Well, most of the time I’m doing research. I’m probably working an average of 10 hours per day, give or take an hour. My morning consists of doing physical therapy exercises in the morning, reading the Bible and praying, and eating breakfast. Then, by 8:30 or 9:00 I am working. Sometimes I do some work in the morning at my apartment, but usually I go to the main building, where Carlo ( the guy I am working with ) has his office. In one of the office rooms there is an extra desk, which the people in the Theoretical Nuclear Physics “Lab” have kindly allowed me to use. There are about 10 or so people in the group, and they usually go to lunch together.
A couple days ago at lunch I asked an elderly guy what his name is. I think he said ‘Matanuyiagi’, but in Japanese the name consists of only two characters, one meaning ‘pine’ and the other ‘willow’. He said that a lot of Japanese names are inspired from nature. Then he asked me what my name means, and I said ‘Appointed by God,’ but I don’t think he understood ‘appointed’, so then I said ‘Chosen by God.’ He was quite surprised by the name and thought that I must be from a noble family. I said that my great, great, grandfather was a farmer.
I usually have dinner at the cafeteria, as well. I am usually back at my apartment between 7 and 8p.m. where I typically do more work for about an hour. Then I pray and read the Bible a little bit more, or browse the internet in the lobby, or fiddle with my iPhone, or read a book.
A view of my apartment room. It is required to take one's shoes off before entering into the main room. They provide slippers
There is an Italian guy who works next to my desk. He is quite affable, and has helped me get acclimated to RIKEN. His name is Paolo. It is nice to have someone nearby who likes to talk, because all the other students and postdocs in the room are reticent. Today I wore a shirt that I bought at a Japanese festival in St. Louis, and that generated a discussion with some of the Japanese I was sitting with during lunch.
On Sunday I met up with another college friend of mine, Jennifer Folkner. We went to a church in Hagashi-Kurume, which is about a half hour away from RIKEN. The people meet in an international school called Christian Academy Japan. The service was mostly in English, but there were a lot of Japanese. One Japanese man gave his testimony, which was encouraging to hear. There were people there from other countries as well. I met a guy there from Nigeria who is working at RIKEN. I am planning on meeting with him on campus on Thursday. I also met Kaitlyn (sp ? ) Potter and her husband Ryan. Kaitlyn is the daughter of Ethan and Linda Pettit, who were missionaries with MTW in Japan. Ethan was the librarian at Covenant College for a time. Kaitlyn and Ryan were a nice couple and they invited Jennifer and I over for lunch.
Kaitlyn and Ryan Potter
After lunch, Jennifer took me to see some places around Tokyo. We first went to Hirajuku, where there is a very popular street called Takeshita. There were so many people there. It looked like a river of people. After walking through the crowd for a little while ( just for the experience ), we walked to a famous shrine called the Meiji shrine. It is in a very pretty, heavily wooded area. The temple area was sad, though, because people go their to pray to their favorite god. They throw a coin into a box, clap twice to get the god’s attention, and then they are silent for about a minute. Some people bow. Sometimes they clap some more, as I recall.
At Takeshita Street. Do you see me?
At the Meiji shrine
Then we went to a park called ‘Yoyogi Park’. There were many people there, and they were all enjoying themselves. There were several groups doing different kinds of dances. One group was doing salsa, and there was one group of about 40 or so who were doing some kind of choreagraphy. There were a lot of people with their musical instruments. Jennifer said that there isn’t much green space in Tokyo, so the Japanese take advantage of parks when they can.
I give my talk on Wednesday. Almost every time I try to practice a talk nothing comes to my mind, and I end up staring at my computer. It is such a frustrating and exasperating experience. Writing my thoughts down usually helps get things flowing, but it is still a slow and painful process, so please keep me in your prayers.
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Thanks for the update. Looks like a fun Sunday. Your room looks nice too. We will pray for you.
Dad was reading your post as you were writing it. (That would make a good riddle. When is the same moment not the same moment?) We are glad you are finding some Christian fellowship. Kaitlyn is related to Margaret Stewart since her Mom is Margaret’s cousin.
We will be praying for your talk.
Ha, ha, that is funny. So you were reading it before I had posted it?
Yes. Only the administrator can do that, because I can see the draft posts.
I will pray for you to be able to think of what to say in your talk. Thanks for the update.
Just a note…”They invited Jennifer and ME over. I do appreciate all of your travel log information and will keep you in my prayers. I know from experience that writing down thoughts helps to get the ideas flowing. Keep up the good work. Grandpa Tom
Sounds like fun!
Cool! I like the pictures very much. I love trying to pronounce all the Japanese words. I will pray for you, Seth, as you prepare and also as you give your talk. Also, because of the time zone, the talk will be given on Tuesday for us and Wednesday for you 😉
Yes, I see you. But who took this picture, and who is pictured taking a picture of you?
Ah, yes, thank you for the correction, Grandpa Tom! It must have been the late hour at which I wrote the post…or maybe not.
Dad, Jennifer Folkner took a picture of me. I don’t know who the other person is that is taking a picture. He or she is probably not taking a picture of me, but of the crowd in general.
Thanks for the update
It’s funny to imagine Japanese doing the salsa! I’m glad you met a Christian who is also at RIKEN.