Japan summer

2004-08-26T07:07:00.000-07:00

Here's me when we were about level with the clouds atop Fuji-san. The sun was already shining brightly but the fast moving dense fog and mist made the sunlight ambient. I am so tempted to climb Fuji-san again because I now know how I could make the climb enjoyable.

2004-08-26T06:26:00.000-07:00

After another wine tasting at Suntory winery, I had a yummy dinner with my sensei's family. The next day, my lab held a hand-rolled sushi lunch party for me. Later that evening, my dorm had a summer bbq. Here I am with some of them- after dinner, we held a makeshift dance club and rocked the dorm :)

2004-08-22T01:22:00.000-07:00

Saturday, I went to Shosenkyo (the mountain ridge looming just overhead my dorms). Perhaps nothing spectacular, but I enjoyed it- quite the relaxing and imaginative walk along a river gorge sprinkled with huge boulders naturally shaped into various Japanese figures (e.g. a basking sea lion here).

2004-08-22T01:10:00.000-07:00

Friday night, my lab took me out to a karoake bar. We ate, drank, and sang and dance Japanese and English songs. It was a fun experience for me.

2004-08-18T22:22:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, I returned to Yokohama. After chatting with local chinese merchants in chinatown and sampling their boiled chestnuts and pearl milk tea- very different from american chinatowns i'd say, I checked out the maritime park and yokohama shoreline complete with their famous ferris wheel overlooking the yokohama bridge and big retired boat. I met up with Jenny for dinner at a nice rotating sushi restaurant.

2004-08-18T22:13:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, I walked along the Torii gates seen here. I liked the long tunnels lined with red dori, each timestamped by a local merchant. The stone statues of foxes and lesser gods and goddesses I also liked. The surrounding noises were wicked cool- pigeons cooing, crows cawing, men yelling, babies crying, people murmuring, babbling brooks nearby, etc. After that meditative journey, I hopped down to the local sake breweries :)

2004-08-18T22:05:00.000-07:00

Monday, I walked around Kyoto. I saw 5 maiko-san. They remind me of Disney characters walking around as tourists and locals alike stop to take pictures at these rare maiko sightings. I picked up quite a bit of souvenirs.

2004-08-18T21:59:00.000-07:00

Sunday, we went to nara for the latern daimon festival. I need to find a better camera for night pictures- because the night was just jaw-dropping beautiful with thousands of candles lining and filling the park. Here is the opening ceremony for the daimon bonfire- seconds later much bigger pyres from atop a nearby mountain was lit up in the shape of "oki" or "dai" meaning big. The big buddha was absolutely spectacular with candle-lit laterns and the deers were still awake and friendly.

2004-08-18T21:49:00.000-07:00

after my unsuccessful capsule hotel night, i zip to kyoto for a morning company visit to nict. I then spent the day shopping in nara and stayed up to watch the olympics opening ceremony at atr. Saturday, I went with the atr interns (aka "the massive" pictured here) to osaka. We checked out sony tower (well- we are techies ;) and starbuck's green tea frappucinno. We walked many circles around dotonbori...just chillin'.. true.. true.

2004-08-18T21:00:00.000-07:00

whew- what a travel week... it all started last thursday with me visiting Hamada-san and Siio-sensei at Tamagawa Univ. in the morning and Akihiko-san at Keio Univ. in the afternoon. The evening I zipped over to Shibuya and met up with Todd and Lisa here at the famous Hachiko statue for a all-you-can-eat shabu shabu dinner- yummers!

2004-08-10T18:50:00.000-07:00

last evening, my new college friends took me out to dohtonbori- a restaurant where you grill your own okonomi-yaki (japanese hotplate pizza). how fun and how yummy!

2004-08-07T19:37:00.000-07:00

Saturday, after another morning of grass weeding at my dorm (a monthly community service), I check out yamanashi's museums of art, literature, and crystals. Then, I stopped by a cafe named "Sarah Vaughan" for lunch and to wait out the rain downpour. None of Sarah's music but it was jazz, and the curry tasted Indian (northern) instead of Japanese to me- which was a pleasant surprise.

fuji climb

2004-08-07T19:02:00.000-07:00

...so what did happen up on that fuji climb? one word- rain! We did the night hike... which would have been beautiful because there was a full moon that night. But with the typhoon-ish rain downpour we got all night, visibility was about 2 feet with a strong flashlight (which I brought along- but it died at the 7th station). Quick recap: we ride the bus from the mt base to the 5th kawaguchiko station. The rain starts. We make great time (even with a group of 11) and pass the 6th and 7th station in 2 hrs. I am dishearten because it seems the rain also prohibits stamping of the fuji souvenir climbing sticks. The rain is getting cold, but my body heat keeps me warm. When I stop to rest, I start to freeze. Most of us stop for the night predicting that we have plenty of time still before sunrise and staying outside will only result in hypothermia. A few of us brazenly continue up (me too). One of us does get hypothermia and altitude sickness, so we rest up for a while. My buddy and I (yes- we were smart and set a buddy system- no way is climbing alone this night not dangerous) continue upward. The hike now is enjoyable as the storm breaks a bit. We are still shrouded in heavy fog and lite drizzle. We pass 8th station, and reach a jinja dori and a lookout point (which of course we see nothing). We are level with the clouds now and daybreak starts. The sun peeps out from the fast moving misty fog for a few seconds of cheers and photos. That was a high, but then we reach our low- a wall of gail force winds surely to blow me off the mtn literrally. A few people try running under it but retreat back down a minute later. Weather is downright nasty, and freezing rain and white snow starts falling. The clouds aren't breaking, so I see no point going further (or seeing for that matter). I did manage to get one stamp from the 8th station. My buddy is pissed at this climb by now (as am I) but I declare it a success. We decide to hike down. The descent was so nice- the trail was easy (no scrambling), I could actually see the volcanic rocks we're walking on and various vegetation as we near the halfway point back to the bus station. *sigh* I was all stoked about the climb, and I was prepared for the cold rain. I was not prepared for the cursed wind plus rain. I might try again or I may try the many other cooler things Japan has to offer...

2004-08-01T20:56:00.000-07:00

...and three cheers for us group of climbers who braved the windy rain downpour (courtesy of a typhoon that just hit Japan) up on Fuji that Friday night...

2004-08-01T20:50:00.000-07:00

...and from the fine local wineries- i picked up strawberry wine and a yummy white wine.

2004-08-01T20:48:00.000-07:00

so how was the friday night climb up fuji-san? ... right after these messages from... monkey mountain by lake kawaguchiko- a petting zoo of monkeys, rabbits, chipmunks, etc.

2004-08-01T20:45:00.000-07:00

...and here's a gorgeous closeup view of mt. fuji from the train station after our weekend.

2004-08-01T17:59:00.000-07:00

After walking up close to 300 steps up Mt. Minobu to a buddhist temple last Sunday..and forgetting my camera :( ... I was prepared this weekend to climb Mt. Fuji...

2004-07-26T19:40:00.000-07:00

For dinner, we students went to a rotating sushi bar- and I mean long rows of many sushi plates.. it was impressive and quite cheap.

2004-07-23T22:17:00.000-07:00

Today (saturday), I walked to the town shrine- Takeda jinja. It is pretty but your standard Shintoist shrine.... except for this cute little statue of hello kitty! She is the landmark for the Takeda museum with katanas and samurai armors. Of course, the hello kitty for this Yamanashi prefecture is a sumurai kitty ;)

2004-07-23T22:13:00.000-07:00

oops.. I almost forgot- Thursday my labmates brought in a watermelon for an afternoon break from the heatwave.... I like my labmates- they're so cool.

2004-07-23T22:10:00.000-07:00

after a short work week, my sensei and I had dinner with Dr. Obuchi (a UNC alumni) and his family (his toddlers are so energetic and his wife is so patient- I like them). Then, we all went to see fireworks (which happens every week during the summer- sugoi ne!). I took a peek at the local festival fare... which includes these teriyaki whole squid on a stick....

2004-07-19T17:40:00.000-07:00

The traffic was so slow on the bridge across lake Kawaguchi-ko that I hopped out to walk and take panaramic pictures. Go-sensei hopped out of his car here to snap me and fuji-san...

2004-07-19T17:38:00.000-07:00

last, we made a quick stop at the Sengen-jinjya Shrine..

2004-07-19T17:36:00.000-07:00

then, we visited the nearby museum of fuji and local history. there was a gift shop too. a great tourist photo op here with fuji-san, the radar dome, and local interests' signs.

2004-07-19T17:28:00.000-07:00

After some yummy local udon (flatter and heavier version of udon), we visit the Radar Dome that was once on top of Fuji-san....

2004-07-19T17:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a national Japanese holiday, so my sensei and his family took me to Fuji-yoshida. His son loves to walk up and down stairs...

2004-07-18T08:25:00.000-07:00

check out this wicked view from the concert of fuji-san... the clouds shrouding the top makes it looks like the volcano is erupting eh? that would be bad for the kofu city down below and we'd be stuck on this mountain for a bit...

2004-07-18T08:14:00.000-07:00

yesterday, i went shopping in downtown kofu. i walked up to some aussie guys at the mall coffee shop and introduced myself. Today, they took me to a rockin' concert of local bands on a moutainside overlooking mt fuji....

2004-07-09T20:52:00.000-07:00

..and here we are in the wine cellar sampling rose wines- as well as white wines and reds.

2004-07-09T20:51:00.000-07:00

Friday, my lab took a field trip to Katsunuma for peach picking and wine tasting. Here we are enjoying a japanese bbq for lunch.

2004-07-09T20:48:00.000-07:00

My Thursday presentation went well- about 30 students and 2 profs attended. Afterwards, my lab celebrated at a local restaurant.

2004-07-06T23:09:00.000-07:00

today is the annual "star festival" (tanabata) so I've seen a few bamboo trees decorated with paper ornaments and ribbons with hand-written wishes and prayers. the legend is from china- the cow-herd and the princess weaver reunites by the milky way (romantic ain't it ;) but the festivities is entirely japanese I think.

2004-07-05T01:50:00.000-07:00

...last but not least, we went to kamakura to see the big buddha statue and a few other temples.

2004-07-05T01:48:00.000-07:00

my host family are so nice! we went to sankeien- japanese garden... and this is my new sister with me behind the tea ceremony preparation table.

2004-07-05T01:45:00.000-07:00

here is our one formal event- kanpai to sokendai :)

2004-07-05T01:44:00.000-07:00

...one night, we opened a bottle of white wine with our new friend at a local bar... japanese people are so friendly and international.

2004-07-05T01:43:00.000-07:00

...and we made new friends at the beach- here we are drumming on bongos.. rockin'

2004-07-05T01:40:00.000-07:00

mt. fuji from hayama... kinda hard paying attention to orientation with this view ;)

2004-07-05T01:39:00.000-07:00

and every night, we went to the local beach- pretty sweet swimming with the sun setting behind lush green mountains...

2004-07-05T01:35:00.000-07:00

our first night at our narita airport hotel... we ventured out to the local bar... and made new friends with the "narita airport duty free" store employees... they're so cool.

2004-07-05T01:33:00.000-07:00

off to orientation we go... but after a yummy american italian lunch in the middle of shinjuku city skyline- todd is taking panarama pics...

2004-06-28T00:15:00.000-07:00

I walk along this street alley to school. Each morning, I just follow the string of students (motor) biking to campus. If you can see the green "Tostem" sign, that's my one left turn on my route.

2004-06-28T00:11:00.000-07:00

My lab is about a 8 minute walk from my dorm. I walk past rice fields, mountains, hillsides, cute little japanese houses each with their japanese gardens...

2004-06-28T00:10:00.000-07:00

my dorm for the summer is the yamanashi university international student dormitory

work weekend

2004-06-25T05:52:00.000-07:00

ah... a long weekend break from all this fun travelling before zipping down to Hayama, Japan for a week of orientation.... so what do I do? back to work of course :p no- I'm not a workaholic- really I'm not... hrm- not convincing am I ;)

So until next Tuesday, I'll be prepping slides for my research talk I'll be presenting on July 8 at Yamanashi University - my host university (and I'll be paid for it :D). I'll also be working on a demo and poster sub for uist04... because sante fe, nm is fun and pretty and cuz I should prep a good master's project for my student this coming fall semester.

Perhaps, I'll slip in some local sight-seeing in Kofu... like the Takeda Shrine and wineries and I wanna find the Kofu Hello Kitty :)

hong kong

2004-06-21T07:48:00.000-07:00

Whew! what a whirlwind tour of hong kong. My friend Howard (who has since graduated from CMU and now is a prof at HK city univ) sure can pack a busy schedule for fun- yummy dim sum every morning, downtown harbor from all sides and island views, museums of asian art/crafts/heritage/and wax, dragon boat race (which is a hk holiday celebration event), lots of flea-market shopping, and every mode of public transit in hong kong! I even tried stinky tofu, fresh lychees, and yummy hong kong desserts. The sauna-like weather I could have done without, but I got to experience so much of Hong Kong. The complete photo album is at photos.yahoo.com/quanttran

enjoy!

2004-06-19T02:07:00.000-07:00

hill with lots of buddhas

2004-06-19T02:06:00.000-07:00

big temple in kyoto with lots of school kids who took a picture with us foreigners ;)

2004-06-19T02:05:00.001-07:00

kyoto tower in kyoto

2004-06-19T02:05:00.000-07:00

kyoto tower

2004-06-19T02:04:00.000-07:00

katome japanese dinner in kyoto along this river front restaurant row

2004-06-17T10:40:00.000-07:00

ah yes... staying at a hostel along an alley of "love hotels" do make the funniest stories ;)

2004-06-17T10:15:00.000-07:00

sega arcade games... kawaii ^_^

2004-06-17T10:02:00.000-07:00

soy banquet at a ryokan... coolness.

2004-06-17T09:47:00.000-07:00

tofu, tofu, and more tofu...

2004-06-17T09:37:00.000-07:00

Tofu done a dozen ways... oishii :)

2004-06-17T09:33:00.000-07:00

neko! alley cats bathing by a "lucky cat" poster parking lot

Beth & Blair's visit (day 1)

2004-06-16T09:53:00.000-07:00

I got to see Itiro Siio's kitchen project- it kicks my project's butt (literally)!

Then, we went to Sony CSL.

Then, we went out to dinner. Oishi!

Then, Beth had her Pachinko fix...

Blair had his turn at Pachinko as well...

...what fun! but jet lag got the better of us Americans.

Shibuya

2004-06-16T09:43:00.000-07:00

(post-dated June 15)

Whew! After settling into my dorm room at Yamanashi University for the summer, I head out to Shibuya to be close to Tokyo while Beth and Blair are in town for our lab visits. The crossing just outside Shibuya station reminds me of NY Times Square, and the Starbucks that overlook the amazing display of pedestrian crossing remind me of the NY's micro-brewery overlooking times square.

sfo layover

2004-06-16T08:53:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

This is my first entry in this blog. I'm already a few days behind, so date this entry June 12.

My connection flight from SFO to Japan was overbooked, so I volunteered to be bumped for the next day. I was put up at the Marriott along the bayshore

and had a wonderful dinner with good friends .
Pretty sweet start to my summer travels- a good omen in my book.