Rise and shine. I woke up at 5:20 to catch a train to Nagoya so I would be in time for the Hot Dog Bus to Tokyo. Today was the coffee session at the Fulbright Office in Tokyo. Before getting on the bus though I needed some fuel. It was early enough that not all stores were open, but have no fear Mac was open. McDonald’s that is. I had the beloved hot cake set at a rather fancy McDonald’s in Nagoya, Station. The McDonald’s in Japan don’t left just shove your tray of trash in the garbage can. There are separate receptacles for the paper and plastic garbage. So be careful if like me you enjoy putting the ketchup directly on your tray paper. Wait, in Japan one must argue for more than one ketchup packer so no worries here.

About 25 grantees attended. The group was a mix of people ranging from those who were currently on an extension of their grant to those just arriving in Japan. The meeting allowed everyone to exchange research methods. After listening to the comments I felt less isolated. I even made some contacts with two Fulbrighters who are architects. One gave me the contact information of an individual who used to represent public artist. Overall the even helped my plans.

After the meeting a group went out to a pizza place to continue the discussion. Some of the other grantees had previous language study experience in Japan. Some even went to high school here. Again the majority came from rather well known Universities and filled in the part. No slackers here.

On the way home I snapped a couple pictures of train stations in Tokyo. Ever wonder what Tommy Lee Jones is up to? Well, he has bags under his eyes and is advertising Boss Coffee. He is the boss you know. Everybody has to make a buck.