Alien Times April 2002

Evening Forum: Korea, the Closest Country to Japan But Still Ambiguous

Korea is the only country still divided since World War II. Look at the map of East Asia. How many of you can realize the small country located maybe the most important site of the area? Korea will be the theme of the Evening Forum and we hope that you join us to gain insights into the country, people and culture and maybe even their food.

*Pre-registration required. Please us contact by Wednesday, April 10, 2002. You can also find information about the forum in our Homepage. (www.jistec.or.jp/house/news/evening_forum.html)

Date:	April 12 (Fri)
Time:	18:00 - 20:00
Place:	Ninomiya House 9F Salon
Cost:	500 yen per person (drinks will be served)
Language:	English
Lecturer:	Dr. Young-Jae Lee (AIST)
Chairman:	Dr. S. Kimura (Academic Advisor of Ninomiya House)

JALT Meeting: Get Real!

The Ibaraki Chapter of the Japan Association for Language Teaching is sponsoring a presentation by Tim Kiggell of Macmillan Language House, a consulting author on the "Get Real!" series. He will introduce and demonstrate the very popular Nexus and the Cubic Listening series on Sunday, April 21st, 13:30-17:00 at the Ibaraki Christian University (Hitachi Omika, near Omika Station on the Joban Line). As the presentation is sponsored by a publishing company, admission is free. Here is a site for further information. www.kasei.ac.jp/JALT/Ibaraki.html

Tsukuba Mothers Network: Field Trip to Norin Danchi

On 17th of April (Wed.) open house will be held at Norin Danchi. You can enjoy a petting zoo, a pony ride and a flower maze etc. We'll have lunch there (bring your own lunch) after we enjoy those programs. Please come and join us!! Please meet in the Ninomiya Kominkan parking lot at 10:50 am. For further information, call Kinoto san at 47-0558 or Nishizawa san at 55-7888.

Gospel Music Workshop

The Midorino Chapel in Ushiku is holding a gospel music workshop led by Ken Taylor and Gary Bauman, both of whom have more than 10 years experience in leading gospel choirs. This 4-day affair from May 3 - 6 includes 3 days of training (1 - 5:30 m) followed by a rehearsal leading into a formal concert on the final day. While the workshop is geared towards Japanese, the music is in English, and so non-Japanese speakers are also welcome. For further information, call the chapel at 71-4771 or visit their website at www5.ocn.ne.jp/~midorino

TIS English Lecture Series: What is Science For? (Tokio Kenneth Ohska)

Tsukuba International School will be beginning a series of lectures in simple English as a community service. The first in the series will be on Saturday, April 13 from 10 to 11:30 am at the Oho Kominkan Shichokakushitsu Hall (near the junction of Higashi Odori and Nishi Odori.

The purpose of this lecture series is to give an opportunity to listen to an easy-to-understand lecture in English. Anyone 12 years old and up is welcome to participate. While the lecture is given in English, the audience may ask questions either in English or in Japanese. Answers to questions will be given in English. The first lecture will be given by Tokio Kenneth Ohska, Ph.D. on the theme "What is Science for?" The talk can be summarized as follows: Science has tended to be looked at as something of no practical use. But this is not the case. A scientist from the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization in Tsukuba will describe how really important science is for our daily lives.

The lecture series is supported by the Board of Education of the city of Tsukuba, and there is no admission charge.

Aqua World Oarai Opens Its Doors

While the Oarai Suizokukan (Aquarium) has been around for many years, it now has reopened on a far grander scale than before. It promises to be quite an attraction, with huge aquariums with thousands of fish and other sea life. All together, there are 60 major aquariums containing over 68,000 individuals of some 580 species. These include one really huge aquarium with over 20,000 fish (80 species) that are described on monitors so that you can spot which is which. Another giant aquarium consists of a tunnel that viewers walk through with 40 varieties of sharks and other predators swimming overhead. One tank contains Japan's largest sunfish, and it is followed by various smaller aquariums containing ecosystems varying from tropical seas (Okinawa, Caribbean) to cold oceans such as the Sea of Okhotsk. Otters and seals are featured in other tanks, and there is even a deep-sea aquarium.

The "Ocean Theater" features dolphin and whale shows, and you can even view them jumping from viewpoints below the tank where you are looking up at them jumping out of the water and plunging back in. Various museum-like displays, including computer graphics, make this a very educational experience, as you can learn so much about life in the sea. In addition, there are even displays detailing the ecology of the Naka River as it flows from its headwaters into the ocean.

Aqua World Oarai is located on the coast at the mouth of the Naka River just a few kilometers north of the Oarai Port. It takes just a bit over an hour by car (assuming you take the expressway, of course). Exit at the Mito, Oarai exit of the Kita Kanto Expressway on to Route 51 and go towards the coast. Exit it to the left a few kilometers down to go into the center of Oarai and follow that road right to the coast. Turn left and follow that up to Aqua World. Parking is free and the entrance fee is \1800 for adults, \900 for elementary and junior high school children, and \300 for pre-school children over 3. Doors open at 9 am and close at 7 pm. They have maintenance days on the 4th Monday and Tuesday of June and the 2nd Monday and Tuesday of December, and they are closed Dec. 29th to Jan. 1st.

Research Institutes Open Doors During Science Week

Every year during the middle of April, the various research institutes in Tsukuba open up their facilities to public tours. This year, 46 institutes will be open to the public, some on all of the days and others on only specific days. The following list numbers the institutes according to how they appear on the Japanese map available at the Information Center and the Center for Institutes, etc., along with which days they are open to the public.

This is a great opportunity to see what kind of research is being done in Tsukuba, and so you can spend just a short time or the whole day visiting a variety of institutes. Free shuttle buses run regularly around a loop that will take you to all of the institutes open on a specific day. All buses leave from the Tsukuba Bus Center and make a run around a loop route coming back to the center. On Wed., the buses leave at 9:20, 9:50, 10:30, 11:00, 11:40, 12:10, 13:20, 13:40, 14:30, 14:50, and 15:40 stopping at the Agricultural Center 20 minutes later, the Tsukuba Life Science Center 9 minutes after that, JICA 1 minute later, the institutes of agriculture and forestry 10 minutes later, and then back to the Tsukuba Center 60 minutes after it left. On Thurs., two shuttle buses leave the Bus Center, with one bus leaving at 9:40, 10:30, 11:15, 12:30, 13:15, 14:05, and 14:50 going one direction around the loop and the other going in the opposite direction leaving at 9:50, 10:40, 11:25, 12:40, 13:25, 14:15, and 15:00, stopping at 8 stops along the 85-minute route. The two buses will repeat the similar courses on Friday, with the starting times in one direction being 9:50, 10:50, 12:10, 13:10, 14:10, and 15:10 and 10:10, 11:10, 12:10, 13:30, 14:30, and 15:30 for buses going in the opposite direction. If you miss a bus, you can always take the regular bus service for a fee. On Sat., the two shuttle buses leave the Bus Center, with one bus leaving at 9:50, 11:00, 12:30, 13:40, 14:50, and 15:55 going southbound stopping 5 times and another bus going to the north leaving at 9:50, 10:40, 11:30, 13:00, 13:40, 14:35, 15:35, and 16:10. Detailed information is on the web page at www.mexttci.go.jp/tci/koukai2002/2002list-e.htm

After the Cherry Blossoms come the Azaleas and Tulips

Cherry blossoms in the Tsukuba area have ended their short existence and now in the latter part of April and early May it's time for the Azaleas. One variety of cherry tree, however, what is called "Yaezakura", does bloom later in April, with the most spectacular displays being along the entrance to the Meteorological Research Institute (next to the 210 meter observation tower) and just off the southern entrance to Tsukuba University off of Higashi Odori. The azaleas are everywhere, with no obvious first choice of sites.

Japan is famous for its beautiful gardens, though the typical image of Japanese gardens is more centered on shape and form than raw color, as in western gardens. Nevertheless, Japanese love flowers, and now is the time to see some really spectacular displays in and around Tsukuba.

Flower Park in Yasato on the backside of Mt. Tsukuba is probably the most spectacular, as it has rows upon rows of various flowers blooming throughout the Spring months. Roses are its speciality, but they don't bloom until late May. Nevertheless, brightly colored tulips, azaleas, etc. abound from mid April on. It costs \600 to get in, but is well worth it. To get there, drive along route 125 about half way between Tsuchiura and the northern boundary of Tsukuba until you come to the road that leads over the mountain ridge. You will be able to see the road leading over the mountain. The park is easy to find, being on the left side of that road a few km after you've crossed over the mountain.

Another much closer garden you'll want to take a look at is the peony flower garden in Kukizaki. It specializes in "botan" (peony) flowers, which can be as big as 20 cm. across. They are usually at their peak during Golden Week in early May, but this year, everything is early. There are lots of other flowers as well. To get there, proceed down Science Odori towards the Yatabe Interchange, and turn left at the light just before Science Odori crosses over the expressway. There is a gas station on the left-hand corner. Proceed down this road over the expressway and straight on for about 2.2 km. (If you come to a fork in the road, you have gone a little too far). Turn right (signs on both sides of the road). The peony gardens are located a couple hundred meters ahead next to a cemetery. If you continue on the main road another couple of km, you'll come to the Takasaki Shizen no Mori in Kukizaki. Its speciality is fields of poppies which bloom from early May. It's located just past a large hospital on the right.

Tulip displays can also be spectacular, with three separate parks on the south shores of Lake Kasumigaura featuring tulips that bloom from mid to late April. The nearest is the Kasumigaura Sogo Koen on the shores of Lake Kasumigaura just south of Tsuchiura Station. The entrance to the park, which also features a Dutch style windmill, is about 1 km from the junction of route 125 and the road leading south from the station. Though more distant, the displays in Miho and Sakuragawa are even bigger, with the latter boasting 230,000 tulips in bloom! The Miho display is in the Kihara Castle Park (just northwest of the Texas Instrument Plant), while the Sakuragawa display is in the Wada Park on a little peninsula jutting out into the lake on the east (far) side of the town. It is a bit off the beaten path, and so you'll need a map to figure out which unmarked back road to take.

Spring Festivals

The Kasama Azalea Fair; held from late April to mid May, features 35,000 azalea bushes in bloom peaking in late April. It is located to the east of downtown Kasama (famous for its pottery). Ask for "Tsutsuji Koen." The Kasama Pottery Festival will also be taking place from May 1 - 5, and so the two would be a nice combo during Golden Week (though beware, the traffic during certain periods of Golden Week won't make you feel very "golden"!). The city of Kasama is also developing "Geijutsu no Mori Koen" ("Forest of Art Park"), a 54-hectare park featuring art displays, "hands on" art, etc, in a nature preserve atmosphere. Much of it is complete and now open, and it promises to be quite an attraction. Like many such facilities, it is closed on Mondays (or if that is a holiday, then the following day). The entrance fee is 300 yen. Definitely worth exploring. It is located a few km due east of Kasama Station off of route 355.

The Ryujin Carp Streamer (Koi Nobori) Festival will be held 4/20 - 5/ 12. Along Japan's longest suspension walking bridge (375 m.), there will be 300 giant "koi nobori" suspended above Ryujin Lake. It is located north of Mito, about a 2-hour drive from Tsukuba, not far from the famous Fukuroda Falls, one of the most spectacular in Japan. Both are well worth a visit. To get there, drive up the Joban to the Hitachi Minami Ota Exit and turn left onto Route 6. Then turn left again on Route 293 (a few hundred meters up Route 6). It's about 5 km from there to the junction with Route 349 (in Yamashita Town). Keep on 293 for another 2 km until it bends sharply to the left. Exit 293 at that point by going straight ahead for another km or so until you come to a main road. That is the road you want. It's called the Hitachi Ota - Daigo Sen. Turn left and proceed about 20 km. The dam, lake and bridge are on the left. Fukuroda no Taki (waterfall) is located about 15 km farther to the north. Turn left at the first main road (about 12 km up) and go across the pass. The falls are to the right.

Religious Activities in English

An English language interdenominational worship service is held once a month normally on the fourth Sunday of every month at 2 pm. at the Tsukuba Gakuen Church near Daiei. The April service is on the 28th. It is followed by an informal fellowship time at the Tsukuba Christian Center next door. The Japanese language congregation meets every Sunday morning at 10:30, and the service is translated into English over earphones. There is also a Bible Study in English every Wednesday evening at 8:30 in the Christian Center. For more information or help with transportation, call Tim Boyle at 55-1907.

The Tsukuba Catholic Church has an English mass at 8:00 am every Sunday and the Japanese masses on Saturday night (6 pm) and Sunday morning (10 am) are accompanied by an summary of the message in English. There is also a Spanish mass on the 3rd Sundays at 3 pm. On the last Sunday of the month, there is a coffee social after the English mass. For information, call the church at 36-1723. The Tsuchiura Catholic Church offers an English mass on the last Sunday of each month at 3 pm (tel. 21-1501). There is also a Portuguese mass on the 3rd Saturday at 7 pm. The Tsukuba Baptist Church offers an English language Bible study before the Japanese service every Sunday from 10 to 11 am. It is located in Inarimae just east of Nishi Odori on the street closest to the meteorological observation tower. Tel. 58-0655.

The Megumi Church in Tsuchiura (489-1 Kami Takatsu) also offers English translation of their 10:30 Japanese service over earphones. An English Bible class is held every Sunday morning at 9:00. There is also an International Fellowship group that holds a monthly pot luck dinner usually on the third Saturday. For information on that, call Melissa Ishio at 38-1374. For more information, call the church at 22-2244 or e-mail LDN03144@niftyserve.or.jp (Also see their Tsuchiura Megumi Church Web Page at http://www.bekkoame.ne.jp/ro/tmc/index.html).

The Tokyo International Church, Tsukuba Branch in Amakubo 3-3-5 (across from Tsukuba Univ.) offers a 10:30-noon Chinese (Mandarin) service interpreted into both English and Japanese. There is also an English language Bible study every Sunday evening at 7 pm. For information, call Rev. Huang at 52-6820.

The International Christian Assembly meets every Sunday at their church just off of Tsuchiura-Gakuen Sen east of Tsukuba (just behind the restaurant with the dragon on the roof) from 10 am for Bible Study and 10:30 for worship. On Easter Sunday, they will have their 5th Anniversary celebration with a dinner and drama following the service. For more information, call Tony Shreffler at 57-9006.

The Nozomi Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tsuchiura (23-27 Komatsu 3-chome) also offers programs in English, including a worship service Saturday evenings at 7:30 pm and a Bible class on Sunday mornings at 9:30. English Bible information courses are available any time. For more information, call Glen Hieb at 0298-21-3578. The Tsuchiura Christian Church offers an English message translated into Japanese every Sunday morning at 10:30 am. For information, contact Paul Axton at 56-2167.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Tsukuba ward is located at Sakura 2 chome 35-2. Services are translated into English over headphones. The Sacrament Meeting begins at 10 am followed by Sunday School at 11:10 and Priesthood and Relief Society at 12:00. A Gospel Doctrine class in English is also offered. For more information, contact 57-9795. The Jewish Community of Japan, invites anyone of the Jewish faith in the Tsukuba area to feel welcome at any of their programs in Tokyo. Sabbath services each Friday at 6:30 pm followed by Sabbath dinner; Kosher Kitchen, Saturday morning, 9:30 am. Contact 3-8-8 Hiroo, Shibuya-Ku, Tokyo 150; tel. 03-3400-2559, fax. 03-3400-1827.

25 Proverbs for a Healthier Life

1. If you are too open-minded, your brains might fall out.
2. Age is a very high price to pay for maturity.
3. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you a mechanic.
4. Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.
5. If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried before.
6. My idea of housework is to sweep the room with glance.
7. Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious.
8. It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.
9. For every action, there is an equal and opposite government program.
10. If you look like your passport picture, you probably need the trip.
11. Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of checks.
12. A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.
13. Eat well, stay fit, die anyway.
14. Men are from earth. Women are from earth. Deal with it.
15. No husband has ever been shot while doing the dishes.
16. A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.
17. Middle age is when broadness of the mind and narrowness of the waste change places.
18. Opportunities always look bigger going than coming.
19. Junk is something you've kept for years and throw away three weeks before you need it.
20. There is always one more imbecile than you counted on.
21. Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.
22. By the time you can make ends meet, they move the ends.
23. Thou shalt not weigh more than thy refrigerator.
24. Someone who thinks logically provides a nice contrast to the real world.
25. Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves for they shall never cease to be amused.

Alien Scientist: The Zoom Dimension

We time-travel a little each time we look at a distant star, as we see an object as it was millions of years ago. In a sense we space-travel a little if we look through a telescope, as we appear to accelerate towards the stars, bringing them closer. In fact, as we look into a telescope - or a microscope - we are embarking on a journey of scale. In our journey of scale, we 'zoom' in or out, but do not move physically in space. Scale appears to be somehow different from the familiar three dimensions of space, yet tied up with them. And for any object or point in space, different scales appear to exist, as it were, simultaneously. But we may sometimes have trouble grasping in our heads an object 'seen' at many different scales at the same time.

Now, imagine an alien species with its brain hardwired to a telescopic-microscopic eye. It might intuitively conceive of a 'zoom dimension' - a kind of independent dimension in which you travel in scale without moving in space. Just as movement in space implies change in location over time, travel in the zoom dimension implies change of scale. Yet change of scale may also affect perception of distance.

A telescopic alien planetary scientist hovering over the Earth might ponder on the total length of its coastline. At a first approximation, the Earth has one landmass. But closer up, more land masses resolve themselves, and each will need to have its coastline measured. Progressively, at closer scales, more land masses and islands appear, and the sum of the lengths of all coastlines will increase correspondingly. By the time the alien is measuring all the little fragments of coral reefs and rockpools, the lengths will be measured more and more intricately, and the cumulative length will get longer and longer still. Human scientists realise this effect: the apparent length will depend on the scale at which it is measured. (Ant science has always claimed that, at the scale of ants, the earth is a bigger place than we would care to admit.) As we zoom in, we find more and more tucks and folds, and more and more 'length' miraculously appears. It seems that by travelling in the zoom dimension, we can unlock more and more length, and gain as much space as we care for. In fact, it seems that there is no end to how much space we can generate, since there seems no limit to scale. We can just go on getting smaller and smaller - or larger and larger. The zoom dimension appears as boundless as any other dimension. (Normal linear dimensions may appear to start or end at zero, but only because we count by addition, not multiplication. Minimalist alien mathematicians who count purely in multiples and fractions have no need for zero or negative numbers, considering these tiresome figments of untidy minds.)

Nevertheless, telescopic alien philosophers wonder if the zoom dimension really extends infinitely, or if instead it curves back on itself. Could there be a bridge between the very big and the very small? Is it possible that if you go far enough east, you come back west? In other words, as things get bigger and bigger, do they pass some kind of international date-line of scale, and come back really small? (If we go far enough into space, will we eventually find giant ants, clumsily peering down at nano-galactic distances?)

But, if we were somehow to zoom all the way outside in, as it were, where exactly would we 'land'? Looking the other way, from which spot would we have emerged, within which to locate our own miniature universe? Or instead of a single spot, perhaps every slice of space has its own subatomic universe (each measured in subatomic units, of course). And if so, does each subatomic universe contain its own subatomic universe (or someone else's) ad infinitum? Then we could have an infinite number of universes within universes, simultaneously at all scales, simultaneously. This surely expands our comprehension of the size of 'the' universe. It must now look considerably bigger (or smaller) than we previously imagined.

Stephen Marshall
Email: stephen@cyberspace.co.jp

Updated August 31, 2002
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