SATURDAY IN TOKYO

My weekend postings tend to be non-scientific and fun.  Today, I thought I'd touch on four totally unrelated topics that interested me.  First, my Tokyo Westin breakfast:

I won't even try to explain.

Second, forget the above and accept the fact that you probably have from three to five pounds of bacteria in and on you, most in your intestinal tract.  If your body were the House of Representatives, the microbes would control, for there are ten times more of them than your body cells.  There are more, actually, for add viruses, archaea, worms and mites (on most of your forehead, honestly!).  This Scientific American contribution from Rob Dunn is extremely well written and truly gross.  It features Lady Gaga and French belly button bacteria.  One of my recent HuffPos talked about large numbers.  For example, there hundreds of billions of stars in our Milky Way Galaxy.  Well, your body hosts about a hundred trillion (multiply billion by a thousand) bacteria.

Third,  there are now between 12 and 20% of Americans who don't have a religion, a doubling in the past thirty years.  Probably has nothing much to do with better education or maturation of our society.  Cited are things like TV sport programs, higher divorce rates, gay marriage and more children born out of wedlock.  My chapter 5 of SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Humanity provides the gory details, but you got to wonder why, double that number of scientists don't believe in God (and this number skyrockets to 95% for National Academy of Science biological members) and nearly 90% of French and Japanese say religion is unimportant.  Maybe this is why the USA is great.  We have a psychological crutch and can  pass on most of our guilt to some superior force.

Finally, Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman started his recent column with:

There’s something happening here. What it is ain’t exactly clear, but we may, at long last, be seeing the rise of a popular movement that, unlike the Tea Party, is angry at the right people.

He says that our ecoomic woes can be written in three acts:


a.  Bankers took advantage of deregulation (not said, but implied this was President Bush the Younger's fault) and lent recklessly.


b.  The bubble burst and these bankers were bailed out by us taxpayers.


c.  Economy rebounded and bankers showed their gratitude by turning on the people (us) who saved them.


The result was Occupy Wall Street, a protest that will insure (he also did not say this, but the message is clear) for the second term of Barack Obama (a movement he early recognized).

My Saturday ended with my usual free drink(s) at the Executive Club of the Tokyo Westin.  Then I went upstairs to Yebisu for a fantastic teppan yaki dinner.  Not quite the foie gras, lobster, wagyu beef prepared by the owner, with then Mayor Chihiro and Chisako Takeuchi at a surfing beach near Ago Town, but terrific nevertheless:

I show so many photos because any $400+ epicurean treat deserves them.  Tonight it was a choice between a $5 Burger King meal or the above.  Maybe tomorrow I'll try the hamburger.  


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Two hurricanes popped up west of Mexico.  Both  Irwin and Jova will move east towards Mexico.

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THE CONTINUING SAGA OF FUKUSHIMA

I hate the departure from Bangkok (and Singapore) to Tokyo.  The flight leaves at 6:05 AM, so you need to leave the hotel at 3 AM, which means you must wake up before 2:30.  Everything went fine, and I got through customs by 3:45AM.  Surprisingly, all the stores in the airport were open at this early hour.  However, the Thai First Class Lounge was not.  I went to their Royal Silk Lounge and, as it is early evening and already dark in New York City, I had a Bloody Mary with assorted dim sums.

The flight to Narita was uneventful.  I did not feel like breaking any new records.  United's First Class in this leg was far better than the Honolulu-Narita flight, which is a whole lot better than the San Francisco-Honolulu First Class, but the Thai First Class was far, far superior to anything United has.

It was less than seven months ago, on March 12, to be exact, that I landed in Narita and took five hours to struggle my way to the Tokyo Westin.  Today, it only took 2 hours of relaxation on the Airport Limousine bus.

All went well, and half a day after leaving my hotel in Bangkok, I was in the Tokyo Westin Hotel.  I was greeted with a sunset:

Can't see it, but Mount Fuji is somewhere on the horizon.  Here is just a typical shot:

The Japan Times today had an article cataloguing the desolation of the Great Tohoku disaster, and, in particular, the tragedy of Fukushima.  Here are some sobering reminders:

  -  The radioactive zone is bigger than the 1945 bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki:

  -  20,000 people are dead or still missing.

  -  The projected cost is now at $225 billion.

  -  Chernobyl's exclusion zone is "only" two-thirds the size of Switzerland, but, a quarter century after the cataclysm, 300 people have, apparently, illegally moved back "home."  Supposedly, this zone was deemed uninhabitable for a few centuries.

  -  Birds have shown genetic mutations.  For example:

Scientists studying the wildlife in contaminated regions around Chernobyl have found that many bird, mammal and even insect populations have suffered significant declines as a probable consequence of having “low-dose” cesium-137 radiation routinely in their diets.  Half the bird species have disappeared, and only 1/3 of their original numbers remain in the most contaminated areas, as compared to areas with normal background radiation. All the birds living in these radioactively contaminated regions have smaller brains, and 28% of male birds have no sperm while another 12% have inactive sperm. 

  -  The Fukushima (Lucky Isle in Japanese) danger zone is 25 times smaller than Chernobyl's, but the prefecture where these nuclear powerplants are located had a population of 2 million and was half the land size of Belgium.

  -  Japan is excruciating as to how the radioactive debris will be treated and disposed.

  -  No matter how you spin it, Fukushima Prefecture:

      -  will for a long, long time be stigmatized by the fact anyone from this location might have radiation (jobs, marriage, whatever),

      -  agriculture and tourism will probably never recover,

      -  many will never be able to return home in their lifetime,

  -  I'll not try to explain it here, but click on "why Fukushima is more dangerous than Hiroshima and Nagasaki" to appreciate the dark implications of nuclear fission powerplants.

So, is nuclear power dead?  Apparently not.  Read Michael Richardson's take on the face of nuclear power:

  -  New Japanese Prime Minister  Yoshihiko Noda is pro-nuclear.

  -  Vietnam will press ahead with 13 nuclear reactors by 2030.

  -  China will start approving new nuclear power plant projects next year: from 11,000 MW in 2010 to 40,000 MW in 2015 (doesn't seem right, but check out this article).

  -  The International Atomic Energy Agency forecasts 200 new nuclear reactors by 2035.

  -  Saudi Arabia still plans to spend $100 billion for 16 nuclear reactors by 2030.

  -  As the USA did in the 1950's, and India and Pakistan repeated, many developing countries want nuclear power to provide the uranium/plutonium for weapons.

Here we go again!

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WHY ITALIAN IN BANGKOK?

My only two dinners in Bangkok were Italian.  Why?  First, I like Italian food.  Second, the signature restaurants of the Sheraton Grande Sukhamvit and St. Regis are Italian.  Third, I don't like Thai food.

I've been here at least 25 times and could not for the first few years figure out what I did not like about it.  I finally realized that there was something about the smell of Thai dishes.  Inquiring further, I learned that a good number of them featured a splash, or more of a sauce.

Thai fish sauce, Nam Plan, supposedly a good one above, Golden boy, starts with small (2-5 inches) fish like anchovies, placed in a large earthenware jar with salt and water, and left covered in a sunny spot for nine to eighteen months.  Almost like kim chee.  Basically, the mixture slowly rots!  The final product is supposed to be clear and the color of whiskey, with an odor of the sea and not fishy nor overly salty.  Sure!   This all reminds me of durian, but this smell is of stinky socks and is banned from many hotels, especially in Singapore.  Spraying lime juice over these Thai dishes is supposedly one way to minimize the malodorousness of it all.  Does not work for me.

Thus, in Thailand, I go to Plan B, non-Thai food.  First, though, this fabulous illustrated international (Thai, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, American) brunch at the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit:

I finished with some litchee, pineapple, passion fruit, mangosteen and rambutan.  For dinner on night one, Rossini's:

My meal started with a Chilean Chardonnay at the Library, followed by a Chilean Cabernet, which I walked into Rossini's because it was free.  I added a Zardetto Prosecco Brut and enjoyed (above) the olives, curly something or other, parmesan/pistachio deep fried stick, olives and mozzarella/tomatoes/pesto cup, all gratis.  My entre combined a Caesar's salad (not on menu--if I asked for spaghetti Bolognese, they would have fixed it), Fagato grosso con lomponi (seared foie gras with raspberry), and Rissoto zafferano e midollo di bye (safron al dente rice and bone marrow).  This certainly would fall in the top three of all Italian dinners I've had.  Not quite up to the white truffle rissoto in Rome, but, I'm awaiting what beholds at the St. Regis tonight, as I move to that hotel in the afternoon and an Italian restaurant is their best.

The new (April of this year) St. Regis has two excellent places to eat, Jojo, Italian, and Viu, cosmopolitan.  Jojo was highly recommended.

The evening began in Decanter, where Platinum members have free everything.  I had a Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio, Siam Mary (the Thai version of Bloody Mary) and a South African Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot, with some Italian ham and walnuts.

Then down to Jojo's.  I had a Duca Di Castelmonte Prosecco and Chianti Superiore from Tuscany with Caesar Salad (I wanted to compare, but they had to order this from another restaurant in the building), Pasta e Fagioli, and Veal Ossobuco with safron rice cream.  The soup was tepid while the OB had no bone.  They scrapped everything off the bone and I couldn't tell if there was any marrow.  Very disappointing.

If I gave Rossini's an 8.5, Jojo's would get a 6.5.  However, the service was fine and ambience okay.They're still learning.  Clearly, Rossini's is more elegant and polished.

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Four developing ocean storms suddenly popped out in the East Pacific.  I've never seen that before, but I suspect all will peter out.

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RED VERSUS YELLOW IN THAILAND

On the political front, Thaksin Sinawatra (above left) remains the leader, albeit in absentia (now lives in Dubai, for he was deposed for corruption, but remains popular).  It's still Thaksin, PM #26, versus Abhisit Vejjajiva, PM #27 (above right, Oxford trained, Master in Economics, and all of 46), Red shirts and Pheu Thai Party for the former, yellow shirts and Democratic Party for the latter.

But the recent elections made Yingluck Shinawatra (above and right, Master in Political Science, Kentucky State University, 44) Thailand's 28th and first female Prime Minister.  It is said she is not a puppet of her brother, former PM Thaksin, she's more like a clone.  The latest word is that she will bring him home. With little doubt, Thaksin was said to be corrupt.   Yingluck certainly looks good and has no scandal stain. Not sure this is all that much different from America, but two-thirds of the current Yingluck cabinet are millionaires, no red-shirt leaders and three females.  Men favor her, while females and the Army, Abhisit.

King Bhumibol Adulyadez is Rama IX.  Rama IV was Mongkut, played by Yul Brynner in the King and I, while his son, Chulalongkorn, Rama V, carried on very well well, indeed.  Thus, I guess Bhumibol is the great great great grandson of Mongkut.  Now in this 66th year of reign, he is the longest ruling monarch still alive.  In comparison, Queen Elizabeth II is in her 60th year.  Sobhuza II of Swaziland ruled for almost 83 years, and passed away almost twenty years ago.  Unfortunately, King Bhumibol is seriously ill.  The following is a 2005 photo of him.

And this is one taken half a century earlier with Queens Sirikit and Elizabeth II, with her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, on the left:

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Much of the world seems to be in drought.  This year, Bangkok has been drenched with 58% more rain than normal.  I thought the thunderstorms today were being caused by former Super Typhoon Nalgae, once up to 150 MPH, responsible for 76 deaths in the Philippines.  However, this storm barely is into Vietnam, but appears to be headed straight to Bangkok with even more moisture.  This monsoon season has already seen 224 deaths, the worst in half a century.

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RECORD BROKEN--ALL IS FINE IN BANGKOK

If you have been following my global adventure, the first phase of my journey did break that "record."  My final view of Hawaii was Kauai:

My United first meal began with a Nicolas Feuillatte Brut 2004 (1), champagne and hot mixed nuts.  With a hybrid seasonal greens, I asked for the teriyaki salmon (a regular meal) to be placed on the side, which I had with an Ovation Chardonnay 2007 (2):

 The Washoku Zen Selection (duck with karashi miso, smoked salmon, teriyaki calamari, grilled scallops, cha-soba noodles with simmered oyster mushrooms, chicken miso yuan yaki tori jin, simmered gobo and turnips, sugar snap peas, tsukemono, white rice and green tea--the following only a part of the mix):

 was accompanied by a flight of reds: Chateau Ducluzeau Listrac-Medoc 2008 (3), Sciatic Montsant 2008 (4) and Gary Farrel Pinot Noir 2007 (5) at 14.2%.  Plus, a hot Geikkekan daiginjo sake (6).  I had a Graham Late Bottled Vintage Port 2005 (7) and Kenwook Merlot 2003 (8) with Amablu St Pete's Blue cheese from Minnesota, Four Year Aged Cheddar from Widmer and Saint Rocco Triple Creme Brie from Michigan.  On the side was a vanilla fudge sundae doused with Kahlua (9):

All the above watching Mary Poppins.  Yes, the meal was supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

Passing over Midway Atoll, I had a Glenlivet on rocks (10).  Then Marty Ferris, my chief interface and her colleague tested me with a Keoki, coffee, Kahlua (11) and cognac (12), and again with an OJAC, orange juice, Amaretto (13) and champagne (14).

That was not it, for an hour before arriving in Narita I had a lunch of chicken katsu with curry sauce and a Kirin beer (15).  Wow, I'm way ahead of schedule, for the previous record was 15.

The United First Class Lounge is an oasis compared with their Red Carpet Club, now called United Club after merging with Continental's President's Club.  While there were at least a hundred in the floor below, for the same space, there were three of us in this special area.  I had:

a Yamazaki single malt (16), Bloody Mary (17) and beer (18) with udon, edamame, minnestrone soup, various vegetables and kakimochi.  Then I learned that my Thai Air flight to Bangkok was a ten minute walk away, so I was advised to move over to the ANA First Class Lounge, which was right in front of this flight.  This room is new, stark black and white, with a wide assortment of drinks and their own restaurant, where you can order Japanese foods.  Mind you, I just had had two meals during the past three hours, but I ordered a grilled chicken over steam rice with miso soup, accompanied by a Suntory Hibiki (19) on ice and a Narita sake (20).  Incredibly enough, this was the tastiest of the four meals thus far:

So much for keeping my weight on this trip.

The next stage was almost a disaster, as I went down to catch my flight to Bangkok, and saw that there was an hour delay.  So I went back up to the ANA Lounge.  After an hour or so I got this uncomfortable feeling that something was wrong, so I went up to the desk and asked if that Thai flight was still delayed.  They made several calls and told me that, no, and you have a couple of minutes to get there.  I barely made that flight, which was fabulous.

First Class on Thai Air means you have your own room and Dom Perignon (21) was served while still on the ground.  The United flight had what must have been a 5 inch screen, but this one was more like two feet and high definition.  The sound/video system was exceptional.  There must have been a hundred movies and something called a juke box where you could program what you wanted to hear.

Mind you, it was about midnight my time when we boarded, and considering my rate of imbibition, I was wasted.  However, I suffered through a Singha beer (22), Chateau Pesclaux Pauillac 2007 Grande Cru Classic (23) and Pork in Green Curry, Hom Mali rice and Fried Shirasu Fish, really, very tasty.  Finally, finally, I had a Johnny Walker Blue Label (24) with some Castello Blue Cheese:

I then went to sleep, a turbulent one, as we were in the vicinity of Typhoon Nalgae.

The Thai Air service was remarkable.  First, while boarding, then, certainly on board, but what followed after we landed was extraordinary.  First they shuttled the first class customers on a kind of golf cart, and the immigration/customs area was at least a mile away.  We were assigned a person to fast track us through the process, and this was so quick that we had to wait five minutes for our bags to arrive. This attendant placed my bag and hand carry on a cart and whisked me through customs without the officials even bothering to look at us.  I exchanged some money while he arranged limousine service to the Sheraton Grande Sukhamvit.  Their international airport is only 15 miles away, but from landing to arrival in my hotel room took less than an hour.  The fact that the driver sped on at 80 MPH was a factor, but I felt relaxed and amazed at all this efficiency.  I have a suite overlooking Benjakip Park, with the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center in the background:

The breakfast buffet here is outstanding, and free.  There are stations and sections for Thai, Chinese, Japanese, American, Indian fruits, meat carvings, omelets and crepes.  Nothing like this in Hawaii nor the USA, although Mauritius, with free champagne, might have been better.  The Sunday brunch at the W Seoul is also great, but costs more than $100.

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PAT'S WORLD JOURNEY

First, a thought for the day, sent to me by Hal Helsley:

The deepest hole ever drilled by man is the
Kola Superdeep Borehole, in Russia .
It reached a depth of 12,261 meters
(about 40,226 feet or 7.62 miles).
It was drilled for scientific research
and gave up some unexpected discoveries,
one of which was a huge deposit of hydrogen
- so massive that the mud coming from the hole
was boiling with it.

Hmmm...this should get my hydrogen friends excited.

Today I begin my final ash scattering journey.  I'll be stopping through Bangkok, Tokyo, Zurich, Amsterdam, Stockholm, London, Sao Paulo, Rio, Buenos Aires, Lima, Cuzco, Machu Picchu, Las Vegas, Reno, and San Francisco.  Let me know if I'll be stopping by your city.  Perhaps we can have lunch or something.  My first leg takes 18 hours, so, maybe I'll break my Rome-DC record.  Hopefully, it will be less stressful than my Delhi to Barcelona adventure.

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When I'm on any trip I merely refer you to the right column for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and price of oil.

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Looks like my flight will be flying right over or around Nalgae, which at one time was a Category 4 typhoon:

Next report from Bangkok.

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SIMPLE SOLUTION ESSAYS: What About Free Hydrogen? (Part 2)

This is Part 2 of a series from SIMPLE SOLUTION ESSAYS, building a case for making renewable energy free.

On 3July08 I described the follow-up to my Hydrogen Man of the Year statement.  To make a long story short, no one mentioned bothered to even respond to my entreaties.  I exchanged various e-mails with the Board of the Journal of Hydrogen Energy (all close friends) and the most supportive was from the editor who indicated that I should first do the research before submitting a paper for publication.  I told them I did the research, and the facts reinforce my bluster.

What About Free Hydrogen? (Part 2)

The following continues the discussion on a free and clean hydrogen age, as largely excerpted from Chapter 3 of SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Planet Earth:

Referring back to that National Hydrogen Association (NHA--now called the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association) awards luncheon, the fact that I had the courage or idiocy to introduce this concept before giving any thought to it was, on hindsight, foolhardy. But, if I had cogitated over it, nothing would have happened. There is something unpredictable and serendipitous about such acts.

This extemporaneous message was suggested to the thousand or so in the audience. At lunch I sat next to Phillip Baxley of the Shell Hydrogen group, who was the incoming chairman of the board of NHA. The fact that I was one of the original organizers of this association and a past board member, I thought, would carry some credibility. I was particularly interested in how he would react because, on the surface, oil companies would seem to have the most to lose. In reality, Peak Oil is changing the topography of energy economics, and petroleum suppliers must start today to make monumental corporate decisions on what they will become tomorrow. A Free Hydrogen Age actually provides them a SIMPLE SOLUTION. I asked Phil to think about this for a year and later share with me his reasoned reaction. A year henceforth, still no feedback. (Still no response today, more than two years later.  Still no reaction today, more than three years later.)

However, the luncheon setting was not conducive to questions and answers, nor comments. So, two days later, at the breakfast gathering of a fairly recently formed International Partnership for Hydrogen Energy (IPHE, which, to my best knowledge was renamed the International Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy, or, maybe the International Partnership for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in the Economy), I waited till the end of the briefing and discussion to again toss out the concept of what I then termed the Free Renewable Hydrogen Age. In a nutshell, I asked the stakeholders of IPHE to discuss this concept and, if they determined that the idea was patently ridiculous, please assign someone to e-mail me why. I received wide applause from those in attendance and the meeting ended. This reaction emboldened me to press forth. So I quickly drafted a Free Hydrogen paper and sent it to Graham Pugh of the U.S. Department of Energy and Thorsteinn Sigfusson from Iceland, who were co-chairs for the discussion, and asked for their impressions. More than a year later, no response. (Still none in mid 2008…and none in 2010...and none in 2011.)

The IPHE is ideal for this purpose because it is relatively new, has representatives from the U.S., European Community, Russia, China, India, Japan and other countries -- representing 85% of the world's Gross Domestic Product -- and meets several times each year. I noted, though, that their objectives and goals looked similar to sundry other international agreements of the United Nations and International Energy Agency, and they were already at risk of being bogged down by politics, protocol and assorted conflicts. I have personally been involved with a whole range of these types of activities, and they all just sort of turned into mush. Great for travel, mind you, but essentially ineffective and a huge waste of time.  For example, you are invited to:

IPHE Roundtable with Stakeholders
17 November 2011
Berlin, Germany
Click here for details

16th Steering Committee Meeting
18 November 2011
Berlin, Germany
Click here for details

The 2nd International Workshop on Degradation Issues on Fuel Cells
An IPHE-endorsed event
21-23 September 2011
Thessaloniki, Greece
Click here for details

What they needed to do, I suggested, was forget about evolutionary developments and trying to appease everyone, but, instead, take a revolutionary approach to make a real difference. Start with the possibility of free hydrogen, or something grandly similar, and plot out an optimal strategy to get there.

Such total disregard from experts in the field I guess must mean that they don't think much of the idea, and, worse, might signify that it is so beyond the pale that any reply is unworthy of their status. On the other hand, perhaps, they could not find fault and are paralyzed in their process of analysis. 

More probably, they are all too busy doing more important things. My sense is that the Free and Clean Hydrogen Age is but one of a million solutions with potential, and I remain in reasonable standing among my peers, for the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy has not yet kicked me off their editorial board.  (In fact, I was recently asked by the President of IJHE, Nejat Veziroglu, to review the latest hydrogen book, Carbon-Neutral Fuels and Energy Carriers, co-authored by him, to be published in that Journal.)

(If you want the scientific validity of the Hydrogen Economy, go to SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Planet Earth, Chapter 3.  Parts 3 and 4 of this continuing series will provide some economic realities, and, perhaps, a better solution.)

Comments (0):  Well, to my surprise, again, there was no response.  So let’s go on to Part 3.

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In the Atlantic, Hurricane Ophelia at 120 MPH is continuing to move north to skirt Newfoundland, then east towards Iceland and Scotland, while Typhoon Nalgae at 90 MPH, after inundating the Philippines, will next head south of Hainan into Vietnam.

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