Monday, July 19

 It was an eventful day for me.  This morning I went to Tokushima Kita High School (North Tokushima) to talk about students in America.  One class, one presentation, just an hour away from campus.  I had a good time, but I always worry that I haven't done the right things.  I can't make it different now, though.  I think students learned.

In any case, they gave me a small token of appreciation which includes a flier about Tokushima and the high school produced by the students, a plastic document sleeve (these things are super common here), and a three-color pen.  The pens are also really popular.

Looking at it maybe it isn't so special.  However, the clip is spring loaded, so it opens and closes.  In addition, the pen is erasable.  The white end is the eraser.  Now, my American friends may be saying to themselves "Erasable pens are a scam.  They never work well."  This thing is amazing.  The black ink is more like a dark grey, then there is blue and red.  All three completely disappear without tearing up the paper.  Just like the Asahi jockey can where the whole top comes off instead of just a small oval opening, this eraser is Japanese technological innovation at its finest.

I'm kind of being glib with my speech, but I'm also sincere.  This kind of device is very useful, but it is also "invisible" in the sense that Japanese people take it for granted.  It's such a small thing, but I think it gives an incremental improvement to life.  I will be sure to use it often.  I should also look for erasable pens in the stationery store or the like.  It might be nice to have them when I get back.

After lunch I went to the indigo house and tried my hand at dyeing a t-shirt.  As Hanga told me while I was there, normally there would be many students in the room all crowded around the vats and pits.  Each person would only get a few go's and have to do something small.  It was just me and Thao, so we could do it as we saw fit.

I was also allowed to try a technique where I hammered fresh leaves into the fabric.  By smashing the leaf repeatedly, you push the chlorophyll into the fabric.  When done with some expertise, i.e. not by me, you get the full leaf to show up.  Here's what I ended with.

I plan to wear this to a faculty meeting at some point, but, oh wait... I'm on sabbatical in the Fall.

After the indigo dyeing, Toshi brought me up Mt. Bizan.  Pictures don't really convey what you see.

The first two above are looking south to a part of the city I haven't been to.  The last one looks north.  I can identify Shikoku University's campus, the Naruto bridge where we saw the whirlpools, the shopping places I go, and some bicycle routes I've ridden.

After this, we went to an izakaya for dinner, beer, and conversation.  I tried horse sashimi.  Toshi doesn't like it, but I had the chance.  It's very much like beef with a texture difference.  We talked about a lot of stuff - Esoteric Buddhism among them.

Now, it is Tuesday morning and I must get ready for my Zoom classes today and tomorrow.