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from earlier today
Sep. 17th, 2011 06:29 amI am at Todai. There are two campuses, and this one is the one for noobs: early undergrads (freshmen and sophomores) get their own campus, and that's the one we steal for our meeting of the Botanical Society of Japan. Nonetheless, this place has some lovely and impressive front gates.
My talk was this morning, and it went reasonably well. I spoke a bit too fast, which I often do when nervous, and I still don't have the depth of data analysis that I want (now that I've had the software making it possible for, what, about 48 hours). People seemed to enjoy it, though, and Haruko Kazama, who does beautiful work, gave me her card and proclaimed herself very impressed. I am not convinced Higashiyama was impressed, though, and that's who brought me in; hopefully I can do more data analysis before my seminar at Nagoya and redeem myself.
Shigeru Kondo told us about some zebrafish pattern formation, which was great; I've really enjoyed his papers. (Wim, that review article on Turing wave patterns in animals was his.)
Then I got taken out for lunch, since the luncheon talks were all going to be in Japanese. That was okay by me, but I think Masa and Yoko had an agenda of their own, so we went off and got curry rice. Japanese comfort food is yum. Really pretty cakes at the restaurant, but quite slow service and very hot inside. Deep-voiced crows on the way back. I imitated a Seattle one surprisingly well for comparison.
Saw some interesting talks this afternoon, though all in Japanese. It's harder to tell what's going on, obviously, but if the talk is good I can interpolate quite a lot due to conventions of the field, clear logic, and good figures. A new gold standard for my own talks: can someone who doesn't speak English understand what I'm on about?
I seem to have hit a strange fashion note today. The dress I bought for this presentation is fully lined and I have to put a camisole under it, and that was NOT happening. Instead I wore a new top (burgundy, snug, interesting gathers and draped neckline) with a gray pinstripe skirt and red-and-plum slingbacks. I feel like this is business attire. But it seems that Japanese women scientists go for dowdy, actually, and my fears of being insufficiently trendy are completely unfounded. Nearly all the men are in button-down shirts and slacks, but some of the women look very casual indeed. (Watch them all dress up if I wear a t-shirt tomorrow.) *
Right now I am outside, in a little non-smoking courtyard area absolutely filled with the sounds of cicadas: several different songs, all going like anything. It's warm and humid today, but there's an intermittent breeze making it quite tolerable outside. In the building halls it's pretty unpleasant, but the classrooms have AC. Hmm. Turns out there are mosquitoes out here, though. Didn't they notice it's daytime? Sure, it'll be dark in three hours, because apparently Tokyo is nigh-equatorial compared to home, but mosquitoes are supposed to be a dusk thing and it ain't dusk yet. Sigh. Nigh-equatorial. Right.
Also the expensive bag has stitching coming undone already. Wonder if I can get it replaced.
* Later: At the elevator to the hotel, after getting come-ons left and right walking through what is admittedly The Red Light District on a Saturday night, I asked Yoko to be honest -- did my outfit make me look overly accessible? She just laughed. Kind of a lot. Uh-oh. Then the girl we were riding the elevator with (dressed in a shapeless diaphanous top like everyone else) joined a man in the lobby and rode with him to his room. Yes, I was dressed more sluttily than the actual escorts. Jeez, Japan.
My talk was this morning, and it went reasonably well. I spoke a bit too fast, which I often do when nervous, and I still don't have the depth of data analysis that I want (now that I've had the software making it possible for, what, about 48 hours). People seemed to enjoy it, though, and Haruko Kazama, who does beautiful work, gave me her card and proclaimed herself very impressed. I am not convinced Higashiyama was impressed, though, and that's who brought me in; hopefully I can do more data analysis before my seminar at Nagoya and redeem myself.
Shigeru Kondo told us about some zebrafish pattern formation, which was great; I've really enjoyed his papers. (Wim, that review article on Turing wave patterns in animals was his.)
Then I got taken out for lunch, since the luncheon talks were all going to be in Japanese. That was okay by me, but I think Masa and Yoko had an agenda of their own, so we went off and got curry rice. Japanese comfort food is yum. Really pretty cakes at the restaurant, but quite slow service and very hot inside. Deep-voiced crows on the way back. I imitated a Seattle one surprisingly well for comparison.
Saw some interesting talks this afternoon, though all in Japanese. It's harder to tell what's going on, obviously, but if the talk is good I can interpolate quite a lot due to conventions of the field, clear logic, and good figures. A new gold standard for my own talks: can someone who doesn't speak English understand what I'm on about?
I seem to have hit a strange fashion note today. The dress I bought for this presentation is fully lined and I have to put a camisole under it, and that was NOT happening. Instead I wore a new top (burgundy, snug, interesting gathers and draped neckline) with a gray pinstripe skirt and red-and-plum slingbacks. I feel like this is business attire. But it seems that Japanese women scientists go for dowdy, actually, and my fears of being insufficiently trendy are completely unfounded. Nearly all the men are in button-down shirts and slacks, but some of the women look very casual indeed. (Watch them all dress up if I wear a t-shirt tomorrow.) *
Right now I am outside, in a little non-smoking courtyard area absolutely filled with the sounds of cicadas: several different songs, all going like anything. It's warm and humid today, but there's an intermittent breeze making it quite tolerable outside. In the building halls it's pretty unpleasant, but the classrooms have AC. Hmm. Turns out there are mosquitoes out here, though. Didn't they notice it's daytime? Sure, it'll be dark in three hours, because apparently Tokyo is nigh-equatorial compared to home, but mosquitoes are supposed to be a dusk thing and it ain't dusk yet. Sigh. Nigh-equatorial. Right.
Also the expensive bag has stitching coming undone already. Wonder if I can get it replaced.
* Later: At the elevator to the hotel, after getting come-ons left and right walking through what is admittedly The Red Light District on a Saturday night, I asked Yoko to be honest -- did my outfit make me look overly accessible? She just laughed. Kind of a lot. Uh-oh. Then the girl we were riding the elevator with (dressed in a shapeless diaphanous top like everyone else) joined a man in the lobby and rode with him to his room. Yes, I was dressed more sluttily than the actual escorts. Jeez, Japan.
