I am writing to you today from Kobe, Japan. I am here for 2 weeks attending a conference and making a presentation at Osaka University. I am posting a few photos that I’ve taken so far, though I may not have much opportunity to many more updates while I’m here.

Welcome to Japan. Wow. This view is not far from my hotel. Before arriving, I didn’t even know they drive on the left here.

Here, you can see a major terminal in downtown Kobe. It’s interesting to note that while most Japanese speak only Japanese, there is little bits of English everywhere and many company names are written using Roman letters that we use.

In this picture, you see the tracks for one of the many train lines snaking through the city. During my one hour shuttle bus ride from the airport to Kobe, the first thing I noticed was an extreme amount of transportation infastructure, and industry. This is actually a large shipping area with a very busy port, although it was busier before 1995 when a devastating earthquake shook the city.

Japanese cars are everywhere here, obviously. Some look quite different, but others are quite similar to the designs being sold by the same companies in North America.

Vending machines selling drinks are everywhere, but get ready for the smallest servings of Coke you’ve ever seen. Even in McDonald’s, a North American kiddie size is the Japanese medium.

This spot isn’t far from the conference venue. People on bikes are everywhere on the sidewalks and it’s a bit difficult to avoid a collision with one.

These are the some of the best photos I have so far. I am attending the conference in Kobe all this week before moving on to Osaka next week, and then back to Calgary afterwards. Amazingly, I haven’t really experienced a jet lag despite a 15 hour time difference. I slept at normal times so far.

I have no full photo gallery yet, because I want to decide which photos to include based on what I end up with later. I’ll try to squeeze in more blog updates as time allows.