so at least there was that. After dinner, we came back home. Tomorrow, we head to the convention center for our first day of talks. I’m kind of excited, but not really. On the one hand, I’ve had the adventure already; I’ve spent three days in a completely foreign country where, after three days, the only things I can say are ‘please’, ‘yes’ and ‘thank you’. On the other hand, I haven’t had any experience with conferences before so it’s another completely new experience. I hope it’s not too exciting. I don’t have enough time to get all excited about things anymore. I’d keep writing, but that was the day in a nutshell. It rained a little, so I got to see Japan in the rain. It’s nice. I think you know what’s coming: bath time.
5-13-09 11:44AM JST
Whoever told me that it takes a day per time zone difference to get rid of jet lag was totally wrong. On the other hand, the less jet lag I have, the longer I’m staying up at night, which I probably don’t need.
5-13-09 6:38PM JST
Another interesting day in Japan. Today was slightly less interesting though because I spent a majority of it sitting in on talks. For starters, I woke up late (which I didn’t think was possible) and then we headed to the train station. I put on pants first, don’t worry. Then we had to buy tickets to the area we were going to. This wasn’t significant except that we spent time and money getting rail passes before we were in Japan. So far, Dylan and John haven’t even used their 300 (US) dollar passes and I’ve used mine only to get in and out of Kyoto. At this rate, the only other time I’m going to use it is to get into Osaka on Friday to get to the airport. What a waste. At least the pass was free. Anyway, I went to this big hall inside a hotel; it could easily fit 2000 people. Then they asked us to put on a mask to protect from the spreading of swine flu. Stupid swine flu. It was really uncomfortable because every time you breathed out, it was like your mouth and nose were in a swamp marsh. I had to wear it for about four hours which was not fun. The first talk was about the state of robotic research in Europe; mildly interesting, despite the guys heavy Czech accent. The second talk was about macro to micro and nano robotics. This talk was a lot less interesting because the speaker had a thick Japanese accent and I could only understand about half the words he said. The third talk was by a French man who talked about the history of motion planning. This was the most interesting talk so far because it was about something in my field. But it mainly focused on the history of the most general of topics, which I care little about. The final talk (which was supposed to be the first talk, but got switched around) was by the head of the Computer Science department at Stanford. His talk was interesting, but mostly due to the fact that his slideshow had many mobile features. It was about the future of robots and how they can/should interact with humans and other objects. Seemed like a project I might enjoy doing, but Stanford is pretty far away. After all the talks we explored the island a little bit, but there wasn’t anything really of interest. We hopped on a train to come back to Kobe right in the middle of rush hour. It didn’t delay at all and was very organized during the mass exodus of all the people at our stop (the last one). I was surprised, because if it was New York it would have been ten times as much waiting. We didn’t stop moving once, just slow at times. Then we had dinner and here I am. Tonight we are going to go to a jazz bar, but before we go, John has got to practice his speech to us. It’s going to be a good night. Maybe I’ll even take a bath.
5-13-09 11:59PM JST
About to go to bed; just wanted to check in. John and I got past the first level of Time Crisis 4, using only 500 yen each (about 5 dollars). It was nice to do, considering we couldn’t beat the first level with 1100 between us last time. Afterwards, we went to a jazz bar, but not the one we were trying to get to. It was nice anyway, very cozy atmosphere and dimly lit…in a good way. I got a glass of some sort of whisky. I think it was bourbon. When I say glass, it was in a drinking glass, but it was really only about a shot and a half or so. Let me say, this was some of the best whisky I have ever had. It was even hard to drink because as soon as I started to smell it, it was too wonderful to keep going. It was quite strong too. It was nice. John, Dylan, and I continued to talk and we had a nice night. Tomorrow is the big day, but in actuality it’s not big for me at all. I’m not the one presenting. There are a few talks that I am kind of interested in going to. And hopefully, when we meet up with Prof. Han she’ll want to buy us lunch/dinner after the presentation.
5-14-09 11:12 PM JST
Long day. Lets get to it. I woke up at nine o’clock to take a nice shower and get ready in my nice clothes. I knock on John and Dylan’s door to see how close they are to being ready. They just woke up. So I go back to my room to listen to music and talk on the internet. I check back in with them an hour later and John has taken a shower, but Dylan is still in the shower. I go back to my room and talk online for another thirty minutes or so. We finally get on our way and go to the conference. I see a few very interesting talks including one about robots that move on their own. They can even get up, if they fall. I also take a video of a self stabilized robot walking on a treadmill. It was super neat-o. Our presentation didn’t go so great because the computer was being bitchy and John wasn’t even able to get through the entire thing. No worries though; it happens. Afterwards, we went to a speaker from Columbia, who talked about his research in making photos more clear and proper. It was a very good talk that was both interesting and scary. He talked about the ability to see into people’s eyes and tell what they are seeing. That’s going to make ‘the glance’ exceedingly hard to get away with. After that we come back to the hotel and change for dinner. We end up going to a very nice Korean restaurant and get this soup full of bone and cartilage. Very good. Afterwards, John and I vowed to play Time Crisis 4 until we beat it. Was a daring goal, but it had to be done. It took each of us 1300 yen each. It seems like a lot for a video game, but there was a great satisfaction in beating the game. The end boss is particularly fun because (spoiler) you have to climb on top of soldiers as a make shift staircase to get to the top where the boss is. That was pretty much my trip to Japan. I may not get a chance to write about tomorrow. But, in a nutshell, it will be the longest Friday of my life. Past that, it will be the longest day of my life. I calculated it out to be about 41 hours long. My flight from Osaka to San Francisco is at 5:30PM and I get into Boston at 8:30ish. It’s also about 18 hours in airplanes and a 2 hour layover from San Fran to Boston. In short, it’s going to be the longest fucking day ever. Stupid space-temporal distortion. I plan on doing a little bit of sight seeing in Osaka before I go to the airport, but its not going to be much. But on the positives, it has been a wonderfully magnificent trip and I can’t begin to express how much fun and nervousness I had. See you back in the States.
~Sam D-G
5-15-09 4:04PM JST
Sitting in the airport on the way to San Francisco. First, we spent a little bit of time in Osaka. Had a nice lunch of, what I think was a Japanese version of potato pancakes. It was quite good and full of all different kinds of meat and seafood. Then we went to the f-5 building which was a giant mall with a Ferris wheel on the 8th floor. I went to that floor and found something me and John really found interesting: time crisis. This time we played Time Crisis 3, and it was noticeably easier. We decided that even though the game was actually easier, we said it was because we had played so much that we got really good. Dylan joined in the video game action by playing the classics of Bomber man and the original Super Mario Brothers. Then we said our good byes as I parted to the airport. It was a little confusing at first, but then it became very simple. So here I am: I decided to spoil myself a bit and spent 200 yen on a ten minute message. It was just a message chair but it was very nice and it was a very enjoyable ten minutes; made waiting that much better. To my understanding, there are supposed to be a lot of empty seats on the plane to San Fran (no such luck going to Boston). I really hope that’s true, because the less people equals the more party. Plus I won’t feel bad asking for extra snacks.
I also had to get my currency exchanged. I rationed my money pretty well, but in the end, I had an extra 50 bucks leftover. Oh well, I’ve got lots and lots of coins if anyone wants some. I’ve got a few 100s, a couple 50s, a mess of 10s and a few 1s. I have no emotional attachment to them so if you want them, I’ll toss them.
Quick thoughts:
I miss Will Smith rapping during the credits of his film. I dare him to do one for 7 pounds. Good movie though.
On the flight I asked someone what they were doing in japan. They told me they were visiting their husband. This woman was white and I couldn’t find the right way to ask if her husband was Japanese or not. It seems just as likely that he isn’t Japanese and I didn’t want to sound insensitive. Whatever.
Turned on a bidet for the first time. It’s a mistake if you’re not sitting on the seat as it just sprayed all over the floor and Dylan. Hehe.
I got blisters from playing Time Crisis so much…awesome.
I showed Dylan and John the ‘David forgets’ series and we all watched the funniest ones and enjoyed them thoroughly.
In the airport, and judging by the time, you can tell I am very tired. Spent the last 5 hours getting to know John and Dylan better. They’re fun people. Dylan is much more entertaining when he hasn’t slept in 24+ hours. I’ve tried not to be nervous but, god damn, there is too much time to kill; too much time to have thoughts. Most of the hard stuff is done with. Bus to Boston: check. Taxi to Logan airport: check. Baggage check: check. Security check: check. Now I wait for the flight to board in fifty minutes. Found an outlet and plugged my computer in. I’m going to do my best to keep track of the writing I do so that I can have something to remember the trip by. You know, besides the 100s of pictures I’ll take and the souvenirs I’ll get and the local I’ll have a kid with…maybe not that. But maybe, if I’m lucky enough, someone will want to get in contact with me about a job after the conference. I’m hoping that happens, but I’m not banking on it. I know its looking ahead already, but I’m not looking forward to getting back from this trip. Between the various things I’m supposed to do with graduation and the chaos that occurs when relatives are around, the 16th and 17th are going to be hectic. And I’m going to have to grit my teeth and be a good boy through that. I’m really looking forward to this trip. Well…I’m not really interested in the ‘trip’ aspect. Six hour flight to San Francisco so I can get in at 9 and move on to the transfer to Osaka at 11. Oh yeah, and that’s a 12 hour flight, so that’s going to be fun. I really hope that the plug my mom gave me will work on the plane so that I can keep my computer charged. If not, I can use it for a little while I guess. If that’s the case, I hope that I’ll be able to charge it on the layover. Also, I’m really praying that I won’t get motion sickness trying to type/use my computer while we’re in the air. I actually read a newspaper on the train into Boston so that may be good signs to come, but a train is not a plane, and neither are a car, which is where my real motion sickness problem is. Fuck I’m tired. Okay now, I’m going to play mindless games on my computer. I’ll check in later…hopefully.
5-9-09 10:25AM PST
I’m trying to write a few of these now while I still can. I just plan on forgetting so I want to keep the attempt while I can. As you can see by the time stamp, I’m sitting in the San Francisco airport. They just announced that the national homeland security threat level is orange… I don’t know what that means. The flight here was pretty awful. I slept a little, but it was really only half sleep and I drifted in and out the entire time. I did listen to some nice classical music and oddly enough, it fit very well with the TV screen showing movies and TV shows. I was too tired to be interested in any of it. There were also some kids on the flight. They didn’t make the flight any better, but as far as kids go, they were probably the best of the best. Weren’t constantly cry or fighting or even talking; they had times of giddiness and then quiet. Best behaved kids I’ve seen on a flight in a long long while. The flight attendants were weird…at least one of them were. You could see her smile, but if you looked close enough, you could see past it. it was weird to see the forced grin and how she had to hold back the…I can’t think of the word….unhappiness is close enough. Oh yeah, it was one of the more shoty air planes I’ve been on. The inside lights were flickering, they were having technical problems with their instructional video, and the wall lights never turned off despite what the captain said. If that wasn’t a bad enough omen, I got a really bad pressure change and my ears popped hard. When we were descending into San Fran, I got a really massive headache because of it. I was actually worried that it might be something much worse. All that aside, the next flight is the important one. If the first one is any indication of how the second one is going to be, I’m fucked. Currently I’m running on about three hours of half-sleep over the last 24 hours. The ratio may not get any better either. I hope it does. I hope I get some sleep. Next blog will be Japan (hopefully I’ll write one entry before I get back).
5-9-09 10:35 PST
Damn wireless internet. It keeps tricking me into thinking I have some, but it really just various scams to get me to buy internet. Absurd.
5-9-09 4:10 PST somewhere over the Pacific Ocean
On the plane still. Roughly four hours down which isn’t even half. Got another six and a half to go. So far so good: I’ve been sleeping for most of the time and listening to music the other time. I don’t have a blanket so I’ve been kind of cold. How do you not have enough blankets on a 12 hour flight? That’s bush league. The important thing though is that these seats are wayyyy more comfortable. It’s a lot easier to fall asleep and I don’t think its just because I’m more tired. Another plus is that there isn’t anyone sitting behind me so I feel that I am allowed to lean my seat back the extra 6 degrees. It really does make a difference. When people do sit there, I feel like it’s rude to lean back. My butt is killing me, but if that’s my biggest problem, I’ll take it.
I realize I haven’t been talking about the trip so much and it’s partly because it hasn’t sank in yet. I’m not actually there. I brought my camera along and I plan to take lots of pictures. I really don’t have much else to say. I’m trying to stay busy on this trip. And in this case, busy is keeping from thinking about how long the damn flight is. Here’s a little perspective as to how I’m feeling. When I finally leave the Osaka airport, I will have spent more than 24 hours in an air something. Either the plane or the port, the past 24 hours will have been spent in one of those two areas. I want a change of scenery. And I’m getting it.
5-10-09 2:19PM J(apan)ST
I’m still on the plane, but I’m getting close. Its starting to settle in that this is real. I’m flying over the eastern most part of Japan going slightly to the middle. I’m looking forward to everything. Everything except for the customs check. They are taking extra precautions because of swine flew and everything. I don’t mind so much, but I do think it’s a bit much for the first thing as soon as you enter the country. It’s kind of silly that they are going to offer me a mask after I get off the plane. If it didn’t come with me, and its not already here, why would I need the mask? I have noticed that, at least with the flights I’ve been on, only Asians seem to care enough to wear the mask. Just a weird observation.
5-10-09 3:45 JST
Unboarding is taking FOREVER. They had the vaccination men and women on the plane for over forty minutes. Almost done. But hey: I’m in Japan.
5-10-09 5:30PM JST
Sitting on a bus traveling from Osaka to Kobe. Apparently I filled out my quarantine information wrong so in the event that they need to contact me, I’m not where I said I’d be. oh well. The bus ride is nice because I can open my window for a 18 inch by 30 inch hole. So I’m getting lots of fresh air. I could be mistaken, but I think I just passed the Sega gaming company headquarters. I’ve also been trying to take some pictures. If the camera is in my hand, I can take a picture within five seconds. That’s turning the camera on, focusing and snapping the picture. That’s pretty good time. Unfortunately on a bus that’s moving, sometimes its not fast enough. I tried to get a cute little playground, but by time I was ready, the view was impeded. Well, I forgot that I get car sick easily, so that’s the end of this update.
5-10-09 7:35PM JST
Finally at the hotel and settling down. With that said: holy cow! I just took one of the best baths I have ever taken. I could sit, entire stomach, submerged in water. I’m still figuring out everything else out. Also, I’m going to go eat before my dizziness turns into fainting-ness.
5-10-09 9:35PM JST
Dinner was great despite not knowing what it was. Pictures rule! Then I walked around the area around the hotel for a bit. But I’m way to tired because I’ve been immobile for the last 30 hours. It’s bed time. God, real sleep sounds soooo good.
5-11-09 2:47 PM JST
Running another bath. Seriously, the thought of taking a bath is what helps me get through the tougher times of the day. I’m still kind of jet lagged, leaving me in this hazy mood. But I explored a good deal of Kobe today. We started by exchanging our rail pass receipts for the actual rail pass. That was interesting because the language barrier was much harder. Luckily, I’m with someone who knows a little, but I doubt he knows much about transportation verbs. It wasn’t difficult though; just took a bit of time. Then it was off to lunch. Lunch was an egg on top of some rice, with ketchup squirted on top. A soup and a salad on the side. It was pretty good, but not nearly has good has last nights dinner. A little later on we went through this massive outside mall. It was more like a 5 block long strip mall. I bought a melon smoothie at a stand at it was good. While walking by a park, I saw two women pushing a stroller. I noticed that in the bottom carry on thing, a juice box was precariously balanced inside a plastic bag. A few minutes later, we decide that we want to actually go inside the park so off we went. I found two juice boxes lying on the ground. I totally called it. I picked them up and brought them with me. We found the ladies and I said “excuse me, you dropped these” to them in Japanese. They arigato’d me and they were on their way. It was nice; I felt like I fit in, because not only did I help, I did it in Japanese.
I’m pretty exhausted from all the walking and am really looking forward to this bath. I can’t stress enough how awesome the bathes are. Then, I’m going to read a few papers that are relevant to the conference and then…dinner. I’ve already scoped out a few places that look delicious.
5-11-09 9:03PM JST
Finding dinner tonight was harder than I thought. Its really difficult to read the language. When I went to Germany, I didn’t know any of the words, but I could at least phonetically make out the words to maybe figure out what they were. Here, I’ve got know clue what all the symbols mean. It is becoming increasingly frustrating. We ate at a Chinese food place by accident tonight. By accident meaning, I think we would have picked something more traditional had we known how to read the signs. After dinner, John and I spent about 6 bucks each playing time crisis 4. I think we’re going to make it a daily occurrence. Should be a nice way to unwind after days at the conference. You know; outside of taking my baths (I’m so stoked about these baths).
Also, I had my first and hopefully last encounter with a random Japanese person. After John Dylan and I got some Hagen-daz ice cream, we decided to sit in a little public square. A man came over to us and started speaking Japanese. We said we didn’t speak any and then he started talking to us in English. We talked for a little (emphasis on little) and then he invited us to see his other friends. They laughed to themselves as the man kept asking us questions. He confused us when he asked us how we like Japan gorlfs. Yeah, that’s pretty much how it was pronounced. It took him a couple tries before we understood that he was trying to say girls. We smiled nicely until the man realized that we wanted to be on our way. It sure was awkward, but I’m glad it happened. It’s something to add to the touresty experience. Even though its only 9, I’m considering going to bed. I’ve been walking around all day and I’m just really tired. Oooh, maybe I’ll take another bath. John is interested in going to a place with live music, but he was going to try and find something about thirty minutes ago and hasn’t checked back with me, so it may be leaning towards being done for the night. That’d be just fine with me. its been a long day, and tomorrow, we’re planning on going into Kyoto, which means lots of walking there too.
5-12-09 10:32 JST
Whew! What a long day. We left the hotel around 11 and had a nice curry lunch. When I learned we were at a chain restaurant, I was a little bummed; I was trying really hard to eat unique stuff. This did not stop the food from being super delicious. Then we went to the train station where we pussy footed around, buying train tickets to Kyoto. John was really worried about getting onto the wrong train. The information was surprisingly simple and I think that was what worried him; that it was too simple. The train ride was nice, but long. It was about 90 minutes, but at least I got to see some nice scenery. When we got to Kyoto, John again was worried about not having a map and was having trouble finding one. After about fifteen minutes of the blind leading the blind, we found a map and were on our way. The first place we went was the shrine of 1001 soldiers. It was overwhelmingly beautiful. We had to take our shoes off before going inside and the place was huge. I think it was 120 meters long. The 1001 soldiers surrounded and protected the emperor (I forget which). The soldiers themselves were all similar, but their hands were all different. In front of them, were 28 guardians, which were like Buddhist deities. It’s too bad that we weren’t allowed to take pictures but I understand there want to protect their 900+ year old symbols. Outside though, I was able to take pictures of their fountain of life. Before leaving, I bought some tea bag holders for my family. After leaving, we headed to the number one tourist attraction in Kyoto; a shrine (I’m not sure which specific one). On the way, we went up this massive hill where we stopped in a few shops. John bought an imitation samurai sword among other things. I bought a parasol, and a cool dragon prism. At the top of the hill was this massive temple. It was very impressive and I took lots of pictures of it because I was allowed to and was trying to make up for not being able to take pictures at the last place. After leaving the shrine, we made our way towards the shopping district. On the way there, I bought some tea out of the vending machine. I’ll try to get the picture attached because I want everyone to be warned about this stuff. It tasted so bad. It was really very bitter. When we got to the shopping area, John was looking for this mall/building. Of course, I found it (I’ve had the best sense of direction during this trip; go figure right?) It wass like having all the department stores, but without any of the walls. They weren’t divided by anything but space. The three of us each bought a traditional Japanese fan and John bought a kiMano (male kimono). After that, we had dinner. We accidentally went to a very expensive place and I had a 6000 yen stake (that’s about 57 dollars or so). You know what though? It was delicious. One of the best meals I’ve ever had. And the important part was that I was full afterwards. I’ve seen lots of places that make you pay way too much for not enough food, so at least there was that. After dinner, we came back home. Tomorrow, we head to the convention center for our first day of talks. I’m kind of excited, but not really. On the one hand, I’ve had the adventure already; I’ve spent three days in a completely foreign country where, after three days, the only things I can say are ‘please’, ‘yes’ and ‘thank you’. On the other hand, I haven’t had any experience with conferences before so it’s another completely new experience. I hope it’s not too exciting. I don’t have enough time to get all excited about things anymore. I’d keep writing, but that was the day in a nutshell. It rained a little, so I got to see Japan in the rain. It’s nice. I think you know what’s coming: bath time.
5-13-09 11:44AM JST
Whoever told me that it takes a day per time zone difference to get rid of jet lag was totally wrong. On the other hand, the less jet lag I have, the longer I’m staying up at night, which I probably don’t need.
5-13-09 6:38PM JST
Another interesting day in Japan. Today was slightly less interesting though because I spent a majority of it sitting in on talks. For starters, I woke up late (which I didn’t think was possible) and then we headed to the train station. I put on pants first, don’t worry. Then we had to buy tickets to the area we were going to. This wasn’t significant except that we spent time and money getting rail passes before we were in Japan. So far, Dylan and John haven’t even used their 300 (US) dollar passes and I’ve used mine only to get in and out of Kyoto. At this rate, the only other time I’m going to use it is to get into Osaka on Friday to get to the airport. What a waste. At least the pass was free. Anyway, I went to this big hall inside a hotel; it could easily fit 2000 people. Then they asked us to put on a mask to protect from the spreading of swine flu. Stupid swine flu. It was really uncomfortable because every time you breathed out, it was like your mouth and nose were in a swamp marsh. I had to wear it for about four hours which was not fun. The first talk was about the state of robotic research in Europe; mildly interesting, despite the guys heavy Czech accent. The second talk was about macro to micro and nano robotics. This talk was a lot less interesting because the speaker had a thick Japanese accent and I could only understand about half the words he said. The third talk was by a French man who talked about the history of motion planning. This was the most interesting talk so far because it was about something in my field. But it mainly focused on the history of the most general of topics, which I care little about. The final talk (which was supposed to be the first talk, but got switched around) was by the head of the Computer Science department at Stanford. His talk was interesting, but mostly due to the fact that his slideshow had many mobile features. It was about the future of robots and how they can/should interact with humans and other objects. Seemed like a project I might enjoy doing, but Stanford is pretty far away. After all the talks we explored the island a little bit, but there wasn’t anything really of interest. We hopped on a train to come back to Kobe right in the middle of rush hour. It didn’t delay at all and was very organized during the mass exodus of all the people at our stop (the last one). I was surprised, because if it was New York it would have been ten times as much waiting. We didn’t stop moving once, just slow at times. Then we had dinner and here I am. Tonight we are going to go to a jazz bar, but before we go, John has got to practice his speech to us. It’s going to be a good night. Maybe I’ll even take a bath.
5-13-09 11:59PM JST
About to go to bed; just wanted to check in. John and I got past the first level of Time Crisis 4, using only 500 yen each (about 5 dollars). It was nice to do, considering we couldn’t beat the first level with 1100 between us last time. Afterwards, we went to a jazz bar, but not the one we were trying to get to. It was nice anyway, very cozy atmosphere and dimly lit…in a good way. I got a glass of some sort of whisky. I think it was bourbon. When I say glass, it was in a drinking glass, but it was really only about a shot and a half or so. Let me say, this was some of the best whisky I have ever had. It was even hard to drink because as soon as I started to smell it, it was too wonderful to keep going. It was quite strong too. It was nice. John, Dylan, and I continued to talk and we had a nice night. Tomorrow is the big day, but in actuality it’s not big for me at all. I’m not the one presenting. There are a few talks that I am kind of interested in going to. And hopefully, when we meet up with Prof. Han she’ll want to buy us lunch/dinner after the presentation.
5-14-09 11:12 PM JST
Long day. Lets get to it. I woke up at nine o’clock to take a nice shower and get ready in my nice clothes. I knock on John and Dylan’s door to see how close they are to being ready. They just woke up. So I go back to my room to listen to music and talk on the internet. I check back in with them an hour later and John has taken a shower, but Dylan is still in the shower. I go back to my room and talk online for another thirty minutes or so. We finally get on our way and go to the conference. I see a few very interesting talks including one about robots that move on their own. They can even get up, if they fall. I also take a video of a self stabilized robot walking on a treadmill. It was super neat-o. Our presentation didn’t go so great because the computer was being bitchy and John wasn’t even able to get through the entire thing. No worries though; it happens. Afterwards, we went to a speaker from Columbia, who talked about his research in making photos more clear and proper. It was a very good talk that was both interesting and scary. He talked about the ability to see into people’s eyes and tell what they are seeing. That’s going to make ‘the glance’ exceedingly hard to get away with. After that we come back to the hotel and change for dinner. We end up going to a very nice Korean restaurant and get this soup full of bone and cartilage. Very good. Afterwards, John and I vowed to play Time Crisis 4 until we beat it. Was a daring goal, but it had to be done. It took each of us 1300 yen each. It seems like a lot for a video game, but there was a great satisfaction in beating the game. The end boss is particularly fun because (spoiler) you have to climb on top of soldiers as a make shift staircase to get to the top where the boss is. That was pretty much my trip to Japan. I may not get a chance to write about tomorrow. But, in a nutshell, it will be the longest Friday of my life. Past that, it will be the longest day of my life. I calculated it out to be about 41 hours long. My flight from Osaka to San Francisco is at 5:30PM and I get into Boston at 8:30ish. It’s also about 18 hours in airplanes and a 2 hour layover from San Fran to Boston. In short, it’s going to be the longest fucking day ever. Stupid space-temporal distortion. I plan on doing a little bit of sight seeing in Osaka before I go to the airport, but its not going to be much. But on the positives, it has been a wonderfully magnificent trip and I can’t begin to express how much fun and nervousness I had. See you back in the States.
~Sam D-G
5-15-09 4:04PM JST
Sitting in the airport on the way to San Francisco. First, we spent a little bit of time in Osaka. Had a nice lunch of, what I think was a Japanese version of potato pancakes. It was quite good and full of all different kinds of meat and seafood. Then we went to the f-5 building which was a giant mall with a Ferris wheel on the 8th floor. I went to that floor and found something me and John really found interesting: time crisis. This time we played Time Crisis 3, and it was noticeably easier. We decided that even though the game was actually easier, we said it was because we had played so much that we got really good. Dylan joined in the video game action by playing the classics of Bomber man and the original Super Mario Brothers. Then we said our good byes as I parted to the airport. It was a little confusing at first, but then it became very simple. So here I am: I decided to spoil myself a bit and spent 200 yen on a ten minute message. It was just a message chair but it was very nice and it was a very enjoyable ten minutes; made waiting that much better. To my understanding, there are supposed to be a lot of empty seats on the plane to San Fran (no such luck going to Boston). I really hope that’s true, because the less people equals the more party. Plus I won’t feel bad asking for extra snacks.
I also had to get my currency exchanged. I rationed my money pretty well, but in the end, I had an extra 50 bucks leftover. Oh well, I’ve got lots and lots of coins if anyone wants some. I’ve got a few 100s, a couple 50s, a mess of 10s and a few 1s. I have no emotional attachment to them so if you want them, I’ll toss them.
Quick thoughts:
I miss Will Smith rapping during the credits of his film. I dare him to do one for 7 pounds. Good movie though.
On the flight I asked someone what they were doing in japan. They told me they were visiting their husband. This woman was white and I couldn’t find the right way to ask if her husband was Japanese or not. It seems just as likely that he isn’t Japanese and I didn’t want to sound insensitive. Whatever.
Turned on a bidet for the first time. It’s a mistake if you’re not sitting on the seat as it just sprayed all over the floor and Dylan. Hehe.
I got blisters from playing Time Crisis so much…awesome.
I showed Dylan and John the ‘David forgets’ series and we all watched the funniest ones and enjoyed them thoroughly.
