Hosei University
I wrapped up the independent travel portion of my Japan trip with a great sunny day of wandering around Asakusa (the old Tokyo downtown), spending all my money on ridiculous souveniers and games of Taiko No Tatsujin (think Guitar Hero, with giant Japanese drums... yeah, it's that awesome). The only slight misadventure came when I ordered a bowl of what I thought was udon (wheat) noodles, only to read the menu AFTER ordering...
That text at the top reads "it is made of dry fishes". And they tasted as delicious as they sound.
I'm now staying at Hosei University's Tama Campus, which is about 45 minutes outside of the Tokyo core. The campus is surrounded by hills and trees, with some snow-capped mountains just a few miles away. It's gorgeous, and pretty much the opposite of the ultra-dense Tokyo I'd been seeing over the last few days.
The other students attending the course come from a pretty diverse set of backgrounds. There are 24 nationalities and 27 disciplines among the roughly 35-ish delegates. I am one of two North American delegates, but it turns out the other one is also Canadian, from Hamilton no less! Southern Ontario is well represented on the global sustainability scene.
Classes started out pretty light today, with some ice breakers, and basic "foundations of sustainability" stuff. Still, having this many like-minded people to talk to from such a wide range of backgrounds is like an all-you-can-eat buffet for my brain. There is no lack of interesting conversation, even if some of it is a little broken (there are about 5 or 6 native english speakers among us).
Our accomodations are almost ridiculously nice, though the pillows are filled with dried beans, which takes a bit of getting used to. I'm sharing a room with three other guys - Kaspar (a Swiss neurobiology student), Masashi (a Japanese law student) and Ashik (a Nepalese development studies student). Here's a picture of Ashik and Masashi hamming it up in our new digs.
Here's the view out our window. We could see some snow-capped mountains past the trees this morning when it was clear.
More stories as they happen. For now, another great translation.
Do you want to heal, kick, or be moistened?
That text at the top reads "it is made of dry fishes". And they tasted as delicious as they sound.
I'm now staying at Hosei University's Tama Campus, which is about 45 minutes outside of the Tokyo core. The campus is surrounded by hills and trees, with some snow-capped mountains just a few miles away. It's gorgeous, and pretty much the opposite of the ultra-dense Tokyo I'd been seeing over the last few days.
The other students attending the course come from a pretty diverse set of backgrounds. There are 24 nationalities and 27 disciplines among the roughly 35-ish delegates. I am one of two North American delegates, but it turns out the other one is also Canadian, from Hamilton no less! Southern Ontario is well represented on the global sustainability scene.
Classes started out pretty light today, with some ice breakers, and basic "foundations of sustainability" stuff. Still, having this many like-minded people to talk to from such a wide range of backgrounds is like an all-you-can-eat buffet for my brain. There is no lack of interesting conversation, even if some of it is a little broken (there are about 5 or 6 native english speakers among us).
Our accomodations are almost ridiculously nice, though the pillows are filled with dried beans, which takes a bit of getting used to. I'm sharing a room with three other guys - Kaspar (a Swiss neurobiology student), Masashi (a Japanese law student) and Ashik (a Nepalese development studies student). Here's a picture of Ashik and Masashi hamming it up in our new digs.
Here's the view out our window. We could see some snow-capped mountains past the trees this morning when it was clear.
More stories as they happen. For now, another great translation.
Do you want to heal, kick, or be moistened?
posted by Bryce at
6:07 AM
1 Comments:
is the guy from hamilton? or just go to mac?
ask if he knows me. i'm not really a big deal, but it'd be CRAZY if he did.
By
TommyDoubleU, at 3:49 PM
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