earthquake weekend

ive been in japan for about a month now and already ive experienced the deadliest typhoon in 2 decades and the deadliest earthquake since 1995. a horrible series of quakes and tremors hit northwestern japan starting saturday night and still continuing. in fact while i was watching the news about the first 6.8 quake, the tokyo newstation started shaking on tv and then so was my apartment. within a 2hr period there were 7 earthquakes in ojiya city near the sea of japan...i felt the aftershocks all weekend. beginning to think maybe i wont be more than a temporary resident afterall.

on a less dismal note, i purchased my first japanese cds; realized i make frequent trips to the yama-ya store mostly because they play very current american r&b and alternative music; worried about my effect on japanese hair and fashion trends (atleast within hitachi city :); japan is ridiculously expensive (movies $17, manicure $30); no sign of halloween candy but several costume stores; softball game was cancelled; surprised the heck out of a man who almost fell off his bike-twice-when he saw me; japanese mcdonalds taste better and are healthier.

update* english books in japan

in my impatience for my books to arrive i checked my shipment status today and discovered the estimated arrival date of 8/1/2005!!! i guess i shouldve paid more attention to all the chinese characters under the book titles. but i cancelled that order and actually found some books that ship in 24hours instead of 9 months. so amazon.co.jp is not as perfect as it first appeared but it`s still a pretty good resource.

(re)discovering japan

it only took 3 and a half weeks, but ive finally figured out the complicated, although environment friendly, garbage collection system in this city. there are different pick up days for burnable and non-burnable trash, a number of other trash groups, and several different recycling groups as well. and the trash has to be placed in specific types of trash bags. my research lab`s disposal system is even more complex.

wish i had a telescope or bincoculars and a book on constellations to study the beautifully clear night skies and the still mysterious `things` in my ocean view. living in boston and philly i rarely saw any stars because of all the city lights and skyscrapers, so its definitely a beautiful addition to my japan experience.

trying to get out of playing softball with my lab tomorrow...and the rest of the year`s company sports activities without offending anyone. im definitely more of a spectator or cheerleader when it comes to sports that involve things flying towards me. my performance in last summer`s volleyball competition was embarrasing but extremely amusing. everyone assumed i would be good because of my height and wanted me to play in all the matches; my team ended up second to last out of 9. no i didnt play in all the games but i was a good cheerleader ;)

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buddhists truths; another typhoon

`...rather than becoming the perfect person, you let go of that desire. what is left is the pure mind. there is no need to become the perfect person because the pure mind is where perfect people arise and cease.` `...attachment is to be understood and contemplated; then the insight into non-attachment arises.` from the four noble truths, another good online text explaining the major points of buddhism.

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a record 10 major typhoons in japan this year...in my 3 weeks here, ive experienced 2. hopefully yesterday`s will be my last typhoon ever. fortunately ive never been at the center of the storms, only on the peripheral; considering how horrible the winds and rains were here i can only imagine what being in the middle of it would be like.

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confirmed at yesterday`s 2hr department meeting (i work in the department of electronic materials and devices research) that there really are only 2 other women in the department besides me. each of the 9 sub-department heads gave monthly research reports and group goals; 2 of the groups mentioned recruitment of female scientists.

on a different note, western media should highlight asian men more...japanese tv and my research lab prove on a daily basis that ive been greatly deprived until now :)

english books in japan

unfortunately, because i decided to pack light for once in my life, i only have 6 books besides my japanese texts. no luck finding english books at any of the 5 large bookstores ive already wandered thru, so yesterday i gave in and purchased 5 books on amazon.co.jp. amazon japan prices were actually cheaper than the us prices surprisingly. it might become a new addiction for me though; i was tempted to buy 4 more books today but decided to atleast wait until i get my first delivery :)

i`m currently reading hume`s dialogues concerning natural religion (one of my favorites), an online buddhist bible, and sisters of the spirit (3 autobiographies of 19th century african-american women preachers...i was thinking about taking a harvard course last spring:) all while fasting for ramadan?!? its definitely an odd collection of books but all very thought-provoking and worth reading more than once.

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havent met them yet but i now have a host family thru the mit japan program. should be interesting since the father is a college professor and studied at mit, and the daughter goes to tsukuba university.

hdi and yama-ya foreigners

from now on i wont bore people with any details (or lack thereof :) regarding so-called spiritual journeys or epiphanies. ill keep it strictly about living in japan and the random thoughts/events that i come across in my daily life here.

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so i browse thru mainichi shimbun, the nytimes, cnnworld and bbc news online every morning before work and while reading a couple of bbc articles about the dangerous environmental and social costs of china`s communist-style of capitalism-pretty interesting stuff-i learned that china is ranked 94th in the united nations human development index (norway, sweden, australia are 1st,2nd,3rd). just to put this in perspective, jamaica the poorest country in the western hemisphere is ranked 79th and hong kong is 23rd. other interesting facts from this index: luxembourg ($61,190) has the highest gdp per capita not the us ($35,750); sierra leone ($520).

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japan is the true pioneer of reality tv...years ahead of the western world. i knew that from my stay last summer but over the weekend i watched their version of americas next top model and home extreme makeover, and it was very clear that they are far far superior than the us shows.

on a different note i discovered a better supermarket (yama-ya) with lots of international foods and for cheap too. i also realized that only in japan can you hear tweet and rkelly while buying cereal :) anyway there were 3 other `foreigners` shopping... indian-japanese i think. ive only seen a handful of non-japanese people since my arrival; less than 1% of the population are foreign citizens (sounds like an oxymoron to me) and the majority are chinese, korean, and indian, naturally. because of this its understandable that my walking the streets of ayukawa would create such interest in both children and adults. i too would probably stare rudely in surprise if i saw a black person on the hitachi train.

spiritual revamping

i wrote the following on tuesday*
im finding it harder and harder to convince myself that i should be here. is this really where im supposed to be at this point in my life? none of it is making much sense to me right now and whether i believe in destiny or not i would do anything for a sign that says im headed in the right direction or atleast eventually will be. it doesnt have to be divine intervention just a small token that ill immediately recognize as mine. it seems that most of the things ive been doing up to this point are not fulfilling at all. MIT was unbearable and when i shouldve been upset or atleast disappointed by the conditions under which i completed my sentence i decided that it was an ironically apt ending. the experiences and relationships (and networking opportunities) that i acquired as a result of my association with MIT are the only things i could ever value from those 4 years.

today*
a couple of things happened since then that seem too wonderful and perfect to just pass them off as meer coincidence. and so this weekend i am suddenly on a spiritual mission that was originally inspired internally but has now been sanctioned by external factors this past week. I can`t really explain it all yet but I`m very excited.

On a distantly related note, Fall has arrived in japan and i can only say that this is probably the most beautiful city ive ever seen (I`m told the best season in japan is spring because of the cherry and plum tree blossoms cover the country in pink and white). Today, after almost a week of rain and/or clouds, the weather was so perfect it almost seemed unnatural. Besides the foliage, mountains, ocean sunsets/rises (no skyscrapers to compete with the ocean`s gaze), i am very intrigued by the japanese-style single homes that line the little streets. they are so quaint, each unique and more beautiful in design and landscaping than the next that i wish i could take a tour inside them all.

p.s. my company-paid cell phone arrived today and i just found out that hitachi is letting me borrow one of their computers for home use.

the bad/weird stuff about japan

last week i learned that there`s an earthquake somewhere in japan every 5 minutes. it`s true. and up here in hitachi there seems to be one every other day. last week there was a big earthquake, about a 6 on the richter, followed by a typhoon that hit the tokyo area pretty badly. being on the coast, we felt the effects too and i only tried once to leave my room on saturday...okay it was three times because i was curious. it was pretty scary though since ive never even been near a hurricane before and didnt even know what the evacatuation protocol might be and i kept seeing all these news reports of people missing, dead, or evacuated. There really are no `safe from natures harm`havens in japan-not even tokyo is exempt.

ironically though what scares me the most are these country streets. its a city of like 300,000 people but there really are no sidewalks just these very very very narrow footsteps that hardly seem safe from the notoriously bad drivers zooming down these winding, up-hill, down-hill, narrow roads. one of the guys in my group gave me his bike my second day in japan and based on the above description of driving in japan you can understand why i still havent ridden that bike anywhere and i probably won`t ever. i have to remind myself to look right first instead of left, jaywalking in japan is extremely rare; cars have the right of way and they rarely stop at the pedestrian crossings.

other things from my first 2 weeks in japan:

lots of security in hitachi research land--even before the bus enters the main gate, someone boards to check everyone`s id...it`s a city within the city surrounded by mountains...one of my colleagues called it a prison because at the end of the workday there are only 2 buses back 5:35 and 7:20. but the views from the labs are amazing.

no privacy in japan--no cubicles or private offices (except for the top top people) just large open rooms and desks lined together and back to back. my boss is to my left and his boss 2 ft from him. no public or desk phones everyone carries company cell phones and when they ring everyone can hear your conversation. when i get my company phone next week atleast i can create some privacy by talking in english.

vending machine cigarettes--still surprising to me what they sell in these ubiquitous machines...even in the most country areas there`s a machine or 2 or 3 on every street.

there are 2 japanese hair salons that i see almost everyday and one of these days ill be tempted to go in one of them and ask them to do my hair mostly just to see what the response is. i read somewhere that dreadlocks have become popular amongst the shinjuku crowd. i even saw a japanese pop star on tv with dreads. ill have to do some research... maybe i can get my hair braided.

foreign treat

the other day a fellow researcher invited me to join him and some others for an afternoon break. his wife had been in america recently and came home with some special houston, texas made chocolate. he was all excited to share/experience it with everyone. i was curious too and when he pulled out this giant bar of chocolate i almost laughed. it was a hershey`s bar.

ayukawa=fresh saltwater fish river

16 hr flight and only my family could appreciate this-the first onflight film was shrek 2. the company put me up in the hilton near the airport because of my evening arrival and the next morning a guy from my lab group picked me up for the 3 hr trip to hitachi. this time i adjusted pretty quickly to the 13 hr time difference; almost no jetlag at all. probably because i didnt sleep much at all on the plane. the next week there was a welcome party, nomikai, for me and 3 other `new` people. it was actually more of a drinking party on a tuesday night with about 20 people and again i`m amazed by how much the japanese love to drink. i didnt have any beer or osake but 2 big mugs of some fruity stuff did it for me. i almost fell on the walk to the train station :)

hitachi city; hitachi research laboratory; hitachi company. the city is actually rather large and picturesque. it`s surrounded by mountains on one side and the pacific ocean on the other. i`m living in a company dorm-set up like an apartment complex with a manager, small gym, lounge/tv/guest areas, dry cleaning service etc. it`s 4 floors of a rectangular donut with terraces everywhere and a garden in the center. and of course everything in my dorm is hitachi-made. the best part is that from my room i can see and hear the ocean. the sunrise on the horizon is amazing. there`s always a ship or 2 and i think, really not sure but there maybe hints of whales afar. there are 5 large public beaches and 2 of them are a 5 minute walk--there are always surfers too.

my first thought upon arriving in ayukawa (the section of the city i live in) was i`ve been `cast away` like tom hanks. i must`ve watched that movie 5 times last month. there really are no other foreigners in these parts and of course i rarely get to speak english which is good and bad. when i do it`s very broken, slow or japanese-english. i`m afraid i`ll be mute when i go back home :) or ill slip and respond in japanese like i did when i was in paris last fall. there aren`t even any other women in my lab group or divison. only the secretaries, and a handful of others work in a different building. i`m really surprised how well i handle being an outsider in so many ways, but i guess i already knew most of these things before arriving and mostly it just means i get a lot of extra attention.

ive decided that being here is just a little break to meditate and figure out what my next career and life steps should be while enhancing my foreign culture and language exposure. and it really does look nice on my resume (most of the research is expected to be patented) whether i continue in the engineering field or not. plus there are so many things i love about this place and i can`t wait to start exploring more of the country. maybe hokkaido or kyushuu, or china??? kyoto would be a wonderful repeat.

ps i officially have a sister-in-law...the wedding was very beautiful and in the end i really enjoyed being a part of it.