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...
1 comment:
Beste John,
Je kan op een frivool poetische manier de gebeurtenissen in Japan beschrijven. Een genot van woorden om te lezen.
Maar zo te zien is het begin leuk, en naar mijn mening zal het alleen maar leuker worden.
Veel plezier en geniet van het land van "Open your mind into the 21 century".
Adios Amigo en groeten aan Jorn
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