japan - internationalism revisited

first i thought it was a rumor, but it was actually true:

kofi annan, secretary general of the united nations held a lecture today at tokyo university to commemorate his doctor honoris causa presented to him today by the university’s president.
wow, i thought and there i went.
unfortunately, i could not get in the yasuda auditorium, because one had to sign up before in order to do so, but anyway i saw him getting out of the car, he waved to us, seemed just as nice and friendly as on tv. but we were given the chance to see a live telecast in a building right next to the auditorium, which was ok for me.
up to the point where kofi annans lecture started and--- from the speakers a japanese female voice treated us to a simultaneous translation.
perfect, but how does "japans leading university" come square with "the goal of clarifying to society the development of education and research (...) and solidifying its international position" (1) when the international students are excluded, the japanese students remain uneducated and consequently no exchange is possible?
several students left the room, frustrated. me, too.




(1) taken from the leaflet, given out to the occasion of the honorary degree conferment ceremony and commemorative lecture by kofi annan, may 18. 2006

ja, und warum schreibe ich den ganzen quatsch ueberhaupt auf englisch??? internationale zusammenarbeit funktioniert eben nur, wenn alle sich verstehen, wenigstens was die sprache betrifft...

und wie sagt schon lao-tse: Lernen ist wie Rudern gegen den Strom. Hört man damit auf, treibt man zurück.

dissertation in japan - a continuing challenge

of course nobody would think that the idea to write a dissertation is anywhere near to easy... and to add a little excitement we started out to perform this quest in japan, soo there is nothing we could complain about, really we know...
but- why has all of this have to be so complicated?
would like to read book- is not in library- book request service is only for professor
would like to deepen knowledge on Landscape Architecture- have to do structural design for station roof (have profound knowledge though, have done structural design of carport before)

hope sometime this will be useful...
but now i will feast on delicious o-miage (presento) from lab colleague (see picture)