As I may or may not have mentioned before, Tsukuba City was a planned "science city" by the Japanese government. Many of the country's top scientific research laboratories and tech companies are located in the Tsukuba area. It's no surprise then, that robotics are everywhere in town. In Kenkyu-Gaken's mall, Cyberdyne studio showcases the applied robotics that many of the labs/universities are working on. Even in Tsukuba City, the wonderful pedestrian-only walkways all about town have areas that say "Robot Zone" where the university labs road-test their creations:
The latest development is a type of robotic suit that can help people who have limited mobility.
It may seem a little silly, but think about how difficult it can be for people to get up out of a chair or sit down in one.
Elsewhere in the mall, we did some heavy duty shopping. I bought some great new pants at UniQlo, and they tailored them to fit my length for FREE right there on the spot. It's not that I was special or anything, it's simply the sense of service in Japan. Dad also found a nice track suit to wear to encourage him to keep up with his new year's resolution about seriously losing weight and walking multiple times a week for exercise.
One of our last snacks in Japan ... Taiyaki (fish-shaped waffles with various fillings inside). Ian and I enjoyed a custard-filled taiyaki, while mom had the goma (black sesame) one. mmmm
On our last night out, Ian and I headed into Tokyo on our own ... it was new year's day and EVERYONE in the country was visiting the various shrines to pray for good luck for the upcoming year. Although it was not necessarily in my plans to do so, we ended up at the huge, famous Meiji Shrine in Tokyo's Harajuku neighborhood. After waiting over an hour in a gigantic line (which was quite civil, I might add), we saw the shrine and I got mom and dad one of the long, white arrows (yes, from a bow and arrow) which you can only get during new year's day. It is good luck for the year. The rest of the day, Ian and I also visited Tokyo's imperial palace, glitzy Ginza, Akihabara (electronics town), Harajuku's Omotesendo boulevard (young crazy fashion on the "champs elysee" of Tokyo), and ended the night in Shinjuku. We saw a pachinko parlor that had a non-smoking section and decided to try it out. With some help from the young guy working there who taught us how to shoot the little metal pin balls into the machine, we were off! We had no clue what we were doing, but kept winning deluxe bonus rounds, and before we knew it two and a half hours later, we had accumulated 9 buckets of little metal balls which we exchanged for $350!!! Best part? I had only purchased about $5 of balls to begin with and only planned to play however long that lasted! After a $12 washington state dollar-scratcher card win, and putting in 1 euro and receiving 20 in Spain, and now $5 into the pachinko machine and walking out with $350, I really think Ian has inherently good luck!
Flying anywhere might not be super fun, but my senses are always refreshed when we near Seattle ... there's nothing like the snow-capped mountains on both sides and water all around as you make your descent. A quick light-rail ride from the airport into pioneer square, and we were onto the ferry back over to Bremerton:
Who says Seattle is always rainy? Gorgeous day for our return.
Arrived in Bremerton with the beautiful Olympic Mountains in the distance
At home, we unloaded our massive haul from Japan ... mostly from Kyoto.
After being in Japan for a while and noticing the day to day diet, I decided that I wanted to start making healthy bento lunches more often. It's also great that mom got me a wonderful thermal bento set so I can take it to school.
Making dashi broth for various dishes with katsuobushi and kombu seaweed
Simmering my niku-jaga (japanese "meat and potatoes" with soy sauce, ginger, and dashi broth)
With winter here (still not very much snow) and a clear sky, nothing warms the spirit like a nice big fire. I received my Swedish fire starter the other day .... developed by the Swedish military for their soldiers' use, you simply scrape the tab quickly against the rod to light up a 3000 degree C spark.
View of Oyster Bay from our fire
With the weather alternating between rainy and freezing cold, the water that seeps into the cracks of the rocks freezes and splits them in half
And just the other morning, weird weather inversion pattern meant that hot air was over the Seattle/Puget Sound area, but trapped freezing cold air from the mountains down at a lower level. This caused some incredibly dense fog (I drove to school at 30mph), and we couldn't even see the difference between the water and the sky when looking at the dock....
School has been up and running again, and we finished week 2 of the new quarter so far ... Ian is starting his clinical rotations!
And of course, a first look at some of our tea haul from Ippodo in Kyoto. What an incredible experience tasting with the tea master at such a revered place like Ippodo.
On our way out of Japan, with a little bit of yen left to spend, I picked up this beautiful kyusu teapot from Fukujuen at Narita. Perfect for sencha or houjicha.
Here I am preparing Kimmo-no-Mukashi matcha from Ian's set which included a beautiful Kiyomizu-yaki chawan (tea bowl) with a subtle white swirl (left). Mine is on the right, also from Kyoto from another well known tea shop called Fukujuen, whose tea mom gave to me before. I am also using an 80-tine chasen (bamboo whisk, carved by hand from a single piece of bamboo), and chashaku (bamboo matcha powder ladle)
Ginger senbei cookie (from Kyoto's Gion district), and a chestnut/azuki bean filled mochi for sweets with the matcha
My whisking technique is getting better and better each day!
Ready to enjoy
Finally, while spending our last days in Tsukuba, I noticed that my favorite shop ("Loft" which sells stationary and home goods) had lots of humidifiers being showcased. Japanese love humidifiers ... despite the EXTREMELY humid/muggy summer, winters are very cold. When we heat our homes up, we take moisture out of the air, so it's important to replace it. There were so many different beautiful models available. Here in Bremerton, I noticed that when I wake up in the mornings my throat is quite dry. I decided to get a Japanese humidifier ... this is the one I picked, made by "Middle Colors". It also diffuses essential oils for aroma if you wish:
Also, I'm excited for our Philips wakeup light ... instead of waking up all of the sudden in the dark to a very jarring, mini heart-attack inducing buzzer alarm, the Philips wakeup light gradually increases the room ambient light 30 minutes prior to your wakeup time. The gently increasing light on your eyelids signals your brain to pull you out of sleep gently so that when it is finally time to wake up, you feel refreshed rather than groggy. The basic idea is simulating sunlight and waking up naturally by the sun rather than fumbling around in the dark, trying to find the energy to get going.
And if it's time for the alarm, natural sounds (forest, birds, windchime, etc) will rouse you gently rather than an obnoxious beep or shocking buzzer. Touching anywhere on the clock will snooze the alarm but keep the light on so you're not tempted to fall back asleep. In the winter way up here this far north, the sun can set at 430pm and not rise until past 730 or 8am .... waking up in the dark can be a challenge for me, so I am looking forward to seeing how this will help.
Finally, Ian's family is coming into town this coming weekend so we'll be looking forward to a nice trip showing them around Seattle's greatest eats/sights/sounds, as well as a possible day trip to historic victorian Port Townsend, and a ferry over to Whidbey Island for shellfish at one of the world's most renowned places: Penn Cove!
Stay tuned...
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