Kobe Earthquake Memorial Museum

The Kobe Earthquake Memorial Museum is the undeniably the best museum I've visited in this trip to Japan. The entry fee of 600 yen (450 yen for university students) was well worth the experience.

The museum from afar. You can see the year and the time of the Kobe Earthquake written on the wall.

The entrance of the museum up close.

This museum has two buildings. The west building is about earthquakes while the east building is about the "miracle of life". I don't think the east building is particularly interesting, so I will focus on the west building.

Once you enter the museum in the west building, you will be treated with a movie of the earthquake and how it has devastated the people who were too used to the peace and were unprepared. After that, there will be a very emotional documentary played about how the earthquake has effected the people and the problems faced right after the earthquake and during recovery.

Next, on the next floor, there is a display of various artifacts from the Earthquake, together with the stories that accompanies those artifacts. Facts and other information about the Earthquake and the recovery process were also on display. Apart from the physical damage, the psychological damage was also great.

On the last floor, various experiments were provided to give viewers an idea of how devastating earthquakes can be. Finally, emergency supplies required during the time of earthquakes were on display.

Next is the east building. The exhibitions about the water and wind were so-so, but the final movie about the 2011 Tsunami and how it has affected Northern Japan was also very interesting.

What's very good about this museum is that it treats non-Japanese speakers very well. For movies, English sound is provided via headsets. All exhibitions in the west building were accompanied by English language descriptions which provides nearly as much detail as the Japanese counterpart (as opposed to some museums with very long Japanese description but very short English descriptions). However, the same cannot be said for the water and wind exhibition in the east building, which contains nearly no English at all!

Overall, if you ever visit Kobe, I highly recommend you to visit this museum. It's a very worthwhile experience and a good reminder about how cruel mother nature can be.

Super Hotel Shinomiya

Long time no see! I've been quite busy with traveling working so I didn't get much chance to make a blog post.

Because when I've arrived, the dorm was full, so I first had to stay at Super Hotel Shinomiya for 8 nights before moving into the dorm. Super Hotel is a chain of business hotel all over Japan. The price is very reasonable and the room is very good. For Super Hotel Shinomiya, it is located right next to the Shinomiya train station.

At check in, you will get a slip of paper that tells you your room number and your password. This is your "room key". (I've already moved out, so don't try and visit my room.)

The password is used to open the electronic lock in front of the room. Not needing a key (and having no chance to forget it) is very convenient.

The room is very compact, but it has a TV and a refrigerator. Internet is provided both via Wi-Fi and via Ethernet.

The built-in toilet is also very compact. Note that the sink and the bathtub shares the same faucet! Soap and shampoo are provided via dispensers.

Free (and very good) breakfast is provided.

Finally, as there is no physical room key, there is no need to check out.

And I'm back in Japan!

久しぶり！
Long time no see!

This year, I'm lucky enough to get another chance to come to Japan. This time, I will be interning at IPLab in NAIST for another 2 months. I am sure that this will not only be another great experience, but also a vastly different experience. The place I went to last year, AIST, is a research center while NAIST is a graduate university. From the two days that I was here, it looks like a much more relaxed environment. I hope I will be able to make more friends here! (Actually, today, I was able to strike up a conversation with a fellow Japanese intern because I mistook him for my friend. Haha.)

While I won't be blogging as frequently as I did last year, if I have any new experience or information I'd like to share (e.g. taking the night bus or taking the Shinkansen), I'd definitely post about it!

Me in front of the university

My desk at IPLab together with the provided workstation

See you!