After the Christmas holiday my last month in Japan kicked in, and again some visitors! First i met up with my niece that i didnt see for about 10 years, so to celebrate we went for A-grade Kobe Beef, an amazing experience, i wonder if i like dutch cow meat when i come back. This weekend I will go to the tokyo Sumo tournament with a group of people form the benelux. The last week is dedicated to a ski-trip in nagano and some final dinners, drinks and buying some souvenirs.
In between all this fun, some work needs to be done! I finished most of my classes but i still need a lot of work on my conference paper in the Indoor Messaging System (IMES), and as a part of this research i am currently developing an indoor navigation application for the iphone. But to get this working I first had to connect the iphone to the IMES receiver, a rather geeky project, i’ve attached an image:
Here are the pictures of the Sumo Tournament, and the night at Feria, where we saw Asashoryu, the Sumo “Bad Boy” drinking with his fans:
The last two weeks i had my visitors from the Netherlands! Sophie, my girlfriend and my father and sister came over for Christmas Holidays. We spent Christmas in Tokyo and then Sophie and myself went to Osaka and Kyoto for New Year.
It’s been a while, but still in Japan! Sophie, Marjolein and Gert are now in japan! A lot of sight seeing in Tokyo and now Sophie and I are going to Kyoto and Osaka for new years! In 2010 a full update with pictures etc.
Last few weeks have had a single keyword: ALPS. The final presentations of my design project at Keio was held last weekend. Our team created the Pumpkin App, an iPhone Application that keeps record of your eating habits and exercise history, moreover you can have a battle with one of your friends so that you feel the need to improve your habits, the loser of the battle is supposed to donate a certain amount to our Pumpkin Business in Africa… In 6 months we used different methods to come from a vague theme to a full business model.
During the presentations we showed a fully working demo on the iPhone, that was my main task in the last couple of weeks. With a lot of hours and iTunes University i managed to get the iPhone app running just in time for the presentations
Unfortunately we didnt win the Kos Ishi award, but we finished 3rd, so that called for a celebration! After the final konshinkai we went into Hiyoshi Town for my first Karaoke experience! You can view the pictures for an impresison!
So 2 months to go…. I will now focus on the Indoor Messaging System and some courses! Next week i will move to Jiyugaoka and in 25 days i will see Sophie again!! Looking forward to spending the holidays with her after a whopping 150 days seperation…
Conference call between 10 friends from Delft!
A lot has happened last two weeks, I visited a lot of places in Tokyo, Kyoto and Nikko with my Mother, the pictures can be found at the end of this post. It was very nice to have her over in Japan so that she can get a small impression of this amazing country.
Also the Dutch minister of Education, Culture and Science, Ronald Plasterk and the Dutch Innovation Platform, visited the Keio Hiyoshi campus to see the signing of the MoA between the TU Delft and Keio university. And last but not least, Dutch Prime Minister (maybe the first European President) JP Balkenende received a honorary doctorate from my faculty at Keio, System Design and Management. I had a very brief meet and greet with him and we made some pictures, unfortunately I have not yet received the “professional” pictures made by the Keio Paper photographer.
You can find his acceptance speech, and a small video on youtube. Moreover some articles via this website.
This weekend, my mom arrived in Osaka and i went to visit her by Shinkansen, and compared to the Dutch Intercity, or the Hi-Speed Line, this is an amazing way to travel. With a maximum of 300km/u the Nozomi only stops twice from Yokohama to Osaka (530 km).
Next week, i will post all the pictures of her visit and the visit of Minister Plasterk, Prime Minister Balkenende, Rector Magnificus Fokkema and all the TU Delft Professors.
