Epilogues

Hello all! It's been a while, hasn't it? I apologize for not updating in the past couple of weeks, but as many of you have guessed, the end of my time in Japan was easily the most hectic since I first arrived. Between final exams, computer science conferences, squeezing in some final tourist opportunities, and of course showing my mom and aunt around the city, the blog was definitely not the first thing on my mind. I couldn't leave everyone hanging though, so now that I'm home again in Memphis, here is a quick run-down of what I've missed.

The weekend following the ignominious Fuji trip (specifically Saturday July 21st) was designated "Harry Potter Day" ever since I figured out how to work the calendar function on my Japanese cell phone. Since I was scheduled to give a 3-4 minute speech in Japanese class the Friday previous, I figured I might as well throw myself into it outright, and ended up giving a speech on the Japanese-language version of 世界一有名な魔法使い "the world's most famous wizard" (with deep apologies to Gandalf and Merlyn.) I am deeply indebted to this Harry Potter in translation website for ideas.

On the day itself, Ryan, Colin, and I went to Kinokuniya at 8:00am to stand in line, and we met up with Allison (from Georgetown) as well. I was the only one there in wizard garb-- even armed with a chopstick wand-- so naturally the TV cameras were pointed in my direction more than most. As Cameron can confirm, I was briefly on at least one channel, or at least my costume was. Returning to the dormitory with noses in books, we had all finished by the early afternoon. After a wide-ranging discussion over dinner (while others avoided our table for fear of spooky spoilers), we buckled down to prepare for final exams and papers scheduled for the next week.

As a complication to my study plans, though, I had previously arranged to meet with Emiko, a friend of a family friend, on the 22nd to go to the base of Mt. Fuji. This, thankfully, was absolutely nothing like climbing the mountain itself. We went to the Itchiku Kubota kimono museum, a trained monkey show (!), a make-it-yourself noodle shop, and finally a kennel where Emiko was keeping a dog she didn't have room for in crowded Tokyo. All very fun, but I was also anxious to get back and study, because I knew there were even more distractions on the way...

As I had been preparing for all semester, the 2007 IEEE CEC & EEE Conference (it stands for Computer Stuff and Things) was scheduled to take place July 23-26. I knew in advance that that time span directly overlapped with my final exams, but I had hoped that I would be able to participate between things. BRRRP- sorry, wrong answer. With three Intensive Japanese finals and a Religion, Conflict and Violence one thrown in for variety, I had basically no chance to take part in the conference proceedings, or even in the Web Services Competition for which I had created a website and handled most all correspondence. Instead, I just played tour guide, and showed Fitz and John (other participants from Georgetown) around the conference area, around Shinjuku, and sent them off to Roppongi. At least I got some free food at the official dinner banquets.

More details on exams, fireworks, touristing, and walking club coming soon-- pictures too, once I fish my camera cable out of my luggage somewhere. For now, I need to go to sleep.