I'd be stupid not to try it!

With that famous Bart Simpson line running through my mind, I knew I had to buy this toothpaste as soon as I noticed that it uses "Nano-Technology." Light mint flavor, low-foaming formula, very mild really. It must be the thousands of tiny robots in my mouth, brushing away at tarter that makes the real difference!

All information will be displayed in engrish!

A couple observations about Japan, trains and paying to ride. Last year I had a Suica card with about $3 left on it and I took the card home with me as a souvenir. This year I brought the card back, completely expecting to be told the card was invalid or at least knowing that the balance had expired. But.... noooo! In typical japanese fashion, the card still worked-the value still safely tucked away and ready to use. This year one of the other group members hipped me to the "My Suica" button that you see when you recharge the balance. He had a japanese friend help him personalize the card with his name in kanji. The next time I was near a Suica machine with a few minutes to kill I tried the "My Suica" option in ENGLISH, and yes I was able to personalize my card, even in english. You can also print out a receipt that documents ALL the fairs paid and the trips taken. I've noticed that you see a lot more Suica logos and locations this year, and that the other train card "PASMO" seems to be fading. Another big advantage, you can now use the Suica card on all trains, not just JR lines! Bye, bye Pasmo.

Video & Photo Galleries

ASIMO - Yes! So the one great reason to visit Miraikan is to actually get to see this famous robot from honda! Of course everyone takes tons of photos and video and I am struggling to figure out the best way to get tons of imagery and videos back to you guys. So I am going to try using my iWeb account as a place to upload photos and video. Click on the thumbnail to see a bigger image or to play the video. You will need a high-speed connection to view the video. Enjoy.

Photos: http://web.me.com/dougbarrett/Site/Photos.html

Video: http://web.me.com/dougbarrett/Site/Video.html

5 Types of Creativity

Day 14  -  Visited the Miraikan in Odaiba today, the national museum of emerging sciences. They had a great new display about the 5 types of creativity that are used to spark innovation and look at things in a different way. Associative, Integrative, Serendipity, Mimicing and Alternative are the five different types they discuss. They use world changing inventions to talk about how we use creativity to make giant changes in our world. Very interesting. On the way back from the museum we transfer at the Ueno station (see pic) and Ed commented on how really beautiful the city is at night and how we never really just get out and look at it after dark. You really do see these different types of creativity all around you here in Tokyo. Everything is though out, very little is not planned or just happens on its own.

Your new best friend...

It seems to me that the Japanese are always looking for more, a deeper meaning, another use. Just in time comes PRETZ! Everything here is in flux, changing and transforming so why shouldn't that box of pretzels you just bought also become a new friend, pet, stowaway? Yes, the picture tells the whole story, once you buy Pretz, he becomes your new companion, just hook him on and go! At least until you eat all the pretzels and throw him away. In reality, it doesn't work as well as it should and you end up getting annoyed and just throwing the box away. Im sure in the US there would be some kind of group trying to get people to adopt homeless PRETZs. UPDATE: Here is a link to a Pretz commercial on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liCKLkLUfUk

Puricura,

means "print club" in Japanese, a photo booth on steroids. Three people enter the booth and follow the elaborate directions with on screen poses by japanese pop stars. You get 15 poses, and of those you get to choose 5 to edit, decorate and print out onto small stickers. Each page has 3 sets of prints. You can then use the scissors in the booth to cut them apart to share with fellow posers. I am still amazed that there are just scissors laying around in public to use, that was the weird part! Me, Ed White and Kelly McCafferty are pictured.

Swine Flu #2

Day 13 - Swine Flu comes to Tokyo and people are really freaked out about it. A college in Osaka was closed because they had one case. So... one of our students is sick this morning and needs medical attention. We tell the concierge, which sets off calls to the local health offices and we are given an appointment to see a doctor about 3 blocks from here. The concierge tells me that we should wear masks when going to the doctors office and that if the doctor determines that the student may have influenza that "we" may be quarantined at the local hospital. Luckly, the doctor thinks it is something else... I don't think anyone realizes how close we come to all being quarantined and the program coming to an end 3 weeks early.

Nikko World Heritage

DAY 12 - Travelled about 2 hours by train to see the temples and shrines of Nikko in the Tochigi prefecture. The site is in the mountains, very cool and dry and green compared to Tokyo's cement jungle. A great way to get away for a day and relax, and climb stairs. On the week days Nikko is swamped with school children and I spend a few minutes posing for pictures... "I want a picture with the big monster too!" 

Palm Pilot

With the power of Google maps and a brand new iPod Touch I still had to resort to just writing down the main stops and transfer points on all the trips for easy navigation. Try wrangling 15 people through the maze that is Tokyo and you'll understand why using something like an iPod and google maps becomes problematic. The different trips are: 1. Tsukiji Fish Market, 2. Tokyo Tower, 3. Tokyo Mid-Town Towers (Art Directors Show), 4. Tokyo Big-Site (Design Festa Show). 

Apartment 2306

BUREAU SHINAGAWA: Here is my base of operations for the next 5 weeks. Apartment 2306, Bureau Shinagawa. My address is: 4-1-6 Konan, Minato-ku. My apartment is really just a tiny little, one room studio, but the students have really deluxe accommodations, corner rooms with sweeping views of Tokyo and the surrounding areas. Shinagawa is a very Americanized area of Tokyo and you see many western faces running to and from the trains during the day. Good restaurants and a supermarket, we are about a 5 minute walk to the Shinagawa Station. 

quarantine inspection document

Here is the notice of health inspection that each person gets to leave the airplane. We were also given a face mask to wear once leaving the flight too. There is another UF group doing a cinema workshop here in Tokyo and they have been asked by the Japanese government to please cancel their program. So I think that we are very lucky to be able to bring 15 people here and spend 5 weeks during all this flu scare. I think partly because we are so small that we can fly under the radar. 

swine flu

DAY ONE: Hey guys.... so I am going to make this blog work so stay tuned for daily posts. I swear I will post daily (Rae!) Flew into Narita on Saturday after a one day layover in Chicago (dont ask). We were told that we would be quarantined for 30 minutes while the Japanese authorities did a thermo scan of everyone on the flight. It was very interesting to see the swine flu team enter the flight completely wrapped in protective clothing, using a thermal scanner to look for people who have a higher than normal body temperature (see photo). After being scanned everyone was given a yellow sheet that declared they had passed the health check and were asked to show the paper to the entry officer. Later that day the first case of swine flu entered Japan in a 5pm flight and about 30 people were quarantined in a local hotel. In the US they never really say why the swine flu is so bad but the basic story is that the swine flu is able to recombine easily and if it recombines with the deadly avian flu we would have a big problem.