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We’re back in State College now trying to get back into the swing of things at school and at home. It seems strange to have to cook meals and wash dishes again. We have been so spoiled over the last month. We really didn’t have to do anything at all. It was a true vacation.
After arriving back into the lab I was quickly reminded again of responsibility. As it turns out two of my lab members are moving on now. One because he graduated and another due to financial issues. Unfortunately this means that I will lose two close friends who always made coming to work a little more enjoyable. I will miss them greatly. They were also two of the three individuals who sit next to me. Now the only one who is left spends most of his time at home electing to do his lab work in the evening or the weekend. It will be more lonely now, but I guess I have my peace and privacy now (not that I really wish it). Perhaps this will speed me along. However, whatever speed I may have gained in privacy, I now have lost to extra lab tasks. There are a number of lab tasks that must be done, and now that we have two fewer people in the lab, the rest of us must pick up the slack. The biggest chore for me will be the additional care of 8 more strains of mice bringing my total to 10 mouse lines now. I am quite certain that I can now dedicate one full day of work each week to taking care of mice. I’m not sure how I am going to manage all of that just yet, but I guess it must be done. The rest of us in the lab will quickly realize how much work those two did.

One thing that we have noticed since coming back from Japan is that everyone here in the US is so big, and I’m not just talking about height. It’s true that many of the Japanese were probably a little too thin for there own health, but conversely, many Americans are too large for there own health—much too large. With escalating health care prices in recent years I can only wonder how much of health related issues may be caused by being overweight. It is really kind of sad.
While we were driving back to State College we were listening to a Christian radio station talk about the high gas prices. The announcer said rather indignantly “if this keeps up I might have to drag the bike out of the garage to commute to work.” Oh my, heaven-for-bid one gets some exercise. Wow, talk about embarrassing yourself on the radio. It’s terrible. The majority of the world uses mass transportation at the very least, while an even greater majority still remembers that God gave people legs to walk and bike instead of work the two levers we have come to know as acceleration and break. If escalating gas prices will remind people of that again, then by all means, levy a $10 per gallon gas tax.
There is some hope though. When we went grocery shopping yesterday at Wegmans (our local grocery store), we noticed a reserved parking space sign very much out of place. Wegmans does have some reserved parking for handicap folks, and even some reserved spots that are for people with children—all of which are very close to the front of the store. This parking spot however was very far away from the front of the store. In fact it was almost at the very end of the parking lot. It read “Space reserved for those who know a few extra steps can help them stay healthy”. Sadly no on was presently parked in that spot, though there were a number of cars parked directly adjacent to that spot. (I think the reserved thing threw them off). It’s a win-win situation. Less gas=more money. Less driving=more exercise. Less obesity=lower health care. Fewer waste/emissions=cleaner environment. Other people in the world seem to have figured out this conundrum; hopefully we won’t be too far behind, lest we want to continue to be the leaders in the “behind”.

Good Old Mother Nature’s Alarm Clock!

Early this morning Jackie left for College in the States, and we were up to see her off. The night before we had been out bowling, and then over to Araisan’s for a midnight snack to send Jackie off. That said, we were tired when we came back home from the train station when Jackie left. We started packing for our own trip tomorrow when we decided we flat out needed a nap. So, we pushed all of our clothes we were preparing to pack off of the bed and set the alarm clock for 12 o’clock which would give us an hour long nap. After about 45 minutes of just lying there (not really sleeping) our room began to shake with great vigor—a most unusual feeling. There was a great rumble of noise (almost like a train that was passing closely by), the air conditioner was rattling, and Jori said: “oh this one is pretty big” rather nonchalantly at which point I asked if we should go outside, and she quickly replied yes, and we were out of the door as quickly as you can imagine. The only part that slowed us down was trying to grab the door-knob as it danced its was around my hand.
Yes, we were hit with an earth quake here in Sendai. Just the other day I was telling Jori that the only experience that was missing from Japan was an earth quake. Ha! No more! We were pretty much at the epicenter of the quake which in town registered at about 6.0. The true epicenter was a little further out at sea measuring about 6.8. Tsunami warnings have been posted for midnight here tonight with waves of up to half a meter (not really threatening). When we were outside cars were bouncing up and down and sideways, as well as trees and buildings. The news station said it was 10 seconds of up and down shaking followed by 30 seconds of side to side shaking. I have had experiences where I have wanted to get out of a plane, car, or train, and just get onto some solid ground, but this time it was the solid ground that was the issue, which was very weird. Mentally I sort of expected that once we were out of the house that we would be on “solid ground”. Nope!
Was there damage? Well, the quake was felt as far down as Tokyo, a roof on a swimming pool building collapsed, the subway has been shut down, the trains have been shut down (though hopefully open by tomorrow morning), and aside from a few things falling off the shelf here, the only visible damage was a little bit of plaster that fell onto the piano here. All in all, it wasn’t much of a scare, but also not far from it. From what I am gathering, it was about as big as one can comfortably take without a real scare. If you want to read more about it check out the report on CNN.

Final note #1: Alternatively, mother nature’s natural alarm clock can also be drinking a lot of water shortly before going to bed. :)
Final note #2: The dancing door-knob is an exaggeration—all else was true to the best of my recollection.

Two sides of the same coin

This past Sunday Jori and I went to a park with a bunch of her former classmates. It was like a small class reunion (and about as fun as one too). Again, it was about a million degrees in both centigrade and farenheit, beyond maximum humidity, and in the noonday sun, but did we seek shelter in the shade-no. Did people make comments about the heat-yes. I don't think Jori was even having a good time. To make things worse, none of them would speak English (though several could), which meant extra translating duty for Jori. This was compounded when there was really nothing worthy of translating. It was a small representation of her high school class, but all of them seemed to buy the consumerism bate hook, line, and sinker. Talk about dry conversation. I think it was kind of sad for Jori to see. Many of these girls had been captains of different sports teams, had high ambitions, and were outgoing, but that all seemed to have been lost now. They were all amazed that Jori was married and going to grad school (almost surprised that she wasn't in the same consumerist school of thought as they were). It was a painfully, hot wasted 3 hours of a Sunday afternoon.
Actually it was a nice contrast to the others we have met here. These others are Christians, and boy what a difference you see in their lives. Instead of this dull, boring life of buying everything in site, and looking at marriage as something to do out of obligation, these people are contented, and wanting more than the consumerist society is offering. I think it is an amazing revelation of how the void of God is filled with the things of this world and how that still leaves an emptiness. You can also see the purpose in the lives of those who have chosen God. It is awesome to see. I'm not sure if I am making complete sense here (or any sense at all for that matter), but I'll leave it as is for what it is worth.
On Monday night we hit the town for the Tanabata festival. Instead of tulips everywhere, you have giant, colorful streamers dangling from all over the sun mall. The sun mall is an enormous outdoor strip mall. The real heart of the festival are the concerts, the foods, the people, the costumes, and the general good cheer. Street vendors are crying out from their stands, with voices blending and blurring with their competitor just a few meters away. It was great fun.
Tues and Wed were mostly spent lounging around--it was great.
Yesterday we went hiking with two of Jori's friends. We drove a car to about 1 km in the mountains, then we took a ski-lift another 300 meters or so, and then hiked about 700 meters to finish just below 2 km. The trail was one of the most steep and difficult trails that was completely groomed that I have ever seen. Rocks and wooden planks were all very nicely placed for the hiker. That said, it had rained before we got there, and we were pretty much hiking in a cloud from the time we got off the ski-lift, so everything was very wet and slippery. With the steep slopes, they had placed a few rescue ropes here and there just in case anyone fell down the mountain side. We also passed a significant amount of snow heading up the mountain, and even had to traverse some snow our selves. This provided a lovely refrigerator effect for us, which was nice because we were all plenty warm from the acclivitous slopes we were ascending. It was a wonderful hike. The whole side of the mountain was covered in flowers that were in full bloom-yellow, white, purple, and everything in between. I can only imagine what it would have looked like if we would have been able to see for more than 10 meters.
Last night we went to Araisans restaurant for supper. This is about as top class as it gets in Japan. The food was one delicacy after another, all very ornately displayed. I think I had about 40 different kinds of food. Maybe about 15 different kinds of fish, some tofu, and a smattering of veggies. Wow, what a meal.

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Day 1

Our recent trip to Nagoya was slightly “derailed” when we found out that we could not take the shinkansen (bullet train) all the way to Nagoya, but only to Tokyo. That meant that we would have to take the 6 hour donko (very much not a bullet train) from Tokyo to Nagoya. The donko gets its name because it always goes donko, donko, donko on the tracks. We had just started along from Tokyo when we suddenly came to a stop. Somewhere on the line, there had been an accident, though we still have no idea what happened. Thus we had to wait on the train for about an hour before they cleared things up. The shinkansen would have taken us about 4 hours from Sendai to Nagoya, but instead it took us about 11 hours in total, and when you are not mentally expecting to travel 11 hours in one day, it tends to be a VERY LONG day.

I said we traveled to Nagoya that first day, but that is not quite accurate. We actually traveled to Taketoyo, which is about an hour south of Nagoya, where the Morita’s graciously gave us first class treatment for the length of our stay. Mrs. Morita had told us to come hungry (which we certainly did since we hadn’t even packed a lunch for our expected 4 hour journey), and she sure didn’t disappoint. I’m sure we had enough food on their table for 10 people, and I may well have eaten enough food to feed about 4 people. The combination of extremely good food and an extremely empty stomach is a great combination.

Day 2

The next morning we took off for Nagoya to see the expo there. The best way that I can think of describing the expo is to say that it is probably the closest thing to a modern day worlds fair. There were corporation buildings there displaying some of their latest technology, country pavilions from what appeared to be every county in the world, and all the while maintaining the theme of sustainable development for the future (I was greatly looking forward to it). Though it was about 36 degrees centigrade and 99% humidity my enthusiasm was not abated. Nor was it lessened by the average wait of 90 minutes of standing in line just to get into the buildings. (does anyone actually believe that?) The good thing was that the inside of the buildings were almost worth the wait to get in. One of the more redeeming qualities was that the Morita’s came with us. They were really cute. They would walk along slowly at times almost as if they weren’t having a good time, but then they would take off running, beckoning us to come with them quickly. This happened on two occasions. The first was to get into a building that had cars you ride on though different sorts of scenes (very Disney like). The second was to see a talking information Robot. Mrs. Morita thought this was the greatest thing in the world. You could ask it questions, and then it would answer them for you. All in all it was interesting, and at the end of the day I can say that it was worth it, but if you asked me if I would do it again, or if I would recommend it to someone else, I would hesitate to say yes.

Day 3

Mr. Morita returned to work while Mrs. Morita took us to a small town called Tokoname, which subsists almost exclusively on the production of Pottery. The entire town was a production of pottery actually. The sidewalks had shards of pottery in them, the city walls that held back the terraced land was built with rows of pottery glued together with cement, and there were no shortage of shops for us to stop at to admire the traditional Japanese pottery. Despite the heat, the trip was well worth it. That said, you can only look at pottery for so long, so we returned to the Morita’s house later that afternoon.

While waiting for Mr. Morita to return from work for supper, we discovered one of the true marvels of the region, and one that really topped both the expo and the pottery village combined. I should mention that the Morita’s are the parents of Yuki, and Ko-Ichiro, our good friends in State College, and we had learned from them that Mrs. Morita does her own weaving. So, to fill in some time we asked to see her do some weaving. Well, she showed us her huge loom, but it wasn’t currently threaded, and since there are over 200 slots to be threaded, that demonstration wasn’t going to be happening anytime soon. She did however offer to show us how she spins HER OWN THREAD, from HER OWN COTTON that SHE GROWS. It was absolutely amazing to see here pull out her own mini cotton-gin, separate the seeds from the cotton, flatten the cotton, roll the cotton, and then spin her own thread (an experience that I latter tried and accomplished myself). She then showed us some of the material that she had woven on her loom, including some that she had made literally from the ground up. As if this were not enough, she then showed us how she makes her own wool (though it was disappointing to find out that she doesn’t have her own sheep, but rather visits a local sheep herder). It was amazing.

Later that night we went to dinner at a very nice restaurant. I would say it was a 5 course meal, but that is not being entirely accurate, and really I feel as if I must be quite accurate for posterity sake. It was really a seven course meal. Mr. Morita asked if we wanted any Sake (Japanese beer/wine of sufficient potency to be used as engine degreaser). I looked wishfully at Jori in hope that we might dodge that one, but she said it would be insulting to them, so just “suck it up” and have one for the team. So, I obliged. You can see why I became nervous when we were first brought a very healthy size, or not so healthy size, stein of beer even though I had not ordered one (Mr. Morita had for me). The beer was a good, stout, Japanese beer (I wouldn’t have expected any less). Then came the sake, you could almost see the fumes of alcohol evaporating from the mug. Normally when having some of the stronger wines or whiskeys you might expect a shot glass or at the least a very petite size glass—not so on this night. Again, we received a very healthy portion. However, whereas the Morita’s joined us in the first round of beers, they did not partake in the engine degreaser elixir. I have never been pushed to my limits with alcohol, but I was convinced that tonight would be the night. Amazingly, light headed was the worst that I ended up (though I slept VERY well that night).
I must digress for a moment. Those of you who know my dad, know that if we have a family dinner or so (say pizza), he will find a way to beat everyone to the punch and pay for the pizza. Moreover, if anyone should try to insist on paying for their share, he will refuse out of generosity. The Morita’s are even more of this line. We wanted to pay for the meal since they had offered to let us stay with them for a few days and were our own personal tour guides, but they would have none of it and paid for the whole thing.

Day 4

That morning Mrs. Morita took us to the train station and we departed to Tokyo (this time mentally expecting the longer donko ride). That night we walked around in Tokyo with Jori’s high school friend Pe and also had dinner with her. Later we returned to our hotel which normally would have cost us $200, but Mrs Yoshida in Sendai has a business contact there that allows her to stay there for about $50 a night which is the price we received (we were very thankful).

Day 5

In the morning we slept in and then had lunch with Tanmi (one of our friends who had lived in State College). All I have to say about Tokyo is that it is a very big city with super inflated prices, and impersonal people. We were ready to head back to Sendai on the oh-so-very-nice shinkansen, where people are more relaxed, willing to smile, and only slightly inflated prices.

A: Beegetebie sandwhich. Q: What did you have for dinner?

The last few days have been busy. We have seen traditional Japanese dancers, eaten very good food, seen temples, friends, the ocean, etc. The weather has been mostly good, but it is getting hot and humid as we lost our good sea breeze. By the time we reached church yesterday (40 min walk) I could feel the sweat dripping down my back into the neither regions below. eeeewwwww!!!! The sun was scorching hot as well. The reason for this is that by 10 am the sun is at is full power positioned at the east/west half way point. This is a wonderful surprise at 4am when the sun first starts to rise. Even if you sleep until 7 or 8am it feels as if you have slept away half of the morning. It also means that the sun goes down at 6:30pm. So, by the time 10 or 11pm roles around, it feels very late. One of the first days we were here (the first mon), we decided to get up for a walk around the city as the sun was up (5:00am), and so were we (jet lag). I would have guessed that the people here would have adapted to the sun's rising and be busy as could be by 6am, but they still seem to wait until 8am to really hit the work day. That said, our walk was quiet, but boring as ALL of the shops (including many of the breakfast shops) didn't open until 9am or even 10am.
On Saturday we went to see some traditional dancers with Jacky and some of Jori's friends. It was quite a bit more interesting than Dutch dancing. So many colors and so many people. All of the dancing was to the beat of traditional drums and also traditional flutes (I think I just about have the beat and song memorized). Some of the food highlights include: Okonomiaki (pancake on a stick), octopus balls (mmmmm, tasty), standing up yakisoba (we stand and eat noodles). Slaughtered English was also a highlight--the above title should read vegetable sandwich--good try!!! Later on Saturday I got to experience my first round of Karaoke. All in all it was a lot of fun.
Sunday was full of worship. Both services we went to were in Japanese. The first was traditional, and the second was more lively. Both were great services, and the sermon (translation courtesy of Jori) was theologically sound. In the second service they had a lot of singing (my legs were tiring). At one point the leader stopped the singing (all in Japanese), and said something of what appeared to be of great significance. I leaned over and asked Jori. She said he said "focus and meditate on the words". oh, right. Once again, it was great to see the people of faith here. They are only a few (only 20 at the second service), but they are dedicated, and truly a church family (coffee hour lasts 1-2 hours easily). It was great.
Today (Monday) we went to Matsushima, which is a fishing village with many little islands reaching out into the Pacific Ocean. We had a boat tour, visited a temple, and walked to several of the islands (the ones connected by a bridge anyway). We also had outstanding food. I had eel for lunch, and for supper was a tasty variety of food. I think only pictures could adequately describe this, but I'll briefly try. In the top-center was tempura (fried fish and vegies). In the bottom-center was shashimi sushi (raw fish sushi), in the lower left was a salad of sorts and tofu jello. In the lower right was noodles and soup. In the middle right was a dish that is beyond description: it was like a delicate tofu paste with mushrooms and what not inside--very good. in the upper right was some sort of vegetable--maybe a cabbage of some sort. And, in the upper left was cantaloupe and water melon. All of this was served in individual dishes on a very large tray. It was so incredibly good. We ate all of this while sitting Indian style on the floor in our own private room. The entire day was courtesy of Jori's piano teacher and friend. It was very nice of them.
Tomorrow we are heading off to Nagoya, Kyoto, and Tokyo. We hope to return by Friday. Ko-Ichiro's parents are putting us up in their home in between Nagoya and Kyoto. We will likely be staying with Tanmison's parents in Tokyo on Thursday night. We are looking forward to it a lot.