Well the PSP, noble creature that it is, survived me playing through about 5 or 6 demos, listening to a ton of music, and watching 4-5 episodes of Kung Fu during the flight. I just re-discovered the genius of Kung-Fu the old TV series, which is why I am so freaked out about this morning’s news. Aside from that depressing story, life in Tokyo is great so far.
First, we are prepared for swine flu. I have been through quarantine and they even had some physicians come inspect the plane before we were allowed to get off. Above is a photo of my survival equipment. There are about 300-400 cases of H1N1 in Japan as of today, mostly south of here and not directly in Tokyo at all – or even the suburbs for that matter.
Last night we went for traditional Japanese food at a fantastic place that served the most wonderful shashimi and fantastic dishes. I wish I could remember all the names, but the beer and the lack of sleep were hurting my mental prowess.
We had a very good discussion revolving around some of the differences between LD debate and policy debate in the U.S., as well as the relationship between CEDA and NDT. I thought this was very auspicious since the topic committee as well as the CEDA development conference is going on half a world away, or about to start in a few hours from when we were discussing this history.
This morning breakfast was amazing, as usual with rice, fish, coffee, eggs, croissants and many different fruits. Miso soup was available as well but I’m just not ready for that at 8AM. I’m thinking of going for a walk for about an hour with the camera and getting some shots of this part of Tokyo. I’m on the opposite side from where I was in August for the JDA conference. The neighborhood is a University one, with many bars, restaraunts, and other student-oriented shops. At lunch, our host is taking us to the University campus to watch some video and prep for the national topic debates which I think will be on whether it’s a good idea to ban staffing services or not. Interesting topic, and I hope that we can get a good look at an Affirmative before the debates tomorrow.
I will not be debating, but speaking. Tomorrow is the Japanese Businessperson’s Debate Club, and we will be Affirming on a motion similar to this one. I hope to tape the debate if they have no objections. Unfortunately, my Flip Camera decided to die and nothing seems to fix it. I brought my HD camera with the bad battery life, and my mini DV – so if I tape it on Mini DV, you’ll have to wait about a month to see these debates. I will keep you satisfied though with clips and other videos from my HD camera, which uses SD cards and is easy to upload from my netbook.
Tonight is a reception welcoming us. It will be good to see old friends as well as make new ones. Expect a lot of photos and video from this one!