What I did on my conference vacation...

So what else is new? Well, I have returned to the ordinary.

Bleary-eyed and jet-lagged I struggle to maintain coherence in my day job, having returned over the previous 36 hours from a one-week conference in Osaka, Japan. Yes, I do have a day job. Yes, I did go to Japan. No, I am not Japanese, though I play one on TV.

As required by the nature of the objective (speaking about my research into identity and, in this case, how social media influences construction of identity at the IAFOR conference), I did not have a lot of time for sightseeing. I went out for a walk in the neighborhood the morning of the first day, before registration opened. It was an overcast day but I photographed "downtown" Osaka, around the area of Osaka Station and the streets back to the hotel anyway. After the conference, many of the participants went on a walking tour of nearby Kyoto, the city famous for its many temples and shrines. That day was sunny and hot.

(On the return flight, inspired by my adventure, I managed to outline the plot of a possible sequel to my novel After Ilium.)

Below are selected pictures illustrating my trip (and bearing proof of the truth of my tale).

Me outside of Osaka Station
(proof of my existence in Osaka)

View of Osaka south of the station

The International Academic Forum 2012 

(Yours Truly is on the right.)

A well-stocked Manga store

Views of the grounds of Nijo Castle in Kyoto:

Pagoda and street scene near temple in Kyoto

My Bento box lunch

A different temple in Kyoto

Me again--on the grounds of yet another temple in Kyoto. 

And don't forget the release of my novel Aiko, a Japanese romantic mystery, sometime next year!


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(C) Copyright 2010-2012 by Stephen M. Swartz. All Rights Reserved. No part of this blog, whether text or image, may be used without me giving you written permission, except for brief excerpts that are accompanied by a link to this entire blog. Violators shall be written into novels as characters who are killed off. Serious violators shall be identified and dealt with according to the laws of the United States of America.