Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Ikea'd Port-Liner




So, one of the trains that I'll be taking to university every morning is called the Port-Liner.

Ah yes, I should mention that I'll be living on the artificial Port Island in Kobe- which is constructed on "reclaimed land," the first of two in Kobe before Rokko Island. It houses, among other things, the Kobe National Airport, the Ueshima Coffee Company Coffee Museum and, well, shipping stuff as indicated by its name.

The Port-Liner is an AGT, or Automated Guideway Transit system. It was the world's first AGT when it opened in 1981. It runs from Sannomiya Station (the main hub of Kobe) to the Kobe Airport.

At any rate, IKEA decided to deck the Port-Liner out to promote a new outlet being opened on Port-Island. Unfortunately, this craziness only lasts until May 6, far before I arrive...



I still have to dig around a bit, but I'm guessing that Ikea putting an outlet on this island means that Port Island is a bit more than just an industrial/ residential area as I initially suspected. And judging from a Google Map picture, it is much bigger than I expected.

I'll be snooping around for more Kobe news.

[source : pink tentacle]

About Me

Hi there!
I'll use this space to briefly introduce myself to readers (who I imagine will initially consist of family and friends). I'm hoping that this whole blog will serve such a purpose in the future, so this will be short.
I am an undergraduate college student at a fairly large American university. I have only studied the Japanese language for about a year, which I am told is about enough to carry on a shallow conversation about the weather with someone from Tokyo. I plan to go on exchange to Kobe University starting mid-autumn to study the language, culture, and particularly the media of Japan.
What do I want to do with this time spent over there? Well, above all, I want to reach some moderate degree of fluency. What do I want to do with that? I have a few ideas, none of which I can really access at this point in my education or professional career. Secondly, as someone who hopes to plug in to the worldwide information scramble of today, I want to seek a worldwide perspective on modern events. To me, Asian and Afican countries in general represent the radical "Other" to the West. They have mostly been ignored or squelched by America until this point in world history, when economies and world politics have accelerated toward interdependence and confused conflict.
Japan is an entry point into Asian culture and thought for myself. I wish to one day travel throughout the continent- Korea, China, Vietnam, Russia, and India are all on my list of places to discover and report on. For now, I await Japan.