Alex Quinn's Japan Journal

10/31/2004, Linguistics Conference at the Kyoto University Of Foreign Studies (Kyoto Gaidai)

I went to an academic conference in Kyoto with Shimizu-sensei, one of my co-workers.  We teach the linguistics class together.  (He does 95%.) It was all in Japanese, so it was really hard to understand.  However, I started preparing about 6 weeks ahead of time by learning Japanese grammar and linguistics vocabulary, so I was able to understand just enough to keep it interesting.  The conference lasted two days.

A sign giving the name of the school.

Another sign with the name of the school.

Another sign with the name of the school.

The day, they were preparing for some event the next day.  They made a neat sign out of yarn and other weird materials.  In this picture, it's not quite finished.  Eventually, I think it said something in Japanese.

I was surprised to see this sign, advertising a campus gay community gathering.

Another sign I saw on a wall of student club activity signs.

Another sign I saw on a wall of student club activity signs.

Another sign I saw on a wall of student club activity signs.

Another sign I saw on a wall of student club activity signs.

Another sign I saw on a wall of student club activity signs.

Another sign I saw on a wall of student club activity signs.

Another sign I saw on a wall of student club activity signs.

Another sign I saw on a wall of student club activity signs.

For lunch on the second day, Shimizu-sensei and I went to the local Seattle's Best Coffee.  The inside of the shop was almost exactly the same as you'd find in Seattle.  Absolutely amazing.  The only difference I saw was that the signs were bilingual and they only had one kind (fat content) of milk.  No non-fat, low-fat, really low-fat, etc.  Oh yeah.  There was a striking lack of diversity among the customers.  Specifically, they were all Japanese (yours truly excepted, of course).

I also did some shopping.  I thought this sign was amusing.  No bombs allowed inside the store.  I guess you have to leave them in your car.

For my mom, Holly Quinn, I took this picture of Holly's Cafe in Kyoto.

And, here's another.

At night, I met up with Hitomi, a girl I met at a local youth hostel in Kyoto when I was travelling last year.  She lives in Kyoto and is studying at another local university.  We went out for coffee and then to dinner.

Hitomi wouldn't let me take her picture, but I did get this picture of the dinner we had.

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