JAXA and a trip to Tsukuba Public Library
Tuesday morning and the rain is coming down. Very heavy rain. Feels like winter has taken its first driving steps across the Kanto plains.
Listening to Scriabin’s The Poem of Fire (opus 60, Symphony no. 5) which is perfect morning accompaniement to such terrible weather. Scriabin is a fascinating character who, as far as I know, hasn’t yet been the subject of a film, although there is definitely enough of interest in his twisted life to warrant one.
We had a good weekend last weekend, one of those I am glad to be in Japan kind of weekends. On Saturday we went to JAXA - the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. They were holding an open day with various demonstrations of current research projects on display. Of interest were a water powered fuel cell, a high output solar panel and a motion sensor utilising tiny springs. There was also a pet bottle water rocket
section for the kids which looked like good fun. These pet bottle water rockets are awefully popular in Japan, and every Japanese person will in all likelyhood have fired one in their lifetime. So we can rest assured that Japan is quite safe from North Korean attack - they can defend themselves quite capably with water rockets!
On the down side, being a free event, every man and, no , not his dog, but his sprog was there. On the up side JAXA can be toured at your leisure most of the year: admission is free.
Exhibits
Open: 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily (Reception closes at 4:00 p.m.)
Closed: December 29 to January 3
Registration: For a tour, please register at the Tour Information Office in the PR area first.
Space Library
You can browse space information through books and the internet, and watch videos.
Open: 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
For more information visit the Tsukuba page on the visit JAXA site. There are facilities throughout Japan. It is even possible to view launches of Japan’s real rockets - the IIa. Two launches are scheduled for 2007.
After wandering around the JAXA facility we went to the Tsukuba Public Library. Haven’t been to a library, or even a bookstore with a decent selection of English books for a long long time (at least since we were in Istanbul) so it was nice to be able to browse around for some books. Picked up a copy of Randy Takaguchi’s Outlet (Consent in Japanese) which I have been reading. Rather raunchy psychological narrative which lives up to the authors name.
Tsukuba Public Library is located north of Tsukuba Station - look for the rocket and head that way. Compared to the Minatoku Public Library they have a good selection of books. They do have a rather questionable policy for foreigners. Foreigners cannot join the library unless they have been a resident for three months. The Minatoku Public Library allows people to join once they have proof of residence. I imagine this policy is a result of the large number of foreign students living in the area and studying at Tsukuba University.
No Comments, Comment or Ping
Reply to “JAXA and a trip to Tsukuba Public Library”