Wild western weekend

Gah bureaucracy, I’m getting pretty tired of it. The hustle and bustle of Japanese business and industry, and the insane work ethic coupled to it, is not due to high efficiency and a desire to progress. No. It’s because we spend 80% of our bloody time doing paper work.  Seriously I think the Japanese only work such ungodly hours because they spend half their daytime either in meetings or filling out forms.

It’s taken me over a week to sort out getting parts shipped back to the UK for my research, every time I think I’m done a new form gets thrust in my face. This people is the true reason Japanese business men spend all their time in work, even though there are like a billion and one secretaries, who in fairness do a great job, they’re just appears to be a disproportionate amount of admin behind every trivial action.

Alright rant over onto more interesting stuff. The coming week myself and my group will be performing more experiments at the synchrotron., so I decided to pack in some interesting things before I had to brutalize my body clock by working said ungodly hours.

First off I heard about an interesting meeting that was happening in Kobe. It was a joint workshop between Spring8, where I work, and the Centre for Developmental Biology (CDB), the Riken campus in Kobe. The premise of the meeting was to bring together the scientists who would be providing the hardware for biological imaging (Spring8), and those who could provide interesting targets (CDB). It also gave me an excuse to go off site, something I’m always willing to do.

So I was up early Tuesday morning and on the now all too familiar Shinki bus to Aioi. I am admittedly getting rather fed up of the tinny, electronic female voice constantly telling me about the next stop (“tsugi wa tekuno kuo, tekuno kuo desu”) followed by the even more annoying English announcer.  In fairness I can understand why its necessary as the Japanese seem to have a rather frequent tendency to fall asleep on public transport, something I’m sure would lead to getting robbed in some parts of the UK.

I won’t bore you with the details of the train ride to Kobe but the trip to CDB was a bit more interesting. The CDB is located in an area of Kobe called “ポートアイランド”or port island. This is the larger of two completely artificial Islands constructed off the coast of Kobe to maximize the limited land in the area.  On the Island itself are, amongst other things, some nice parks, many scientific facilities and, rather bizarrely, an Ikea.

To get there you have to take an over-ground monorail called the port liner. It was pretty fun actually the views were pretty good due to the nice weather and it was nice to see Kobe from another angle. The CDB institute was actually at the far end of port Island so I got to see a good portion of it as I rode the port liner. The parks look interesting and I believe there are a few museums here to. Deffo a good place to visit when I have more time I think.

The CDB institute itself was very impressive, about 7 stories high and from what I could tell full of many interesting labs and facilities. Sadly I couldn’t get a tour, I was here for work. The workshop itself was actually a bit of a disappointment. Attendance was very poor from the Kobe institute, frustrating since we’d made the effort to come all the way over here, and they seemed to have a very limited understanding of our work or why we were here.

Now considering the same company, Riken, owns both these institutes I was a bit shocked. Talking with my boss Dr. Song on the train on the way back though it seemed sadly this isn’t a new thing. Apparently collaboration is still a bit of a dirty word in Japan, they are trying but many of the older generation of scientists are loathe to share their work. This is something that needs o change though, especially with work on the scale that we are hoping to perform.

So the following day was another all day conference, remember what I said previously about meetings? This was a very informative and relevant one in fact. We were going to be discussing the design of a sample chamber to be used on the new XFEL, which will be called MAXIC (Multi Application X-ray Imaging Chamber). The Japanese love this name as it actually sounds very similar to Magic when said with their accent.

I can’t say much more than that unfortunately due to afore mentioned reluctance to share ideas. It was an interesting meeting though, but long. I actually took the opportunity try something only released in Japan, Pepsi dry, apparently less sweet for the more mature pallet or something. It was rubbish in all honesty, tastes like smart-price or Tesco value coke. I definitely won’t be trying it again. It is one of the many examples of western business catering to eastern tastes.

Ok now for the exciting news. The XFEL has finally lased, hurray. Ok that may not men much just yet but I’ll explain. The L part of XFEL stands for you guessed it, laser. Now in order to produce an XFEL you need a really powerful electron beam, which we have, and a really powerful X-ray beam, which we also have. The tricky part is these two need to be perfectly aligned, their angles can only diverge by micro-radians (μrad). One μrad is about 0.03 degrees, so we are talking about some hefty fine-tuning here.

When this is done however the beam will become coherent, all the waves will oscillated in tandem, causing a massive expansion in both brightness and intensity. The scientists at Spring8 achieved this for the first time on Tuesday the 7^th and this was definitely time for celebration. The whole facility came together for a few speeches and drinks to toast the major success “Kanpai”. This is of course Japan so this milestone was celebrated for maybe 30 minutes before everyone headed back to work, there was paper work to do dammit.

The rest of the week was spent preparing for our experiments commencing on Tuesday so I’ll skip ahead to the weekend. It started off with a nice surprise actually, I received a new T-shirt from my climbing buddies in Liverpool (cheers Jane and Sian), and some desperately needed HP sauce, ta mum. Sometimes home comforts are just what you need and my frustration with the Japanese system was a bit high just then.

Earlier in the week Arnaud had asked if I’d like to join him and a colleague named Stratos (I think I’m so bad with names) to go and see pirates of the Caribbean in Himeji. Hell yes I was in. Admittedly I wasn’t overly excited about the film, the last 2 were so bad, but then I hadn’t been the cinema in ages and I was missing the experience. Also this incarnation of POTC was missing two key annoyances, namely Orlando “was a good wood elf cos he’s a tree” Bloom and Keira “Sure she can act but she can’t give a speech” Knightly. That could only be an improvement.

Before the film we decided to go get lunch. After much faffifing that for once I was not the cause of, we settled on matsu-ya, which is a kind of Japanese fast food joint that does “kare raisu”. Looking at the menu I realized I might have a tough time figuring out what I could eat, and given we only had 20 minute to the film I decided there wasn’t time and copped out.

Instead I went to subway. Score one for the western world at least we know how to make a sandwich. It was actually still an interesting experience, there were subtle differences to the subway I knew and love. For one the bread selection is fairly limited, they only had traditional, wheat, honey oat and sesame. Also the salad is a little different, no olives or jalepenos, but instead spring onion and broccoli. I think, though I didn’t check, some of the Italian meats also weren’t present but you could get avocado, egg and prawns instead.

I went for a simple egg butty and picked one of the sauces, there were a lot more to choose from, I think it was spicy tomato. Back to the cinema I went then and with just enough time to grab some mikan juice and Peanut flavored candied “Imo” (sweet potato) from a hundred yen shop. The cinema was rammed as always with a mass of crazy merchandising at the entrance. They do love to merchandise over here.

The film wasn’t half bad actually. We watched it in 3D though it wasn’t particularly necessary. One thing 3D does amazingly well though is subtitles, they are in a different plane to the action, which is great when you want to ignore them, as was the case for me. It was interesting to watch a film when you are the only member of the audience for whom English is your first language. I found myself laughing a fair bit more than everyone else and had an interesting time trying to explain the “Churn the butter” euphemism to Strados.

On the way back to the train we swung by another 100yen shop as I needed a sieve so I could wash rice properly. Whilst inside we browsed through the snack section, Arnaud pointed out some of his favorites and I showed him some of mine. He was impressed by the amount of stuff I’d tried considering I’m allergic to half the things on the shelves. I try not to be picky about what I eat since I’m constrained in so many ways, what’s the point in restricting myself further. If I can eat it I will try it.

 

All in all it was a very normal day and to be honest just what I’ve been needing. On the trip back the three of us had a massive geek out and started talking about video games. Turned out the Stratos was a big fan of some of the classic Ps2 games and was a fan of action platformers like me. We had a great little chat about perspectives in game play and what was more realistic, first person or the over the shoulder third person. I think it’s a moot point but it was fun all the same.

Sunday saw the return of the rain but luckily a rather large portion of it was spent indoors. I was again spending the day with Sam and Arnaud. I know right who would ever think a Brit would willingly spend time with the French? Seriously though forget stereotypes these guys are both straight up nice and I’ve really enjoyed getting to know them.

We got to Aioi with plenty of time before the train to Kakogawa, our destination for the day as it was the location of another climbing gym. This meant we had plenty of time to grab some scran so we went to a ramen-ya recommended by Arnaud. It looked really nice but for fear that Ramen would sit too heavy on our stomachs we opted for some “cha su-donburi” and some gyoza and “kara-age” or Japanese fried chicken. Sadly the cha su was more like ham and was topped with rather lackluster kimichee, but then it was cheap so I shouldn’t expect too much. The gyoza and chicken were lovely though so I’d like to try this place again and buy some ramen next time.

Suitably fuelled up we boarded the train for Kakagowa. The plan was to meet up ith my friend Yuko and Arnaud’s friend, funnily enough called Yuko, and head over to the Gym. We arrived just on time and found Yuko by the ticket gates. She had been having a bit of a crazy week learning how to teach some new classes in her gym but was still as animated as ever.

Just as we left the station the good old unpredictable weather struck. It had been lovely in the morning which I’m guessing was the reason why Sam had left the house in just some shorts and a t-shirt. It started tipping it down, for the nth time since I’ve been here. It doesn't rain that often but when it does it’s intense and last generally the rest of the day. Myself, Arnaud and Yuko all had brollies and raincoats at the ready. I guess being from the UK has it’s perks, I’m ready or rain.

The gym itself was actually part of a shop rather than being a dedicated climbing gym. It was small but like rock garden made very efficient use of the space. In fact I’d say the problems were a little better lade out, though the crowding could sometimes make moves a bit tricky. I think this place was fairly popular as it filled up quickly. It was never too much of a problem though there were a few close calls as an errant boulderer fell from the holds and nearly squashed poor Yuko.

Sam was fairly new to the whole thing though he seemed to have a good go at it, gotta love enthusiasm. Arnaud on the other hand was pretty proficient. I get the impression he’s good at any sport he tries. I had fun trying to match him on some problems but in the end he was just stronger and fitter than me. I’d also knacked my finger again playing basketball earlier in the week, much to my frustration, and admittedly I didn’t shut up about it.

After about an hour or so we were all pooped and so sat down to res for a bit Arnaud friend Yuko spoke very little English and I think really struggled ith my accent, I’m not the easiest person to understand. I can’t wait till I’m more fluent and can converse as freely as I’d like. I guess the key is just to keep practicing really. Working with mostly Koreans this is of course quite difficult but I resolve to take any chance I can get.

About three hours after we’d arrived we decided to head back. Yuko, the Yuko I’d invited, said she had to get back to her Gym in Umeda for 8pm and so needed to get a train soon. The weather had not improved, in fact it had gotten worse, so tired and now wet we traipsed back to the station. Sam suggested we go get a drink, and Arnaud suggested a nearby Mr. Donut.

 

Everyone looked at me as chances were low I could eat anything. I’m not bothered though, I’m getting pretty used to it now, and rather than be awkward I told them to go, I could find something I could eat surely. Sadly no but I settled on a melon soda. Not the best but a wonderful shade of luminous green that I’m sure is doing wonders to my insides.

Donuts and drinks finished up we said goodbye to Yuko and then mooched around in the station for another 20 minutes before our train arrived. Arnaud and Sam had found a bakery and gleefully went to check it out. I guess you just can’t keep the French from their baked goods. I went to a nearby conbini to grab a snack and got this innocuous looking mochi, which I sadly didn’t noticed contained “クリム”, stomach fail again.

I also snapped a picture on one of the many quirky flavors of Kit-kat on offer here. This one is “zunda” flavor a type of green soybean from Fukushima and I’m led to believe a portion of the profits from their sale will go to aid victims of the earthquake.

Arnaud and Sam were rather pleased with their purchase of some pretty nice looking French bread. Equally interesting was the paper in which the bread was packaged. It had some fake articles written on it in French, or at least a Japanese impression of French. They had a good giggle over it, I guess it’s the same for me with the various examples of “Engrish” I see about the place.

All in all it can be tough being a stranger in a strange land. Some things have finally been getting to me, mostly the whole excuse of “that's just not how its done in Japan.”  I’m all for integration but sometimes it’s been really frustrating me. It’s nice to have made some friends who can sympathize and have, or are going through similar experience, it’s making t all the more bearable.

Mata Jikan mina-san.