My Saturday started a little slow. Slept in till lunch time today. Batteries fully charged, but decided to take it easy today. Get some light coding/writing done and that’s about it for work I guess.
Every now and then I browse through my photo library. Take a look at where I’ve been, what I’ve done, who I’ve met. A picture is worth a thousand words and this particular one is no different. It is extremely safe to take a nap in public Japan.
Left rainy Tokyo and am now in sunny Sendai again for a 2 day seminar. Sendai is a very popular city for holding conferences and seminars. It’s not my first time here because of work. I always enjoy being in Sendai though. Located just under 2 hours by Shinkansen north of Tokyo, she’s ranked quite high on my list of favorite cities in Japan. The weather is great, the girls are cute and gyutan yummy. ^^.
Have you been to Sendai?
After visiting Odawara Castle, I spent the rest of that weekend at a Japanese inn (ryokan) and hot spring (onsen) in Hakone. Yukata, obi, towels and hand towels. Just some of the things you’ll definitely see at every ryokan and onsen.
Yukatas are provided for guests and it’s expected that while you’re there, you put that on. Easy to get in and out of when you go for a dip in the hot springs. I used to think nothing special of changing into yukata at onsens. But recently, the process of getting out of my everyday wear at onsens is becoming quite relaxing. Something almost ritualistic.
I’m surrounded by Japanese samurai and I’m holding a centuries old pistol. I don’t know why, but that samurai in red standing right behind me handled it to me just before the photo was taken. Spoke with a few of them and found out that most of the home-made prop armor you see are made from cardboard! Each set took about 6 months to make.
These guys appear every Sunday at Odawara Castle. You know, to add some color and entertain the tourists, people like myself. ^^.
The road up Mount Tateshina begins here as we left the comfort of our abode. The last mountain I climbed was Mt. Fuji and that took many long and sweaty hours. Standing at just a little more than 1000m shorter than Mt. Fuji, from this elevation, Mt. Tateshina didn’t look like it’ll be that much easier to conquer.
So last weekend, I was out in the Japanese countryside (Nagano) with my research lab. It was a long weekend and we had plans to do sports Saturday, Sunday and Monday. We stayed over at the university lodge in Tateshina.
Climbing Mt. Fuji was, in a word, veryveryverytough. The view from the top though, simply spectacular. I’ve been meaning to make the climb ever since I came to Japan. Been meaning to do it for 5 years now. So why now? I went on the 8th night, a day after I submitted my doctoral dissertation. It felt like the perfect time, a now-or-never situation. And so, I went.
Not on my MSc either 
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