The End

The voyage draws to a close.
As always, paradoxically, looking back it feels like more than the real duration (2 months), but I can't believe its gone so fast.
And equally predictable, I've just begun to really have fun, feel comfortable, discover the nightlife of Nagoya, and meet people.
While I haven't always felt compatible, the trip as a whole, and my stay in Japan in particular, has been fascinating, enriching and well worthwhile.
See most of you soon at my surprise welcome home party :-)


Kyoto and Nara
Weekend before last I went to Kyoto and Nara with Bob, Eyal, and a horses head.

Kyoto and Nara

Some final pictorial thoughts

Everything is in order, for example, in the cafeteria, the potato chips are weighed to ensure precise quantities. And these men in uniform straighten the bikes all day:

From japan2

I told you they sleep in the labs:

From japan2

Last weekend Kenji took me to an Onsen (hot spring) in the mountains, with snow and everything.

The great man himself, Kineneneneji:

From japan2

Pre Onsen:

From japan2

Then I went to the port. See the weekend photos (about 10 of them) in the second half of Japan2 album:

japan2

A lot about not much

Serendipity
Its Tokyo. Its the morning. I had very tentative arrangements with Karen for later that night, and set out to explore the city. A series of random choices led me to Harajuku, where I bumped into her - out of 12 million people. This happened with adam in London as well, just looked up and there he was sitting opposite me on the train.

thats her there:

From tokyo

Geijin Rant
Question: what does an 'Eggplant and Oregano' pizza have on it?
....
....
Answer: Eggplant and bacon (no oregano).

Question: what does a vegetable sandwich have?
....
Answer: meat, and slightly more vegetables than the other sandwich.

Question: what is a vegetarian sausage?
Answer: I didn't bother to find out.

ok ok ok ok, so i'm the minority.
but WHY is there a need to add meat to absolutely everything to make it officially 'food'?

i can rely on this chocolate mousse (Hershey's josh, Hershey's), and so i have had to eat a lot of them. its been very difficult.



(left/top is for the chocolate focused individuals, right/bottom is for the ppl focused)


Daily Happenings
got a haircut finally. was difficult to find somewhere that a) had clippers, b) didn't want to wash my hair. not only that, but i had to buy the haircut from a vending machine, while the guy was standing right next to me. then i handed him the ticket. the vending machine even had a flashing light, so it was a robot as of the official definition (IRRC, june 2002, see Fernandez et. al).
also, he spent a long long time meticulously trimming and perfecting the area around my ears and sideburns.
this was a microcosm for life in japan. see my brain for more information.


Non-sequitur
they love jingles here. and they are so damn good.


Eye on japan
if you don't have dressing on your salad, people will worry that you aren't enjoying it as much as you could be, and are prone to fuss around rectifying the situation.
this is a good thing.