For most of this week, I’ve been visiting the Kyushu Synchrotron Light Research Center in Saga, about an hour train ride south of Fukuoka.
This sight takes me back to my grad school days in the 1980’s where I did experiments at a similar facilitiy.
Of course there have been significant advances in both the light sources and the instrumentation available since that time. The sorts of experimental energy resolution available here are orders of magnitude better than what we could do back then.
The electron energy analyzer is pretty amazing as well, providing a 2D angular map of electron intensity.
I was amused that one of the references that they still use was the result of calculations done by a fellow grad student back in my day.
The guest house is very nice. Here is the shared kitchenette area.
For the first time this trip, I’ve been able to approximate my regular breakfast that I have back home.
I was also amused that of the reading material available in english, I have both books (the third one to the left is actually a Japanese manga).
Of course, Kyushu and the Fukuoka area is famous for its style of ramen. Tonkotsu ramen has a rich broth made from pork bones.
Today I did a bit of a warmup ride to make sure that everything on the Brompton was working. About 200 m of climbing, which is about half of what I’ll be doing on Friday.
Heading into the hills behind the lab, the feel is immediately quite rural.
Here I am at a dam about 3 km in.
A little further on is a park with this public washroom.
This is a cable stay bridge that crosses the reservoir.
A nice sunny day.
The trail is more of a walking path on the other side.
At the road, another rest stop with vending machine.
Now descending on a less busy road that zig zags its way back down.
Nice to get out for a ride. My tour starts on Friday and goes until the end of the month. The forecast doesn’t look great, though.
I’ll be living out of this Ortlieb O bag for five days. It’s a bit unfortunate that rain gear will take up so much space, but it looks like I’ll need it.
This is what the first two days of the route look like, from the lab to Beppu.
After that, the route will be easier, with a ferry to Yawatahama, riding through Matsuyama and Imabari, and then across the famous Shimanami Kaido.
My next post will probably be from Beppu.
Banana Fish, not to be confused with Banana Yoshimoto!
You’re very close to Tosu, which is where I would transfer from the local express train line (Kamome) from Nagasaki, and get on the Shinkansen north to Kitakyushu. My stop was about an hour from there near Isahaya-shi. Now there is a Nishi-Kyushu shinkansen that goes right to Nagasaki, but oddly it seems to not actually connect to the main Kyushu line yet. Maybe that is still in the works.
I’m confused. I’m going to bike east from here to Beppu.
Sorry to confuse! I’m talking about where I once lived, and the proximity to where you are. I wasn’t talking about your bike route at all. I realize you’re going to Beppu, which is a fun place. Enjoy the hot springs.
“I would” is tricky as it can be a conditional for suggesting something to someone else, but in my case I was using it past tense to describe my own experiences. “When I was a kid, I would often climb trees.” etc. Hope that helps clarify what I imagine confused you.
But you’ll be wearing the rain gear so there’s lots of room in the bag. ;)