Pinkcigarette does Tokyo

Long Live Oliver!

2009-08-17T05:37:00.000-07:00

I visited the boiling valley (Owakudani) near Hakone yesterday and had a great time hiking around the volcanoes. I have been slowly adding some photos of the trip to my photo site.

At the Owakudani I ate two black eggs (Kuro-tamago). These are chicken eggs that turn black when being boiled in the sulfurous hot springs. Eating one of them will add 7 years to your life. I ate two and will therefore be hanging around for 14 more years. This is great news considering how much I have been indulging on alcohol, Malboro's and unhealthy food lately.

A kiss to 7 more years of living large! Getting rid of the sulfur taste on my lips kept me busy for hours after. The 'smoke' behind me is very smelly gas coming out of the ground.

Luckily the eggs are not black on the inside.

Nudibranchs in the Sky

2009-08-14T01:44:00.000-07:00

Several days ago I visited the Mori tower, an ueber-modern shopping, business and amuesement complex in Roppongi Hills. The best thing about the Mori tower is the Sky Aquarium, an incredibly creative underwater exhibit on the 53rd floor of the building. Imagine walking through a series of dark rooms in which the only light comes from oddly shaped aquaria jutting out of the walls, ceilings and floors. Very well done and for anyone visiting Tokyp prior to November 2009 a must see. Photography was not allowed but I cheated.
Here are some snapshots....

When I have money (ever?) I will buy myself this superb fishtank.

Up close and personal with Nemo's friend.

Life is a blur.

Another 'if I have money' fishtank.

The grand finale - A tank full of Nudibranchs. Russell, have you ever seen a Nudibrach on the 53rd floor of a building? This tank was my moment to shine. Everyone was oohing and aahing the slugs and nobody knew what they were. So as a former minor personality in the snail business I shone with my knowledge about large neurons and statocysts.....

Oliver's Response To An Earthquake - An Analysis

2009-08-10T20:11:00.001-07:00

3.3 Magnitude Earthquake on Sunday. My Response:
(standing in the middle of the room in his underwear)
- Woah. What's going on. The building is moving!
- This must be an earthquake!
(moves to the window to see if he can see the trees shaking)
- Cool!
- Should I hide under my desk or go outside?
(Stands by the window for additional minute contemplating what to do)
- It's over. That was a strange experience.
- I'll go outside to get some beer, maybe I can see some action.
(gets dressed and leaves)

Proper Action in the Case of an Earthquake:
DROP, COVER, AND HOLD ON! Move only a few steps to a nearby safe place. Take cover under and hold onto a piece of heavy furniture or stand against an inside wall. Stay indoors until the shaking stops and you're sure it's safe to exit. Stay away from windows and doors.

ANALYSIS of Oliver's Response:
A complete failure.

I didn't do better during the 6.1 tremor last night. I was laying in bed and contemplated getting up. In the end I decided that it wasn't worth the effort. I was, however, terrified that the curtain rod over my head would come crashing down and knock me out.
Proper Action: When in bed, cover your head with a pillow!
Don't just lie there and imagine what happens when the curtain rod hits you.....

EARTHQUAKE

2009-08-10T17:08:00.000-07:00

We had one on Sunday, but none of my Japanese colleagues even noticed it.
But I was very freaked out!

Last night we had another very strong quake - check it out.
Wonder if someone else felt it too.

Earthquakes are very scary and I just don't see myself ever getting used to them.

The Pretzels are Making Me Thirsty

2009-08-09T00:55:00.001-07:00

Today I had to quench my Seinfeld thirst.....
And I think I discovered the best Seinfeld scene ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=su_o4Nvmr_M&feature=related

Agree?
If not, post links to your favourite scene.
(You don't need a blogger account to post a reply).

The Golden Gai

2009-08-08T21:31:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, I (along with some other Gaijin's) ventured to the Golden Gai. This is a small shanty neighbourhood with very narrow alleys, stray cats and countless tiny little pubs. The pubs are not much bigger than a closet, sometimes you have to climb up some very steep stairs (going back down in a haze is much harder) and for someone as tall as me, the low ceilings really do pose a problem (which becomes exaggerated with each drink). All in all it's a very cool place to visit (Alex , you will love this place).

By chance we ended up in a bar that hosted a photography exhibit by Motohiro Negishi. I made friends with him (with my 3 Japanese words) over some Edamame and beer. Check out some of his photos...

Negishi-san showing me his new Holga Lomomat. I want one too.

Fish and Top Gun

2009-08-08T21:02:00.000-07:00

It's been a fair bit since I have updated this blog. Work, work, work is all I have been doing in the meantime. My project is coming along, albeit slowly. Science is always slower and harder in practice than in theory.
It's been a fair bit since I have updated this blog. Work, work, work is all I have been doing in the meantime. My project is coming along, albeit slowly. Science is always slower and harder in practice than in theory.
This summarizes my last few weeks. I have been imaging (with a confocal microscope) the developing olfactory system of zebrafish larvae. It's quite remarkable how sturdy these fish are - I have imaged the same fish 16 times already (imaging them involves taking them out of water, placing them in gel and keeping them immobilized under a microscope for ~ 40 minutes) and they are still alive! The image of the top shows the olfactory bulbs of 3 different fish (left to right) imaged repeatedly for a couple of days (top to bottom). The fish that you see above was developed by Sato et al., 2005. J. Neuroscience (25): 4889ff.

What else?
I have not gotten out much until this weekend (updates to follow) and when I get home (always late) I watch old cheesy movies on YouTube that don't require much thinking. The latest very enjoyable choice was Top Gun (embarrassing?). My favourite part of the movie is (and has always been) the 'high fives' that Maverick and Goose give each other while playing volleyball. I have always tried to be that cool when I played sports but somehow always missed the other person's hand on the backstroke. Maybe I should practice this in the lab with my fish......

People. All I see is people.

2009-07-26T05:53:00.000-07:00

Forget Times Square, Union Square and the Vaduzer Staedtle!
If you want to see people you have to go to Shibuya, Tokyo.
I have been to many places with big crowds, but what I saw today blew my mind. Shibuya is an ant hive where many thousands of people that walk around, shop, talk, play music and look very fashionable. The crowd seems to change every minute and if you don't watch out you will bump into some random person who stopped dead in their tracks because they are lost. Even 'locals' look lost here. There is too much of everthing all over the place.
I had to leave this place shortly after arrving because I was afraid that I develop a Grand Mal seizure.

Overwhelmed? This is a quite realistic impression of Shibuya.

Shibuya Crossing. Hundreds of people cross the street from all directions. One tall, foreign man (myself) didn't seem to understand the idea behind this and almost got hit by a moped.

BAUMKUCHEN

2009-07-19T06:52:00.000-07:00

I made a major discovery!

Not a scientific one, but a gastronomical one.
I found a pastry and it has a history...

There is a German cake, the supposed King of Cakes, that is called Baumkuchen (Treecake). When my grandfather was still living, he ordered a Baumkuchen (3 foot tall and 1/2 foot wide) from a special bakery in Germany, every Xmas. This cake was to be 'shared' among the family.

On Xmas day my grandfather would call the whole family together to eat this cake. Unfortunately his idea of 'sharing' this cake was a little unconventional. He would sit in front of the cake with a big sharp knife and cut the tiniest of pieces (literally a half bite) to be shared among his children and grandchildren. For himself he always cut off a nice juicy piece and slowly devoured it before our eyes. Anyone who wanted to go for a bigger piece would risk losing a finger.

My grandfather was very concerned that 'we' would the cake too fast. After all it should last into the New Year. So he tortured us with this f***ing cake several times until the New Year. Meanwhile the cake got harder, drier and less enjoyable.
I don't know if this is coming across here, but everyone in my family loves this cake, and we have all suffered for it!

So yesterday I take stroll to the vending machine and what do I find?
A f***ing slice of Baumkuchen!
Baumkuchen in a vending machine (Verkaufsautomat)!
Unbelievable.
Of all things that I did not expect to see in Japan, it was Baumkuchen.

Anyway, the equivalent of 1.3 dollars bought me a whole slice of Baumkuchen. That is more than I would get in an entire Xmas season from my generous grandfather. I devoured the slice in about 1 minute and have since found several varieties of this cake in vending machines throughout our building. They even have green tea Baumkuchen. How very unDeutsch!

Upon making this discovery I called my dad. He understood and I think he agrees that life is unexpected and sweet.
This is major, and I will probably gain some weight.
mmmmmmmmh......Baumkuchen.

To Squat or Not?

2009-07-18T05:41:00.000-07:00

When I first saw this thing I wasn't sure what I was looking at. A bidet maybe, or a foot bath? A urinal? No, Japanese urinals are like the ones at home and there are some in this particular bathroom. This is the Japanese squatter. Apparently number two is done from a squatting position here. What ever happened to sitting down, reflecting on the day and having some one-on-one time with the spirits? Maybe that's what temples are for.

Luckily I work in an international institute and each bathroom also has a Westerm style toilet bowel (English translations & spelling are always pretty amusing in Japan).

Since the Westerm Style Toilet Bowel is so exotic it comes with detailed instructions on how to use it.

In case you wondered, westerm style toilets are not decolative, the are for defecation! So sit down and defecate already (and don't forget to relax and reflect on your day).

mmmh? I am trying to figure out if there is a history behind this.

Work until you drop

2009-07-15T07:33:00.000-07:00

Bicycles are very popular here. Because the traffic runs the other way (driving on the left side) I have not yet dared to hop onto a bike. I still don't know where to look when crossing the road. It's freaky.

I-House. This is where the Gaijin's (my kind) live and breathe.

The way home. The barb wire on the right is to protect an American radio antenna. Not sure what it is doing in the middle of Tokyo. The Tokyo night-sky has an amazing colour. No need for HDR.

The stereotype is true.
Japanese people work hard, very hard. Even the people who work for laboratory supply companies buzz around the building at all times of the day. If you need at 7pm, don't worry. Just call the company and some guy in a suit will be there to help you with all your glassware needs. He will even take off his shoes before entering your cherished laboratory space.
Tupper Central Stores take note!

My lab mates also work very hard. Things don't wind down until about 11pm when the first couple of them take off. Even I work late. My room is very boring, I don't have my alcoholic friends to distract me (Ryuichi left, Russell is in Vancouver, Mike is in Halifax,...) and I still don't understand Japanese TV. So what can I do? TCB.

One of the nicest things about working late is walking home at night. It gets very hot here (33 centigrade today), but at night it drops down (to 28) and the wind starts to blow. The campus is swarming with bats and it's amazing to watch them fly around. I even think that I can hear them every now and then (maybe I am not so deaf on certain frequencies, maybe I'm crazy). The sky is deep blue at night and lends itself well for photography. I really regret not taking my tripod with me. Maybe I can find one until the next post...

Kamakura

2009-07-13T05:51:00.000-07:00

Peeking into a temple. The little cards on the left are wishes and prayers that people leave for the spirits. Each temple / shrine has it's own speciality. So in some places people wish for academic success in other for love.

A National Treasure.

The entrance to ENGAKU-JI. This is the temple complex that houses a national treasure. Can you guess what it is?

I am back among the living and am finally eating solid food again. Yummy. On Sunday I took a day trip to Kamakura with some other interns. Kamakura used to be the capital of Japan and home to some very powerful clans. Each clan left it's mark by building a temple or shrine, and all of them are really pretty. Most often the temples that you see today are replicas; the originals were washed away by Tsunamis, bombed by Americans or destroyed in earthquakes.

Some people get really excited about seeing and photographing each and every one of these 100 temples scattered around the Kamakura area. Personally, I am kind of a 'Banause' and frankly they all look the same to me. One of the other interns put it quite well: 'To us these temples all look the same, but when we go to Germany, we get very excited about the architecture of every little chapel. We also expect everyone to be excited about these buidlings.' So, maybe the Japanese think that our cathedrals all look the same. God forbid!

Anyway. I went to see the (or a) National Treasure of Japan. You would never guess what that is. A tooth. A tooth from Buddha. That's right. A tooth. From Buddha. Amazing.

I asked Ambera what she thinks will happen to my tooth when I die. Her answer:
"What will happen to your tooth when you die? I'm either going to put it into a ring, root side out, and use it to open envelopes, OR, I'm going to grind it up into a fine powder, stir it into a glass of wine, and drink the tooth slurry."

Priceless.

Google Map

2009-07-10T19:06:00.000-07:00

This is the road (Kawagoe Kaido) directly in front of my apartment building (immediately to the left). There's a pedestrian bridge to get over to the other side; the road is very loud and busy. The building on the right side is Honda R&D.

This is where I am at in the neverending Tokyo metro. Incredible how big this city is.

View Larger Map

My Temporary Home

2009-07-10T04:33:00.000-07:00

Making myself some dinner. I have one plate, one pot, one fork, one knife, one spoon, one cup, one glass. Doesn't exactly allow me to make a gourmet meal...

Work and sleep happen pretty close to each other...

My Dad has been insistently asking for photographs from my apartment. It is really not an interesting place, but I took this as an opportunity to try out a photo(shop) technique that I have had on my mind for a long time now.

So here's my apartment. One room that works for eating, sleeping, computering. The photos were taken from a TV that sits in the middle of the room. I only get Japanese TV, which is kind of hard to understand. They do have a lot of baseball though, and I can understand some of that. There is a Japanese pitcher named 'Sweeney'. Not Sweenitami, not Sweenizuka, but plain old Sweeney.

As do all other places in Tokyo, my room gets very hot. I have an AC, but I can't figure out how to make it work just right. It's either too hot or too cold, but it's never right. How I miss those smelly Halifax Harbour breezes.

Overall my room rates pretty well. After all this is Tokyo and space is premium here.

KARAOKE

2009-07-08T00:45:00.000-07:00

'Mr. Miyagi' and I sing Yesterday.

Dancing with Ryuichi and his dad!

Karaoke is a ton of fun!
These two shots were taken on my second night in Tokyo (about a week ago & in good health). We went out with Ryuichi's neighbour Ishido-san; he has an uncanny resemblance to Mr. Miyagi and was really keen to know how much alcohol I could drink. Well, his way of testing this was to give me beer after beer after beer, and then top it off with some Shōchū.
Delicious! I held up and protested when everyone said it was time to go home.
I think I represented my kind well!

Tokyo Musings

2009-07-08T00:05:00.000-07:00

I am on the mend, doing a bit better. It's time to report about the more interesting things that happened when I first arrived in Tokyo. For the first 3 days I was hosted by my friend Ryuichi Nakajima in central Tokyo. In a 3-day crash course that he called 'forced immersion' I was shown the ropes on life in this city (and Japan in general). One tour led us to a Maid Cafe, something quite bizarre.

Apparently there exists a whole society of anime-obsessed nerds who fantasize about being Master to a maid. These individuals can actually experience this fantasy in special Maid Cafes. In a nutshell, for almost 10 dollars a coffee you can enjoy a few moments of mastery over these young girls and pretend to be some anime superhero. The mastery doesn't consist of anything more than sitting there and watching them run around catering other people, just like a normal restaurant, except for the outfits (see photo).
So the whole experience is based on fanstasy; people with the fetish just sit there and pretend to be in charge.
Nerds aren't the only ones that go to these places: tourists, non-nerds and even girls come here too. According to Ryuichi, the maid cafe tends to be a pick-up spot.
I don't really understand the whole idea, but hey, it's Japan.

A new respect for microbes.

2009-07-07T01:22:00.000-07:00

I made up a song that went something like this:
E.coli, B.coli, C.coli......I just don't care.
Well, I never really cared about them until about 3 days ago....

I was walking back from the grocery store here in the Saitama prefecture of Tokyo and experienced a major rumble in my stomach. At first I was quite happy about this because it was the first noticeable bowel movement since I had arrived in Japan almost a week earlier. I was eager to get home and experience some major relief from ongoing constipation.

After 2 days of uninterrupted 'relief' I began to worry about the true cause of all this. I diagnosed myself with a stomach flu, a burst appendix and was sure that I would go into septic shock very soon. Maybe I should mention that I am a hypochondriac, but it sure was PAINFUL (and still is)!

I finally went to the doctor today and his diagnosis was that I had contracted something akin to a Entero(hemmoragic) Colitis, which is a bacterial infection of the colon caused by Enterohemorrhagic E. coli resulting in a dysenteric diarrhea. Look it up in the web if you care to know my symptoms; they are not fun.

So, I am confined to my room here in Japan and have ample time to start blogging about my trip (more about the fun stuff in future posts).
This first post is dedicated to E.coli, Salmonella and the verotoxins - I will respect you from now on and keep my hands off dangerous foods.

Mike you were right all along!
Kudos.