Ano Blantons wa nanpurufu deshita ka?

The weather continues to be very nice here. Last night there was a welcoming party for me at a local restaurant, and that was a lot of fun. I finally met everyone in the high-energy astrophysics group here, which consists of about eight grad students, four postdocs (myself included), one assistant (Yamada-san), and four professors, with Tsunemi-sensei the "big boss". I have been asked to help the graduate students with their English, which will probably make me even more lazy with my Japanese. I have been able to get my point across and understand things better with each passing day. Anyway, the food and beverage were quite tasty, and I'm grateful for the hospitality everyone's shown me here.

After dinner, several of us went to a sake bar, where I had some more sweet potato sake. (Sake is a general term for booze here. It can mean rice wine, which is made like wine [but not aged], or distilled liquor, which is made from rice or potatoes, usually, and is very similar to vodka. It's a very important non-distinction.) After that, a few of us went to a whiskey bar, where I found some excellent Kentucky bourbon. In fact, they had all my favorites there, Maker's Mark, Wild Turkey, Booker's bourbon, Bombay Sapphire (and Boodles to boot), and a great single-barrel (hand lettered) bottle of Blanton's. Oishikatta desu yo!

I know, all I ever write about is food and booze. I do some work, too, I suppose.

Oh, by the way, I've posted some pictures of my Tokyo trip. Thanks to Steve-san.