Meeting the lab and a view of Tokyo

A bunch of Funakubo-sensei’s group had been off at a synchrotron x-ray source last week doing in situ experiments so I did not get to meet them. Because of this they also waited to have a welcome party. Miyu-san made the arrangements at a restaurant that does all you can drink for 2hrs at a flat rate. That said it was not like we were pounding drinks but we did drink quite a bit. Apparently these types of places are pretty common here. They also just kept seemingly bringing out food but I am guessing it was selected beforehand or there was a set course. It was a good time and I asked everyone for their names and a hobby (I have been having a really hard time with Japanese names and I feel terrible about it). After our time ran out and we finished up a few of us headed out for another drink. Its traditional to get the same thing your guest gets to drink (or whoever orders first?) which I forgot so everyone got whiskey straight. haha. luckily we had water with ice too so after i said it was ok, some added ice. :) We couldn’t stay out too late cause we needed to catch the last train and luckily I said something when I did, cause Kodai-san and I did catch the last one just barely.

Side note my selfy game is weak.

Most of the week was collecting a small amount of data then figuring out how to analyze it. I have been trying to use my computer and python for all my analysis that way I can still work with my data when I get back to the states. By the time I am done I might be close to having a basic XRD analysis program I can package up and make open for others to use. I did get to swing by Sekky’s bike shop, Fat Wrench. It a really cool little space and a hangout spot for a bunch of local messengers. I hope to have time during the weeks to go hang there more. He also had a bike that I could rent for the summer! I am so stoked to have wheels!

That weekend, well Saturday, was packed full. Saturday morning I went into the office to take out a sample and run another one, that takes 5hrs so I took a nap, I mean come on its Saturday. Then I quickly stopped by my apt and hopped on my bike to go meet up with Kamrie, Kasia, Emil, and Steve. They were headed to Ueno, an awesome park with a zoo and museum, sadly we didn’t get there early enough for either to be worthwhile. While I tried to find the crew I ran in to some other JSPS fellows who we would meet up with again later and then much later. In the park was a few shrines and a cool vender space.

It had been overcast all day but the sky magically had cleared up and it was approaching sunset, so we thought we should see about getting really high. Not Mary Jane she is not looked kindly on here and as such is prohibitively expensive, not that where we went is cheap. SkyTree is the tall sight seeing building in Tokyo kinda like the Space Needle it even looks similar. Tokyo tower used to be the spot but then they build this thing. For about 2,000yen ($20) you can go to 350m (1,150ft) for another 1,000yen you can goto 450m (1,475ft). we thought 350m was enough and wow the view was amazing.

So then it was off to polo (16km away). My host family was meeting me there because they wanted to check it out. Sadly I wasn’t thinking and didn’t get a picture with them. I was a good night of polo and we stopped at tye combini after to grab a beer or 2 as is customary.

I then got in touch with Emil, he was out doing karaoke with the folks I kept running into earlier. The almost 20km ride was nice because it had finally cooled off and then when i got there Emil’s gos was messing up and put me 3blocks away. it took us like 20min to figure out. Karaoke was fun and if you have never done a private room style its worth the while. Then it was off to a club. The place we ended up at was interesting (weird music combo and mostly middle aged women) but stayed until 5am, everyone else kinda had too because of being able to catch the first trains. You could tell the normal crowd thought we were weird but eventually we ended up talking with some and one guy in our group got danced with. haha

I biked home in the morning and ended up sleeping most of Sunday away, oh well.