President’s Blog

Over to Kofu

Posted May 26th, 2009 by President Whitlock

I probably won’t be posting any photographs from Kofu.  Our hotel is nice enough, but it is lacking internet service, except for a shared PC in the lobby.   It has no slot for my camera’s SD card, so I am at a loss in terms of uploading any photos.

Our day began today with Joanne getting her hair done at the beauty shop in our Tokyo Hotel.  This was her second such experience and I believe she has taken to the combination massage, shampoo, and styling that Japanese beauticians provide.

Then it was off to Kofu by the Kaiji Limited Express train for Shinjuku Station.  I made the arrangements for the tickets myself, found the correct track platform, and we arrived here safely.  My Japan travel skills must be OK.   We were welcomed by Professor Kiyomi Ueya and his lovely wife Noriko, who were so gracious to us last October.  They were again today.    He taught at EKU in 1994-95 as part of our long standing exchange with the University of Yamanashi.

We just greeted Rhonda Whittemore, EELI director, and Beth Blanchard of our international office here in the hotel lobby.  They are fresh off a 13.5-hour plane ride and a three-hour bus trip from Narita.  They will feel better when we see them tomorrow.   We have two days of visits to the University of Yamanashi in store and I am looking forward to meeting my new counterpart there, as President Nukui has retired and a new person was installed last month.

If Rhonda or Beth have a USB thumb drive I can borrow, I might be able to do photos.  This computer has a USB port.

Edit:  (Wednesday morning) I discovered this morning that there is a wifi hotspot of which I was unaware.   So, if I carry my laptop to the lobby, I can manage this blog to include photos.   The other nice thing, is that I can use a standard keyboard instead of the Japanese keyboard on the lobby computer AND all the web and Explorer prompts are in English.   Anyway, here’s a photo from a mountainside fruit park to which the Ueyas took us yesterday afternoon.  It overlooks the valley in which, from left to right, Enzan, Yamanashi City, and Kofu are located.  There was some haze, so you might need to use your imagination.   We head to the campus in about an hour.