We visited a research lab in the Nagoya area today, which meant I spent four to five hours on the train and close to two in a car.  I’m glad the presentation of our system went well, and encouraged that the customer was one who’d met us at the nano tech 2008 (and was particularly impressed by our set-up demonstration). 

Aside from the demonstration, the highlight for me was okonomiyaki for lunch.  It’s great how whatever one chucks into the mix, it turns out great, especially if there’s enough mayonnaise and okonomiyaki sauce to go around.  The drink I had along with it was a black tea soda – think southern iced tea with carbonation.  Unusual, but good. 

I spent quite a bit of my travel time reading Obama’s book, and although I’m about as un-black as you can get, I identify with some of the sentiment he describes in finding an identity between his different origins.  My struggle wasn’t and isn’t as marked as his, because neither of my ancestries gets particularly discriminated, but I remain a person with multiple allegiances.  I’ve come to the conclusion that that’s a good thing: the more diffuse and varied one’s allegiances, the less likely nations are to garner one’s support for warfare, or even for basic nationalism.