Give it up for Complexity Theory!

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The computer science conference that brought us here to Japan is called the “Tokyo Complexity Workshop.”  As David explained, a consortium of Japanese universities organized this conference with grant support from the Japanese government.  The government grant specifically targets scholarship related to complexity theory, the large general research area David calls home.  All of the attendees are computational complexity theorists with most of the presentations delivered by non-Japanese CS faculty.

One of the highlights of this trip was attending one of David’s talks. While I have heard David speak before, this was Emma’s first time seeing her Daddy in action.  Emma always sees David go to and from UT with his backpack. She hears him talk about his classes and lament about research he should be doing.  She sees him sitting on the couch, notepad and pen on his lap as he stares into space, but this is the first time Emma has seen David give a talk. 

Randomness Extraction:  A Survey

As usual, the first 5 minutes of David’s presentation was understandable, but after that things got a little complicated. He continued to speak in English, but he spoke in foreign tongue.  The highlight for me, however, was when I got to hear David refer to results conducted recently by other colleagues as “awesome.”  

Emma gets a front row seat as people fill the room

Explaining the application of randomness to cryptography with the help of "Alice" and "Bob"

Japanese Design

Lunch on the Bullet Train

I have always loved the simplicity of Zen inspired Japanese design.  Here are a few of the images I have gathered as part of my running collection….

Emma playing in the shadows of a sidewalk promotion

Light, glass, nature

The backlit hotel night stand

Emma demonstrating how leggy people sit on a low couch

Temple and Garden Visits

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Our first temple visit in Kyoto was to the Sanjusangen-do temple.  We really didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into.  The first act that signaled this was a holy place was the request that everyone remove their shoes before entering….a not so subtle instruction that Emma and I seemed to miss.  As we stepped into the shoe removal platform with our shoes on, several security women rushed us, frowned and pointed to our shoes.  Oopsy!  The Japanese are incredibly polite and gracious, so we clearly made a big mistake given their behavior toward us.  

Temple Shoe Storage Area

Our Temple Slippers

Outside Sanjusangen-do Temple

The temple was oblong with 1001 life-size Buddha statues on the right side of the structure. The lighting was dim. Incense filled the space. The temple was drafty and cold.  Buddhists monks were working behind the rail near all the statues.  People gave money to light candles.  In the center of the temple sat the largest image of Buddha I have ever seen. Signs were posted everywhere in English stating no pictures, so I only have the memory of this magical, eerie space of dimly lit rows of Buddha statues.

The next day we visited the Ginkakuji Temple Silver Pavilion in Kyoto, the most beautiful Japanese garden I have ever seen. Pictures don’t give it justice.  Ironically, walking through this garden was so stressful. I had to fight for space for my feet on these little stone paths through the garden as people were jostling for the best pictures. 

I finally found my Japanese garden after arriving in Tokyo. We walked down a ways from our hotel to a lovely green oasis in a sea of urban intensity.  Here we have David soaking up some Zen energy in a special alcove within the garden. Emma is singing and playing in the water near us. I am not worried about Emma getting her shoes wet. I sit next to David on a rock, in my own magical moment.

Hey! What are these businessmen doing in my Japanese garden? Several floors above the garden in a building nearby, I noticed a very fancy reception in progress and couldn't resist capturing the contrast.

Bikes and baskets

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Bikes, bikes everywhere…beautiful jewel toned bikes with a variety of baskets.  Everyone rides them…hipster teenagers, businessmen in black suits, grandparents with comfy shoes.  The hotel even has bikes we could borrow if we wanted to, but won’t. Did I mention that traffic runs in the “wrong” direction, as it does in London?   

People walking through halls, streets, stairs, etc. move through space on the left side.  We are still getting used to crossing the street. As we ride in taxis, I look out the left side of the window. I see what I think are passengers in the front seat…turns out they the drivers with a steering wheels. 

Challenge #1: The Subway System

Traveling without a guide or group makes life interesting.  We have false starts. We get lost. We spend some of our time standing around on the street looking at our guidebooks/maps and discussing our next move.  When I know we seem really lost and out of place, I just smile and bow at others.

Armed with a sense of adventure and a sense that anything we do, even the mistakes will be fun (this is just me talking), we headed off the first day to see the Sanjusangen-do Temple. 

 

Yes, that's soft velvet material on those seats

Our first challenge was the Kyoto subway system. The little bit of English on the subways signs plus experience reading subways systems in other cities helped us get to the Temple via subway. 

What's up with all the surgical masks?

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We knew we were heading into a different world even when we were still on the ground in San Francisco. As we boarded the United jet, we immediately noticed about half of all the passengers wore surgical masks.  Hmmmm….either they are sick; they think everyone else is sick or they know something about this airline air that we don’t know. 

The masks continued at the airport in Kyoto. All of the immigration officers wore them and about half of everyone we saw at the airport had them on too.  After a long bus ride from the airport, we arrive around 6 PM in downtown Kyoto.  I was so tired and bewildered at the same time.  The lasting image from that first night as I looked out from the taxi was two young men in black suits riding bicycles on the street with their white surgical masks.  Now you don’t see that everyday in Austin.

The next day we did what many travelers to Japan must do. We Googled, “Surgical masks in Japan.”  What a fine blog we found.  TofuGu Thank you John, fellow traveler for this great information.  As this blog describes, yes…it is common for people to wear masks if they are sick and if they believe others may be sick.

David was fighting a cold before we left Austin. Here in Kyoto he has been coughing, sneezing and the like. I convinced David that wearing a mask was necessary.  I argued that we are guests here in Japan and we need to respect local custom.

So, here is the mask section a convenience store.  As you see you can see, you have the option of disposable or reusable masks. Value packages go up to 10 so you get a little discount on bulk buying.  All the masks we have seen out and about are white, but looks like some of the packaging is gendered.  If the color codes are the same, pink packs for the ladies and blue packs for the gents.

Here David models his mask as we settle in for one one of our first restaurant meals.  David really didn't wear it much because it was a bit weird and the mask fogged up his glasses (it is cold here). Later Emma reflected that perhaps the masks are for just for fashion!  “Wow,” I said. “Now that would be some marketing campaign.”

On a Once in a Lifetime Moment

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Japanese design sitting outside our hotel lobby

When David told me he was invited to Japan for an academic conference, I said, “not without me.” It is rare that David’s university trips align themselves so nicely with the family’s schedule.  I just finished a big project for work and Emma is on Spring Break. Just as Austin braces for the invasion of the South By Southwesters, we are moving in the other direction and heading as far west as the imagination can take you.  So away we go to Japan, more precisely…Kyoto.

The first few hours in Japan were a complete blur.  We were all so jet lagged. A good thing David had been taking Japanese classes. With the little bit of English on the signs plus the English that was spoken at the airport, David was able to use his phrases and the alphabets that he learned in his “Japanese For Busy People” text to get us from the airport to our hotel room with only a few moments of panic.

The bus ride from the airport to Kyoto was unimpressive: lots of industrial concrete.  Kyoto is very westernized and clean. From what I have seen, it is not particularly beautiful as the buildings are made of that same industrial concrete I could see from the bus ride.  We were told before we came, that the beauty of Kyoto happens in the unexpected moments when you stumble upon a garden or temple.  So we begin our visit to Japan, in search for the unexpected pockets of beauty in Kyoto, well aware that this entire trip Japan is actually an unexpected moment for our whole family.

View from our hotel window

Bus stop outside our window

One of many 7-11 stores in Kyoto

Blade Runner image from our window

The nice hotel bellhop

Hello Again

Wow.  I have been away from sometime.  Everything is different now at Google Blogger.  We are taking off for Japan in just a few hours.  Of course, I am frantic trying to get everything done. Now I get to cross off the item on my list related to starting up my blog. I am warming up for reflections about travel and life in general.