ronjie-san wa nihon-e ikimasu ne

Moved to ronjie.com!

Please note, this site will now be moved to ronjie.com/blog/japan2005.html :-)

posted by ronjie @ 5:55 PM   

I'll be home for... my birthday! (MAY-25)

Quite tired today, because of the basketball last night. Our class under Prof Tamura extended also up to around 12:15 (supposedly until 11:00 only), but because we had to cover some topics and there might not be enough time next time...

Anyway, today, I was informed that my flight back home is (re-)confirmed for June 17, Friday. Estimated arrival time in Manila is 9:40pm, so hopefully I will be out of the airport by 10:20 or so. (Adrian, pasundo?)

Now, it's decision time: shall I go to the Expo or not?

I plan to leave "work" early to go to the grocery, and maybe the 100-Yen store na din...

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posted by ronjie @ 5:30 PM   

basketball! (MAY-24)

i played basketball today, with the school's college varsity team! quite tiring (i did all these exercises with them), but man, i really like playing the sport! i ate two set meals for dinner afterwards! had class #3 under Prof Tamura in the morning.

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posted by ronjie @ 8:58 AM   

ho-hum... (MAY-23)

today, i spent 12 hours at the school. ho-hum. nothing exciting. had some headache middle of the day actually - gutom lang yata yon. oh well. time to go home now. :-)

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posted by ronjie @ 9:11 PM   

FUJI-SAN! (MAY-22)

woke up early, met with Kawana-san and Giang-san at the Hon-Atsugi eki. Took a train going to Shin-Matsuda eki (first time I took a train in that direction). Transferred to JR Gotemba train line for Gotemba. Met with Katsumura-san at Gotemba. He brought us to his company's off-site laboratory, the Wind Engineering Institute (head office is, obviously in Tokyo). They had one wind tunnel there. Learned a lot during that visit.

Then we had lunch at this restaurant in a cool Japanese old-style building. We had "hoto" noodles, and this different kind of sushi. Oishii (sarap)! Vegetarian was the noodles though. And the sushi is actually rice wrapped in I think fried tofu. They served "Mt. Fuji" water. Haha, okay din. Katsumura-san treated us for lunch!

Then we went up Mt. Fuji. Yey! The weather wasn't so good though. Cloudy. When we were up at the 5th station (at around 2,300m elevation--Mt Fuji summit is around 3,700m elevation), we stayed at the rest-house there, took some pictures... I saw Elaine (my friend Rad's girlfriend, who is my tour-guide/friend around Tokyo!)! It was foggy there already and it was "raining" actually. Anyway, Elaine said there were climbing up Mt Fuji but they had to go back down because there were landslides already. There were still some snow (maybe its peak was 5% covered in snow.)

Nonetheless, I had a great time! Thanks a lot to Katsumura-san first and foremost! Thanks to Kawana-san and Giang-san also! And of course, thanks to TPU for making this trip happen!

Anyway, I will upload the pictures soon.

In the evening, I was so tired, I went straight home (dropped by 7-Eleven actually for dinner). What an awesome sight, Mt Fuji is. Too bad I haven't seen Mayon Volcano yet!

Alright, until next!

posted by ronjie @ 11:14 AM   

class day #2 (MAY-21)

morning... class day #2 under Prof Tamura.

afternoon... wala lang.

evening... wala lang.

well i had 7-Eleven food for dinner. medyo mas-type ko ang food sa 7-Eleven kesa sa grocery kahit na mas mahal ng kaunti so...

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posted by ronjie @ 11:04 AM   

business trip #1 (MAY-19)

business trip #1 to tokyo today. went to the shimizu research institute. that's the research institute of one of the three largest construction companies in japan: shimizu corporation. they have very interesting facilities, mostly from an engineering standpoint, but anyone would find some of the technologies they have very interesting too, like air-conditioning through the floor, fire protection using water walls, etc.  they have this computer set-up for doing very complicated computer simulation of wind: 10 pentium 4 3.something GHz processors, plus more!

anyway, going to shimizu pala, it's kind of school S-O-P that we wear formal attire.  yup, i was wearing suit & tie, the works.  but it was a very hot day (probably reached 26 or 27 degrees) in the tokyo area, and we were running late for our meeting time with the shimizu guys, so we ran probably 700 meters from the station to the institute, at around 2 o'clock in the afternoon, with our suits and ties on!

then, our agenda at shimizu was quite over sooner than i expected, and two of four of us wanted to go back to atsugi already (one guy had previously thought about going around tokyo), so... it was just around 3:30pm and i was going to meet pa with mia in chiba at around 7:30 pm pa... so home the three of them went, i went to my friend at todai (tokyo daigaku - tokyo university) and made tambay there muna. hehehe, conio-sounding na naman.  anyway, my meeting place with mia was at tsudanuma station, and i got there at around 8pm na din.  so may mga pinadala na akong mga books kay mia.  then i ate muna at becker's inside the station, and si mia na din, and i was on my way home na from tsudanuma at around 8:30pm.  i took the local train.  anyway, sa pagmamadali ko, i stepped on a train going in the opposite direction!  so i got off one station away, and got on the train going home.  i took a local train, which means it stopped at every station, so that i don't have to change trains pa until shinjuku, and naka-upo ako the whole time.  basa na lang ako ng nobela at nakinig sa mga senti na kanta sa aking palm zire 72.  medyo na-apektohan yata ako ng mga senti na kanta.  or baka pagod lang ito.  anyway, naka-48 years of solitude na ako.  hehe.  i've finished around 48% of the novel "100 years of solitude" by gabriel garcia marquez.  very interesting novel, for me at least.  by the way, i paid just 150 Yen for my trip from iidabashi to tsudanuma, and tsudanuma to shinjuku.  hehehe.  guess why.

got back to hon-atsugi eki (station) just before 11pm, and to the apartment at 11:15pm na.  the price for taking a local train.  on my trip from shinjuku to hon-atsugi eki, naka-upo naman ako.  pero i was so tired of travelling the whole day, i felt na parang super tagal ng trip na yon.  upon getting down at hon-atsugi, i decided against my previous plan pa of going back to TPU (the school) to get the bicycle para the next morning, magba-bicycle ako to school.  anyway, i was super pagod na talaga, so i took Bus No. 25 which goes to as close as two blocks away from the apartment.  Bus No. 26 goes straight to TPU sana.

by the way, i thought i don't need to buy an iPod if i wanted a music player, dahil pwede naman sa palm zire ko, lagyan ko lang ng malaking capacity na memory card.  problem: hindi pang-matagalan as a music player ang batterya ng palm.  lasted me a over 2 hours lang.  my advice: okay ang iPod.  but if you want a palm PDA and a music player in one, PalmOne is releasing a PDA model that has 4Gb of capacity and is priced under US$500.  pretty good na din yon, i think.  antayin na lang din natin na mag-mura.

ang dami ko nang sinabi!  bukas ulit! :-)

posted by ronjie @ 9:14 AM   

seminar day! (MAY-20)

i still felt very tired in the morning. i didn't have coffee pa pati so... spark plug ko ang coffee.

anyway, in the afternoon, two professors from the US gave some short presentations about research activities at their respective universities.

here's something interesting: At Colorado State University, there is one required course for ALL freshmen students (undergraduate of course): "NATURAL HAZARD MITIGATION FOR FRESHMEN."

beat that.

also, copying from the Japanese (or from Prof Tamura's PhD students at least) as Prof Bienkewicz of Col. State U mentioned, they also did some "wind tunnel tests" with pre-schoolers.

beat that.

haha. ha. ay pilipinas kong minamahal... nakaka-inis ka dahil kaya mong umunlad pero ayaw mo, pero ganun pa man, miss na kita, pilipinas!!! aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

nga pala, walang magku-kuwento sa akin ng star wars episode 3. kainis!!!!

posted by ronjie @ 9:14 AM   

class! (MAY-18)

First thing in the morning, Prof Tamura gave us an introductory class. Then, I felt tired in the afternoon, must be because of the workout. It was also sunny in the morning, and then cloudy and colder in the afternoon. Maybe that had something to do with me feeling tired. The two other PhD guys from Vietnam and India felt a little tired in the afternoon also.

Ah, starting yesterday morning, I tried a different bike route going to the school. Mas madali dumaan don kasi konti lang dadaanan kong traffic light. Tsaka, it looks like a shorter route, although I'm not so sure about that. Yesterday actually, I kind of got lost, I mean, hindi naman. Yung kaibigan kasi natin e mali ang binigay na instructions. Well, trying to help lang naman siya. Anyway, basically I did not know which direction to go, where to turn, etc., but I was following some high-rise landmarks... On my old bike route kasi, it's following a line of transmission towers. And then, just before the last traffic light towards the school, there's this big place - I think it's a golf course - and since residential area ang paligid, may matataas na mga net along its perimeter. So sinundan ko lang din yon. It felt like a shorter route. But I think, the important thing also is hindi uphill itong bago kong route. Yung dating route, pawis ako palagi pagkadating ng school, and pa-easy-easy lang pagpa-uwi. Ngayon, pareho lang ang effort halos for both ways.

I left school early to go to Sofmap in Atsugi. Basically I bought memory cards for my cameras, and also a memory card reader for the laptop. Got into quite a conversation in Japanese with one of the salespersons there. Anyway, nagkamali ako ng nabili na Compact Flash memory card - Sandisk ang brand na nabili ko so halos pareho lang ng presyo sa Pinas. Anyway, magandang brand naman ang Sandisk. Nakabili din pala ako ng extra battery para sa Canon na camera ko...

Wellp, that's all for now! 'til next!

posted by ronjie @ 8:48 AM   

busy + workout! (MAY-17)

busy day today. again. workout. again. but compared with yesterday, i got to go to the grocery for discounted meals... :-)

posted by ronjie @ 8:48 AM   

warm + busy + workout (MAY-16)

it's the first monday, first day of my second month here in japan. it's quite warm today, it was sunny since 5:00am! how did i know? i woke up at around that time, and boy, was the sun shining. remember japan is up in the northern hemisphere, and they have like 14 hours of daylight on months around the summer. sun rise today is actually at 4:35am, and sun set is at 6:39pm. and, they do not use daylight savings time here unlike in the US.

a little busy day though i got off to a slow start. next thing i know, it was lunch time already. i had two meals for lunch. hehe. i had "pizza" for breakfast, but it didn't quite satisfy my stomach though.

at around merienda time, there was this demonstration again of some software that processes digital video images to determine the flow of air (or water) around some building or obstruction.

next thing i know, it's 5pm already. i have been preparing this "country report" on wind data from the philippines, and i actually started preparing my powerpoint presentation already.

7pm, it was workout-at-the-gym time. quite a good workout. i followed my "trainor's" instructions. hehe.

i was late for the discounted meals at the Sekichu Home Center (grocery), so i settled for 7-Eleven. they have this meal that i like a lot: it has fish, squid, and chicken, and i really like the rice with the nori (seaweed) and stuff.

well that's all for today. jaa, mata ashita!

posted by ronjie @ 9:45 AM   

Household Chores day (MAY-15)

Today, I got to the university almost 6pm na.  I started my laundry
last night pa actually, but anyway, I just finished today.  I made
laba (naks, how so coño naman) the dirty stuff din like mga basahan,
etc.  I did some apartment cleaning - actually I think I didn't do
any last weekend, so super dumi na ng apartment.  I really don't
know why super daming alikabok sa apartment, when its doors and windows
are closed probably 98.5% of the time.  That's why I made laba
the dirty stuff, kasi daming naipon na dumi.  By the way, dumi
is different from kalat.  The apartment's a little organized
naman.


Last Friday, it was forecasted to be a cloudy day today but the sun was
shining for the whole afternoon!  Anyway, in the morning, I was
trying to dry the newly-laundried clothes in the bathroom (there's a
heater inside).


Oh well...  Back to work now...  Have to do some planning and
thinking for the rest of my stay.


Tonight pala would be my first month here in Japan!  (I arrived
April 15, remember?)  :-)


Yey!

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posted by ronjie @ 6:03 PM   

"Tokyo" (MAY-14)

Almost everything went on schedule today... 10am meeting with the Professor. 2pm meeting with my friend, Mia... Got my cellphone na! Texted my brother. It seems that the Globe website (www.globehandyphone.com.ph) is not up-to-date. Supposedly, I have a local number. It doesn't seem like so. My brother texted back that it was my (Globe/Philippines) cellphone number which was displayed together with my text message.

Mia pala is in Chiba-ken (ken = prefecture ~ province), same prefecture as the Narita International Airport. Now I'm from Atsugi-shi (shi = city) in Kanagawa-ken. Imagine that the Manila International Airport is in Bulacan and I live in Los Baños, Laguna. Haha, anyway, I will be more at peace now, because I now have a cellphone! (A Nokia 6650 by the way, for rent from Globe for P75 a day.)

I had late lunch at McDonald's there, and did some window shopping, and some hyaku-en (100 yen) shopping. Now I finally got wasabi, and I also have this sake set. Hehe.

On my way back home, I dropped by Tokyo eki (eki = train station) which I took some pictures of. It's one big and old red brick building. Since my website free space is almost nil, I'll update na lang my photos website when I get back na to the Philippines.

I also dropped by the Shinjuku area, actually just to check what's up at the GAP store (hehe). Did some tambay but nothing really was happening at Shinjuku around that time. It was around 530pm na.

I tried contacting my friend, Elaine, but she wasn't at home. I was gonna ask sana kung may gimmick pa siya.

I also tried to text my friend, Danny, on his Japan-based cellphone. He didn't reply. I don't know if he received it.

Got back quite early to my home-eki, Hon-Atsugi eki. I was there a little past 7pm na yata. Dropped by the supermarket na din for some food. Ubos na yung mga okay na meals nila, so I dropped by the 7-Eleven na din. Mej napadami yata ang binili ko, I was so full, pero naubos ko naman. Hehe. Saya! :-)

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posted by ronjie @ 5:57 PM   

busy on friday-the-13th :-( (MAY-13)

Busy day again today. Tomorrow morning, Saturday at 10am I have to meet with my adviser here at TPU, Prof Tamura. Have to meet also with a friend in Tokyo, Mia, who brought a cellphone for me here.

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posted by ronjie @ 7:38 PM