Christmas Eve in a Laboratory

Usually, Christmas is one of the most happiest season for many people. Families and couples get together and enjoy each other's company by eating dinner and watching TV. However, I haven't experienced enjoyable Christmas holiday for many years. When I was a hight school and a undergrad student, I was busy for working part time job making making steamed minced fish : traditional Japanese food for new year. When I was a 4th year of undergrad course, I was busy for writing thesis paper for graduation. For past 4 years, I'm busy at this Christmas season for preparing submission for a conference paper, which deadline is in the middle of January. That conference is very prestigious one, I need to work extremely hard even in the Christmas season. Someone might ask me why I had a paper accepted in that difficult conference last year, but you can understand the reason if you call me in my lab 11pm in the Christmas Eve :)

Where do imaginations come from?

Yesterday, I heard a talk given by the visiting professor from NYU. He talked about the importance of User Interface (UI) research. And he demonstrated his newly developed face-to-face communication system.

During his talk, he pointed out that the person who contribute most to the recent UI research is not a researcher nor a programmer, but surprisingly, is an English writer: J.K.Rolling. It's because her Harry Potter series descries many creative interfaces, like newspaper with person inside picture talks and moves. The imaginary story inspires UI researchers to develop something. He said the programmer and non-programmer could be equally imaginative.

It seems that in US many imaginations come from SF movie like Star wars and Star treck. On the other hand, in Japan, such a imaginations come from comics like Draemon and Gundam. It is very interesting that a product from an artist can influence research.

In all academic fields of study, computer graphics is one of the few fields where engineers and artists can work together. Virtual worlds are subjects of the computer graphics study. Since everything is possible in that imaginary world regardless of physical law, and the only limitation of the world is the artist's imagination. Collaborations with an artist is essential.

Theoretical dating research

Yesterday, I organized a tour in Tokyo for a visiting professor from New York University. I and my fellow student took the professor to various places : Kappa-bashi, Asakusa, Tokyo Sky Tree, vegetarian restaurant in Kinshicho, Ryogoku, water bus from Asakusa, and Hamarikyu.

It seems that the professor liked Hamarikyu most. Hamarikyu is a garden on the shore of Tokyo gulf and has many ponds. The garden was formerly owned by imperial family, which was used for a relaxing place and venue for welcoming foreign dignitaries, but now the garden is open to the public. Many couples were dating there, because the garden was sparse and quiet although it is located in the middle of the busy Tokyo comercial district.

I studied about the garden beforehand to entertain the professor. I explained about the traditional duck hunting method performed in one of the garden's ponds and about the traditional pine decorations using ropes and straws.  The professor, surprised by my knowledge, told me, "You know about this garden very much. You must have researched beforehand a lot. Have you come here before for dating?"

I told him, "No, I have never been to this park before. I just studied about this garden from books."

Then the professor replied, "You should be a theoretical dating researcher."

Blog as a Writing Drill

I have to admit that I'm not good at composition --- not only in English, but even in Japanese. I don't want to blame some one for my lack of writing ability, but I think some potion of the ineptness comes from Japanese education system. In Japan, they teach composition by making students writing down about daily events or about books they read. The bad thing is, the teachers don't let students organize a well written composition. Rather, they just make students to jot down what comes up in mind. So in Japan, the writing is regarded as a form of art; composition classes are held to make students more sensitive by writing spontaneously, for them to be open-minded. The teachers think the composition cannot be taught, reflecting how famous novelists write in freestyle. Students have to learn their own style by themselves, usually by trials and errors. Because of this experience, I gave up halfway on practicing writing.

Surprisingly, the English composition is not just an art, but rather it is a skill of communication. It should be written clearly so that readers can easily understand the content. People are encourage to follow a certain writing style using simple expressions and format. To avoid ambiguity, English expressions make the sentence direct and clear. Whereas in Japanese this doesn't apply. Ambiguity and unclearness are used because they have some rhetorical effects. Actually this ambiguity is deeply encoded into Japanese language, subjects and verbs are frequently omitted from Japanese sentences.

Anyway, as an Ph.D student. I need to write correct academic English and I need a LOT of practice to do so. The only way to learn writing is write something frequently and got it checked by someone. This blog should be a nice way to do it.

Escort a Researcher from Airport

Today I went to Narita airport to welcome a famous researcher. He is a professor in New York university and gave a keynote speech in a conference held in Hong Kong this week. He is stopping by Tokyo to do sightseeing and meeting professors on his way back to New York. Because Tokyo is a little complicated city and foreigners can easily get lost, I was told by my advisor to escote the researcher from airport to the hotel he stay.  I enjoyed talking with him on a train back from the airport to Tokyo city. He is a legendary figure; his technologies are frequently used in many games and movies. I felt honored to get such a task, because I could get an opportunity to talk with him and introduce myself.

Finnish don't know their National Hero

Yesterday, I talked to a Finnish in a social event held every Tuesday and Friday in my university. That social event is aiming to provide an opportunity to talk in English by having a lunch together with foreign students in the university. Because there are many foreign students from many different countries all over the world, I really enjoyed talking to them especially learning different cultures, aside from English.

Anyway, the Finnish I talked to has a deep knowledge for Japanese culture. He has been living in Japan for two years. He is practicing Kendo, a Japanese-fencing style, and loves traditional Japanese architecture. When we talked about the Winter War, which is a battle between Finnland and Russia, I asked him about a legendary Finnish sniper fought in the Winter War named Simo Häyhä. But I was surprised that he was not familiar with Simo. He is an icon in Japanese internet society. Many Japanese internet enthusiasts appreciate his transcendent shooting ability. But to my surprise, he is not famous in his country.

In conclusion, I am shocked on how information is limited from different countries. Simo is not a special case. For example, Jean Henri Fabre, who specialize in insects is well-known all over the world except for his country, France. With internet there seems to be more such cases. The internet is a place where information is magnified quickly and is available to all.

Research Presentation at a Wedding

 I attended my junior fellow Ph.D student's wedding on last Sunday. I enjoyed his wedding; it was one of the best wedding I've ever had. Every one seems to be very happy, celebrating young couple's brand new start in their life.

The groom invited a very famous journalist, Takashi Tachibana. Takashi is a big-name in Japan and every students in my university knows him from his books. Takashi organized a seminar lecture for undergrad, which the groom attended and was one of the best students of Takashi.

Of course, I read his books when I was an under grad student and respect him; letting him know about me is kind of my dream. So after the wedding ceremony, I approached Takashi and introduced myself. He seemed to be interesting in my research topic and ask me for detail explanation. I carried my Mac with me in a bag. I showed several videos of my studies. The video works nicely, he seems to understand the study immediately.

"Be prepared" is a motto of boyscout, but it certainly holds true also for Ph.D student.  Even in a wedding ceremony, I may have a chance to introduce my research for influential people.