Colloquium Day

This was my second and final day of 'work' in which I had to try to take notes at two meetings, writing as much as I could catch from a closed meeting of experts on North Korea (many of whom had thick accents) and then at two open conference sessions this afternoon. Altogether about 6 hours of note-taking. I was wearing my suit for the occasion so I fitted right in unless any one happened to notice my feet because I decided my reasonably decent black slippers were just the ticket.

I did get out for a walk this morning for about an hour, up to the Imperial Palace area, which is surrounded by a wide and very deep moat, and around the Embassy district and through street after street of apartment buildings and a few neighbourhood shops. I took a photo of the hotel when I arrived back with a rather lovely sculpture in the foreground (all the buildings both near and far are part of the same hotel).  This evening we went to a French restaurant for a post conference thank you meal. Rather a lot of meat and quite a rich tart for dessert. I need light food and lots of vegetables very soon.

My train to Kyoto has been rebooked to be earlier to avoid some predicted snow in Tokyo tomorrow which may snarl up the transport networks. I will arrive now about 11am and will be met by Eiko.  Hopefully I'll continue to have free wifi for blogs tomorrow and Sunday.

Many, many questions and observations. How does an enormous city like this function? Like,where does the water come from and where does the sewage go? How do they keep it all so clean and organised? How do people manage to look leisurely and the roads so uncongested? I've seen men with dustpans and brooms made out of twigs, sweeping up individual leaves on the footpath. Pedestrians and cyclists coexist quite happily. There's something to be said for respecting personal space. 

For now, I need to repack a much smaller bag for the next few days as I am leaving my suitcase here.  Until Kyoto...