Hearing Chris’s descriptions of Sendai early on in the program, I had always thought it would be fun to visit him and see some of the beautiful sights there. Still, shinkansen tickets as expensive as they are, I didn’t know if I would be able to do it. After discovering the JR East pass, a Sendai visit became the clear choice for my last two “flex days.” Read the full post »

This half-week or so I went to Osaka. My Japanese teacher is from Osaka, so so many times she would tell me about how great Osaka is and how the people in Osaka are so nice and how it is a great place to visit. So, when my research advisor invited me to visit his lab at Osaka U (Handai) while the rest of my lab was away at a conference in America, I jumped at the chance. What better pretenses for a visit to Osaka than an interest in “touring a lab.”
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