As the weeks fly by

I find it kind of hard to believe that i've been here for almost a month now, partly because its gone so fast, and that now it just feels like i've been here for ages. Oh well.
Anyway, so this week marked the beginning of Japanese lessons and my lab placement. The Japanese lessons are just boring, there isn't any other way to describe them. My lab work h0wever, has actually been thoroughly enjoyable. My DNA purification worked a treat, and we're well on our way to determining the role of NMA111 protein in ERAD in budding yeast (long story short, good news).
This has been a very fun weekend indeed, we went clubbing on friday night, then walked home from Sakae to here (about 2 hours), but instead of sleeping we went and queued up for the bazaar, that was supposedly amazing. So we queued up for a bout 4 hours to find it was effectively just a garage sale, I did pick up a water heater/boiler thing (no, its not a kettle) so I can now make tea.
Saturday evening, we had a cocktail party for Sarah's birthday (from Oz), which was a lot of fun. Today, me and some of the others went to Kirin beer park (beer factory, why its called a beer park I have no idea) where we got to eat malt and drink the wort, which wasn't as bad as you might think. It was a very interesting tour, explaining how they make it all etc, and we got free beer too.
This week is gonna be tough, more Japanese lessons, and the research is gonna step up another level. But on the plus side, my lab-mates have invited me drinking with them on wednesday, which will be fun, followed by clubbing on friday and saturday... obviously.

One additional note, we watched a Japanese horror film on wednesday night called "Noroi" (2005). I definately rate it as one of the best films i've ever seen. It draws you in straight away and doesn't let you go. It's about a man who investigates paranormal goings on with his cameraman, and the whole film is either footage they have shot or clips from variety shows or news broadcasts related to the story, which makes fo a very interesting narrative. The plot itself is quite complicated and you do have to pay attention to notice the details, but putting the effort in definitely pays off at the end. Which makes for a very, very disturbing end to a mystery of a film.

I can't be arsed counting the days anymore

Well what a fun few days this has been, I opened a post office bank account all by myself (i'm not boasting, really) re-learned English in its entirety, opened another bank account for my scholarship, and spent an hour buying a mobile phone that cost me £200, and that is definately one of the cheapest ones, though it has to be said that the contract is very cheap, only £5 a month for free texts, mails and calls to everyone else on Softbank.
After we came back from buying my phone, we came across the Ultimate Frisbee club playing on the lawn, so we joined in. Its just like normal Frisbee but you split into teams and have to pass the Frisbee to someone inside the end-zone, and you cant move while you hold the frisbee. We decided to play a game towards the end after some practice with me and 3 other newcomers to the club (along with 3 full members) in one team, and the other team was all of the university team players.
WE WON! and the best thing is I made the winning catch :D In the evening, we had a little party in the lobby, where we made sushi, had lots and lots of alcohol, and watched Japan beat Argentina 1-0.

What a glorious day it was, too bad it's gonna rain all weekend...

Japan: Days 1-12(?)

FINALLY, I have an internet connection I can use in my room! Now I can start posting again.

Lets see now, these first two(ish) weeks have been nothing short of amazing. Ive made loads of new friends and explored the city (in more ways than one). I've also done my fair share of drinking it has to be said, I think I went the first ten days drinking every night.

Ive got a really nice room here with my own en-suite, air-con unit, and even a balcony! (looking onto a main road) The dorm itself is only a 5/10 minute walk to the university and 1 or 2 from the nearest 2 Lawson's convenience stores, very convenient indeed!

On the University side of things, its been pretty hectic, what with all the orientations and mountains of registration paperwork last week, things are starting to settle down now, as we all start Japanese lessons on Tuesday (as monday is a national holiday).
I've also been allocated my lab! Horrah! And it's a good'un too. I'll be researching ERAD (Endoplasmic reticulum associated degradation), which is basically how your cells handle misfolded or aberrant integral membrane proteins.

I'll try my best from now on to do a post every day, including photos, to give you a tour of my life in Japan, お楽しみしてね＾＾

あばよ

Well, this will be my last post from the UK. My bags are packed, and I'm ready to go. These past few weeks have been really great fun, hanging out with the boys again, spending some family time together; but its time for me to bugger off yet again for some more adventures!

Ill be posting as soon as I can when i get to Japan with some photos and what not hopefully, and some updates. Probably sometime Thursday evening or Friday.

All that's left to say is さらば、仲間たちよ！ Catch you on the flip side.
I'll miss you all! including my 4 guitars...

どうしようかな。。。

*SIGH*
In exactly 1 weeks time, I'll be in an airplane, somewhere over France on my way to Hong Kong (providing the flight isnt delayed...). So, the question is, what to do to fill the time between now and then?

I could just continue my run of playing old Playstation 2 games, watching terrible movies (the worst of which was probably The Human Centipede by the way, it's just wrong.) and listening to music all day.

What should I do to fill the time?
Answers on a postcard please.

AntiChrist

For some unknown reason I stumbled upon the 2009 Von trier film "AntiChrist" on the internet the other day, and I finally got around to watching it last night.

It isn't as straight forward a film as the title suggests, you may have thought of something not dissimilar to the Omen for example. Instead, it is a much more subtle commentary on the more sinister side of the human psyche and religion as well as having rather misogynistic undertones.
It stars Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg as a nameless couple who lose their child. This has deep psychological effects on Charlotte's character who becomes increasingly manic and sinister as her Psychologist husband tries to treat her through psychotherapy.
I'm no film critic did I really enjoy its sinister and somewhat controversial atmosphere, though I felt some of the more gory scenes were a little unnecessary.

If you are interested and would like a, frankly more educated opinion I recommend this review:
http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/antichrist-the-visual-theology-of-lars-von-trier
I think I enjoyed reading this almost as much as watching the film itself. Even if you don't particularly fancy watching the film I do recommend you take the time to read this.

Ill leave you today with one part of that review that really made me think:
"At one point, she tells him that nature is "Satan's Church', and he puts Satan in the top position. Then, as he discovers the depths of her sense of personal evil and blame, he puts the word "me" - her ultimate fear is herself - only to cross it out again. I was reminded of Paul Ricoeur's study of Genesis, in which he ponders on the pre-existence of evil in the Garden of Eden, suggesting that we find ourselves in a world in which evil precedes us as an unnameable mystery. The symbols of the fall pervade this film, but the serpent never appears. Whatever the source of evil, it has already done its work before we enter this poisoned Eden. "

Thought provoking!

Heres some stills from the film, I do hope that i've interested some of you enough to give the film a try.

When the three beggars arrive someone must die.

Money, it's a gas.

I had to start thinking about getting some Yen today to last me in Japan until I get my Japanese bank account up and running. The first thing I thought was WHY IS THE RATE SO BAD? It's absolutely shocking.

Just look at this, these are figures for how many Yen you could get for £1 in the recent past, leading up to now. (From http://www.x-rates.com/d/JPY/GBP/hist2010.html)

September 2007 (average): 232.2
September 2008 (average): 191.8
September 2009 (average): 149.4
September 2010 (average so far): 129.3

That's almost HALF! What a rip off.
And it's going even further down as you read this. *SIGH*
Lousy recession...

I think David Gilmour of Pink Floyd put it best:

Money, it's a crime
Share it fairly
But don't take a slice of my pie

Money, so they say
Is the root of all evil
Today