Hokkaido Kazan Summit

I went to Hokkaido from the end of July to the beginning of August as my business trip. The job was to hold "Volcanic Disaster Reduction Summit in Iburi, Hokkaido". We held several symposiums and summer school to teach about disaster prevention and volcanology fot citizens around Mt. Usu and Mt. Tarumae. Both mountain is volcanoes. Mt. Usu erupted in 2000, and Mt. Tarumae erupted in 1981.

I visited Mt. Usu for 8 years ago. At that time, I was junior at Chiba University. I wanted to learn about the volcanic observaiton and so I asked Prof. Okada to teach me about the job in observatory. I stayed for 10 days and studied about volcanology and observaitons. I was really impressed that Prof. Okada thought about disaster prevation profoundly. This experience made me decide to become volcanologist.

When I arrived at a hotel in Usu, I was surprised because the hotel was near Usu Volcano Observatory. Actually, the observatory moved to the other site but the observatory I had visited 8 years ago were there. I felt nostalgy. Wow! So many memories came out. Prof. Okada stayed the same hotel and I told him that I wanted to visit the observatory. How was the observatory? Was the building stiil there? Prof. Okada said the building was still there and we could visit the observatory. Prof. Okada, his son and I visited the observatory next morning. The building was still there but the door was locked. Prof. Okada had a key and we could enter the building. There was no desk and machine but there were Prof. Okada's books and papers. These things reminded me of my motivation for my volcanic research.

I went to the crator of 2000 eruption of Mt. Usu. The buidings around the crator was damaged by the ejecta. The volcanic bomb broke the roof of the buiding and hot mud flow struck the rooms. The ground was deformed by the power of magma. Magma pushed the ground and the surface rose a couple of meters. How strong the powere of magma was! The scenery was totally different from that of 8 years ago. I regret that I hadn't come to Usu in 2000. I should have watched the eruption. I should have hear more vigrous sound at the crator. I could do something for people around there in 2000. Why I had done nothing?

During my trip in Hokkaido, I talked with Professors, official workers and people who live near the volcanoes. I think I should do something for the next eruption. The experience was precious. I won't forget this travel.

PHOTO: Mt. SHOWASHINZAN which is included in the group of Mt. USU and the field of Sunflower.

Best Cure for Cynicism

I found an interesting articles in TIME.
The Best of Asia
Here you can read many articles about Asia. One of the articles explains the Japanese amazing system.
When you lose something in the train or in the station in Tokyo, you can find it in at the office of the terminal station. Once I left my pass case in the train, I went to the office of the nearest station right after I noticed. I explained the characteristics of my pass case and what were included inside the pass case. The station staff called to the terminal station and asked me to go to the terminal station. Fortunately, the terminal station was not so far from the station I got off the train. And so, of course I went to the station. I could receive my pass case at the office of the terminal station in perfect condition. Neither my ATM card nor driver’s license had lost. The other day, my colleague had lost his cellar phone in Yokohama, but he found it in Shimbashi three days later. Everybody was surprised that he found his cellar phone three days later and asked him why he could found it. He said that the lost belongings are sent to the lost and found center at Shimbashi station and he called to the center.
If you lose something in Japan, you don’t need to be disappointed. You should ask someone how to find your belonging. Maybe you can find it though if it’s not in perfect condition. I think there’s no other country has such a good system like in Japan. Japanese are kind, gentle or sophisticated? I don’t know the reason why we can find our lost belongings in Japan. However, this is Japan!
Best Cure for Cynicism in TIME

"TOU NO HETSURI"

I went to see "TOU NO HETSURI" in Fukushima prefecture, Japan.
"TOU" means tower.
"HETSURI" means a dangerous cliff.
The sediment layer(cliff) was seen along the green river. This layer was piled up at the bottom of the ancient lake. The lake was formed as a "caldera". "Caldera" is a volcanic crater whose diamter is over 5km. Why this layer became like a tower or a cliff? This is because the water sculptured the layer.
Local people believed that the every tower was a buddist(or a god of buddism). Yeah, it was mysterious and beautiful.

I watched snow covered mountains near "TOU NO HETSURI". The two-headed mountain is named Mt. "FUTAMATA".

The scenery of many mountains are "NASU" mountains. Mt. Nasu is one of the most active volcanoes in Japan.

Actually, I didn't climb any mountain this time. I would like to climb some of the mountains I saw, this summer.

Jerry

I went to my friend's house yesterday. (my senior of our lab in graduate school) His son's name is Jerry. Jerry is not his real name. However my friend calls him"Jerry". Jerry is one year old .We played with balls and on a slide in a park near his house. This was the moment when Jerry was walking up to the top of the slide.

After the park, we went to my friend's house. Jerry may have been sleepy, however he was excited and didn't sleep when we arrived at his house. We played with balloons. When he could catch it, we clapped our hands to praise him. He also clapped his hands and the balloon fell. It was like a comedy. He was so cute!

I laughed a lot yesterday. I felt comforted by Jerry's innocent smile.

Seagal Diner

"KAMOME SHOKUDO" is the title of a movie which is now showing at the theater in Japan. KAMOME SHOKUDO means Seagal Diner. The story is that a woman named Sachie opens her diner in Finland. Two more Japanese women join her and the diner came to be popular. No special thing happens but the movie is heartwarming. Therefore the movie is popular among Japanese women now.
I watched the movie yesterday. When I read the original novel before I watched a movie, I thought that maybe the movie would be less interesting. However, this time I wasn't bored despite I had read the story. The movie is also interesting.
First, the actresses were unique and some jokes were funny. Maybe such jokes can be undestood by foreign people too, because the jokes are acted with mime. Another point is we can feel the relaxing atmosphere of the Finnish culture from the scenery and the act of the Finnish actors and actresses. The most good example is the Finnish forest. The forest is beautiful and mysterious as if a fairy came out. It seems to have a power to heal the human's heart. The last but not least, the foods are good spices of this movie! If you watch it, you will be eager to try some Japanes foods. Some Japanese foods which were introduced in the movie were the foods we usually eat in our home.
The movie is just showing only in Japan. I hope it will be translated to English and everybody can watch it. Oh, I remember that there is the movie's homepage written in English!
http://www.kamome-movie.com/english.html
Enjoy the pages until you can watch the English version of "KAMOME SHOKUDO".

Here's Japanese Cherry Blossoms

Japanese like cherry blossoms. There are many cherry trees in Japan; in the park, in the university campus and in the garden. I took the photo of the cherry tree in Yokohama park. I don't know why Japanese like cherry blossoms so much but they are really beautiful. We feel the spring is in a heyday when the cherry blossoms bloom.

Bad Day?

I was dissapointed on Saturday because I received the bad news. However I had plan to go hiking with my friend. He is my friend since we are in graduate school. He wanted to sample some rocks for his research.
We went to Mt Ishiwari by the Yamanaka lake near Mt. Fuji. We could see the beautiful view of Mt Fuji at the Top of Mt Ishiwari. Mt Fuji was covered with snow.
Later, we went northward to get another rock smple. On the way to the sampling point we dropped in the winery. My friend said that the wine of this winery is the best in Japan. Once he drank the white wine, it was soooooooooooooooooooooo good, he said. I bought a bottle of wine. I haven't tried yet. I am looking forward to drinking it.
My friend looks uncouth a little but actually he is kind and gentle. He said some words to encourage me. Also, I breathed fresh air, saw the beautiful scenery and could become optimistic. I will never give up my dream!

Here is the information of the delicious wine;
http://www.kizan.co.jp/eng/index_e.html

Black OTABE

In Japanese there are a lot of sweets made by ANKO. ANKO is the sweet bean paste. OTABE is the sweets in which the ANKO is included. ANKO was wrapped with the thin rice-cake and was dredged in the cinnamon powder. OTABE is always brown because the cinnamon powder is brown. However I saw the black OTABE today at Tokyo station. Some staffs handed out the black OTABE. I got one and ate it in my house. Then I understood why this OTABE is black. The black sesame was ground and mixed into the rice-cake. It was savory and delicious. If you like sesame, try it!
OTABE's homepage is here: http://www.otabe.co.jp/ (Japanese only)