Kyoto visit
Can you find any similarity between Kyoto and Tokyo. Kyo-To ---- To-Kyo. Kyoto was the capital of Japan before Tokyo. I think Kyo means capital in Japanese (not sure though!). Kyoto was the western capital of Japan. It is a very peaceful city with the main street having wider roads than that in Tokyo though all connecting roads are very narrow. It is not as crowded as Tokyo. Kyoto is considered as the cultural capital of Japan. It has plenty of temples, castles and palaces.
I went to Kyoto to attend a conference on fiber reinforced plastics composites. I got the name of the conference only after getting the conference proceedings. It was a whole-Japanese conference with researchers presenting their work in Japanese; slides in Japanese, questions in Japanese and answers are also in Japanese. And I am sitting there. The only time were you can also participate in the proceedings is when people are clapping, which, of course, is not in Japanese. Unfortunately clapping was only for the invited talks, not in regular sessions! Such conferences will give you immense opportunities for sleeping without any worries-you are not going to miss anything anyway. However, contrary to other conferences which I have attended, this time, I paid full attention to all the talks and even tried to make me understand the subject!
Japanese people are very fond of conferences. I think one of the reasons may be the chance they are getting to travel in Shinkansen (joking). The conference, which I attended, was in Doshisha University, which is a private university with teaches theology and American Studies along with commerce and engineering.
In Japan, University professors in Tokyo area will retire normally at the age of 60 or 62; professors in other areas will retire at 62 or 65 and those in private Universities can continue up to 70 years or more! So the normal pattern if one wants to remain in service for long is Tokyo-other areas-private University!
I spent most of the day time in the Conference hall only. My boss and two of my colleagues were also attended the conference. In the first evening, my boss gave me the dinner in a Japanese restaurant. In the next evening we all went to an Indian restaurant Ashoka. We ordered chicken masala, chicken tikka, naan etc. They have different spice levels-mild, medium, royal and extra royal. I ordered chicken with double extra royal spice and one of my colleagues ordered mild spicy chicken. My boss is fond of spicy food and he ordered medium spicy. Here it is very easy for them to change the spice levels-more chilly powder on the cooked chicken-more spicy. You can even get a quadruple spicy chicken like that. So I suffered. But the situation of my colleague who ordered “mild” spicy chicken was worse. Tears were coming from his eyes! My boss enjoyed the medium spicy one as he has experience in enjoying spicy Korean foods. So the lesson learned is a curry sprinkled with kilograms of red chilly powder will make things very easy and “smooth” in the toilet in the next day morning.
We visited some temples and palaces in Kyoto. On the second day, we visited the Buddhist temple, Kiyomizu-dera .
We also visited some other temples (I forgot the names-difficulty in remembering Japanese names). In the huge wooden gates of one of the temples, in order to prevent birds from sitting and “running” the structure, nails have fixed with their pointed ends upwards. That made us to discuss dove as the symbol of peace. I told my boss that dove is considered as the symbol of peace. He replied “ but Chinese are considering otherwise” I wondered “Are Chinese considering dove as symbol of war instead?” After a pause, my boss said “Chinese are considering dove delicious to EAT!!!!” That is my boss!!
In the last day of my three-day stay in Kyoto, I and my boss visited one of the famous castles in Kyoto-the Nijo Castle (http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Nijo+Castle&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1),
which is included in the World Heritage Site list by UNESCO.
It has a very beautiful garden and other features. The floor in the castle will make noise while walking, a design which will help detecting intruders in the night! However, somehow I didn't feel the elegance of some of the palaces in India in that castle.
This is one of the castles in the Nijo Castle complex. There are two castles inside.
After my three day stay in Kyoto, I left for Tokyo with my boss on 19th March by Shinkansen. I mentioned Shinkansen in my last blog. I forgot to mention the price we have to pay for the speed and comfort-130 dollars for a 2:30 hours journey covering 500 kilometers! Still better than a 70 dollars journey from Columbia to Washington DC in Amtrak.
You can get more details about Kyoto in these sites:
http://www.answers.com/topic/kyoto
http://www.city.kyoto.jp/koho/eng/index.html
I went to Kyoto to attend a conference on fiber reinforced plastics composites. I got the name of the conference only after getting the conference proceedings. It was a whole-Japanese conference with researchers presenting their work in Japanese; slides in Japanese, questions in Japanese and answers are also in Japanese. And I am sitting there. The only time were you can also participate in the proceedings is when people are clapping, which, of course, is not in Japanese. Unfortunately clapping was only for the invited talks, not in regular sessions! Such conferences will give you immense opportunities for sleeping without any worries-you are not going to miss anything anyway. However, contrary to other conferences which I have attended, this time, I paid full attention to all the talks and even tried to make me understand the subject!
Japanese people are very fond of conferences. I think one of the reasons may be the chance they are getting to travel in Shinkansen (joking). The conference, which I attended, was in Doshisha University, which is a private university with teaches theology and American Studies along with commerce and engineering.
In Japan, University professors in Tokyo area will retire normally at the age of 60 or 62; professors in other areas will retire at 62 or 65 and those in private Universities can continue up to 70 years or more! So the normal pattern if one wants to remain in service for long is Tokyo-other areas-private University!
I spent most of the day time in the Conference hall only. My boss and two of my colleagues were also attended the conference. In the first evening, my boss gave me the dinner in a Japanese restaurant. In the next evening we all went to an Indian restaurant Ashoka. We ordered chicken masala, chicken tikka, naan etc. They have different spice levels-mild, medium, royal and extra royal. I ordered chicken with double extra royal spice and one of my colleagues ordered mild spicy chicken. My boss is fond of spicy food and he ordered medium spicy. Here it is very easy for them to change the spice levels-more chilly powder on the cooked chicken-more spicy. You can even get a quadruple spicy chicken like that. So I suffered. But the situation of my colleague who ordered “mild” spicy chicken was worse. Tears were coming from his eyes! My boss enjoyed the medium spicy one as he has experience in enjoying spicy Korean foods. So the lesson learned is a curry sprinkled with kilograms of red chilly powder will make things very easy and “smooth” in the toilet in the next day morning.
We visited some temples and palaces in Kyoto. On the second day, we visited the Buddhist temple, Kiyomizu-dera .
We also visited some other temples (I forgot the names-difficulty in remembering Japanese names). In the huge wooden gates of one of the temples, in order to prevent birds from sitting and “running” the structure, nails have fixed with their pointed ends upwards. That made us to discuss dove as the symbol of peace. I told my boss that dove is considered as the symbol of peace. He replied “ but Chinese are considering otherwise” I wondered “Are Chinese considering dove as symbol of war instead?” After a pause, my boss said “Chinese are considering dove delicious to EAT!!!!” That is my boss!!
In the last day of my three-day stay in Kyoto, I and my boss visited one of the famous castles in Kyoto-the Nijo Castle (http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Nijo+Castle&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1),
which is included in the World Heritage Site list by UNESCO.
It has a very beautiful garden and other features. The floor in the castle will make noise while walking, a design which will help detecting intruders in the night! However, somehow I didn't feel the elegance of some of the palaces in India in that castle.
This is one of the castles in the Nijo Castle complex. There are two castles inside.
After my three day stay in Kyoto, I left for Tokyo with my boss on 19th March by Shinkansen. I mentioned Shinkansen in my last blog. I forgot to mention the price we have to pay for the speed and comfort-130 dollars for a 2:30 hours journey covering 500 kilometers! Still better than a 70 dollars journey from Columbia to Washington DC in Amtrak.
You can get more details about Kyoto in these sites:
http://www.answers.com/topic/kyoto
http://www.city.kyoto.jp/koho/eng/index.html
posted by Konnichiwwa at 1:20 PM
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