8/28/10 - Tsukiji Fish Market, EPIC Pre-Conference, Dinner with the Endos

Jacob Buur and I visited the Tsukiji fish market at 4:30 in the morning.  Tsukiji is the largest wholesale fish market in the world.  Took a taxi – amazingly clean and with lace seat covers!

We were too late to get tickets to the day’s tuna auction at 5 am.  However, we wandered around and were able to enter the market from the back.  At the edge of the market was a shrine.

The fish market itself was fascinating!  Everyone was super busy.  Many men rushed around moving fish, often on little electric carts.  We had to be careful to stay out of their way.  We saw an amazing variety of sea creatures.  Also men expertly carving up large fish with special knives.

Around the edges of the market were little stores that sold fish-related supplies (like knives) and fish products (like dried fish).  There were also little sushi bars.  We had sashimi for breakfast at one of these.  The food was outstanding!

In the afternoon, I attend the EPIC Pre-Conference.  There were four presentations by well-known folks in the field, to introduce the concept to Japanese students and business leaders.

In the evening, I was fortunate to be taken to dinner by Naoki and Keiko Endo, the parents of Shino Endo, who is a master’s student at UNT.  The Endos were super nice and interesting (as well as being very generous to me), and I enjoyed talking to them about shared interests.  Through them, I was able to discover a side of Japan that is only accessible to people with Japanese language skills.  We went to a restaurant in Ginza, where they plied me with amazing foods.  Everything was delicious, and I loved trying new dishes I had not seen before – from a spicy Korean dish to fish cakes to sashimi.  Afterwards, they took me back to my hotel in Roppongi, and we visited an interesting sake bar on the way.  At the bar, we were given our own little room with sliding doors, and sat Japanese style on tatami mats.  The waiter was dressed in traditional clothing.  Among other delicacies, we got huge grapes that were artistically peeled, like origami.  The whole evening was a wonderful experience.

8/29/10 - Tour of Edo Period Architecture, EPIC Reception

EPIC organized tours of Tokyo for conference participants.  On Sunday, I went on an all-day tour that illuminated Japanese culture and history through an examination of Edo-period architecture.  Our tour guides were four Japanese students and they did a great job of planning the tour and showing us around.  In the morning, we visited the Edo-Tokyo Open-Air Architectural Museum, a park where famous buildings from the Edo period (1603-1868) had been collected.  (Group photo courtesy of Mai Yamazaki.)

We had lunch at a traditional soba resturant (noodles); the students showed us how to sit on tatami mats, explained the delicious foods offered, and demonstrated how to eat them – a fun way to learn about Japanese culture!  

In the afternoon, we visited the Edo-Tokyo Museum, which displayed Edo period architecture through amazingly detailed scale models. 

In the evening, the opening reception of the EPIC conference took place.  I visited with old friends and colleagues, and ended up at a restaurant with an interesting “nabe” one-pot meal experience, cooked at the table on a portable stove.  I went with my old friend Charline Poirier and a new acquaintance, an American designer based in Japan.

8/30/10 - EPIC Conference (Day 1)

First day of the EPIC conference (http://www.epiconference.com/epic2010/).  Some interesting presentations.  The opening speaker was Japanese designer Kenya Hara, who spoke on “Emptiness – the prime image of Japanese communication.”  I loved his idea that emptiness is a space with the potential to be filled by the imagination.

In the afternoon, there was a “pecha kucha” session.  This is a format in which each speaker is allowed to show 20 PowerPoint slides for 20 seconds each.  I had never seen such a session, and was intrigued to see how presenters might use the format.  The presentation that stood out was Elizabeth Anderson-Kempe’s.  She told a simple story of her personal/professional journey. It almost became a zen poem – she had great images, and just the right amount of words for each slide.  

The theme of the conference was “the dō of ethnography.”  “Dō captures the sense of individual mastery that is achieved only with the help of a community and its rich heritage. Dō implies a body of knowledge and tradition with an ethic and an aesthetic. Dō is the "path" we have travelled and also the way ahead of us” (http://www.epiconference.com/epic2010/about).

In the evening, conference participants chose one of eight forms of mastery/dō to observe.  I chose kadō, the art of flower arranging.  Members of the Fujitsu kadō club demonstrated their art for my group.  I was fascinated and had many questions.