Cyberwizzards World – Page 10 – A place where random things are at home

Thundering Silence

To cover the silence I’ll post something on here right now (at gunpoint from my sister). Thanks to the right down crap internet (or rather no internet at all most of the time) I was forced to stop uploading pictures to my site and upload stories as well. Not to worry, most of the adventures of the idiot in Japan are safely stored on this computer but I now finally have the time to finish writing the stories and adding pictures to them (it helps to actually move them from the camera to the computer – d0h).

Right now I’m finishing up last weeks things and hopefully I’ll be able to post the stories from Hiroshima onwards within a day. Actually I’m typing this from my hotel chamber which has no internet connection as well (sigh). We found a Yahoo internet cafe at the 3rd floor though so with a bit of luck I’ll be able to upload at least this message.

On a side note: the raptor above is not a mockup toy but a real walking mecha – if you wanna find out more stay tuned ^_^.

Tags from, gunpoint, here, not_ok, now, post, right, silence, sister, something, thundering

Japan Blog Study Tour

Little Boy

Today (Sunday) we went to Hiroshima on a culture day. We jumped on the Shinkansen (Nozomi number 5) to Hiroshima from Kyoto. One of the group had a GPS system for cycling which can show the current speed and other statistics and we clocked the train at a top speed of 303 km/h. At that speed we found a smoking booth between two trains. So after we bought some coffee from a nice young lady on board, we checked out the smoking booth. After some hilarious situations in a small booth with 2 cups of coffee and cigarettes (taking sudden corners at 300km/h is dangerous for people in the vicinity with open mugs) we arrived after 1,5 hours at Hiroshima.

Tags blog, boy, day, japan, little, not_ok, study, sunday, today, tour, went

Japan Blog Study Tour

Temples and cold feet

The next morning was really really cold. Everything besides sleeping quarters is unheated so with temperatures around the freezing point it was a rude awakening (and getting up at 5:30 in the morning is a rough wake up – period). Somehow somebody managed to throw a pillow (filled with grains or something) through one of the paper walls – oops. But we were allowed to take part in the morning ceremony of the temple none the less. The high priest of the temple led the ceremony and afterwards we all got a divine blessing from him (perhaps I should have had him bless my teeth instead of the trip and flight) and we had breakfast. I ditched the misu soup and the rice and went for the fruit salad and tea (yes, shoot me). After a while some monk came in telling us that there was coffee: within seconds the eating hall was deserted.

Tags and, blog, cold, feet, freezing, japan, not_ok, study, temples, the, tour

Japan Blog Study Tour

Ninjas and temples

Friday was another culture break as we went to Kyoto where a guide would take us on a tour through a ninja house (actually a daimyo inn). Instead of one we guide, we found 3: three female students who are volunteering took us on a tour. One one side we get a guided tour and on the other they can practice their English. The result was pretty amazing: all of them had an almost flawless accent and their English was very good.

Once in the ninja house, we were told we are not allowed to make pictures with out cameras to protect the building from the flash as its over 400 years old. Any attempt to explain that me and Sebastiaan could take pictures without flash didn’t help. Also you are not allowed to touch anything inside besides the floor and the stairs (yes, really) and we had a pretty grumpy guide who was pretty strict with those rules.

Tags and, blog, house, japan, ninja, ninjas, not_ok, study, temples, through, tour

Japan Blog Study Tour

Castles and students

Today (Wednesday) we had another freaking early start and a decent night sleep thanks to the quick dinner the night before (thanks to the McDonalds, which saves a heck of a lot of time to find a joint that serves food we like). We headed out to Himeji using the Skinkansen (high speed train). After a short ride which had a peak speed of 275km/h, we arrived at Himeji and we walked to the castle.

The castle is build on a hill / small mountain and the top of the castle is made out of wood (instead of stone like the European ones) and is surrounded by big walls and various courtyards. The entire complex is so large that after 2.5 hours we only saw the courtyards leading up to the castle and the castle itself and nothing of the walls surrounding it (only from a distance).

Tags and, blog, castles, had, japan, not_ok, students, study, today, tour, wednesday

Japan Blog Study Tour

Old-skool…

Today is Saturday for me and all hell broke loose when my tooth broke off (again). The tooth broke years ago in a fight (which I got pulled into) and it got glued back on which worked great: came of twice since then which is acceptable. However, today we were visiting a temple in Nara (not the the one we slept in but I’ll post that later on) but the biggest wooden temple in the world.

Tags apan, blog, japan, not_ok, old, skool, study, today, tour, visiting, were

Japan Blog Study Tour

Fifth day

Today we visited Nara again. Last time the weather was crap (rain) and other things were a bit off. This time however, the weather was brilliant: sunny, 12 degrees and we even got a station guard to walk us half-way to NEC. NEC has an awesome building but we weren’t allowed to make pictures. So I didn’t. Only when nobody looked.

Anyway, we had some cool tech demos about robots which interact with humans (think Aibo, think small toy-like gremlin, think way expensive), a door with lcd’s in them (I want one of those) and telecommunication walls with HD video links between different buildings. The lunch was decent, although pretty cold but that is probably because the kitchen chef never made a western meal like that. After the visit, we were greeted by a fleet of taxis out side NEC. Apparently someone noticed we were running late and they had called every cab in Nara to the NEC building. After the drivers had their fun with the fact that we probably are twice their length they brought us to NTT Communications Lab.

Tags again, blog, day, fifth, japan, nara, not_ok, study, today, tour, visited

Japan Blog Study Tour

Visiting the first companies

Post author By cyberwizzard
Post date February 14, 2008
No Comments on Visiting the first companies

Today (3rd day) we have visited 2 companies. Omron and NAIST. Omron makes nanotech electrical components like miniature fiber-optics and face recognition software. Omron has a nice building and they do some cool stuff but they work pretty much on a practical side: they have a problem and they develop a solution.

Like I said before, 2 of the group became sick from last nights food and they became ill while we were on the move: Ronald decorated the floor of the bus and Erik spectacularly demonstrated the acoustics of the Omron building. As we walked outside the open balcony of the Omron building our tour guide (pretty Japanese girl) explained how they worked in an open workspace and people came outside for fresh air or to smoke a cigarette in piece and quiet. She barely had said that when Erik hurled towards the nearest fire escape and demonstrated the echoing of the balcony haven. The look on the poor girls face when she realized what was going on was priceless.

Tags blog, companies, first, guide, japan, not_ok, pretty, study, the, tour, visiting

Japan Blog Study Tour

Cultural clash

When we first got in Japan we noticed how freaking clean Japan is. Almost no cigarettes on the floor, no cans, no nothing. Also no graffiti or markings on bus chairs or anything. I heard that rebelling youth is simply locked up in their room for 6 months to make the point that its not accepted here.

Just like those vending machines that are everywhere. And I mean EVERYWHERE. On each street corner, on stations in dark alleys even in a Shinto temple. The upside is that whenever you are thirsty you can get a drink when you want. It also costs nothing: 80 to 160 yen for normal to fancy drinks. That’s 55 euro cents to 1 euro for a drink you buy at a dutch kiosk (if you can find one in a 3km radius) and you can choose from more options than a normal dutch supermarket has.

Tags are, blog, clash, cultural, ever, japan, not_ok, study, tour, when, you

Japan Blog Study Tour

High and mighty…

Like I posted a few days back, the 2nd day had a better start than the ending of the previous day. Even though we didn’t sleep much, it still helped a lot. Also, the weather was nice, with a clear sky and temperatures in the sun that made a coat obsolete. After the morning briefing we headed for the diner next door from the hotel. The diner uses a vending machine which has a button for each meal: you insert money, choose the meal you want and give the ticket to one of the staff. After some careful scrutinizing of the menu card I finally found something that looked pretty safe: something with egg and chicken.

As the breakfast took longer than expected, we left the diner 15 minutes late. Because it was a holliday in Japan – National Foundation Day – we headed for the Umeda Sky Building, one of the tallest buildings in Osaka consisting of two towers that are connected at the top where the Floating Garden Observatory is.

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