Katsura Campus: Sterile?

This is my third post (and maybe the last) about Katsura campus. In a previous post I wrote that Katsura campus resembles a “golden cage”, brand new buildings and equipment but no life, no shops, restaurants or shopping areas around. Please allow me to elaborate. First, restaurants. Katsura campus has one cafeteria in cluster B, right in the middle of the campus. There is a small cafeteria (?) and a small bakery in cluster A and a French (!) restaurant in cluster B. The main cafeteria in cluster B basically monopolizes the catering market of the campus. Even local residents can be seen eating there, since there is practically nothing else around. What is wrong with that you might ask? First, with virtually no competition around, meal quality ranges from eatable to mediocre while prices are not fit for a University CO-OP cafeteria IMHO. If I have to rank the meal tastiness among the 5 CO-OP cafeterias (Yoshida main, Yoshida north, Renais, Uji and Katsura) I rank Katsura last.

Getting ready for the lunch rush at Katsura Cafeteria (Photo: Eddie)

There is more to that. Outside of the main cafeteria there is beautiful wooden terrace. On the terrace there are several wooden picnic tables. Unfortunately the tables are not used much. There are no bars, restaurants or cafes around Katsura campus. Friday nights on campus are depressing.

Happy New Year 2010!

Happy New Year to ALL! Hope this year will be full of success and prosperity!

Merry Christmas!

10 days before Christmas! Wishing you all Merry Christmas! Enjoy this clip of “Christmas Light Hero”!

Signs of running out of time!

I wish I could buy time… Evidence: the chat I had with my friend Eddie.

Eddie: 今日ご飯にいかない
me: 行く
何時？
Eddie: 11時55分
me: 了解
時度販売で会う
Eddie: 時度という言葉あるの
me: 時度＝字度販売機？
時度販売機
me: ははは　それもまちがってる
自動　販売　機
me: はははははは
Eddie: automatic selling machine
me: 自動販売機
やっと
Eddie: you wrote “time selling machine”
wow
i wish
me: Cool ain’t it! I want one of this!
Eddie: in the future
year 3001
me: I will post that!
Eddie: pls
this is so cool
haha

Countdown to submission

The deadline for the PhD dissertation submission is around the corner! I would like to wish all of you the best. GANBARIMASHOU!

 

KI-ZU-NA Event: Sake Cellar Visiting and Inari Shrine Tour

Taken from the KI-ZU-NA website:

Student Lounge KI-ZU-NA August 2009 Event
Visit Gekkeikan Okura Sake Museum and Fushimi Inari Shrine.

Date/Time:	August 22nd (Sat.), 2009 Meeting at 12:30. End of the tour will be around 4:30p.m.
Meeting Place:	Keihan Railway Fushimi-Inari Stn. Ａt the exit of the train which bounds for Yodoyabashi or Nakanoshima.
Fee:	300 yen, museum’s entrance fee. (To be paid when you apply) ※ Transportation expense 200 yen (one way) from Fushimi Inari Stn. to Chushojima Stn. is not included.
Application:	Apply directly to ‘KI-ZU-NA’ staff.
Eligibility:	Kyoto University students, faculty members, researchers, etc.
Acceptance:	First 15 people ※ We will stop accepting　applications when seats are filled.

International Student Day

International Student Day: Culture Gathering in Kyoto Nijo Castle

Nijo Castle

Kyoto is inviting foreign students at universities and colleges in the city to participate in International Student Day from 10 a.m. to noon on Oct. 17.

The event will give Kyoto’s foreign students an opportunity to enjoy traditional stage performances and tea ceremonies at Nijo Castle in Nakagyo Ward.

Participation is free and 150 students will be invited. Those who wish to participate must enter a drawing by phone or fax or apply online through the city’s Web site by Aug. 15.

To apply, call (075) 661-3755 or send a fax to (075) 661-5855 listing your name, address, telephone number, school name, nationality and e-mail address. To apply online, go to the Web site at www.city.kyoto.lg.jp/sogo/page/0000012821.html (in Japanese) and fill out the inquiry form.

Those accepted will receive their invitation by early October. The event will be postponed to Oct. 18 in case of rain.

For more information, access www.city.kyoto.lg.jp/sogo/page/0000065429.html (in Japanese).

Date:	Saturday, October 17, 2009
Time:	10:00am – 2:00pm
Location:	Nijo Castle
Street:	Senbon dori and Oiike
City/Town:	Kyoto, Japan
Map:	GoogleMaps
Cost:	FREE!
Notes:	You have to sign up by calling or filling out an application online. It is limited to 150 people (only international students).

Katsura Campus: Disconnected?

This is my second post about Katsura Campus. I will try to let pictures do the talking. Below is a map of Kyoto showing the location of the main campus at Yoshida and Katsura campus:

Yoshida campus is at a well developed area of Kyoto, very close to city center and Kyoto’s shopping and entertainment heart. Contrary to that, Katsura campus is literary in the middle of nowhere, on top of the mountain. The nature surrounding Katsura campus is beautiful and the campus is very peaceful.  Maybe too peaceful… Commuting from the main campus to Katsura campus takes about 1 hour if you use the campus shuttle bus service or 1.5 hours if you use public transportation. If you have a car it takes about 40 minutes on good days of low traffic. For those of us that don’t have a car, if we use public transportation we will have to ride a train from Demachiyanagi station to Shijo, transfer to another line at Shijo-Kawaramachi, get off at Katsura station and finally ride a bus to Katsura campus. Not to mention the cost (620 yen), all these transfers take time. If you are lucky enough to make the connections without waiting then it will take you something like 1.5 hours (assuming walking from main campus to Demachiyanagi station). The shuttle bus service offered by university partially alleviates this waste of time but the service is offered only between 9 in the morning and 6 in the afternoon, roughly every one hour (i.e. there are 7 runs). If you are a (hard working) graduate student that works until late then, sorry no shuttle service for you! You can sleep in the lab if you want!

What can be done to connect Katsura campus to the rest of the city? That is a difficult question. Maybe the university should subsidize the commuting of students. Maybe, the shuttle service should be offered until late.  Maybe students should move close to Katsura campus (and risk dying of boredom). One think I can say for sure, not much thought was put into the campus connectivity issue during planning. What do you think?

Senmon Talks

Posting information about “Senmon Talks” (sent by Maria-Lucia.)

International Cross-Disciplinary Exchanges

How many of us have listened to other people talk about their fields and felt interested and yet not quite sure we really did understand? Senmon Talks is an opportunity to listen to people from very different fields discuss their areas of expertise.

We meet once a month to welcome a presenter who gives a 30 minute talk followed by twenty minutes of Q&A. We continue the discussions over dinner and hopefully take away from the evening a slightly enlarged view of a different “senmon”.

Come join us and bring your fresh perspective to our table!

国際異分野間交流

他分野の人がどんな研究をしているか興味ありませんか？専門Talksでは毎月様々な分野からプレンセンテーターを招待して自分の専門分野を一般の人に分かりやすく紹介してもらいます。　興味のある方お待ちしています！！

EVENT:

Presentation by PATRICK ANTOLIN, PhD student, Kwasan Observatory, Kyoto University, Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo.

“Why is the solar corona so hot? Tackling the coronal heating problem.”

30 minute presentation followed by questions and discussion

WHEN: July 17th 2009,  6:00PM-7:00PM

WHERE: 国際交流セミナーハウス International Seminar House

INFORMATION:

Contact: Takesi Matsuyama
Tel.: 090-3655-3233
e-mail: sinistrum[at]gmail.com

The announcement of the event can be downloaded HERE (pdf).

Persistence

per·sis·tence // (pr-sstns, -zs-)

n.

1. The act of persisting.

2. The state or quality of being persistent; persistency.

3. Continuance of an effect after the cause is removed.

A couple of weeks ago, in one of those rare occasions that I had free time to spare, I had an enjoyable discussion with a very good friend of mine about what makes an idea, an initiative fail. Is it because we are not talented enough? Is it that we are not smart enough? Not working hard enough? Is our idea for the next Tweeter not good enough? I concluded that the main cause of failure is the lack of persistence. We don’t persist hard enough to fulfill our dreams. We have a tendency to give up easily. We learnt to jump from one idea to another just like we surf on the internet from website to website. Maybe persistence is the answer…

“Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

— Calvin Coolidge