Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto

Well, another summer, another trip to Asia.

This time around I've made it to Japan. I've just arrived in Tokyo for a workshop at the University of Tokyo that starts tomorrow (Friday) and ends on Saturday. Sunday morning I catch a plane to Izumo and a limousine-bus (whatever that is) to Matsue for the Meteoritical Society Conference, which goes until Friday. Friday afternoon, I fly back to Tokyo, stay over night, and then fly back to the States on Saturday.

So I have a talk to give on Saturday and another to give on Thursday. Neither is finished and I'll be relying heavily on this internet thingy to get things completed. I should be ok...I hope.

The flight here was not too bad. I left Chicago at 12:50 PM Wednesday (2:50 AM Thursday in Tokyo) and flew 12.5 hours and arrived here about 3:15 in the afternoon. The flight was relatively uneventful. I hoped to sleep just a little to make sure I was tired enough to get a decent night sleep here at the hotel--given that I arrived here at the equivalent of 4 AM Chicago time, I have to adjust to jetlag and fast. Should be ok. The flight was full, but not too bad. I read about parallel programming, which, surprisingly enough, was actually interesting and I have some ideas of things to do when I get back to work that will make my computer codes run much faster--in theory anyway. I also played some poker and blackjack on the personal tv screen at my seat, and let's just say that it was good that I had no layover in Vegas otherwise I would have returned home a very poor man.

Once we landed in Tokyo, customs was no hassle, I bought a train ticket to Ueno (the neighborhood--if that's the right word--where the University is) and rode 45 minutes to the train station here. While I had a map that pointed out where my hotel was with respect to the station, getting my bearings was a bit of an effort (fortunately 2 others were in the same boat as me and we made it as a team). So now I'm checked in, relaxing a bit, and about to head out for some seafood (I hope) and some sake (or a nice Sapporo). Then I plan to pass out and will probably wake up sometime around 3 or 4 AM here--if this is anything like my trip to Taiwan last year.

I hope to write a good amount while I'm here, and while posting pictures would make sense, forgetting the cable that connects the camera to the computer will not allow that. Sorry. You'll just have to wait.

Ok, sitting on the bed for a good 15 minutes awaits, as does some dinner afterwards. I'll be in touch.

Best wishes to all.