Blogs from Japan, Asia - page 792

I finally was able to play some golf in Japan, but not in the best conditions. My friend, Yuichi, and I had tried to play at Hakone Kurakake Golf Course a few weeks ago, but got rained out. It's difficult to get good weather in this area because the course is in the mountains near Mt. Fuji. But our second attempt was a pleasant day, even though our first 4 holes we had to play in the fog. Not long after beginning to play, I could tell that golfing in Japan would be a little different than at home. The golf course provided us with a cart that would follow its own track throughout the entire course, and you could start and stop it by a remote control in your pocket. We were also equipped with ... read more

... And woke up about a half hour later. I looked over at Uki and Tanaka - they seemed to be getting bored, so we headed downstairs to the check-out area. It had been a delightful time, and remarkably inexpensive: all four floors of baths, gym, relaxation room, and lounge cost us $12 for the whole day. It was getting to be time to head back, though, so we went to the car and drove back to his family's house. But along the way back, when I noticed a cool-looking castle off in the distance, I asked what it was. "Fukichiyama Castle," Tanaka said, and then delivered us there. The castle was closed - for reconstruction, it said, but they were lots of workers around doing very un-reconstruction-like things. I went over to one worker, who ... read more

Tuesday 8/1/06 Ok here it is…the Tokyo entry!! *cheers* Well Tokyo was…ok. I mean it was cool, don’t get me wrong, there were some awesome things to see, things you could never find anywhere else in the world, but honestly, I prefer Gifu. I know I know, you can all look at me quizzically now, but in Gifu the air is cleaner, the trains are less crowded, the people are WAY nicer, and stuff is a hell of a lot cheaper. You want sticker shock, go to Tokyo, where you will pay $20 for a burger and fries. No joke. Ok, now that I have that out of my system, let me tell you about some of the fun stuff we did! When I first arrived in Tokyo I was, to put it mildly, in awe. ... read more

Countryside Retreat I almost didn't go. It was a long week - we started doing in-vivo imaging, which regretfully means the mouse has to be alive. Like, really alive, intact alive - not the sort-of-alive of the happily-floating brain samples. So that means that we have to peek at their brains (some disassembly required) using as little anesthesia as possible (otherwise they either overdose and die or freak out, speed up the metabolism of the anesthesia, and die). It was less than pleasant. So when work was finally done for the week, I just wanted to go home and retreat. I would cook a quiet dinner, read a book, and then sleep for as many hours as my brain could handle. I'm enough of an introvert that going out with friends is an effort; traveling to ... read more

Salut les bleus, Je voudrais debuter ce blog en annoncant que Sebastien Comptois et Karine Pelletier vont unir leur amour avec l'anneau sacre (et je ne parle pas ici de l'anneau de Sauron, bande de nerds). Je me permet de le dire puisque anyway Karine en a fait part sur mon blog dans l'entree precedante. Donc felicitation a vous deux, mais fais attention Comptois, je peux toujours essayer de te voler Karine entre temps, te voici averti! Bon blague a part, j'ai decide d'abandonner face a Tomoko, et perdre pleins d'argent, ou plutot me retrouver a passer deux mois avec quasiment pas d'argent. Mais au moin mon moral est un peu mieux depuis que ce fichu combat est enfin termine. Pour ceux qui se demande mon projet de site web est pas mort encore, c'est juste ... read more