Semi-Sensei, day 2: Tokyo Drifting to Sendai

Japan's program should be envied

Day 2 of our trip involved a bit of running around the eastern end of Tokyo to see some sites before our bullet train to Sendai.  We stay here one night, and then we go to Tome City, where the students will do home stays, and I will do a hotel stay.



After an orientation meeting (we lots of pics of the various groups afterwards),

U of T Munk folks

U of T undergrads

U of Ottawa

Carleton represents

we met with Dr.Kenji Hasegawa of Yokohama National University.  He spoke about Japanese geography, religion, and culture.  I knew that Japan was, well, screwed from a geography perspective--on the ring of fire, heaps of earthquakes--but I had not known that Japan has 10% of the world's active volcanoes--about 110.  Wow! He did a good job of explaining the regional differences, including the regional id of the folks where we are going for the home stay. It kind of sounds like the Texas or Alberta of Japan--large territory, resource rich (coal, hydro), feisty.  He also did a nice job of discussing Shintoism and Buddhism--most folks marry according to Shinto rites and die (funerals) according to Buddhist practices.

His discussion of the end of World War II and the use of key imagery was very enlightening.  That while many pics are shown of the Emperor speaking on radio for the first time, some pics were staged, and many people did not understand the Emperor's arcane dialect.  Strikingly, the key on that day was people realized that they would live--that many/most had assumed that they would die.

The discussion of Japanese demographics--that the population is aging and there are not enough Japanese babies to replace those who are dying--was very clear.  However, when pushed on policy responses, Hasegawa talked  day care and not ....... immigration. The students asked excellent questions, so I stayed out of it.

After that, we went to Diver City for lunch, and it had a focal point for a meeting place that would make Schelling proud:









We got cards with some credit on them--plenty to get lunch in the food court and get dessert, too.

However, um, I had a problem with gravity:

Prof. @smsaideman spills his ice cream approx 1.5 seconds after purchase.

“As usual, you can’t take me anywhere.” pic.twitter.com/wfA0tZfCwk

— J. Marshall Palmer (@PalmerJM) February 17, 2020

After lunch, we walked around the Imperial Palace Plaza.   Many pictures were taken:

After that, we got on the train to Sendai, had dinner, got the various arrangements for the home stays, and then I went shopping.  Found a cheap Ultraman, so I am set.

Tomorrow, we do exchanges with the local university before the homestays start.

It has been fun seeing Tokyo from the perspectives of the students who range from having more Japan experience than me to those having none.  And so far, my chaperoning has been very little work.   Yeah, I am lucky.  What else is new?