Honshu and Okinawa

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I am back. I spent 10 days in Japan, 5 days for work on the main island of Honshu and 5 days of solo adventure in Okinawa. Travel is so invigorating dispite the uncomfortableness. Jetlag, anxiety, crowds, and other discomforts aside, it is mind-expanding and rewarding. Work went well. I flew a new airline (Skymark) from Tokyo to Naha. I am always wary of strange discount airlines and all the traps they set. However, I had a great expereince with "Sky". I was actually shocked. Super easy checkin at the airport, no extra fees even with extra luggage. The primary mission in Okinawa was to visit the Peace Park and the Suicide cliffs of Okinawa. At the end of WW2 the inhabitants were encouraged to commit suicide rather than surrender to the Americans and get tortured and eaten. They jumped off the cliffs at the souther end of the main island. If you have seen theoriginal color footage taken at the time. I am sure you were moved with mothers holding their babies jumping to th...
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Today is Sunday. The day off for most people. I am working between 65 and 70 hrs a week. I don't have to worry about what is for dinner. I don't have to commute to work except out to the field. It is a managable lifestyle. You give up freedoms and privacy to be in the program. You gain insight, expererience and a whole lot more. Everyone here is a character. It is not uncommon to be having a dinner conversation with someone who is working as a General Assistant (GA) who has advanced degrees or has sailed around the world or both and more. Tales of ship wrecks, travel in Mongolia and life in remote Montana or Romania is all pretty much normal.

Today I donated my Grandfather's book to the McMurdo Library. It is a translation of Immanual Kant's "Anthopology from a Pragmatic Point of View" from the 1700's. As far as I know it is the only translation. It is a mix of personality profile, pyschology and philosophy from the author who brought you "Critique of Pure Reason" and "The Categorical Imperative", or as I might call it "Pitfalls of the Golden Rule".

The library is very eclectic as you might imagine. The book will be safe here and I am sure someone will find it insightful.

Good Quote: "He who is anxiously concerned over losing his life will never enjoy life"---Kant

I find that to be a good notion when you are leaning over the lip of a mountain top in Antarctica working on radio equipment. I am very careful. I am not very anxious. That only detracts the brain from the work at hand and being careful.

I noticed yesterday my flight weight is 33 pounds greater than my body weight. I am wearing 33 pounds of clothes out in the field.

The pictures are of the very crowded ramp on the Pegasus Ice Runway as I flew over in the A Star Helicopter and some Emperor Penguins shot by some other folk on station.

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