One of the nice things I get out of my job is a multi-cultural experience. Scientist from all of the world (if the world is Japan, China and Korea) come to do their post-doctoral work on the campus of NIH. For those of you not up on what Post-Doc’s are, I will explain.
After spending many years in college, sometimes a decade or so, PhD’s (stands for Permanent Head Damage) are not allowed to get jobs. They must go through a dark ritual of working in far away places for little or no money (i.e. indentured servatude) proving to potential employers that the years of smashing their forehead against tables, refrigerators, doors, cars, lab benchs, monkeys, telephone poles, keyboards, other PhD’s ect. has not adversely affected them. Many never survive this final trial by fire. Those that do end up having their personality surgically removed, or they run marathons at excedingly high altitudes in the middle of blizzards, but I digress……….
If they do survive they may, MAY get a job back in their home country. Where they are not forced to speak an impossible foriegn language, and they wont have the Gov’t checking on home much pron they watch at the desk.
One fellow that has left our lab and gone back to Japan, we call him Hiko because all the Americans fumble across his name, so it was trimmed down, has a great job at a University. He just sent me some pictures because he knows I like Japan.

A little temple in Fukuoka

And a picture of the skyline, which after closer inspection revealed an interesting result:

So the BIG guy himself suns down in the warmer warters of south Japan.

On another note about Fukouka and Kyushu island of Japan. It was until recently the home of Shindo Muso Ryu Jojutsu in Japan. This happens to be one of the martial arts I study. By recently, I mean, 75 years or so. The head (or soon to be head) of the Ryu at the time, Shimizu Takaji, moved from Fukuoka to Tokyo in 1930. Shimizu did a demonstration for the Tokyo Police department and was asked to start a program for them. If you were to see the Riot Police in Tokyo, they would have thin staves that come up to their chin. There are now 2 schools now, each saying they are the same but there are subtle differences between them.

GAMBATTE GOJIRA

Go Ninjas!