#cleanstuff

June 12, 2012

Today, the sun greeted me good morning at around 6:20. Took a shower, and went down to eat at 7:15AM. 

The breakfast buffet was the same thing. So to make our morning interesting, Alex decided to try some Nato. It's some sort of super sticky soybean that's rich in protein.

"I don't think I want to eat this." 

"Try it anyway."

Around 7:45pm we left for work. The clouds were darker than usual but the scenery was still nice. So being a hardcore toursit, I took a photo. 

雨がふるそうですね。（Looks like it's going to rain）

Japanese trains arrive precisely on time on very short intervals. Naturally, taking pictures in the morning delays you. So we both missed the train for 7:51 by 5 seconds and had to take the 7:57 one. 

Needless to say, we were late for work by 5 minutes as well... Alex's supervisor got "mad" in his Japanese way. My supervisor didn't care so much.

J-Train exact time arrivals

No pictures or specifics regarding work, sadly.

I guess I can mention that I'm currently undergoing training, and some sort of expectation is put on me. I have to publish a paper by the end of my internship, so that should be an interesting challenge.

Right now, I have lots to learn, and I hope I don't disappoint them.

Normally we can't take pictures of anything inside IHI, but I imagine they don't mind a picture of my dinner. Right?

Apparently, my dinner portion is considered very large in Japan. They don't eat as much as I do, which probably explains why everyone is almost as thin as I am.

Miso Soup, Rice, Chicken, Ebi, and Udon.

After work, it rained. One thing you should know about Japanese people is that everyone has their own umbrellas regardless of how strong the rain is.

Being foreigners, we didn't have one and stood out as sore thumbs in public. Plus, back in MIT nobody really uses an umbrella unless it's a thunderstorm.

Anyway, the next time it rains, I'll get a picture of a Japanese crowd.

I got back to the hotel, felt very tired and slept. 

June 13, 2012

Again, the sun woke me up at around 6:15.

This time, I wanted to see Japanese television. Everything in it is cute. It's incredibly cartoony and childish (the good kind).  I don't have a good picture right now, but everything is animated. I watched the news, and the clouds had emoticons. EMOTICONS.

When I told our supervisor's friend about Japan's cuteness, she couldn't believe it and thought it was natural. XD

Ok. More cuteness. Here are primary school students. They have matching hats and yellow umbrellas just like in the anime!

I want to hug them, but they'll call the police

I actually really want a picture of them close-up, but it is socially unacceptable here in Japan. I wouldn't be surprised if these kids are programmed to scream around creepy foreigners and pervs. Which I'm not. (-_-); (heh)

Work was routine. And I mean routine... But I'll talk more about it some other time.

After work, Alex and I wanted to tour around the shopping district near our hotel. All I can say is that... it's clean and gorgeous... Really. It seems that everything in Japan is made to appeal to the eye.

Shopping District with salary men in the background. Notice how clean the ground is.

The mall is 8 floors high, but only a portion of it is used as a store. So it's not as big as the Prudential's first floor mall or the Cambridge Galeria or even the Philippine's SM mall. But this kind of shopping building is common in Japan.

But really, everything here is eye-appealing.

A wonderful Movie theater lobby.

Theater lobby again

Even the restaurants are beautiful.

We also checked out the bookstore. For some reason, the bookstore in Japan is really interesting. We spent about an hour looking at Primary/Middle/High school Japanese level books, manga and other interesting books.

Primary school book teaching Japanese Kanji

"MoleSkine" in Japan. 

To practice Japanese, we found this book called "The Japanese that Japanese People don't know about." It has funny encounters with foreigners, and comments on their own culture. XD

"The Japanese that Japanese People don't know" manga

There's also this really awesome and cute cartoon flip-book in the store. Only a video can do justice:

CUTE FLIP BOOK VIDEO

Anyway, after the shopping district, we just walked around. the Japan looks very beautiful at night.

Again... see how clean it is? Maybe tomorrow we'll actually pass by that Ferris wheel.

One more thing... Japan thinks money is very dirty. They even have trays were they put the coins/bills. (Also, the guy laughed at me when I asked if I can take a picture of the tray. Silly man.)

Ok... Good night for now.