Today is Japan Wal-Mart day but first we had to get there. Apparently we left right at the rush hour because we saw Tokyo’s infamous train station crowds. Our experience included the white-gloved train attendants who were prepared to shove the crowds into the trains so the doors can close. We arrived a little early [...]
Today is another busy day for us. Our first stop is the US embassy to discuss trade and other commercial issues with the diplomats here. We will be leaving a little early to have breakfast with Dr. Stapp’s friend.
There were a quite a few police along the streets leading up to the embassy. Dr. Stapp [...]
Today was the first of the three very long Tokyo days we have. It didn’t start out too well for me, we stayed up late (but not too late) just hanging out. Then I woke up at 4:30 AM instead of 7:30 AM which I set my alarm clock to and couldn’t go back to [...]
Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding’s facility was a truly impressive place. One of the things that distinguished this factory from some of the others we’ve seen is scale. The main production building is a huge, 80 year old facility. All of the tools and workspaces are is much bigger than those we’ve seen to build cell [...]
Our group has been very lucky in set of experiences we will have in Japan. We have had two very unique ones recently. Last night at 11:45 PM, there was an earthquake centered on Kameoka. It ranked a 2 out of 7 on the Japanese earthquake scale. A couple of the members in the group [...]
Today we said goodbye to our homestay families. Mine sent me off with a breakfast of curry and nan bread, a surprise for me but very tasty. Sumiko took me to the train station to meet the rest of the group. Ioku was there as well to send us off. Dr. Stapp conspired with us [...]
The morning started today with a huge breakfast served by the lady of the house, Sumiko. She lavished me with a huge western style breakfast. I, of course, ate way too much. I told her that she has added a pound to me. The thing that put me over the edge weight wise was the [...]
