CURRENT MISSION

Increasing my understanding of the world from tiny to small. Resist nationalisms.

ABOUT ME

I came to Japan 5 years ago as a PhD student in Computer Science. I was suppose to leave 2 years ago, but as many gaijin here can tell, you know when you arrive in Japan, but never when you'll leave it :-P

At a superficial level, one could say I am a bit shy, but easygoing. I tend to lack self-confidence when I am with newly-met people, and thus not to act naturally (but I hope to improve on that). I don't get upset easily, don't need much comfort when traveling and usually (except on the occasional bad mood day) never complain (a rarity for a French person ;-).

At a deeper level, I am, as everybody else, a whole universe ;-)

I am also schedule- and clock-challenged: I have a pathological tendency to be late, and to be unable to plan anything more than a few hours ahead.

PHILOSOPHY

There are often good reasons for not doing something, but fear is never one of them.
Forgive and hope to be forgiven.
Understanding comes before fighting.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I have not yet tried CouchSurfing, but I have some friends that did both surfing and hosting, and I really like the idea. So, hopefully, I will be able to try it sometime soon.
As for hosting, I'd rather not do it now since my current place is quite inconvenient, and I have not much availability. However, if you are in Kyoto and in a desperate situation, you can still try to contact me :-)

Interests

Hiking
Travel (obviously)
Movies
Philosophy
Politics
Mathematics
Swimming
Drawing/ Painting
Manga/Bande Dessinee
...

• fish
• politics
• movies
• traveling
• painting
• drawing
• fishing
• hiking
• surfing
• swimming
• computer science
• mathematics
• science

Music, Movies, and Books

I love movies (although I have not seen as many as I would like). Generally speaking, I am quite open-minded, but I dislike movies overloaded with cliches and predictable story line.

I like: anything done by Kubrick (but especially 2001 and Clockwork Orange). Other directors I usually like: David Lynch, Francois Ozon, Henri-Georges Clouzot, Tim Burton, Pedro Amoldovar, Sergio Leone, Francis Coppola, ... (there would be many more, but making long lists is tiring :-P )

I used to be a pretty big reader, but I shamefully admit that it is no longer the case. In part due to time constraints, I don't think I have read more than a couple books per years in the past years.

I used to favor SF , mystery, humor or books with political aspects. But I try to read anything.

Some books that have had a lasting influence on me:
Tristes Tropiques (Claude Levy Strauss): The thoughts of a brillant man that had the life I wish I had had
Le Petit Prince (St Exupery): most think it is a children nook, but I argue that there is much unsettling wisdom for adults into it
1984 (Orwell): the archetype of Political SF
Kusamakura (grass pillow) (Natsume Soseki): A rather short book, but the book that made me understood the difference of view point between western art and eastern art; and much more.

For music, I confess I am not very knowledgeable. Depending on my mood, I will enjoy different kind of musics: classical, electronic, heavy metal, jazz, French old songs, ...

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Walked 20 km of stairs in a Chinese Mountain.
Spent 30 hours straight on an Indian train.
Swam in the middle of a volcano lake containing another volcano.
Ate grilled fish, fished (in part) by myself, on a tiny Pacific island.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Greece, India, Indonesia, Italy, New Caledonia, Philippines, Turkey

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, Japan

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