Synthesis, properties, and usage of nanocrystal materials

This semester I have two courses (plus japanese course). Tuesday is a lecture day for one. Todays lecture was particularly important concerning the final evaluation (hehe, third lecture...logical). Our task was to write summary in 90 minutes from an article titled "Synthesis, properties, and usage of nanocrystal materials". Sounds easy? So it was...only that I was so concentrated on my analysis (iodometric titration, if yoy wanna know more detailed) that forgot the whole lecture. By the time I arrived, half running, to the class there was still 10 minutes time to read the article and write a summary. Luckilly teacher was generous and gave 5 more minutes time to finish the summary. Made it just on time, lol.

Ok, and now summary of last week. For some reason no time to sleep enough last week but I survived, as always.



Passed the radiation lectures (had to take extra lesson on Monday...like I told, they are quite strict about these things...didn't have enough lecture hours...japanese solution: go to sleep in lesson given in japanese) so it was time to do the practical part. Interesting experiments with radioactive materials and Geiger counters.


On Sunday headed to Yoyogi Park in Tokyo. There was somekind of market thing going on. Someone was selling underwears made from hemp, just to mention one example...



Forgot my camera home. Luckilly cellphone has one (though bad quality). Front of the park there is always on weekends people dressed up to manga/anime characters. Here few examples.



Which comic?




The park was full of different kind of people. Rockabillies, japanese drummers, picnic parties, dancers, people fighting with wooden samurai swords, and...just name it and I bet that they were there.


These guys (and a girl) were having fun with old school rock'n roll.


Japanese belly dancer.

In the evening it was time to say bye to my tired friends and take train to Kichijoji. There was a punk rock party featuring japanese bands, The Faceful among them. Unfortunately they were the first to enter the stage and so I missed them.


The Timekillers. Magnificent party and great people! It is incredible how much information punk-otaku can have about European punk bands and especially Finnish ones...

...which remainds me that I promised to get some LPs of Eppu Normaali. Any volunteers to go to antikvarium and get it to me?

flying...

...for first time here in Japan. This morning car came too fast (as usually) behind a fence. I hit the brakes and it was time to try learn the demanding skill of flying. Only ~1 meter and naturally down without gloves. Lucilly 1 more meter would have been needed to hit the car. Soft breakfall (kind of "ukemi" but not soft at all done on asfalt with some speed...;) saved me from bigger injuries (Krav-Maga training is useful in preventing injuries, as you can see:). Bike survived intact. It didn't even hit me on back as it does usually (hehe, good reflex on releasing the brakes...lol).


Had to see a nurse at University's health center to clean the wound.

Ok, what else since last post... The XANES samples were made on time. On Friday we were celebrating birthday party of Jussi (Finnish friend working in Embassy). Had lots of fun...as usually. No more from that... ;P Yesterday boxing with Antti, what a GREAT sport!

Just finished my weekly presentation for tomorrow. So, it's finally time to head home.

ooooh, oooh, tomorrow I'll start Japanese lessons here at my campus, twice a week. Sugoi-iine! (hopefully I'll wake up on time)

25 hours 24 minutes...

...time left to get ready my samples to be sent to Taiwan for measurements.

Phuuuuh, just got my last 2 samples in furnace and they should be baked tomorrow evening. Finally I can go home and sleep a bit. Tomorrow is the judo day so better to rest. ;) Hopefully everything goes well now...unlike today. Lots of problems with machines and top of all, lost my starting material for new samples (it takes 30 hours to make new starting material). Luckilly found it from a trashbin. Throw it there in the morning when I was already late from a radiation lecture.

Heehee, that reminded me the differencies of radiation laws here and europe. Here I can't get near to anything even related to radiactive without official certificate. To get this you need to take radiation lectures for 6 hours, practical part another 6 hours, and medical check up (I bet that they want to take X-ray from lungs again...already had it twice, one for application for this school and another last October when I came here). In Budapest visited two different nuclear reactors (BUTE and KFKI) without anyone asking more than my name. Also made some wet chemical experiments with radioactive solutions. So, here they are quite serious about radiation safety.

Ok, time to go home now...one more looooong day ahead (yeah you wish...uncountable number at the moment :P).

Yokohama's bicycle storage

Heehee, got my bicycle back today. Had to go to get it from my city's bicycle storage. I paid 1500 yen to get it out. That's what you get when you park your bicycle wrong in our town...or lock it wrong (from now on my oritatami bike will be always attached with the lock to a metal bar;).


Seems like a full time job to collect all these bicycles here...2 months they will be saved before they become property of Yokohama. BTW, got my bike out without saying a word in english. :)

Lordi

HARD ROCK HALLELUJAH!!! The Monsters were here. Last night went see some hard monster rock straight from northen Finland. Actually these monsters are coming from same neighbourhood as Santa Clause...

For europeans this band don't need any introductions and as for others, let's just say that it's snowing in Hell...and rest you can find from here.

Below some pics from the gig in Tokyo. The place was crowded with japanese Lordi fans with lordi t-shirts. It was funny to see how well dressed business men (and some women) turned into dark blooded LORDI fan in the locker room. (^_^) Most of the caucasian people among the sea of japanese were Finnish...naturally. Lordi gave a great show! (only thing missing were my all time favourites...pyrotechnics...ok, we are in Japan now...no dangerous things aloud)


Lordi himself.


Kita giving some drum solos.


Why do I even write here anything...you can see yourself Lordi with wings...oh, and japanese people were amazing. They were with every song...full power!


Wruaahhahhhaaahhaaaa!


Hard rock hallelujah! Naturally the last song.


Who to blame this "group" picture: camera man or camera?

Ohanami

Last Saturday we had Ohanami party (cherry blossom viewing party) together with our lab members. It's traditional Japanese custom to go and have picnic under cherry trees in this time of year (actually week before was optimum time...now flowers were flying down). Weather was like in Wappu (1st of May) in Finland...only warmer and without rain. ;P


Traditional group pic. From up and left: Izumi-san, Motohashi-san, Imamura-san, Maarit-sensei, Kadota-san, Mikko-san, Nomura-san, Ono-san, Egashira-san, me, Yamauchi-sensei, Irie-san, Tanaka-san, and behind my antic sony The master of ceremony-Souchiro-san.


Had to woke up really early. Even with 2 alarm clocks woke up 1 hour later than I had planned. But still I got in time to our lab to get my sample out of TG (thermo gravimetry) and carry huge picnic cover to the picnic place.


Guys were helping of course. :)


Ohanami was held in Ookayama campus which is our University's main campus (40 min. by train from our campus).


Souichiro-san, our party organiser, getting redy for today's party...


Me and small cherry tree.


Everybody brought their own lunch boxes. Drinks and snacks were on the house.


Main building of Tokyo University of Technology.







After the Ohanami party returned to lab, worked few hours and head to Roppongi. But not for party, as someone could expect, actually I'm really fed up with the place. Nowadays I go there only to participate monthly "tosimiesten ilta". Ok, but this night I went to see a movie with my friend Yuko-san.


Interesting cinema.


Roppongi hills, could be expensive to live in that building...

sakura of my campus

This view has been waiting me every morning in my campus past week. :)

Yesterday we had ohanami party. Nice picnic party under BIG sakura tree. Pictures will come later now too tired...have to sleep. Next week will be quite busy. Have to make lots of sample by Friday to be sent to Taiwan for XANES measurement.

Oh, almost forgot. Tomorrow we'll be going to see Finnish rock band called "Lordi". Last year they made whole Finland go crazy by winning Eurovision song contest (it has been said that the hell will freeze before Finland will win Eurovision...wonder if the hell is a cold place right now...).

cherry blossoms

Spring is here and so are cherry blossoms! Here you have few pics from my way from home to the university. I try to get some big park before the season is over to get more pictures of "sakura" (hee, by the way "sakura" was name of my Finnish judo-club when I was 10)











Has anything special happened lately...mmmm. Lost my camera but got it back (dropped it in taxi). Got sick again but recovered (had to eat one week antibiotics). Almost two weeks since last judo training (spirit starts to go down...luckilly I have good bike to spank my body). Started to go gym again (haven't been able to go there for almost 2 months). Research is goin good (hell busy as usually). Writing of my thesis is progressing slowly (should put more energy on this matter). What else...OH! Bought boxing gloves last week. Tomorrow I'll go to test them with my Finnish friend Antti. Probably I have to teach him to fight first (otherwise this sounds a bit unfair?!).

Breakfast

Hehee, finally! I found Finnish style breakfast. Now I'm making every morning oat porridge here at the lab. I asked our university shop to get this stuff in their selection and they did! Now I can buy it from "COOP" (university's own shop where you can find everything student could need here in Japan). So, every morning I wake up, wash my face, brush my teeth, put Finnish news from internet (YLE), shave, get dressed and jump on my bicycle with ipod playing "Klamydia" (Finnish punk band), bicycle to the lab (takes around 25 minutes). In the lab I put porridge to microwaves and after 1.5 minutes enjoy my healthy breakfast with some honey.





hee...now I got an idea. I should carry one day my camera and show you all how is my "normal" day here...hmmm, sounds like an idea! Someday it will happen...be aware. :P