Himeji Castle - 姫路城

On the last day of the trip, Matt Wiske and I got to go see the Himeji Castle with a couple of the guys from the Aksahi Plant. The castle is tremendous! The traditional Japanese architecture is awesome, and it just radiates history. It was built in 1601.

The last dinner out - whew

For our last supper in Japan, the Akashi plant treated us to a shabu-shabu resteraunt in the penthouse of a local building. It was amazing!! We got to sample some more Sushi - I liked everything except the sea urchin (the orange one in the picture). As you can see the Japanese guys ate it first - they said it was the best one in the bunch---I beg to differ.

The Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge

During our daily commute in Akashi we got to see the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge. The Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge (明石海峡大橋, Akashi Kaikyō Ō-hashi?), also known as Pearl Bridge, is a suspension bridge in Japan that crosses the Akashi Strait; it links Maiko in Kobe and Iwaya on Awaji Island as part of the Honshū-Shikoku Highway. It is the longest suspension bridge in the world to date, as measured by the length of its center span 1,991 metres (6,532 ft), substantially longer than the second longest suspension bridge, the Danish Great Belt Bridge. Its total length is 3,911 metres (12,831 ft).

Japanese sports

I became very involved in Japanese sports during my trip. The 4:00 A.M. SUMO wrestling during my sleepless jet-lag nights got me started. This is one I think we should adopt in the U.S.
Human Tetris

New Technology in Japan

Here's something I'll bet you didn't know. The Japanese have finally revealed a mystery for you. Haven't you wondered how the arrow on your computer monitor works when you move the mouse? Now, through the miracle of technology, we can see how it's done. With the aid of a screen magnifying lens, the mechanism becomes apparent. Click on link below to find out. The image may take a minute to download. When it appears, slowly move your mouse over the light gray circle and you'll see how the magic works.

http://www.1-click.jp/

Winner

Mike Honnold of the Tech Center wins the pespi for being the closest - and only guesser of the question

More Amazing Natural Phenomenon

UPDATE 1: Officials withdraw tsunami warning, following a strong earthquake off
the coast of Niigata in northwestern Japan July 16. Extensive damage reported.

This alert affects Japan.
This alert began 16 Jul 2007 08:00 GMT and is scheduled to expire 20 Jul 2007
23:59 GMT.

UPDATE 1 to July 16 alert:

Authorities report at least four people dead and more than 400 people injured
following a magnitude 6.8 earthquake in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) off the
coast of Niigata in northwestern Japan, July 16. At least 350 buildings suffered
damage from the earthquake. Officials have set up nearly 100 evacuation centers
and have begun relief and rescue missions in Niigata Prefecture.

Authorities have withdrawn a tsunami warning issued within minutes of the
earthquake.

The earthquake and subsequent aftershocks caused a small fire at the Kashiwazaki
Kariwa nuclear power plant. Authorities have extinguished the fire and report no
radiation leaks. Other nuclear power reactors automatically shut down following
the earthquake.

Officials have suspended some bullet trains and all local trains. One local
train derailed; authorities report no injuries. Reconfirm all travel plans. Over
37,000 homes lost water supplies. Expect local power, gas and water supply
disruptions.

Meeting in Japan

Today can officially be recorded as one of the neatest days of my life. It is such a bummer that my family was not here to share it with me - but none the less, there is a small perk to business travel.

This morning Tatsu Asaka met me in the lobby of the hotel at 8:00AM. He escorted my by train to the home of one of the friends in Itani. This included about 1 hour and the train , 30 mins on a bus and 15 mins walking and waiting. Between switching trains and finding the bus stop, I never would have made it if Tatsu had not helped me. It was a treat to get to see some more "normal" Japanese life. Up to now it has been all hotels and tourist areas. When I was back in the residential area, there may have been some of the young people that had not ever seen an American because they watched me very closely.....maybe I just looked suspicious.

Upon arriving at the meeting, we took off our shoes and put on slippers. I could tell that the lady of the home put out the best slippers for the guest. According to Tatsu they get very few foreign visitors because they are not very near a major city.

The meeting was in Japanese, but Tatsu wrote down each testimony in English for me. The lady of the home was very good with English, so she wrote hers for me and handed it down the row. I prayed in English, but Tatsu interpreted my testimony. It is amazing to feel the same spirit - in a place so far from home. The people were so warm and wonderful, it was a truly enriching experience. After the meeting they had tea and cookies. I don;t know if that is a normal custom, or if it was because of the visitor.

One of the saint ladies drove Tatsu and I back to his batch after meeting. We ate a nice American meal at the McDonald's near his batch. Yoshihisa Sorimachi, his companion, was in another city for the morning meeting, so he met us at the batch around 1:00PM. I rested on Sorimachi-san's mattress until meeting time.

The gospel meeting was about 25 people, and one outsider. There were two families there. One family had 4 children and the other had 3 children. It made me miss my kids SOOOO bad. It was amazing to see these families - just like us serving the Lord with the same spirit and purpose. Tatsu and Yoshi both summarized their testimonies in English for me, which I was very glad for. They sing the hymns with the same tunes as us - but in their language. The singing was very beautiful. After the meeting we had tea again with cookies, but I think this time it was for an outsider that had come. A young Japanese girl is engaged to a professing Italian boy, so she came to the meetings while she is home - but has not yet made her choice. We stood around and talked for about 1.5 hours. Several of the Japanese folks enjoyed practicing their English with me, and I enjoyed practicing Japanese.

After then meeting Tatsu and Yoshi accompanied me back to the Hotel - once again if it were not for them I would still be wandering about. We walked around Kobeland Harbor, which is very touristy and enjoyed the nice afternoon weather. I wanted to try some more Japanese food with them, so we went to a Japanese place that served Pork Cutlets. It was very good, and the workers seemed to enjoy it as well. We shared our testimonies around the dinner. Tatsu said he had a wonderful day, but his only regret was that he did not have me share my testimony during the gospel meeting......I was very glad that it was already too late for that.

They helped me back to the hotel, and when we parted ways, we all waved until we could not see each other any more. So now I am back in my room, wishing the day was not over but feeling so thankful that it did.


One of the two sunday meetings in Itami. Tatsu is in the middle. The lady of the home is on the right.

We switched camrera men.

A canal near the batch. There could not have been 8 inches of water in it, but it was FULL of carp.

Tatsu in the batch. This is also where we had gospel meeting.

The bed where I took a much needed Sunday nap.

The two young families in gospel meeting.

Tatsu and Yoshihisa

Can you spot the American?

The amusement park near the hotel

Tatsu and I in front of the submarine

The Submarine

Pork Cutlets

Tatsu enjoying supper, but not the photo

Sayonora Typhoon

The Typhoon has officially passed. Fortunately all we had was a few broken umbrellas and turned over bicycles.

Read about it Yahoo News Report

Braving the Tyhphoon

After checking in, we decided to grab a bight to eat. The hotel is in a very touristy area, so there is plenty to do. It is also a Japanese Holiday....so there are many people out and about - despite the impending Typhoon. Our outing gave me the opportunity to take a couple of pictures, and stuff myself in a Brazilian restaurant.




We also got a little Japanese culture lesson - can these guys really sing!?!?!


I also noticed that on Japanese television, there is often a deaf or signlanguage show. Since that is Leann's profession, I captured a little clip for you to see.

Into the Typhoon

Today we boarded the bullet train from Hachioji to Kobe. We arrived in Kobe early afternoon, and the Typhoon is to hit in the night time and continue until late Sunday. My hotel room on the 14th floor looks out into the bay - so I will get a 1st hand look at the eye of the Typhoon. Hopefully Okinowa slowed it down some.

The Bullet Train (Shinkansen (新幹線)) was AMAZING. It is so smooth and quiet - it is hard to imagine that you are traveling at over 100MPH. While we were waiting at the station, several trains buzzed the station (they did not stop or slow down). The 1st time was frightening as I have never been standing within 10 feet of a train going THAT fast. You can actually feel the air coming before you hear or see it. In less that 4 seconds it has come and gone!

Fortunately it is a holiday weekend and all of the economy seats were sold out - so we just "had" to get the premium seats. It was pretty nice. I had a hard time getting photos of the scenery because by the time I saw it - it was gone! It was also overcast because of the arriving Tyhpoon - so the pictures will seem dim. In the country-side there was more of an abundance of traditional" architecture. It was neat to see - I just wish the photos could have captured it.

I spotted a submarine out of my hotel window - probably avoiding the storm.

My view of the ocean - hopefully that is as bad as it will get.

Pictures from the shinkansen







Coke in an aluminum bottle

The SCM Plant

Here are some photos of the plant visit. Our host was facility welding engineer Otsuka-san. He was very accomodating and we were able to get quite a bit done.

- The 1st CAT ever built in Sagamihara -


- The product look a little bit different. They are so little and cute. -

- Ron looks amused with the daily exercise routine. Otsuka-san is on the right.

- Here is our group hard at work on the weld quality plan -

Here is the goup of people we worked with on the quality plan

Nagata-san was our interpreter