More Graduation Photos

I would just like to say that although the hakama looks fantastic, it wasn't really designed for breathing in mind...

I made a trip early in the morning to Ikebukuro to pick up the hakama and have it fitted (I used http://www.maimu.co.jp/hakama/) it cost well over 25000yen to rent for the day, but it costs from around 10 times that price to buy one. It was pretty heavy and there were several layers to be tied on, including some towels which were used to wrap around the waist and give a larger fold at the back. At the place where I picked up the rental, there was one lady waiting for me, apperently there are usually 2 people to help dress you, but this lady seemed to be very effecient and it only took her 15mins to tie me into the hakama. Unfortunately she tied it rather tight, but it was sooo nice to get the thing off me in the evening.

Anyway, more photos...

Receiving the certificate.

Group photo

Outside Engineering Building 1

Sugo-san

Towhata-sensei

Miyamoto-san



Me and Tokedai (the big clock thing of Hongo campus)



Dad, mum and I at Sanshiro pond

Graduation

some taster photos... more to follow :)

Return Ticket!

Went to Shinjuku to pick up the return ticket today; paid a paltry 2040yen for the taxes...but according to the ticket the government paid 494000yen. Craziness!

The Japanese government were very nice and granted me my first choice for days to return! yippee!

Shiny Shiny Book

Mmmmmmmm...tasty. Thesis in Hardcover binding...

Was impressed at the speed at which the printers got the copies done. We (the secretary and I) handed the electronic version over to the printer man on Mondon afternoon, after making the poor guy wait 30mins for me to get the thesis on to a CD and then trying to explain that certain pages needed to be in A3 and then folded with neither the guy from the printers or the secretary understanding my english and then having to resort to very very bad Japanese - which then made me a little bit paranoid that he didnt really understand what I wanted. Anyway, the 3 shiny copies arrived this morning, with everything printed out perfectly.

Brilliant.

Harbin: Conference

A university funded trip to Harbin for the International Geotechnical Symposium, starting off with a dinner in the revolving restaurant of Dragon Tower.

Conference and more importantly: conference cakes...

Fancy dinner in the evening to follow the days fun-filled presentations which invloved the Japanese contingent going up on stage to sing a song in Japanese, which was then followed by being forced onto stage by my very enthusiastic professor insisting (on account that he did pay for our registration fee) that Aziz and I sing songs from our respective countries in some lame attempt to entertain the conference attendees (some primative form of torture I believe).

University canteen food


Getting on and off the boat for the conference organised boat trip to SunIsland Park was rather precarious. At least the ducks had some thing amusing to watch...

Despite the river being rather murky and full of river traffic, it didnt stop a mass of people from swimming in it, infact there were crowds of people (mainly men in speedos) lining the banks ready for a dip in the river. There was even one guy in a little yellow pedalo happily paddling away while being buffeted by the wake of the huge boats zipping past.

Sunsetting over the river as we at our dinner...

Applying for the ticket home

The lovely people/department of the Japanese Government who provide me with my scholarship to study here in Japan also kindly provide me with the air ticket to come here to be able to actually study here and one to go home when I have finished.

The criteria for the ticket to get here was simple enough. Although the Japanese academic year starts in April they actually allow students to enter twice a year, once with the main in take in April and again in October. As I was due to arrive for the start of the Autumn term in October 2006 the flight they arranged for me was in the first week of October on a weekday. I ended up arriving a few days into term and then was thrown straight into the enrollment process into Uni as well as the interesting procedures aliens have to go through to justify their legal existence in Japan.

Anyhoo, I'm now finally coming towards the end of the scholarship and today I had to apply for my ticket home. As it turns out the rules (Japanese LOVE rules) stipulate that I must choose a date for the return journey between the 20th and 30th of September. Which is interesting because the Univeristy of Tokyo has a regular habit of scheduling the postgraduate graduation ceremony on the 30th of September...which would make it difficult to attend and pick up that diploma. Luckily, for unknown reasons the ceremony has been recheduled for the 28th Sept this year. BUT there is still a chance that the date the government decides to send me back is before or on the graduation day. Which would be a pain. If only because I've already paid to rent some lovely fancy dress for the occasion.

The rules suggest that you dont arrange the flights for family members until you get confirmation of your flights. But I will just hope that they are nice and give me my first choice for returning home.....

The rules are as follows:

Rule for return ticket　by Monbukagakusho

●Return term: From 2009 September 20 to September 30.

In case you can not return during this term, you need the permission by Monbukagakusho before this application. (Graduation ceremony: September 28^th,2009)It is very strict rule.

●After you applied for this application, you can not change the date of your choice.

●In case you will continue your study or research work in the university of Japan, your application will be cancelled by Monbukagakusho. After your application for this return ticket, you must contact university staff immediately when you decide your plan.(except for Japan-Korean government program students)

●In case you will work in Japan, your application will be cancelled by Monbukagakusho. After your application for this return ticket, you must contact university staff immediately when you decide your plan.

●After your application, you must contact university staff immediately in any personal reason. if you do not return.

●You can not select the airline and departure time.

●The result of your application will be notified in the beginning of September 2009．After this result, it is better you book the ticket for your family.

帰国旅費申請者へ　 文部科学省ルール

●帰国日：200９年９月20日～９月30日 工学系修了式9月28日

この期間以外を希望する場合は、申請する前に、文部科学省からの許可が必要です。

●申請してから、帰国日は変更できない。

●日本の大学に進学する場合、帰国旅費は支給されない。辞退しなければいけない。

　　決まった時点で、すぐ申し出ること。（日韓プログラム生は除く）

●日本で就職する場合、帰国旅費は支給されない。辞退しなければいけない。

決まった時点で、すぐ申し出ること。

●申請してから帰国しない場合は、至急申し出ること。

●帰国する航空機会社、時間は指定できない。

●申請結果は、200９年月９上旬に知らされる。その時に変更はできない。家族がいる場合、予約結果の後

家族の分は予約すること。

Schedule

1. Application Deadline: Ask your department office in the end of July 2009. Ask the correct date at your local department office.
2. Ticket reservation: you will be notified in the beginning of September 2009.
3. Your confirmation
4. Your going to get ticket to Shinjuku Branch, The Travel Agency .

スケジュール

1. 2009年8月上旬：自分の専攻事務室へ申請する。
2. 2009年9月上旬：予約の結果が知らされる。
3. 予約確認する。
4. 新宿の支店へ、自分でチケットを取りに行く。（詳細は知らせます）

Robot in a wheelchair

There's always something odd going on around campus, usually just outside our building. from time to time you can find students using remote controls to guide a electric wheelchair (usually with another student sitting inside it), or better, using a Wiimote to do the same thing.

The other day I saw this:

I have no idea why there is a small hoist, or why they have put a robot in a electric wheelchair, but they have.

Yellow Leaves of Autumn

It's a beautiful, sunny autumn day and the leaves of the ginko trees on campus have turned a vibrant yellow (or golden - whatever you like to call it). So, here are a few photos from campus.

View of Tokadai (the clock tower of the University of Tokyo) from Seimon entrance [正門].

A view of the outside of my department, and the ancient ginko tree which stands outside.

strange things

There is a strange creature living in the shaking table experiment area (and its not the mice who find it hilarious to use the control board of the shaking table machine as a toilet facility). It attacks my recording equipment and seems to have a particular fondness for the camcorder and displacement sensors. It weaves a sticky web, which looks suspiciously like gaffer tape... I call it the gaffer-spider.

Gas Leak at Todai!

I was vaguely aware of Yamada-san (our assisant prof.) walking up and down lab shouting something...so I slid one of the ear peices of my headphones off my ear to be able to hear what he was on about - my Sennheisers [PXC250] are very good at cutting out background noise, so I can keep my music low and still not hear people talking next to me...brilliant.

Apparently, there had been a (methane) gas leak in Engineering Building 14, which is just next door to ours, and the emergency services which had probably been hanging outside the building with lights a blazing added with the traditional safety guy on a loud speaker trying to warn people of the impending doom. Yamada-san was very kindly relaying what the loudspeaker dude was annoucing in a language I could understand and we were being advised that it would be wise to evacuate any basement areas. As Yamada-san reasoned that we were now on what he calls 'free time' we could leave if we wanted or stay, but he definitely recommended the 'leaving' option. 'Go home early', 'Relax', he said. So I did.

When I wandered outside there were a lot of fire trucks with their flashing lights on and a group of guys in safety gear loitering outside Engineering building 14, with a trolley in standby. On the grassy area near our ancient Ginko tree, there was a growing crowd of people who's curiosity had gotten the better of them and were flocking to the outskirts of the scene like moths to a light.

Sugo-san - our technicial/lab practical lecturer - saw me loitering very close the the building, and tried to coax me away...telling me where I was was 'more dangerous'. Which was probably true. If it were going to blow, I'd rather be far away.

Anyway, the emergency service guys were trying to cordon off the area using 'keep out' tape. The fire engines were blocking my usual route to Seimon gate [正門], but the gate itself was still open.

I had gotten half way home when I realised I had forgotten my wallet - which is not good when you need to actually buy stuff at the supermarket...so I headed back.

In the 10mins that I had been gone, the police had been busy closing off the main road, Hongo Dori [本郷道り] which runs just beside the University (and which building 14 happens to back on to) . They had also managed to whip up about 8 people with stumpy lightsabers to redirect cars. In front of my building, Engineering Building 1, a larger crowd had amassed - consisting of evacuated people from building 14, people who had decided that it was far more interesting to watch the free entertainment from the emergency services than work in their lab from the neighbouring buildings, and people who were on their way home but got distracted by the flashing lights.

The 'keep out' tape had also moved to claim much more ground and had swallowed the ancient Ginko tree.

I'm half hoping it will explode, so that I can have an excuse for a holiday...

my first conference...

Was last Thursday, the 1st of November, at a place called Maebashi [前橋]. It was a JGS conference for all the geotechnical engineers in the Kanto province [関東], where the idea was to show everyone else what kind of research is going on in each field.

The conference started on the 31st of Oct, and ended on the 1st of November. There were 3 different presentation rooms, with each presentation + questions lasting 10mins... so, it was quick. I put myself down for a 5min presentation, just so that I could get out of there quicker...

Anyhoo, I'd written the paper whilst in Malaysia, which was fun. And I still hadn't gotten around to writing the presentation... nor was I entirely sure that what I wrote made any sense now. Obviously, it made *some* sense at the time, just that now it made less sense. Which was bad.

SO. There I was dressed up in IRONED trousers and a SHIRT [god forbid] looking like a pillock, and I headed with my laptop to somewhere outside of Tokyo...starting from Shinbashi station [新橋] I then went to Tokyo station [東京] and got on the Shinkansen [新幹線] to Takasaki [高崎] THEN on to a local train to Shinmaebashi [新前橋]. I got to the station and took the first sensible exit out of the station (with a vague recollection of the map - which looked very easy to get to the hall - you know, walk straight for two blocks and it's on your left....that kind of thing]. Anyway, I walked long enough to find out that it didn't look anything like the map. So I wondered in to what looked like a reception for a small University...and asked the people at the reception if they knew where the place was; showing them a very badly written name of the place I was trying to get to, which I copied off the internet. Worryingly, they had never heard of the place, and as this looked like a very small town, it was NOT a good sign. I was relieved to hear that I was at least a vaguely the right address. Just on the wrong side of the station. SO. I tottered back over from whence I came, made my way over the bridge over the train tracks... and now I was on the right side of the railway, the place was much easier to find.

So, I've managed to get to the right building, and following the signs in kanji, I go upstairs to register, which is a bit of a linguistic trauma, as they don't speak English... This resulted in a lot of giggling, which then descended (much to my concern that I had done something wrong) into laughter from the ladies that were trying to 'help' me. So, I do with pointing at my name on the list. I then get a goody bag containing the papers of the conference and a name tag holder thing... and only after seeing a couple of people, do I realise that I'm meant to write my name and University on it...

I loiter until the session before my session finishes, and then sneak into the hall. I see my Lab mates, who blank me... probably busy...

I manage to load up my presentation to the laptop, and then we head for lunch. Which was traumatic....well, traumatic for Ivan, who was displeased with the service at the canteen on the ground floor...and then even more agitated when they finally did serve him and told him there was no more of what he wanted.

When lunch was over, I went back to the presentation room to dissolve slowly in a chair... waiting for my turn. I tried to listen to the other presentations, but it was a bit hard, as they were in Japanese. So, I just looked at the pictures and guessed.. occasionally, opening my electronic dictionary to translate the odd word. Then, 'OOoooOooooh' my turn... So, I attempt to saunter up to the podium...well, laptop. Click on the right document (it's the only one in English) and then START....errrrr....well I would have done IF I could find the start presentation button, which definitely wasn't in the usual place... and everything else was in Japanese!!! I then, stood there like a lemon, waving the mouse about hoping that something would happen...nothing. Then one of the ladies sitting near the front popped up to save me.

I waffled on for 5mins. Everyone looked very confused...probably the same look that I had on my face during the Japanese presentations. Then, questions. From one person (better than none - which usually happens for English presentations)...which I answered with NO skill... again reiterating my 'lemon' status.

After attempting to listen to the rest of the presentations, I then promptly left to try and escape back to Tokyo. Not before bumping into my Professor; who didn't seem too dissapointed at my performance... in fact he seemed very happy. But pointed out 2 things:
1. I had apparently said that I was a 'Assistant Researcher' on my title page; on account of copy and pasting some kanji...OOooops
2. Gals stands for Galileo and hence demands a capital G. I never knew that.

Anyway, I'm still alive. Which is good for me and bad for you.

FINALLY ! Strain Gauges Arrive

I ordered these strain gauges over TWO months ago, well in advance of my stint on the shaking table, 40 of the little cretins arrived a month ago [3m cords]...I was a bit confused because I'd ordered 120 of the buggers, and to receive a small box of only 40 left me a bit bemused. Apparently, the rest would arrive 'later'...errr...how much later? 'a few weeks, I suppose'.

A few weeks MY ARSE!

I specifically ordered 'OFF-THE-SHELF' models, on the account that they would be quicker. A month MAX... and that was meant to be for the bespoke gauges, with the fancy coatings, full water-proofing, invisible force fields and all that jazz. 'OFF-THE-SHELF', 'Off-The-SHELF', 'Off the SHELF'. How hard can it possibly be to find something off a shelf, solder on lead wires (of standard length) and then post the bastards to me?!?! 2 months of pure and unadulterated Japanese inefficiency...fucking A! Well done.

The last 80 (with the more sensible and practical, 5m lead wires) arrived this very afternoon, into my grubby little paws. After, might I add, I'd just finished setting all my existing instrumentation into place in my last...yes last experiment of the current run. The next run starts after I return from Malaysia. In which time, I need to have pasted all 80 gauges on to their respective pipes, calibrated them, setup the logging files, analysed my data from the tests which I have just performed, written a short conference paper for the JGS... and all before HRH gets here.

On the bright-side, I'm busy. Which, I'm loving. I'm getting physical exercise from moving all the sand into and out of my box. I'm getting data. This is all fantabulous.

Right. I need to go to bed. stuff to do.

Small Flies Farm

Just a quick photo of our combustibles bin in our lab....

"Small Flies Farm; Be careful, do not disturb them. (high rate of growth)"

We'd been watchin the small fruit flies amass around our lovely, decomposting, combustibles bin for a while now, but we hadn't really gotten to the stage of doing anything about it. Then yesterday, Kawano and Ramin strode past me; with an air of determination and purpose holding a cannister each. They very announced that they were going to 'Deal with fly situation'.

However, I don't think Seda was very impressed and so she put a sign on the bin...

coffee break

We have a communal coffee/lunch/white board/disscussion area, which also includes manga graphic novels, tapes on learning to speak english, an alcoholic 'O-miyage' shelf, a mah-jong set, a TV and a playstation. There has been the recent addition, due to popular demand from mainly Ivan and heavily supported by Daniel and Ramin, of a coffee maker.


Here's a blurry photo of Ramin and Ivan diligently demonstrating what coffee breaks are...

This is the Russian looking very happy with his coffee maker and more importantly a freshly brewed cup of the stuff...

They've been spending the past month asking if I want a cup of coffee, and finally gave in yesterday after lunch. I never realised but coffee drinking forces Daniel to eat ice cream... I don't know why...

Anyway, here's Daniel with his ice cream and coffee and Ivan again.

Lab on a Sunday...

SO, after my 2 lab demonstrations, Amin and I shovelled out all the sand and cleaned out the box of sand...just in time for the little gathering of everyone who helped with the May Festival Open Day...about 6 of us.

Beer and snacks were provided by Sensei, who also sat down to have a little drink with us to celebrate the days achievements.

Which was great; if only because I found out that Sensei was hoping for more of the Todai students to get infected by the measels outbreak which seems to be sweeping through Japanese University's, which has shut down several large uni's (think Waseda was one of them). Anyway, Sensei was rather dissapointed to hear that the infection rate at Todai was so low. Which i found hilarious, but hey, he's a busy man; if the students are too sick to come in and they have to close uni to prevent spread of the disease then he doesn't have to teach, THEN he can have more time to do the million of other things which are on his 'should have done this last week' list...

May Festival

You may notice it's a Sunday. Sunday is part of the Weekend. Usually on weekends wayway is not in lab, but this Sunday is special as it's May Festival and wayway has to go in and run shake table tests so that people may watch and go 'OOooooooooh'; which would be easier if wayway actually knew what she were doing 1.) with the experiment, 2.) with the shake table.

Apparently every May the University of Tokyo holds a open festival; to celebrate how amazing they are. In honour of this the departments open up to the public to show them what people do in each department and lab. It's all terribly exciting. And I was just allowed to pop outside to scavange some lunch and the campus is positively bustling with people there is a real party atmosphere going on. There are food stalls lining the campus pavements all the way to the tokeidai (the big symbolic clock of Todai) and infront of the tokeidai itself there is some monsterous stage with a full-on light show going on behind and band rocking their hearts out. Over near the pond there is pop music blasting out an aload of people perched on a rather steep grass verge watching a bunch of dancers mill about before their next show, there are queues of people to see the University Choir do a special May Festival Performance. Families with young children, groups of school kids are all mingling about; and i'm not sure why but i've seen several people in fancy dress:
1) humungus transvetite (looked about 40) in a sailor-type school uniform and
2) a guy in a suit with his hair dyed and styled, and makeup to look like a manga character.

It's all very strange.

Definitely not like any open day I've ever been to in the UK. When they say festival, they really mean a festival.