With apologies to Billy Joel: “Some folks like to get away, take a holiday from the neighborhood. Others drive down to Pismo Beach or to Hollywood. Well, I’m taking the airplane on the All Nippon airline. I’m in a Tokyo state of mind.”

"Move fast and break things" is dubious in software and is disastrous in government. From tariffs to immigration policy, the damage has already been done, even if some of these actions get rolled back.

I am amazed by how affordable food (excepting rice, some fruit, and some imported foods) is in Japan compared to the US, whether I'm dining out or shopping at the supermarket. Even vegetables are cheaper here, and I'm from California, home to the very productive Central Valley.

This old MadTV skit is sadly apropos now :(. #NoMoreWar #USOutOfTheMiddleEast youtube.com/watch?v=rw2nko…

It's been raining pretty hard this morning at Toyohashi University of Technology, where I'm staying this summer as an International Visiting Researcher. youtube.com/watch?v=oQEWJ3…

ショムニの杉田「戸田菜穂」が覚えています！　杉田さんと坪井さんの喧嘩が大好きです！　好きなドラマは「ショムニ」と「やまとなでしこ」です。 msn.com/ja-jp/news/ent…

When I first saw the term “Futamura projection,” I misread it as “Futurama projection” 🤣

I didn't realize this.

When you’re coding in C++ and you are missing Haskell’s pattern matching….pattern matching is one of my favorite features in languages like Racket, Haskell, and Scala.

This is bad news for Americans, and not just people like myself who love Japanese goods. Photographers need DSLRs, and the leading companies are Japanese. Musicians need instruments, and many of them are from Japan. Buying American isn't always an option. reuters.com/business/trump…

This post perfectly illustrates the view some people in Silicon Valley have about researchers, why traditional research positions in industry are dying, and the mindset behind the massive NIH and NSF cuts this year. I highly lament this.

I'm going to miss the cheap food I've had in Japan for two months.

Enjoying this evening in Karuizawa on the last full day of my 13th trip to Japan! I came here to escape the Tokyo heat. I see why Karuizawa is a popular place for buying vacation homes :).

Thank you Yui Komaki for your suggestion to come to Karuizawa to escape the heat! Even though this is my second time here, I enjoyed my stay today!

I saw a place named ものつくり大学 on my Shinkansen ride back to Tokyo.

There are a lot of Onet ads at Tokyo Station near the JR East Shinkansen platforms. Onet is a matchmaking service. Matchmaking seems to be far more popular in Japan than in America.

My last Green Car ride of this trip. I’m taking the Green Car on the Chuo Line from Tokyo Station all the way to Hachioji. I’m staying in Sagamihara; hotels are cheaper in the far-flung suburbs, and there’s less competition from other tourists.

写真がNGでも、中央線のグリーン車での窓枠の月を見ています。この夜の月は綺麗です。

All things must come to an end. My 13th trip to Japan was wonderful! Got to spend nearly two months in Toyohashi doing research! I always feel like a kid leaving Disneyland when I leave Japan, but I already have my flight booked for my 14th trip! また冬に！！！

I loved being in Japan for nearly two months this summer! With that said, it feels good to have familiar foods again such as In-n-Out burgers, homemade tacos, Diet Snapple tea, and yellow peaches (I could only find white peaches in Japan).