Week Six, 2006/07/15-20

On Monday morning, 07/16, I flew on a 10:00 JAL flight from Ube City, Yamaguchi, to Heneda Airport in Tokyo. I arrived back at the Hotel Sunroute Akasaka in about an hour. My two suitcases were waiting on me at the front desk. I had lunch at the Cozy Corner Restaurant, and then took the subway to Asakusa and visited the bazaar and Senso-ji once again. It was a very rainy afternoon and evening. I ate dinner at an upstairs restaurant, okonomiyaki style, in Asakusa before returning to the Hotel Sunroute Akasaka.

The MTP teachers met in the JUSEC conference room at 9:00 am on Tuesday for debriefing. Mostly, teachers expressed their impressions about their visit to Japan and the MTP program in an informal fashion. We were free after lunch to do individual research. I took the subway to Akibahara and purchased a telephoto zoom lens for my camera to use in my pair project. At 6:00 pm we had our Farewell Dinner at Daidaiya Akasaka on the 9th floor of the Bel Vie Shopping Mall near the Sunroute Hotel. Our Japanese partners were there with us, having traveled from their cities; some far away. One of my partners, Mr. Kamikawa came from Hiroshima to have one final visit with me and the other participants. It was really good to see everyone again. The food, drink, and conversation was excellent. After the reception, I went with the representatives of "Team Hiroshima" to the Park Hyatt. We went up to the 52nd floor and enjoyed a drink while listening to a jazz combo. The view was unbelieveably spectacular. The Park Hyatt is the hotel where much of the movie "Lost in Translation" was filmed.

On Wednesday, 07/19, we visited the National Science Museum with our partners. We met at the main entrance and participated in a panel discussion once inside the museum. There was a video conferences with scientists and science educators from the University of California, San Diego, and the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Also present for the video conference and seated at the front of the room was the director of JAXA, a retired professor and Nobel winning scientist, and the director of the National Science Museum. We watched a CSSN student presentation. After lunch, we were free to tour the museum or do individual research. Mr. Kamikawa and I went to Akibahara and I bought a ukelele at a music store.

We checked out of our hotel on Thursday morning, 07/20 and took a bus ride to Narita International Airport for our flight back home. My flight went to Chicago. It was a very nice flight and I enjoyed talking a lot with the person sitting next to me, Hyun Jin Kim, from South Korea. She was 28 and leaving her mother's home for the first time to take a rotating job at the Renaissance Hotel in Baltimore. She had applied on the Internet for this position and seemed a little nervous about it all as well she should be, probably. After talking for almost 12 hours we said goodbye. Ms. Kim gave me a very nice gift of handmade Korean paper. It was bound handsomely in a handsized cover. The very thin paper had butterflies on it. In Chicago, the flights were backed-up and delayed due to thunderstorms in the area. My flight was about four hours late. Finally, I made it back to Orlando around 9:30 pm.

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  Bosatsu at Senso-Ji.jpg (67.03 KB)


  Farewell Reception in Tokyo, Team Hiroshima.jpg (49.82 KB)

Any problems getting home Dr. Brown? Or did you have delays like most of us? I have enjoyed reading your posts. Good luck with your pair project. Jim, Cheyenne East High School