It's been quite an interesting few days since my arrival. Except for a few snags, its been wonderful. I've met lots of people, traveled all over Osaka, and eaten some amazing food. Quite a lot has happened, so it'll be a long entry...
I've had some problems uploading to flickr with Picasa, so for now I only have one set of photos online, from my first trip to the supermarket. Anti-climactic certainly, but they will have to suffice for now. I'll upload pictures to accompany this post as soon as possible.
On Friday, we met more researchers and had lunch with everyone for the first time. The campus is a ways from our apartment - a 5 minute walk down the street to Ryokuchi-koen Station, then a 10 minute subway ride to Senri Chuo, then a 5 minute monorail ride to Shibahara Station, where the campus is. It sounds daunting, but I think I'll get used to it.
After lunch, we toured the school and were shown around our lab. Osaka University's Toyonaka campus is large and wooded, and bordered by a pond. It's a welcome change from the rest of the densely urban city. Our laboratory building, along with most of the campus, is very old, but the lab itself is roomy, and has couches and coffee table off to one side. We all have our own desks, set facing each other, with our supervisor, Ichikawa-san, at the head, looking over everyone, as is Japanese custom. We chatted up the afternoon in our lab with a Japanese snack called warabi mochi, which are skewered roasted goopy translucent rice balls covered in a sweet sauce. Good stuff.
After touring the campus and the lab, we went to dinner at an Okonomiyaki restaurant. Okonomiyaki is often called a Japanese pancake, but that does little justice to this amazing dish. It's meat, fish, veggies, and sometimes noodles fried into a thick rich batter, smothered with a teriyaki-like sauce, then drizzled with mayonnaise and sprinkled with fish flakes. Absolutely delicious.
Saturday, Ichikawa-san took us to the Umeda district, which is Osaka's newer downtown area. It was filled to the brim with humanity. We climbed to the top of the famous Umeda Sky Building, which resembles a gigantic futuristic Arche de Triomphe. We got some amazing pictures of Osaka from it, as well as from a Ferris wheel ride we took, on top of a building. We spent quite a bit of time browsing shops too. The highlight of Saturday was, yet again, the food. Ichikawa took us a very famous ramen-ya in Umeda by the name of Ippudo. It was, without a doubt, one of the most exquisite meals of my life. And it only cost 800 yen!
On Saturday night we met with some Japanese guys, Daisaku and Shinji. Marhsall had met Daisaku when he was studying English at UCSD. They were both from Kyoto, and weren't familiar with Osaka. I asked them where they wanted to eat (in Japanese, of course), and Daisaku-san responded with a contemplative pause, followed by, in slow strong English: 'I want to drink ... beer'. Needless to say, the evening proceeded swimmingly from there.
Sunday we woke up late and spent most of the day in our lab, using the internet, calling our families, and generally relaxing before work begins tomorrow. For dinner we went to a small restaurant by campus. I hesitate to call it Italian - a breaded steak of ground beef and spaghetti with rice and miso. Japan rubs off even on foreign cuisine.
My Japanese is coming along, and I'm trying to practice as much as possible. I've taken to carrying around a little notebook I bought at the hyaku-en shop (99c store) and filling it with vocab and grammar that I learn. So far, it's mostly full of food-related vocabulary - surprise surprise. Marshall bought a kanji dictionary for his Nintendo DS, which he's been addicted to so far. It looks very useful, and I might just succumb to purchasing a DS Lite.
We're leaving the lab for the evening soon, so I'll say goodbye for now. Hopefully I'll have some more pictures up soon.
I've had some problems uploading to flickr with Picasa, so for now I only have one set of photos online, from my first trip to the supermarket. Anti-climactic certainly, but they will have to suffice for now. I'll upload pictures to accompany this post as soon as possible.
On Friday, we met more researchers and had lunch with everyone for the first time. The campus is a ways from our apartment - a 5 minute walk down the street to Ryokuchi-koen Station, then a 10 minute subway ride to Senri Chuo, then a 5 minute monorail ride to Shibahara Station, where the campus is. It sounds daunting, but I think I'll get used to it.
After lunch, we toured the school and were shown around our lab. Osaka University's Toyonaka campus is large and wooded, and bordered by a pond. It's a welcome change from the rest of the densely urban city. Our laboratory building, along with most of the campus, is very old, but the lab itself is roomy, and has couches and coffee table off to one side. We all have our own desks, set facing each other, with our supervisor, Ichikawa-san, at the head, looking over everyone, as is Japanese custom. We chatted up the afternoon in our lab with a Japanese snack called warabi mochi, which are skewered roasted goopy translucent rice balls covered in a sweet sauce. Good stuff.
After touring the campus and the lab, we went to dinner at an Okonomiyaki restaurant. Okonomiyaki is often called a Japanese pancake, but that does little justice to this amazing dish. It's meat, fish, veggies, and sometimes noodles fried into a thick rich batter, smothered with a teriyaki-like sauce, then drizzled with mayonnaise and sprinkled with fish flakes. Absolutely delicious.
Saturday, Ichikawa-san took us to the Umeda district, which is Osaka's newer downtown area. It was filled to the brim with humanity. We climbed to the top of the famous Umeda Sky Building, which resembles a gigantic futuristic Arche de Triomphe. We got some amazing pictures of Osaka from it, as well as from a Ferris wheel ride we took, on top of a building. We spent quite a bit of time browsing shops too. The highlight of Saturday was, yet again, the food. Ichikawa took us a very famous ramen-ya in Umeda by the name of Ippudo. It was, without a doubt, one of the most exquisite meals of my life. And it only cost 800 yen!
On Saturday night we met with some Japanese guys, Daisaku and Shinji. Marhsall had met Daisaku when he was studying English at UCSD. They were both from Kyoto, and weren't familiar with Osaka. I asked them where they wanted to eat (in Japanese, of course), and Daisaku-san responded with a contemplative pause, followed by, in slow strong English: 'I want to drink ... beer'. Needless to say, the evening proceeded swimmingly from there.
Sunday we woke up late and spent most of the day in our lab, using the internet, calling our families, and generally relaxing before work begins tomorrow. For dinner we went to a small restaurant by campus. I hesitate to call it Italian - a breaded steak of ground beef and spaghetti with rice and miso. Japan rubs off even on foreign cuisine.
My Japanese is coming along, and I'm trying to practice as much as possible. I've taken to carrying around a little notebook I bought at the hyaku-en shop (99c store) and filling it with vocab and grammar that I learn. So far, it's mostly full of food-related vocabulary - surprise surprise. Marshall bought a kanji dictionary for his Nintendo DS, which he's been addicted to so far. It looks very useful, and I might just succumb to purchasing a DS Lite.
We're leaving the lab for the evening soon, so I'll say goodbye for now. Hopefully I'll have some more pictures up soon.
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