So the things which I've typed below is what I've been doing for the past few days, this time with some pictures so that the post won't be a whole wall of text.
24 March 2009
Nothing much interesting happened because I was spending 90% of my time at KNCT working on the robot. The only memorable about this day is that our Japanese friend brought us to see the Sakuras at the National Agricultural Research Center for Kyushu Okinawa Region, which is damn pretty. Pictures as shown below:
25 March 2009
We headed to Nagasaki to take a break from all the programming we did for the past few days. So the first stop was the Mitsubishi Shipyard where we visited their factory manufacturing turbines for power generators and ships. We also learnt about its history and how it grew to be so successful today.
We then had bento lunch there before heading to Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims.
When we were there, we learnt more about Nagasaki's history and how it suffered from the atomic bombing. When I first entered the memorial hall, what caught my attention was the rows of paper cranes. It seems like there's a Japanese saying that if one who folded 1,000 cranes, will be granted a wish. The ancient Japanese legend promises that anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by a crane, such as long life or recovery from illness or injury. The crane in Japan is one of the mystical or holy beasts (others include the dragon and tortoise), and is said to live for a thousand years. Maybe I'll try to fold a thousand paper cranes to see if I could get the crane to grant my wish.
The visit to the memorial hall was quite saddening, but it didn't really affect us much as this visit is to expand our knowledge about Japan and its history.
We then headed to Glover Garden to see the beautiful view of Nagasaki. We were constantly taking pictures wherever we went. And we found some interesting shapes of the footpath as some stones' shape was a heart.
After this visit, we took a 2 hour bus ride back to KNCT to have dinner and rest for the day.
26 March 2009
Woke up and attended Ben's and Carter's presentation on what they had been doing at KNCT. The rest of the IIT students came to see their presentation as well. After the presentation, Kenneth and I sneak to the tea ceremony and got a quick drink of tea before heading back to the lab to work on our robot till about 6 in the evening.
We then took a train down to Kumamoto City to have our dinner at Yoshinoya. I ordered a pork bowl because it is not available in Singapore.
After dinner, we headed back to KNCT and enjoyed a Kimono Fashion show by some girls before heading to bed.
27 March 2009
Woke up early and got to the hotel where the Lego Mindstorm competition was held at. It was near the Kumamoto Castle.
However, I did not have the chance to visit there because I was busy doing my work the day before and Kumamoto Castle would be closed after the competition ends. So here's how my robot look like:
We then had a super boring talk after the competition, which I think it's a total waste of time because half of the people in the room are like asleep. After the talk, we took a group photo before following our Japanese friends to have our dinner.
I had some street snacks as well. I particually like this one, because the inside is filled with chocolate. There are other flavours too, but I still stick to my favourite flavor, chocolate.
After that, we headed back to KNCT and had a farewell party because it was our last night. We took lots of photos and had fun that night.
I'm sure I'll miss the times I spent in the dormitory as it is a very refreshing and enjoyable experience. How close would I get to experience the lifestyle of Japanese students than living in the dormitory together with them?
I think I'll end my post here. Need to sleep now. Will update soon!
