and this one up close... 

I will leave you with some cherry blossoms just starting to come out. 

Vittorio and I rented remote control cars and then started racing them. Check out the blur on these fast little guys. 

There was an historical american car museum that was adjacent to the reception. Look at this old beauty and the wonder windshield they installed.

PT again: There was this building, called the Rising. It's logo was printed on the outides of the building: "It is new century arrival to an amusement. RISING reverses common sense. Please spend the pleasant time of a thrill and excitement." 

A new character to love. What kind of character is he? What is that cape thing? What is he advertising? I don't know any of these things. 

Mt. Hakodate, from Goryokaku Fort tower. 

Goryokaku Fort. Make note of the purplish cherry blossom trees. Jay would like you to take note of the moat. 

Poor Translation (PT): On a box of Roast Corn candy (cream corn flavor starburst) was a Hokkaido bear and the following told from his perspective: "We would play in a forest and would catch the fish in a brook. There are wilderness on the earth. So we have to keep on protecting. We want to design our way of life in northern land Hokkaido."

One constant in my travels that I have found is that while people the world over are all the same, their advertising/packaging is different (US in inferiror to most all others). 

Maybe this can give you and idea of scale: cascading levels. 

Every single window also had a single min-blind that can be brought down to adjust the light.  

Maybe this can give you some perspective: humans, relative to the building. 

3 down, 1 to go

Hey guys,

So today was kind of low key. I gave my presentation and it went okay. I got to see Janusz's amazingly constructed presentation and it went very well. I had seen most of it before because of him back at the house showing me stuff.

Jon, Jay and I ducked out early and went to go see the Goryokaku Fort which is in the shape of a pentagon, and you can see it from an observation tower. We then ate at this clown themed semi-fast food place and walked a long way back to the hotel. I have to hand it to those guys though, I was pretty skeptical, but they got me home. Just in time to miss all the good food at the reception. Oh well, I will put some pictures up.

The big presentation will be tomorrow. Wish me luck :)