First of all, just to let you know if you check my last post again I've uploaded some nice photos so I recommend you have a look if you haven't noticed.
Well I have a little bit to catch up on.
On Wednesday Alex and I visited the Ramen (Japanese noodle soup) Museum in Yokohama. Now Ramen is loved by everyone in Japan so I'm surprised it took them until 1994 to open a 'food amusement park' dedicated to the stuff. The place is themed like Japan in 1958 (the year instant noodles were invented you see) and features outlets from eight ramen restaurants specially selected from around Japan.
Alex and I tried Ramen shop number 8, Ryushanhai, which according to the handy Ramen Museum floor guide "the harmony between the raumen and miso soup accented with fish and shellfish flavoring is also quite superb". I have to say it was nice but not as nice as I had hoped. I guess I will have to go back and try the other seven!
There is also a small museum tracking the history of instant Ramen which included a lovely exhibit on instant noodles of the world!
The rest of the week was fairly uneventful outside of work. I have been kept busy trying to figure out the strategy of Microsoft and Oracle by watching keynotes and speeches. It has been quite interesting, especially watching Larry Ellison (Oracle CEO). He has some great stories about his times during the Oracle startup including hiring the pizza delivery boy as CFO and naming their first software release Oracle database version 2 as "who'd buy aversion 1.0 from four guys in California". I recommend you have a look at the video here (Sunday Night Live—30 Years Behind The Scenes at Oracle, start watching 5 minutes in), I have to say I received some funny looks in the office when I started giggling.
On Friday the fact that I am leaving soon hit home for the first time. Nishikawa-san has been a very interesting person to talk to at work and has organised and helped me with a several things he didn't need to, which I really appreciate. When I was leaving work on Friday he came up to me and said he would be in Munich on business next week so this would be the last time we would meet. It really struck me then how much I am actually going to miss Tokyo and the people at work. I suppose I better make the most of my final days.
On Friday night Euan, Zhanar and her Russian friend went to supposedly the biggest club in Asia, AgeHa. I have to say it was pretty big and included 4 rooms, a swimming pool and a food court. We had a great time there and took advantage of the free shuttle bus back to Shibuya which was pretty handy at 3:30am (early night in Tokyo).
On Saturday Alex and I didn't feel like we had he energy to go to a museum so we went the bright lights of Tokyo bay. There we spent most of the day wondering around the malls and arcades and some pretty interesting things. In the Toyota Universal Design Showcase there was a trumpet playing robot. I guess it was kind of impressive but seemed awfully pointless to me at the same time.
We also saw some interesting future transport ideas from Toyoto, what do you think?
I think I discovered the most Japanese thing yet. It is an arcade machine like no other, recreating everyone's favorite past time, which had so far proven impossible to recreate in the virtual world, well that was until now....dog walking.
After a nice long sleep on Saturday night joined Bahariah early on Sunday morning to travel to Hakone. Hakone is according to my Lonely Planet the original Japanese tourist Mecca. It is famous for hot volcanic steam, beautiful scenery and pirate ships. I was scared it was going to rain while we were there but luckily the sky managed to stay clear and we had a wonderful day.
We used several kinds of transport; 3 trains, 1 funicular railway, 1 cable car, 1 pirate ship and 1 bus. We also did a nice hike for just under two hours across a mountain through a lovely forest. The volcanic steam was quite spectacular but was very overpowering due to the strong Sulphur smell. It created a really dramatic landscape due to the dead trees which really wouldn’t look out of place on another planet or apocalypse movie.
The pirate ship cruise was an interesting experience. There was even pirate GPS onboard.
The lake was stunning although I'm sure you would agree, it could easily be Scotland (it’s a nice country we live in eh?) although I doubt we would be courageous enough to fill Loch Lomond with replica pirate ships.
All in all a nice weekend.
Today was the start of my final week at Fujitsu. I can't believe it is almost over. I still have quite a bit of work today so I am sure I will be working hard up until 5:10 on Friday! My schedule for the week is looking quite busy!
- Tuesday I have my Intelligence Operation Management presentation in Kawasaki.
- Wednesday I am meeting the Oracle guru in the afternoon then going for drinks at a Mexican restaurant with some colleagues.
- Thursday the Saltire interns have been summoned for a meal and interview with "Immigration News" (sounds like a guest publication on Have I Got News For You)
- Friday my final presentation on the work with the Intel Alliance.
- Saturday we are visiting the Studio Gibli Museum
- Sunday Alex and Zach fly home and I will start travelling in Japan.
Hopefully I will be able to squeeze in another museum and some souvenir shopping in there too.
Colin
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