'Oktober'-fest in Kobe, Japan, in April/May

It was rainy today in Kobe, my new base in Japan. I visited a place called 'Kobe Harborland', a big attraction on the seashore with my family. We happened to find an event related to Germany. Yes, the traditional 'Oktoberfest' !

But, why in April/May? In Japan, we are now right in the middle of the year's biggest holiday season, called 'Golden week'. Probably, organizers chose this period due to this holiday season.

Did we, after 5-year-long life in Germany, enjoy ourselves in this late spring Oktoberfest in Kobe this time? No, we did not enter the event area and stayed in a different roofed area with more in-door shops. I am sure food and drinks at such a place are outrageously expensive. Moreover, we don't really miss German stuffs yet.

Special Issue about Elasmobranchs Biology

Here is the table of contents of the special issue of the Journal of Fish Biology, titled 'The Current Status of Elasmobranchs: Biology, Fisheries and Conservation'.

No.1 (in computics) in my neighborhood

The other day, I took a walk alone from my working place in a lunch time. It took only 10 minutes for so to reach another branch of RIKEN with which I am affiliated, namely RIKEN Advanced Institute for Computational Science (AICS). This center hosts the world's fastest supercomputer (as of November 2011 - see the ranking). Both this center and my working place as well as many other institutes, university campus and biomedical companies are located on an artificial island, called Port Island. To be honest, the main purpose of my walk on the day was to look for any nice restaurant or canteen because that is always the issue in our life on the artificial industrial island. Unfortunately, mission not really completed.

Heading for north from the area with RIKEN AICS. This promenade with cherry blossom tree is really attractive, with all concrete.

A snapshot of Japanese precision which I have to learn

Below you see the label showing collection time on a mailbox in my neighborhood in Kobe. You see how precise Japanese postmen are or are trying to be! I got very surprised at this.

'Currywurst' in Japan

Today I had a lunch at a small restaurant in Kobe serving "Currywurst" which is famous among German people.There seemed no German employee.