Day 95 2016: To all the new students...

Day 95: ...may a thousand tulips bloom 

Japan knows how to do a ceremony, whether it is sitting under the cherry blossoms singing and drinking and taking in their beauty (something I've long advocated we should do with our jacarandas by the way...but I digress, dear reader) or formal company or, in my case, university inductions.

Friday was the new staff induction. Today the pomp was multiplied by hundreds as all the new students and their family members and staff gathered in the stadium near the uni to be welcomed in a similar fashion to us last week. 

In substance, there's not a lot of difference between what chancellors or vice-chancellors or faculty heads say to new students anywhere...the students are stepping into new territory, a new stage in life, anticipation, nervousness, excitement...and just who will be game enough to sign up for the class with that foreign professor to learn about Japanese politics...(quite a few apparently, according to the enrolment list). 

Anyway, there's probably a very good reason why Japan also chooses to undertake all its formal welcomes, inductions and starts at this time of year: it is springtime, where a few million cherries blossom and in more recent times...a hundred tulips bloom...

Classic red

Many reds

surreal orange (no filter, no edits)

Ready for the festival of the tulip

Jostling for space

The wheel is not far away

A rare double-header

And no doubt, the students will bloom too, in ways they can't possibly yet know on a day like today. But whatever happens, we the educators have a big role to play in getting them there. And it is a privilege.

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 28-80mm, 4.58pm-5.03pm, 4 April 2016]

Day 94 2016: Some challenges...

Day 94: ...you can't delay forever

Today, is finally 'the day'...tougher than an orientation day in your second language; tougher than navigating the Tokyo subway...(oh, wait, that's not really a challenge these days...), tougher than negotiating a physical health check...no wait. 

There is no comparison.

Today, it is time for: the new mobile phone contract. Yes, working out the intricacies of this modern (in)convenience has always daunted me, even in my first language. I've left it this long (two and a half weeks) just in case there was a requirement or expectation from the university about plans, companies etc. But no. 

So off trekked I to the local shops. 

And actually succeeded.

One's reward for such courage in the face of sheer contrived panic: 

A touch of sun

They're blooming everywhere

Disguising old buildings...

Hanging out together

Through the treetops

Looking down from up in the branches

All together now...

Even electricity wires can look elegant at this time of year

Well of course, what else is one to do at this time of the year in Tokyo. (Yes, apologies dear reader, this can only last a few more days.) And though a wet morning promised some raindrops on petals, unfortunately the wind put an end to that. Though being at treetop level thanks to an overpass did offer a new perspective on the day.

Or perhaps that is just because I managed to sign off on a deal...

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 28-80mm, 12.54pm-1.00pm; 3.07pm-3.09pm, 3 April 2016]

Day 93 2016: There's just no stopping them...

Day 93: ...the blossoms keep coming

Another post with little required in the way of words. This weekend will probably be the high point of the cherry blossoms in Tokyo. So I took full advantage of the blooms in the neighbourhood. As were the locals as they bagged their places for later merriments...

Sparklers

Through the lower branches

Up close

Ring

Two of a kind

A spot of croquet

Branchful

Stand out branch...ready for merriment

Bunches

Scale

More scale

A touch of green

white

Pink, white, together

En masse

downward

Self-portrait with sakura (old-school selfie)

Just when I think I like them from a distance, I take a close-up and I think I prefer that...I don't know. They're never boring. 



There was a purpose...a dash to the post office to collect some mail that had come during the week, while I was out. Two steps closer to 'lived in' status...just a mobile phone now. That is sure to be more complex than yesterday's orientation...


[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 28-80mm, 9.41am-10.43am, 2 April 2016]

Day 92 2016: A new beginning...

Day 92: ...no fooling anyone

Interesting thing about 1 April in Japan is that it is the 'beginning' of the financial, school, work year. If newspapers want to change their layout or TV stations want to change their programming, then it is usually done on 1 April...you couldn't really get away with that in Australia now could you, no fools here...

And so it was today that I was formally, very formally, inducted into my new workplace, along with about 30 others, two of whom, like me, were joining the Department of Political Science. 

It was a full day of induction, introduction, and orientation. I had to be there by 8.45am which meant leaving home about 6.45am and of course, in (nervous) anticipation, I woke up at 3.45am...

We finished at 5.00pm, by which time, well, I was pretty tired. As it happened, the university took the 1 April chance to unveil its new branding, which I quite like...colourful, meaningful, just like the wheel on sunset...

Lights, camera...colour

Out with the old, in with the new: from USC to MU

It was a big day, a big event but there's no fooling anyone, the real work starts on Monday.

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 28-80mm, 6.00pm, 10.20pm, 1 April 2016]

Day 91 2016: There's a dock on the bay...

Day 91: ...where I might be sitting, watching the time roll away

My office is done, everything I can do is now in their place and almost every place has its things. I'm still to get a computer and a couple of pieces of work equipment, but that will happen on Friday. Or Monday. Perhaps.

Orderly, for now

Some touches of home

All ordered nicely according to teaching and research preoccupations, oh yes, and perhaps one or two other things for decorative purposes...

Lunch today was a perambulation: straight ahead. I've been a little intrigued by what looks like a confected church-like building and a recreation of an imagined cobblestone village on the outskirts of Paris which I can see from my office window.

I went to investigate. 

Indeed, it is a confected church, and a recreation of an imagined cobblestone village on the outskirts of Paris, disguised as quite an elaborate wedding and bridal centre. Indeed. 

I walked right on through...

...until, I crossed a couple of roads and reached the dock, on the bay. And just like the old song says, I reckon I can find myself sitting here watching the lunch time roll away.

I even spotted a seagull or two. But right now, it is cherry blossom time, even here, by the bay.

Rows and rows

Handy to know

The Nippon Maru, at dock

The cherry blossom and the roof structure

The pink and the white

Another angle on our wheel

Light, shade and pink

Just asking to be taken

I spy...

...and then, off!

I'm still pinching myself sometimes. It is quite an amazing environment. And I receive my official pass of approval tomorrow.

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 18-55mm, 10.12am-10.14am; 1.17pm-1.46pm, 31 March 2016]

Day 90 2016: Turn right...

Day 90: ...for exploration purposes of course

Another day at work, not work (not officially until Friday) and so another lunchtime stroll to explore the lay of the land around the campus. It's not Moffat beach, but it is very nice to be so near the bay and river area of Tokyo, you feel the sea breeze hit as soon as you leave the train station. 

And so with much of the unpacking completed (or, how two and a half months of packing was undone in 24 hours), I took a turn to the right at the front gate today to go to a park on the river bank which I spied from my office window.

I wasn't the only one taking pics either, it looked like some students from a photography school were out doing similar things with friends dressed in cartoon costumes too. 

 

A wheel, a bridge: a touch of the familiar

The campus from this angle

Greenery and glass

Through the maze

My office, disguised as a cherry blossom

Because it is that time of the year...

I think I might have found a nice little spot for a regular tai chi set as my timetable permits. 

[Camera : Canon EOS60D, 50mm, 1.12pm-1.26pm, 30 March 2016]