A Troy in Tokyo

Hello everyone from relatively cool Japan (mid twenties celcius)! There is a typhoon incoming to Japan that, while not directly headed for Tokyo, will apparently cause a significant deluge later tonight, which means the sky is cloudy and the temperature mercifully not above 30 - though this will return once the typhoon blows past. This blog is largely going to be about cooking and devouring some incredibly delicious Japanese beef, but first, a little briefing on my academic goings on: I have submitted all my university assignments for the semester, given numerous presentations, and exam season is going along well, then the two months of summer holiday will be here! I am looking forward to not having to get up at 5.40 every morning to go to university, and also for the (hopeful) move to the Odaiba dormitory, about which I will find out next week. One thing I volunteered to do back in May, and actually did two Fridays ago, was take part in the international student speech prese...

I've finally cracked - I used the aircon in my room for the first time yesterday, as the real feel in Tokyo was over 40 degrees celcius - wanting to save energy was overwhelmed by the volumes of liquid I was having to consume just to feel vaguely alive. Having a cool room (well, around 25 degrees) meant I slept like an absolute baby, so I think this might be a consistent trend from now on. The real feels for the rest of the week are into the high 30s, so not as bad as yesterday, but I'm now aware of how comfortable my room can become! Speaking of hot things, one of the hottest attractions in Tokyo right now is the Mori Digital Art Museum, a collaboration with TeamLab Borderless . This is basically a visual and audio extravaganza developed by one of Tokyo's best museums, and a collective of designers, artists, architects and engineers. This museum only opened a few weeks ago, and has been marketed pretty heavily lately (in fact I've had several people in NZ recommendin...