Thursday, December 28, 2006
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Kawase's Anatomy
The main reason for this trip is of course our scientific project, so it goes without saying that it all but deserves to be written about at least once. Let me begin by giving a small explanation of this project.
A year ago Dr. Delwel (neurosurgeon at the Erasmus medical University), Jorn and I started out on a collaboration that would shed more light on a complicated neurosurgical technique that sets its aim on reaching the base of the skull and the upper part of the brainstem. The indication for such an approach usually involves the removal of tumours or aneurysms (a potentially lethal widening of a blood vessel) local to the aforementioned area.
We decided to study the advantage of combining two already known approaches to these areas of the brain. And as the title of this segment already suggests, one of these approaches was pioneered by Professor Takeshi Kawase of the KEIO medical University. This great man is also the main reason we made it to this city, for we were invited to visit his hospital after just one e-mail asking for his advice concerning our research.
So after quickly having accepted the invitation, we now find ourselves visiting most of the neurosurgical operations that are being performed during our stay. These operations take place twice a week and usually comprise of a whole day, for these interventions can easily last for 8 hours and longer with ease.
The interesting aspect of it all is being able to see how thing are done here in Japan. Remarkably though, things are very similar when compared to the conditions under which the operations are performed in Rotterdam. We both tend to use the same equipment and the techniques are also the same. So in the end, aside from learning allot about the general aspects of neurosurgery, we get most of our relevant information from discussions with the Professor himself.
Other small details that bear mentioning are that, in spite of the greater similarities, there are also small differences like the gratitude and felicitations a surgeon receives from all those around him after having performed the surgery, and of course a surgeon also receives wishes of good luck before venturing towards the deep ends of the human brain. In the end, like in most parts of this city, we were made to feel very welcome. The entire neurosurgical staff even went through the trouble of holding a significant part of their conferences in English just so that two medical students would be able to follow the discussions regarding the operations to be held or those held in the previous week. Actions like these only further highlight the dedication and discipline with which the people here go about their daily business, be it working in a small restaurant, tending to a garden or operating on human brains.
A year ago Dr. Delwel (neurosurgeon at the Erasmus medical University), Jorn and I started out on a collaboration that would shed more light on a complicated neurosurgical technique that sets its aim on reaching the base of the skull and the upper part of the brainstem. The indication for such an approach usually involves the removal of tumours or aneurysms (a potentially lethal widening of a blood vessel) local to the aforementioned area.
We decided to study the advantage of combining two already known approaches to these areas of the brain. And as the title of this segment already suggests, one of these approaches was pioneered by Professor Takeshi Kawase of the KEIO medical University. This great man is also the main reason we made it to this city, for we were invited to visit his hospital after just one e-mail asking for his advice concerning our research.
So after quickly having accepted the invitation, we now find ourselves visiting most of the neurosurgical operations that are being performed during our stay. These operations take place twice a week and usually comprise of a whole day, for these interventions can easily last for 8 hours and longer with ease.
The interesting aspect of it all is being able to see how thing are done here in Japan. Remarkably though, things are very similar when compared to the conditions under which the operations are performed in Rotterdam. We both tend to use the same equipment and the techniques are also the same. So in the end, aside from learning allot about the general aspects of neurosurgery, we get most of our relevant information from discussions with the Professor himself.
Other small details that bear mentioning are that, in spite of the greater similarities, there are also small differences like the gratitude and felicitations a surgeon receives from all those around him after having performed the surgery, and of course a surgeon also receives wishes of good luck before venturing towards the deep ends of the human brain. In the end, like in most parts of this city, we were made to feel very welcome. The entire neurosurgical staff even went through the trouble of holding a significant part of their conferences in English just so that two medical students would be able to follow the discussions regarding the operations to be held or those held in the previous week. Actions like these only further highlight the dedication and discipline with which the people here go about their daily business, be it working in a small restaurant, tending to a garden or operating on human brains.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
The wonderful mind of a child...
Come and follow the green signs towads some truly wonderful experiences. For today we were among the few, very proud, visitors, and in the kind words of the creators, main protagonists of the Museo D’arte Ghibli. For those who are not familiar with Studio Ghibli and their creations, aside from full heartedly recommending it’s movies to you, I can elaborate a little on what it is they are so famous for. Compare them, if you will, to the Disney Studios, only this time around were talking Japanese animation combined with outer-worldly fairy tales filled with tons of adventure, cuteness and moral values. For anyone looking for a peek into a no so alternate universe, look no further.
It so happens that the incredibly creative minds that make up Ghibli Studios decided to build a museum, a place perhaps described best in the words of the creator Hayao Miyazaki himself as being:
“A place that stimulates a wealth of ideas, while avoiding worn out displays covered in dust”
It so happens that the incredibly creative minds that make up Ghibli Studios decided to build a museum, a place perhaps described best in the words of the creator Hayao Miyazaki himself as being:
“A place that stimulates a wealth of ideas, while avoiding worn out displays covered in dust”
“An interesting place but one capable of putting you at ease”
“A place where various things can be discovered”
“A place through which air and light can freely flow”
And above all…
“A place where children are treated as if they were adults”
Considering the last remark, I immediately felt right at home. And that is possibly the greatest power of the place: It makes one enjoy being a child again, truly filling you with dreams. For if you have seen one of their movies, you will amazingly feel as being part of those worlds, and this not only because of the accurate recreations of the most memorable moments of their movies in real size, but mainly because of the added touches like scent, light and music. Every corner is a joy to be admired let alone to be explored and touched. Fittingly this kind of behaviour is proudly encouraged. The latter comment being clearly enforced by actively encouraging every visitor to put away their cameras and video equipment, to turn of their mobile phones and to simply ease themselves through the many secret (and small) corridors and winding staircases found throughout this picturesque manor and its garden.
Another aim of this museum is to show the techniques that go into animating the movies themselves. This process is started by first giving you a quick visual lesson on the history of animation, later walking you through faithful recreations of the animators quarters and ending up in the cutting room where you are given various possibilities of editing short pieces of movie yourself.
Sadly (and obviously), I cannot ad many images, the few I made were from outside the building, and while seeing everything in person is priceless, the trip towards this country is not, so if you have the time and means (and cannot wait before ever going yourself), I will gladly show you the books I bought, showing all the rooms of this fascinating place. In the end the nicest experience of all was one granted by a small Japanese boy who, contrary to most of his age, confidently sat down next to me to admire and explain the various names of the characters at a colourful display, this mix of English and Japanese combined with the right atmosphere really made me feel of a similar age, allowing me once again to successfully feel truly innocent and worriless again.
“A place where various things can be discovered”
“A place through which air and light can freely flow”
And above all…
“A place where children are treated as if they were adults”
Considering the last remark, I immediately felt right at home. And that is possibly the greatest power of the place: It makes one enjoy being a child again, truly filling you with dreams. For if you have seen one of their movies, you will amazingly feel as being part of those worlds, and this not only because of the accurate recreations of the most memorable moments of their movies in real size, but mainly because of the added touches like scent, light and music. Every corner is a joy to be admired let alone to be explored and touched. Fittingly this kind of behaviour is proudly encouraged. The latter comment being clearly enforced by actively encouraging every visitor to put away their cameras and video equipment, to turn of their mobile phones and to simply ease themselves through the many secret (and small) corridors and winding staircases found throughout this picturesque manor and its garden.
Another aim of this museum is to show the techniques that go into animating the movies themselves. This process is started by first giving you a quick visual lesson on the history of animation, later walking you through faithful recreations of the animators quarters and ending up in the cutting room where you are given various possibilities of editing short pieces of movie yourself.
Sadly (and obviously), I cannot ad many images, the few I made were from outside the building, and while seeing everything in person is priceless, the trip towards this country is not, so if you have the time and means (and cannot wait before ever going yourself), I will gladly show you the books I bought, showing all the rooms of this fascinating place. In the end the nicest experience of all was one granted by a small Japanese boy who, contrary to most of his age, confidently sat down next to me to admire and explain the various names of the characters at a colourful display, this mix of English and Japanese combined with the right atmosphere really made me feel of a similar age, allowing me once again to successfully feel truly innocent and worriless again.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Word of thought...
As we near the completion of our first week in Tokyo I feel I have experienced so much in such a small amount of time. Having never been here before, but having seen much of the media Japan has come to be famous for, my expectations for this country and it's people were running pretty high in the days leading up to this trip. I basically had this image of a very ordered and futuristic society in which people had a great sense collective thinking combined with a healthy amount of room for individual creativity, the latter of the two being very akin to the sense of freedom people in Europe and the US seem to have. I was also expecting very friendly and polite people that were no strangers to moral values and common sense. So in the end this whole trip, aside from having a heavy neurosurgical connotation, also served me as a means of getting to know a different part of this world, hoping to find something I have been looking and longing for in my life for quite some time now.
The first impressions I got from the japanese were mainly those of an clearly ordered society with many polite people generally keeping to themselves while strictly attaining to a huge amount of social rules prevalent in this society. Remarkable was the fact that among these people there was no lack of people voluntarily stepping up to the challenge of communicating with us and seeing whether we needed help in finding our way, this has been, up until now, a common sight.
As the days progressed and our contacts with the people became more frequent, my view of these peoples kindness did not diminish, this mainly because we met many people who ended up talking to us without knowing us, and we were even invited to dinner by a complete stranger. Now this is obviously not the end of it, for most of these people had either a possible economic interest in us or were simply of an older age, for the other side of this coin leaves us with the younger people. Keep in mind that the english speaking population in Japan is rather small, and by that I mean that you will be hard pressed to find someone capable of a language other than japanese, it is this small detail that is probably to blame for the fact that young people are not easy to confront. I say this because after having approached them, they do react enthusiastically but these situations quickly become a little awkward due to this obvious lack of verbal communication, this can be quite frustrating at times.
The main motivation for this message was a chat we had with an old japanese man who aside from being very friendly, also happened to be quite proficient at the english language. It was with him I talked about the differences between the japanese society and the more western oriented ones. One aspect of this conversation worth mentioning concerned itself with this old mans inability to agree with us on the idea that japanese people were of a friendly kind, and we quickly found out why.
It seems japanese people, being isolated as they are, are very dependent on the western world for their economic and general wellbeing. This, highly likely, promotes the friendliness that is shown towards people like ourselves. Another sad thing we discovered is that there seems to be a general disliking of most other asian peoples, the reason for this being that the japanese are very proud and even arrogant towards their close neighbors instead focusing their attention to the likes of Europe, which is clearly reflected in the way most people look on the outside. The whole of this story was also confirmed by another friend we found, this time not japanese but chinese.
So it seems there's more to my first batch of impressions I took home from this first week in Tokyo, and even though not all of them were as positive as I had hoped them to be, on the whole I do feel welcome among these people, as for the complete reason for this feeling...I'll most likely come back to this once I've had more time to think things through, for now I'll concentrate on learning the language and studying their habits and customs.
The first impressions I got from the japanese were mainly those of an clearly ordered society with many polite people generally keeping to themselves while strictly attaining to a huge amount of social rules prevalent in this society. Remarkable was the fact that among these people there was no lack of people voluntarily stepping up to the challenge of communicating with us and seeing whether we needed help in finding our way, this has been, up until now, a common sight.
As the days progressed and our contacts with the people became more frequent, my view of these peoples kindness did not diminish, this mainly because we met many people who ended up talking to us without knowing us, and we were even invited to dinner by a complete stranger. Now this is obviously not the end of it, for most of these people had either a possible economic interest in us or were simply of an older age, for the other side of this coin leaves us with the younger people. Keep in mind that the english speaking population in Japan is rather small, and by that I mean that you will be hard pressed to find someone capable of a language other than japanese, it is this small detail that is probably to blame for the fact that young people are not easy to confront. I say this because after having approached them, they do react enthusiastically but these situations quickly become a little awkward due to this obvious lack of verbal communication, this can be quite frustrating at times.
The main motivation for this message was a chat we had with an old japanese man who aside from being very friendly, also happened to be quite proficient at the english language. It was with him I talked about the differences between the japanese society and the more western oriented ones. One aspect of this conversation worth mentioning concerned itself with this old mans inability to agree with us on the idea that japanese people were of a friendly kind, and we quickly found out why.
It seems japanese people, being isolated as they are, are very dependent on the western world for their economic and general wellbeing. This, highly likely, promotes the friendliness that is shown towards people like ourselves. Another sad thing we discovered is that there seems to be a general disliking of most other asian peoples, the reason for this being that the japanese are very proud and even arrogant towards their close neighbors instead focusing their attention to the likes of Europe, which is clearly reflected in the way most people look on the outside. The whole of this story was also confirmed by another friend we found, this time not japanese but chinese.
So it seems there's more to my first batch of impressions I took home from this first week in Tokyo, and even though not all of them were as positive as I had hoped them to be, on the whole I do feel welcome among these people, as for the complete reason for this feeling...I'll most likely come back to this once I've had more time to think things through, for now I'll concentrate on learning the language and studying their habits and customs.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Monday, December 18, 2006
Shopping to survive
After having survived (and enjoyed) such hectic days in Tokyo one comes to the conclusion that one has the need for healthy food, this led to our local search for a supermarket, and sure enough after venturing through the winding alleys of our, sort of familiar, neighborhood HASUNE, we finally found a real supermarket. This is when we faced our next challenge, shopping for food. Now this might seem easy in our hometown, but this being a japanese supermarket things did become tricky simply because, aside from the recognizable vegetables and fruits, nothing was what it seemed (you be the judge). In the end we did a good job for we were able to enjoy (and survive) the things we bought.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Sunrise in Tokyo
Somehow the thing I love most about visiting places far away from home, is waking up in them for the first time. As most Japanese would say today:"Ii tenki des ne", it was truly beautiful weather today. So after a quick breakfast we set off to exploring the city once again, our main aim: finding an ATM machine that would accept our credit cards, now this might sound like an easy task, but here in Japan it took us quite some time to figure out where to go for this kind of service. After having succeeded, we had our first meal at a small kiosk and later we set off to our second appointment with Prof. Kawase. The setting was the top floor of the hospital, here we were guided to a conference room and asked to attend a Neuroscience meeting. Although mostly held in japanese we did manage to understand most of what was said by means of the english slides that accompanied each of the lectures. And due to a funny coincidence most lectures were on neural development, a topic which happens to be my main topic of research back home. The meeting was very formal and at the end we were treated to one of the most beautiful and delicious buffets we had ever seen: traditional japanese food and a breathtaking view of the Tokyo skyline. So there we were among all these distinguished scientists raising our glass of "Asahi" (sunrise) beer to the impressive tune of: 'KAMPAI!!!'
Saturday night in Tokyo...and what to do, other that what most japanese youngsters are accustomed to, you head out for some Shinjuku Madness! Note that I added the word madness, for nothing could have prepared us for what we were about to experience. Shinjuku is the main commercial and leisure district in Tokyo, imagine Times Square in New York and multiply by ten. Shinjuku's exuberant streets are filled with neon lights, loud melodic sounds, department stores, bars and very flashy youngsters. In after repeatedly dropping our jaws in awe we ended up in a very classy whisky and cigar bar called 'Refrain', here we were treated to the very best liquor Japan and the world have to offer while engaging in a pleasant intercultural exchange of ideas with Kinta san (our barman) and Miyuki san (a very friendly lady).
This concludes the recount of this very busy saturday in Tokyo, stay tuned for more and take care...
Saturday night in Tokyo...and what to do, other that what most japanese youngsters are accustomed to, you head out for some Shinjuku Madness! Note that I added the word madness, for nothing could have prepared us for what we were about to experience. Shinjuku is the main commercial and leisure district in Tokyo, imagine Times Square in New York and multiply by ten. Shinjuku's exuberant streets are filled with neon lights, loud melodic sounds, department stores, bars and very flashy youngsters. In after repeatedly dropping our jaws in awe we ended up in a very classy whisky and cigar bar called 'Refrain', here we were treated to the very best liquor Japan and the world have to offer while engaging in a pleasant intercultural exchange of ideas with Kinta san (our barman) and Miyuki san (a very friendly lady).
This concludes the recount of this very busy saturday in Tokyo, stay tuned for more and take care...
Friday, December 15, 2006
Leaving for Tokyo
Waking up in Rotterdam and going to sleep in Tokyo, as such a rare phenomenon. After a long uneventful trip we arrived at Narita Airport, to the ordered society we somehow expected to encounter. Despite the vast size of the population of this city (estimated at 35 M) we did not feel oppressed at any time, it seems the sense of order that prevails in this city does the trick and keeps everything very bearable.
The people also are very polite, and given the fact that Jorn and I are the exception, as far as outer features are concerned, people never stop offering us their assistance regarding us finding our way in this gigantic city.
After having secured our apartment we headed out for our meeting with Prof. Takeshi Kawase at the largest private university in Tokyo, KEIO university. Prof. Kawase is an extremely pleasant man, who also knows a thing or two about the Netherlands, and has great respect for pioneering people, he therefore commended our initiative to visit him as medical students in order to improve our research. The rest of the neurosurgical staff was also very friendly and helpful and we were immediately treated to a full tour of their facilities and also ended up watching several surgical interventions.
In the end Jorn and I were very tired but still managed to show excitement at every aspect of this great society that showed itself to our tired gaze. So in the end we managed to find our apartment in the outskirts of Tokyo, and became friends with the clerks at the local supermarket because of the many beer cans we ended up buying. So here we are thinking about all we experienced on our first day, and all in all we are just plain and simple very happy to be here...
The people also are very polite, and given the fact that Jorn and I are the exception, as far as outer features are concerned, people never stop offering us their assistance regarding us finding our way in this gigantic city.
After having secured our apartment we headed out for our meeting with Prof. Takeshi Kawase at the largest private university in Tokyo, KEIO university. Prof. Kawase is an extremely pleasant man, who also knows a thing or two about the Netherlands, and has great respect for pioneering people, he therefore commended our initiative to visit him as medical students in order to improve our research. The rest of the neurosurgical staff was also very friendly and helpful and we were immediately treated to a full tour of their facilities and also ended up watching several surgical interventions.
In the end Jorn and I were very tired but still managed to show excitement at every aspect of this great society that showed itself to our tired gaze. So in the end we managed to find our apartment in the outskirts of Tokyo, and became friends with the clerks at the local supermarket because of the many beer cans we ended up buying. So here we are thinking about all we experienced on our first day, and all in all we are just plain and simple very happy to be here...
Monday, December 11, 2006
Getting ready to leave...
Queridos amigos,
By now most of you know about it, John and Jorn are leaving to Tokyo, Japan. And while the actual trip itself was never a matter of debate, the date sadly was. So after having postponed our trip twice, we finally found a suitable date for the both of us: December 14th 2006.
As is usually the case with trips of this nature, we are never quite sure of having prepared everything we should prepare. Neither of us has ever been there, and despite the good advice we have obtained, from friends and the like, there is still a healthy amount of uncertainty concerning general issues leading up to our departure. In the end both of us obviously feel very exited about the whole venture and any doubts we might have concerning the preparations are effectively overshadowed by the aforementioned excitement.
So what can you expect from this blog... well, the idea is to create a diary of sorts to give you an idea of the many things we will encounter there, so if you feel like knowing what we are up to just swing by our spot and tune in to our show...
By now most of you know about it, John and Jorn are leaving to Tokyo, Japan. And while the actual trip itself was never a matter of debate, the date sadly was. So after having postponed our trip twice, we finally found a suitable date for the both of us: December 14th 2006.
As is usually the case with trips of this nature, we are never quite sure of having prepared everything we should prepare. Neither of us has ever been there, and despite the good advice we have obtained, from friends and the like, there is still a healthy amount of uncertainty concerning general issues leading up to our departure. In the end both of us obviously feel very exited about the whole venture and any doubts we might have concerning the preparations are effectively overshadowed by the aforementioned excitement.
So what can you expect from this blog... well, the idea is to create a diary of sorts to give you an idea of the many things we will encounter there, so if you feel like knowing what we are up to just swing by our spot and tune in to our show...
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