Admiring a Predecessor's Work

In the course of writing my dissertation, I come across John Horn's work on Fluid & Crystallized Intelligence over the lifespan back in 1965. This is his thesis that he did while here at University of Illinois, and the copy is in our library. I borrowed it because in his work, he talks about how the factorial structure of psychometric intelligence changes with age.

The first thing I noticed about this work was that it was typewritten! Of course, it is not surprising, since back then, computers were not as available. Its not that. It was because I imagined the painstaking hours it took to generate this written document. What happens when you make a mistake on one single letter halfway? What happens if a fire burns the paper? Did someone digitize? I certainly hope so! How did he do all those calculations? It is extremely humbling to know that others have done this without the huge aid of modern technology and still produced such a marvelous product.

The next thing was that this thesis was signed by Cattell, well-known for formalizing this dual-factor theory of intelligence. Imagine, he touched this piece of paper. This is not sentimentality. This is reverence. I can only hope that my own work will one day be deemed useful to someone, even if only slightly. This is a perennial concern, beyond my control...but it is a strong hope. So much work has been done in the past, of which we mostly overlook or disrespect in our own ego to validate our own thoughts. We must recognize that "there is nothing new under the sun". But what has been given us is the joy of refreshing the old, and progressing into it in greater depths.

The final thing regards what Horn studied. Basically, he found that young adults perform better at tests of fluid intelligence than older adults, and older adults perform better than young adults on tests of crystallized intelligence. This is quite a well-known notion, of which I hear very little about these days. Perhaps it is my own ignorance? I am not sure, but reviewing this work sparks some need in me to investigate this further. Hence the impetus to pursue adolescent research to "fill" up the gap in lifespan studies in cognitive aging, which has focused on older adults. Perhaps much has already been done, I just haven't been in contact with this field or literature...time will tell. I will have to read up more. The graph in this photo is from his thesis. It is hand drawn, and it truly speaks a thousand words.

Studying Adolescents

The more I research into aging, the more I think that one important aspect of lifespan research is the adolescent period. This is an "impressionable" age, and there may be a good reason for that. Longitudinal neuroimaging data is needed to evaluate the impact of life experiences on determining subsequent aging outcome. Possible future pursuit?

My View on the Singapore River...Apparently!

Ha ha, forgot that I did this for Elaine long long time ago. Wow! Check out my interview.

http://www.fas.nus.edu.sg/geog/SingaporeRiver/vidz2.htm

15th July 2009
CURRICULUM VITAE
JOSHUA GOH OON SOO
Beckman Institute 405 N. Mathews Ave Urbana, IL 61801 USA	1 217 244 5579 (office) 1 217 778 9394 (mobile)
	jogoh2@illinois.edu
Lab Webpage: http://agingmind.utdallas.edu/
EDUCATION
National University of Singapore (1998-2001), majored in Psychology and English Language, minored in Philosophy, Bachelor of Social Sciences 2001. National University of Singapore (2002), Bachelor of Social Science with Honors (2nd Upper) in Psychology. University of Texas at Austin (Fall 1999), exchange program, majored in Psychology and Linguistics. Talent Development Program (1998-2002), National University of Singapore. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Fall 2005-Summer 2009), Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology.
MILITARY SERVICE
National Service (1996 – 1998)
EMPLOYMENT
Part-time research assistant at NUS Department of Geography (2000) Part-time autistic therapy assistant at NUS Department of Psychology (1999) Part-time research coordinator at Singapore General Hospital, Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory (2001) Research coordinator at Singapore General Hospital, Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory (2001-2005)
APPOINTMENTS
Editor, Talent Development Program magazine (2000-2001) Contact Group Leader, Varsity Christian Fellowship (1999-2001)
HONORS AND AWARDS
Incomplete List of Teachers Listed as Excellent by their Students, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, Fall 2008. Department Travel Grant, Psychology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, Fall 2008. Summer Institute in Cognitive Neuroscience, Travel Award, Dartmouth (2005).
MEMBERSHIP IN SOCIETIES
Varsity Christian Fellowship (1998-2002), National University of Singapore Photographic Society (1998-2002), National University of Singapore Summer Institute in Cognitive Neuroscience, Dartmouth (2005) Singapore Psychological Society (2005-2008)
PUBLICATIONS
Jenkins, L. J., Yang, Y. J., Goh, J., Hong, Y. Y., Park, D. C. (2009). Cultural differences in the lateral occipital complex while viewing incongruent scenes. Social, Cognitive, Affective, Behavioral Neuroscience, in press. Goh, J. O., Park, D. C. (2009). Culture sculpts the perceptual brain. Progress in Brain Research, 178, 95-111. Goh, J., Park, D. C. (2009). Neuroplasticity and cognitive aging: The scaffolding theory of aging and cognition. Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience, 27, 1-13. Park, D., Goh, J., (2009). Successful aging. In J. Cacioppo & G. Bernston (Eds.), Handbook of Cognitive Neuroscience for the Behavioral Sciences. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Sutton, B., Goh, J., Hebrank, A., Welsh, R. C., Chee, M. W. L., Park, D., (2008). Investigation and validation of intersite fMRI studies using the same imaging hardware. Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, 28(1), 21-28. Gutchess, A., Hebrank, A., Sutton, B., Leshikar, E., Chee, M. W. L., Tan, J. C., Goh, J., Park, D., (2007). Contextual Interference in Recognition Memory with Age. NeuroImage, 35(3), 1338-1347. Goh, J., Chee, M. W. L., Tan, J. C., Venkatraman, V., Hebrank, A., Leshikar, E., Jenkins, L., Sutton. B., Gutchess, A., Park, D., (2007). Age and Culture Modulate Object Processing and Object-Scene Binding in the Ventral Visual Area. Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience, 7(1), 44-52. Chee, M. W. L., Goh, J., Venkatraman, V., Tan, J. C., Gutchess, A., Sutton, B., Hebrank, A., Leshikar, E., Park, D., (2006). Age-Related Changes in Object Processing and Contextual Binding Revealed using fMR Adaptation. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 18(4), 495-507. Goh, J., Soon, C. S., Park, D., Gutchess, A., Hebrank, A., Chee, M. W. L., (2004). Cortical Areas Involved in Object, Background and Object-Background Processing Revealed with fMR-A. Journal of Neuroscience, 24(45), 10223-10228. Chee, M. W. L., Goh, J., Lim, Y., Graham, S., Lee, K., (2004). Recognition Memory For Studied Words Is Determined by Cortical Activation Differences at Encoding But Not During Retrieval. NeuroImage, 22, 1456-1465. Chee, M. W. L., Westphal, C., Goh, J., Graham, S., Song, A. W., (2003). Word frequency and subsequent memory effects studied using event-related fMRI. NeuroImage, 20(2), 1042-1051  Chee, M. W. L., Hon, N. H. H., Caplan, D., Lee, H. L.,Goh, J., (2002). Frequency of Concrete Words Modulates Prefrontal Activation during Semantic Judgments.  NeuroImage, 16(1), 259-268.
ABSTRACTS
Goh, J., Suzuki, A., Park, D. (2009). Attending to face-pair similarity decreases face adaptation in the fusiform area. [43.445]. Presented at the Vision Science Society Annual Meeting, Naples, FL, USA. Goh, J., Suzuki, A., Park, D., (2008). Aging reduces neural selectivity and increases face adaptation. [G94]. Presented at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, USA. Jenkins, L., Yang, Y.,  Goh, J., Hong, Y., Park, D., (2008). Cultural differences in the processing of incongruous scenes revealed using fMR adaptation. [B21]. Presented at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, USA. Suzuki, A., Goh, J., Sutton, B., Hebank, A., Jenkins, L., Flicker, B., Park, D., (2008). Emotional faces produced less repetition suppression than neutral faces. [E19]. Presented at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, USA. Goh. J., Leshikar, E., Hebrank, A., Flicker, B., Sutton, B., Wang, W., Jenkins, L., Tan, J., Chen, K., Chee, M., Park, D., (2008). Age and culture modulate neural selectivity in the ventral visual area during face and place viewing. [Slide 218]. Presented at the Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, Washington, D. C., USA. Leshiker, E. D., Hebrank, A. C., Jenkins, L. J., Goh, J. O., Chee, M. W. L., Park, D., (2008). Episodic memory success is tied to parametric modulation of the default network in younger but not older adults. [Slide 815]. Presented at the Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, Washington, D. C., USA. Goh, J., Chee, M. W. L., Tan, J. C., Park, D., (2007). Aging and cultural differences in eye-movements during complex picture viewing. [D7]. Presented at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, New York, NY, USA. Goh, J., Chee, M. W. L., Tan, J. C., Venkatraman, V., Leshikar, E., Hebrank, A., Jenkins, L., Sutton, B., Park, D., (2006). Aging and culture modulate fMR-Adaptation in the ventral visual area. Abstract No. 359. Presented at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, USA. Available online at http://www.cogneurosociety.org/content/CNS2006_Abstracts.xls Gutchess, A., Hebrank, A., Sutton, B., Leshikar, E., Chee, M. W. L., Tan, J. C., Goh, J.,  Park, D., (2005). Prefrontal compensation with age for contextual interference. Program No. 127.8. 2005 Abstract Viewer/Itinerary Planner. Washington, DC: Society for Neuroscience. Online. Chee, M. W. L, Goh, J., Tan, J. C., Gutchess, A., Sutton, B., Hebrank, A., Leshikar, E., Park, D., (2005). FMR adaptation shows that age and culture modulate visual processing of complex pictures. Program No. 127.4. 2005 Abstract Viewer/Itinerary Planner. Washington, DC: Society for Neuroscience. Online. Chee, M. W. L., Goh, J., Lim, Y., Graham, S., (2003). Event-related fMRI of incidental encoding of episodic retrieval of high and low frequency words. [17649]. Presented at the 9th International Conference on Functional Mapping of the Human Brain, June 18-22, New York, NY, USA. Available on CD-Rom in NeuroImage, Vol. 19, No. 2 Chee, M. W. L., Goh, J., Lim, Y., Graham, S., (2003). Neural correlates of the effect of word frequency at encoding and retrieval. Program No. 288.15. 2003 Abstract Viewer/Itinerary Planner. Washington, DC: Society for Neuroscience. Online. Chee, M. W. L., Soon, C. S., Westphal, C., Lee, H., Goh, J., (2002). Printed word frequency effects on semantic judgment: a comparison between event-related and block designs. [10110]. Presented at the 8th International Conference on Functional Mapping of the Human Brain, June 2-6, Sendai, Japan. Available on CD-Rom in NeuroImage, Vol. 16, No. 2
TALKS
Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Perception. Invited talk presented at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Spring 2009 course on Cognition and Personality Across the Lifespan: Only as Old as You Think You Are, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL. Aging, Culture, and Ventral Visual Selectivity. Presented at the 2008 Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, Washington, DC. Age and Culture Modulate the Ventral Visual Area. Presented at the Advanced Sensory Developmental Neuroscience Seminar, 2008, 17th March, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL. Aging in Different Cultural Environments: Visual Brain Activity and Eye-Movements. Presented at the Beckman Graduate Student Seminar 2008, March 26th, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL. Age Differences in Activations of a Frontal-Parietal Network Associated with Categorical and Coordinate Judgments. Presented at the 2007 Regional Symposium on MRI, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. Word Frequency and Subsequent memory Studied Using Event-Related fMRI. Presented at the Annual Scientific Meeting, 2003, Singapore General Hospital.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Psychological and Educational Statistics, Teaching Assistant, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, Fall 2008. Lab training on functional brain imaging analysis, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, 2007. Lab training on functional brain imaging analysis, Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Singapore, 2005.
UNPUBLISHED WORK
Cognitive abilities in kindergartners and first graders: A comparison, evaluation, and extension of models using data from Robinson et al. (1996). Joshua Goh. Paper in fulfillment of class on Structural Equation Modelling at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009. Morphed Faces. Joshua Goh. Stimuli collection, PAL Face Database. Available at https://pal.utdallas.edu/facedb/request/index/Morph, sourced 4th April 2009. Extension of the Von Der Malsburg Self-Organized Visual Cortex Model. Joshua Goh. Project in fulfillment of class on Neural Network at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. Backpropagation in a non-linear layered network: learning from past mistakes. Joshua Goh. Project in fulfillment of class on Neural Network at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. Hopfield Network. Joshua Goh. Project in fulfillment of class on Neural Network at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. Individual differences in interrogative suggestibility: finding an ERP correlate of recognition memory. Joshua Goh. Thesis in fulfillment of Honour’s degree at the National University of Singapore, Singapore, 2002.
ART WORK
Cover art, “Birthday Girl”, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 18(4), 2006. Cover art, “Sam’s Brain”, Mind and Brain. Innovation: The Magazine of Research and Technology, 5(3), 2005.
PRESS COVERAGE
Pickens Gift Propels Brain Health Research. Dallas Business Business Journal, Dave Moore, 15th to 21st February 2008. Culture May Make and Impression. The DANA Foundation, Nicky Penttila, Released 4th June 2007. Available at http://www.dana.org/news/features/detail.aspx?id=8008, sourced on 4th April 2009. Culture Sculpts Neural Responses to Visual Stimuli, New Research Indicates. News Bureau, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Released 1st May 2007. Available at http://news.illinois.edu/news/07/0501culture.html, sourced on 4th April 2009.
COMPUTER SOFTWARE SKILLS
Fluent in Windows, Mac, Linux operating systems. Brain imaging analysis: BrainVoyager, SPM Other analysis software: Matlab, SPSS & AMOS, R

Tax Form 2009

I have submitted my tax form again this year. For the record, every year they ask me the same thing about how many times I've traveled in and out of the States in previous years, and I think...does that change every year? So this year I said I was in the States in 2004 from date A to date B, then in 2005 from date C to date D...etc. But next year should I say that in 2004 I was in the States from date E to date F? Basically, are they dumb?

Photos from winter trip 2008 - 2009

Finally manage to upload all the photos. This was the most awesome trip in the universe!

Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hakone, back to Tokyo again with Charlene and family. [other photos]

Taipei, and Changhua with Charlene and family. [other photos]

Staying with Atsunobu and his mum, then Yokohama. [other photos]

Visiting Sam in New York. [other photos]

Some people know what I really really want

I've been wanting one for ages...

Age and Culture Modulate Face, House Processing in Ventral Visual Areas

This is the powerpoint (hosted on Google Docs; leave comment if buggy) for the presentation of this research work given at a talk during the Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, Washington DC, 2009.

Aging increases fMR-Adaptation to repeated faces and limits discrimination ability

Age-related ventral-visual activity is characterized by reduced selectivity between categories of visual stimuli such as faces and houses that typically elicit highly specialized responses in the fusiform and parahippocampal brain regions respectively of young adults (Park et al., 2004). This study demonstrates that older adults’ less selective neural response (dedifferentiation) to faces is due to a coarser neural representation than that of young adults for individual faces. In this event-related fMRI adaptation study, 20 young and 20 older participants made same-different judgments to serially presented face-pairs that were either identical (repetition of the same face), moderately different (second face was morphed with 40% of prior face), or completely different (faces from two individuals). In the fusiform regions, older adults showed greatest adaptation during the exact-repetition condition and intermediate adaptation during the moderately-different condition relative to the completely-different condition. Young adults showed a similar pattern of adaptation, but with reduced adaptation magnitudes. This suggests that older adults’ fusiform area was not able to represent facial differences at the same level of sensitivity as young adults. Individual subjects’ adaptation magnitudes positively correlated with behavioral face discrimination thresholds for morphed faces (r = .38). Greater age-related adaptation during the exact-repetition condition suggests older adults’ fusiform face region is particularly sensitive to similarity, whereas young adults have a neural response that is more sensitive to facial differences. The data provide strong evidence for an age-related decrease in representational contrast in the fusiform area that is linked to behavioral differences during perceptual discrimination. [pdf]

Laksa Craving

My current craving is for laksa. The Singapore kind, that has coconut in the soup and chu mi fen (white noodles), harm (cockles), tau pok, and hard boiled egg. The last laksa I had was with Sam in New York, somewhere in Queens! It was authentic...and brought back a sensation of comfort, nostalgia, heat, satisfaction, pleasure, contentment, happiness, joy, peace, and the sense that this is all I need. Really one.

The problem with laksa is that it is impossible to make here from scratch. No laksa leaf here. So have to rely on Prima, or go to New York, or heck, go home!

Publications

Articles, Chapters and Reviews

1. Goh, J. O. S. (2010). Functional dedifferentiation and altered connectivity in older adults: Neural accounts of cognitive aging. Aging and Disease, 1(2), [epub ahead of print] http://aginganddisease.org/A&D-Joshua%20Goh.pdf.
   
2. Goh, J. O. S, Leshikar, E., Sutton, B. P., Tan, J. C., Sam, S., Hebrank, A., & Park, D. (2010). Culture differences in neural processing of faces and houses in ventral visual cortex. Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 5(2-3), 227-235.
   
3. Suzuki, A., Goh, J. O. S., Hebrank, A., Sutton, B., Jenkins, L., Flicker, B., & Park, D. C. (in press). Sustained happiness? Lack of repetition suppression in right ventral visual cortex for happy faces. Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.
   
4. Chee, M., Zheng, H., Goh, J., & Park, D. (in press). Brain structure in
   young and old East Asians and Westerners: Comparisons of structural volume
   and cortical thickness. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.
   
5. Goh, J. O. S., Suzuki, A., & Park, D. C. (2010). Reduced neural selectivity increases fMRI adaptation with age during face discrimination. NeuroImage, 51(1), 336-344.
6. Jenkins, L. J., Yang, Y. J., Goh, J., Hong, Y. Y., Park, D. C. (2010). Cultural differences in the lateral occipital complex while viewing incongruent scenes. Social, Cognitive and Affective, Neuroscience, Advanced Access published online January 18, 2010, doi:10.1093/scan/nsp056.
7. Goh, J. O. S., Tan, J. C., Park, D. C. (2009). Culture modulates eye-movements to visual novelty. Public Library of Science ONE, 4(12), e8238.
8. Goh, J. O., Park, D. C. (2009). Culture sculpts the perceptual brain. Progress in Brain Research, 178, 95-111.
9. Goh, J., Park, D. C. (2009). Neuroplasticity and cognitive aging: The scaffolding theory of aging and cognition. Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience, 27, 391-403.
10. Park, D. C., & Goh, J. O. S. (2009). Successful aging. In J. Cacioppo & G. Berntson (Eds.), Handbook of Neuroscience for the Behavioral Sciences (pp. 1203-1219). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
    
11. Sutton, B., Goh, J., Hebrank, A., Welsh, R. C., Chee, M. W. L., Park, D., (2008). Investigation and validation of intersite fMRI studies using the same imaging hardware. Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, 28(1), 21-28.
12. Gutchess, A., Hebrank, A., Sutton, B., Leshikar, E., Chee, M. W. L., Tan, J. C., Goh, J., Park, D., (2007). Contextual Interference in Recognition Memory with Age. NeuroImage, 35(3), 1338-1347.
13. Goh, J., Chee, M. W. L., Tan, J. C., Venkatraman, V., Hebrank, A., Leshikar, E., Jenkins, L., Sutton. B., Gutchess, A., Park, D., (2007). Age and Culture Modulate Object Processing and Object-Scene Binding in the Ventral Visual Area. Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience, 7(1), 44-52.
14. Chee, M. W. L., Goh, J., Venkatraman, V., Tan, J. C., Gutchess, A., Sutton, B., Hebrank, A., Leshikar, E., Park, D., (2006). Age-Related Changes in Object Processing and Contextual Binding Revealed using fMR Adaptation. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 18(4), 495-507.
15. Goh, J., Soon, C. S., Park, D., Gutchess, A., Hebrank, A., Chee, M. W. L., (2004). Cortical Areas Involved in Object, Background and Object-Background Processing Revealed with fMR-A. Journal of Neuroscience, 24(45), 10223-10228.
16. Chee, M. W. L., Goh, J., Lim, Y., Graham, S., Lee, K., (2004). Recognition Memory For Studied Words Is Determined by Cortical Activation Differences at Encoding But Not During Retrieval. NeuroImage, 22, 1456-1465.
17. Chee, M. W. L., Westphal, C., Goh, J., Graham, S., Song, A. W., (2003). Word frequency and subsequent memory effects studied using event-related fMRI. NeuroImage, 20(2), 1042-1051.
18. Chee, M. W. L., Hon, N. H. H., Caplan, D., Lee, H. L.,Goh, J., (2002). Frequency of Concrete Words Modulates Prefrontal Activation during Semantic Judgments. NeuroImage, 16(1), 259-268.

Abstracts

1. Goh, J. O., Yu, G., Sutton, B., Park, D. (2010). Aging reduces ventral visual diffusivity: Effects on face discrimination and fMRI adaptation. [291]. Presented at Human Brain Mapping Conferences, Barcelona, Spain. [pdf]
   
2. Goh, J. O., Suzuki, A., Park, D. (2010). Aging reduces attentional modulation on selectivity in fusiform face area. [Session 1, 11]. Presented at the Cognitive Aging Conference, Atlanta, GA, USA. [pdf]
   
3. Leshikar, E. D., Goh, J. O., Hebrank, A. C., Jenkins, L. J., Chee, M. W., Park, D. (2009). Frontal compensation for default network suppression deficits in older adults during scene encoding. [17.3]. Presented at the Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, USA.
4. Goh, J., Suzuki, A., Park, D. (2009). Attending to face-pair similarity decreases face adaptation in the fusiform area. [43.445]. Presented at the Vision Science Society Annual Meeting, Naples, FL, USA. [pdf]
   
5. Goh, J., Suzuki, A., Park, D. (2008). Aging reduces neural selectivity and increases face adaptation. [G94]. Presented at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, USA. [pdf]
6. Jenkins, L., Yang, Y., Goh, J., Hong, Y., Park, D. (2008). Cultural differences in the processing of incongruous scenes revealed using fMR adaptation. [B21]. Presented at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, USA.
7. Suzuki, A., Goh, J., Sutton, B., Hebrank, A., Jenkins, L., Flicker, B., Park, D. (2008). Emotional faces produced less repetition suppression than neutral faces. [E19]. Presented at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, USA.
8. Goh, J., Chee, M., Tan, J.C., Park, D. (2007). Aging and cultural differences in eye-movements during complex picture viewing. [D7]. Presented at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, New York, NY, USA.[blog entry][pdf]
9. Goh, J., Chee, M., Tan, J.C., Venkatraman, V., Leshikar, E., Hebrank, A., Jenkins, L., Sutton, B., Park, D. (2006). Aging and culture modulate fMR-Adaptation in the ventral visual area. Abstract No. 359. Presented at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, USA. Available online at http://www.cogneurosociety.org/content/CNS2006_Abstracts.xls. [blog entry][pdf]
10. Gutchess, A., Hebrank, A., Sutton, B., Leshikar, E., Chee, M., Tan, J.C., Goh, J., Park, D. (2005). Prefrontal compensation with age for contextual interference. Program No. 127.8. 2005 Abstract Viewer/Itinerary Planner. Washington, DC: Society for Neuroscience, 2005. Online.
11. Chee, M., Goh, J., Tan, J.C., Gutchess, A., Sutton, B., Hebrank, A., Leshikar, E., Park, D. (2005). FMR adaptation shows that age and culture modulate visual processing of complex pictures. Program No. 127.4. 2005 Abstract Viewer/Itinerary Planner. Washington, DC: Society for Neuroscience, 2005. Online.
12. Chee, M., Goh, J., Lim, Y., Graham, S. (2003). Event-related fMRI of incidental encoding of episodic retrieval of high and low frequency words. [17649]. Presented at the 9th International Conference on Functional Mapping of the Human Brain, June 18-22, 2003, New York, NY, USA. Available on CD-Rom in NeuroImage, Vol. 19, No. 2
13. Chee, M., Goh, J., Lim, Y., Graham, S. (2003). Neural correlates of the effect of word frequency at encoding and retrieval. Program No. 288.15. 2003 Abstract Viewer/Itinerary Planner. Washington, DC: Society for Neuroscience, 2003. Online.
14. Chee, M., Soon, C., Westphal, C., Lee, H., Goh, J. (2002). Printed word frequency effects on semantic judgment: a comparison between event-related and block designs. [10110]. Presented at the 8th International Conference on Functional Mapping of the Human Brain, June 2-6, 2002, Sendai, Japan. Available on CD-Rom in NeuroImage, Vol. 16, No. 2

Unpublished Work

1. Cognitive abilities in kindergartners and first graders: A comparison, evaluation, and extension of models using data from Robinson et al. (1996). Joshua Goh. Paper in fulfillment of class on Structural Equation Modelling at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009. [blog entry][pdf manuscript]
   
2. Morphed Faces. Joshua Goh. Stimuli collection, PAL Face Database. Available at https://pal.utdallas.edu/facedb/request/index/Morph, sourced 4th April 2009.
3. Extension of the Von Der Malsburg Self-Organized Visual Cortex Model. Joshua Goh. Project in fulfillment of class on Neural Network at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. [blog entry][pdf manuscript][R code - network][R code - hexagonal plot]
4. Backpropagation in a non-linear layered network: learning from past mistakes. Joshua Goh. Project in fulfillment of class on Neural Network at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. [blog entry][pdf manuscript][R code - train network][R code - test network]
5. Hopfield Network. Joshua Goh. Project in fulfillment of class on Neural Network at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. [blog entry][pdf manuscript][R code - train network][R code - test network]
6. GLM for Dumbos, fMRI Training Course 2005, Presented at the Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, Singapore. [pdf]
7. BrainVoyager for Dumbos, , fMRI Training Course 2005, Presented at the Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, Singapore. [pdf]
8. 3T Allegra for Dumbos, fMRI Training Course 2005, Presented at the Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, Singapore. [pdf]
9. Individual differences in interrogative suggestibility: finding an ERP correlate of recognition memory. Joshua Goh. Thesis in fulfillment of Honour’s degree at the National University of Singapore, Singapore, 2002

Curriculum Vitae

Full document available for [download], hosted on Google docs.

EDUCATION

1. National University of Singapore (1998-2001), majored in Psychology and English Language, minored in Philosophy, Bachelor of Social Sciences 2001.
2. National University of Singapore (2002), Bachelor of Social Science with Honors (2nd Upper) in Psychology.
3. University of Texas at Austin (Fall 1999), exchange program, majored in Psychology and Linguistics.
4. Talent Development Program (1998-2002), National University of Singapore.
5. Currently enrolled in University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (since Fall 2005), Psychology PhD program
6. Highest level attained: Masters in Psychology

MILITARY SERVICE

1. National Service (1996 – 1998)

EMPLOYMENT

1. Research coordinator at Singapore General Hospital, Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory (2001-2005)
2. Part-time research coordinator at Singapore General Hospital, Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory (2001)
3. Part-time research assistant at NUS Department of Geography (2000)
4. Part-time autistic therapy assistant at NUS Department of Psychology (1999)

APPOINTMENTS

1. Editor, Talent Development Program magazine (2000-2001)
2. Contact Group Leader, Varsity Christian Fellowship (1999-2001)

HONORS AND AWARDS

1. Incomplete List of Teachers Listed as Excellent by their Students, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, Fall 2008.
2. Departmental Travel Award, Psychology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, Fall 2008.

MEMBERSHIP IN SOCIETIES

1. Varsity Christian Fellowship (1998-2002), National University of Singapore
2. Photographic Society (1998-2002), National University of Singapore
3. Dartmouth Summer Institute in Cognitive Neuroscience (2005)

PUBLICATIONS

Articles, Chapters and Reviews

1. Goh, J., Suzuki, A., Park, D., (in preparation). Attending to face-pair similarity reduces fMR-Adaptation to repeated faces.
2. Goh, J., Chee, M. W. L., Hebrank, A., Sutton, B., Abdi, H., Dunlop, J., Krishnan, A., Park, D., (in preparation). Culture modulates age-related ventral-visual selectivity.
3. Goh, J., Suzuki, A., Park, D., (in preparation). Reduced neural selectivity increases face adaptation with age.
4. Goh, J., Chee, M. W. L., Hebrank, A., Sutton, B., Park, D., (in preparation). Culture modulates ventral-visual selectivity to faces and houses.
5. Goh, J., Tan, J. C., Park, D., (in preparation). Culture modulates eye-movements to visual novelty.
6. Leshikar, E. D., Goh, J., Hebrank, A., Jenkins, L., Chee, M., Park, D., (submitted). Frontal compensation for default network suppression deficits in older adults during scene encoding.
7. Jenkins, L. J., Yang, Y. J., Goh, J., Hong, Y. Y., Park, D. C. (in press). Cultural differences in the lateral occipital complex while viewing incongruent scenes. Social, Cognitive, Affective, Behavioral Neuroscience.
8. Goh, J., Park, D. (in press). Neuroplasticity and cognitive aging: The scaffolding theory of aging and cognition. Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience.
9. Park, D., Goh, J., (in press). Healthy aging: a neurocognitive perspective. Eds. J. Cacioppo & G. Bernston, Handbook of Cognitive Neuroscience.
10. Sutton, B., Goh, J., Hebrank, A., Welsh, R. C., Chee, M. W. L., Park, D., (2008). Investigation and validation of intersite fMRI studies using the same imaging hardware. Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, 28(1), 21-28.
11. Gutchess, A., Hebrank, A., Sutton, B., Leshikar, E., Chee, M. W. L., Tan, J. C., Goh, J., Park, D., (2007). Contextual Interference in Recognition Memory with Age. NeuroImage, 35(3), 1338-1347.
12. Goh, J., Chee, M. W. L., Tan, J. C., Venkatraman, V., Hebrank, A., Leshikar, E., Jenkins, L., Sutton. B., Gutchess, A., Park, D., (2007). Age and Culture Modulate Object Processing and Object-Scene Binding in the Ventral Visual Area. Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience, 7(1), 44-52.
13. Chee, M. W. L., Goh, J., Venkatraman, V., Tan, J. C., Gutchess, A., Sutton, B., Hebrank, A., Leshikar, E., Park, D., (2006). Age-Related Changes in Object Processing and Contextual Binding Revealed using fMR Adaptation. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 18(4), 495-507.
14. Goh, J., Soon, C. S., Park, D., Gutchess, A., Hebrank, A., Chee, M. W. L., (2004). Cortical Areas Involved in Object, Background and Object-Background Processing Revealed with fMR-A. Journal of Neuroscience, 24(45), 10223-10228.
15. Chee, M. W. L., Goh, J., Lim, Y., Graham, S., Lee, K., (2004). Recognition Memory For Studied Words Is Determined by Cortical Activation Differences at Encoding But Not During Retrieval. NeuroImage, 22, 1456-1465.
16. Chee, M. W. L., Westphal, C., Goh, J., Graham, S., Song, A. W., (2003). Word frequency and subsequent memory effects studied using event-related fMRI. NeuroImage, 20(2), 1042-1051
17. Chee, M. W. L., Hon, N. H. H., Caplan, D., Lee, H. L.,Goh, J., (2002). Frequency of Concrete Words Modulates Prefrontal Activation during Semantic Judgments. NeuroImage, 16(1), 259-268.

Abstracts

1. Goh, J., Suzuki, A., Park, D. (2009). Attending to face-pair similarity decreases face adaptation in the fusiform area. [43.445]. Presented at the Vision Science Society Annual Meeting, Naples, FL, USA.
2. Goh, J., Suzuki, A., Park, D. (2008). Aging reduces neural selectivity and increases face adaptation. [G94]. Presented at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, USA.
3. Jenkins, L., Yang, Y., Goh, J., Hong, Y., Park, D. (2008). Cultural differences in the processing of incongruous scenes revealed using fMR adaptation. [B21]. Presented at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, USA.
4. Suzuki, A., Goh, J., Sutton, B., Hebrank, A., Jenkins, L., Flicker, B., Park, D. (2008). Emotional faces produced less repetition suppression than neutral faces. [E19]. Presented at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, USA.
5. Goh, J., Chee, M., Tan, J.C., Park, D. (2007). Aging and cultural differences in eye-movements during complex picture viewing. [D7]. Presented at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, New York, NY, USA.
6. Goh, J., Chee, M., Tan, J.C., Venkatraman, V., Leshikar, E., Hebrank, A., Jenkins, L., Sutton, B., Park, D. (2006). Aging and culture modulate fMR-Adaptation in the ventral visual area. Abstract No. 359. Presented at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, USA. Available online at http://www.cogneurosociety.org/content/CNS2006_Abstracts.xls
7. Gutchess, A., Hebrank, A., Sutton, B., Leshikar, E., Chee, M., Tan, J.C., Goh, J., Park, D. (2005). Prefrontal compensation with age for contextual interference. Program No. 127.8. 2005 Abstract Viewer/Itinerary Planner. Washington, DC: Society for Neuroscience, 2005. Online.
8. Chee, M., Goh, J., Tan, J.C., Gutchess, A., Sutton, B., Hebrank, A., Leshikar, E., Park, D. (2005). FMR adaptation shows that age and culture modulate visual processing of complex pictures. Program No. 127.4. 2005 Abstract Viewer/Itinerary Planner. Washington, DC: Society for Neuroscience, 2005. Online.
9. Chee, M., Goh, J., Lim, Y., Graham, S. (2003). Event-related fMRI of incidental encoding of episodic retrieval of high and low frequency words. [17649]. Presented at the 9th International Conference on Functional Mapping of the Human Brain, June 18-22, 2003, New York, NY, USA. Available on CD-Rom in NeuroImage, Vol. 19, No. 2
10. Chee, M., Goh, J., Lim, Y., Graham, S. (2003). Neural correlates of the effect of word frequency at encoding and retrieval. Program No. 288.15. 2003 Abstract Viewer/Itinerary Planner. Washington, DC: Society for Neuroscience, 2003. Online.
11. Chee, M., Soon, C., Westphal, C., Lee, H., Goh, J. (2002). Printed word frequency effects on semantic judgment: a comparison between event-related and block designs. [10110]. Presented at the 8th International Conference on Functional Mapping of the Human Brain, June 2-6, 2002, Sendai, Japan. Available on CD-Rom in NeuroImage, Vol. 16, No. 2

TALKS

1. Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Perception. Invited talk presented at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Spring 2009 course on Cognition and Personality Across the Lifespan: Only as Old as You Think You Are, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL.
2. Aging, Culture, and Ventral Visual Selectivity. Presented at the 2008 Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, Washington, DC.
3. Age and Culture Modulate the Ventral Visual Area. Presented at the Advanced Sensory Developmental Neuroscience Seminar, 2008, 17th March, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL.
4. Aging in Different Cultural Environments: Visual Brain Activity and Eye-Movements. Presented at the Beckman Graduate Student Seminar 2008, March 26th, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL.
5. Age Differences in Activations of a Frontal-Parietal Network Associated with Categorical and Coordinate Judgments. Presented at the 2007 Regional Symposium on MRI, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.
6. Word Frequency and Subsequent memory Studied Using Event-Related fMRI. Presented at the Annual Scientific Meeting, 2003, Singapore General Hospital.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

1. Psychological and Educational Statistics, Teaching Assistant, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, Fall 2008.
2. Lab training on functional brain imaging analysis, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, 2007.
3. Lab training on functional brain imaging analysis, Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Singapore, 2005.

UNPUBLISHED WORK

1. Cognitive abilities in kindergartners and first graders: A comparison, evaluation, and extension of models using data from Robinson et al. (1996). Joshua Goh. Paper in fulfillment of class on Structural Equation Modelling at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009.
2. Morphed Faces. Joshua Goh. Stimuli collection, PAL Face Database. Available at https://pal.utdallas.edu/facedb/request/index/Morph, sourced 4th April 2009.
3. Extension of the Von Der Malsburg Self-Organized Visual Cortex Model. Joshua Goh. Project in fulfillment of class on Neural Network at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007.
4. Backpropagation in a non-linear layered network: learning from past mistakes. Joshua Goh. Project in fulfillment of class on Neural Network at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007.
5. Hopfield Network. Joshua Goh. Project in fulfillment of class on Neural Network at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007.
6. Individual differences in interrogative suggestibility: finding an ERP correlate of recognition memory. Joshua Goh. Thesis in fulfillment of Honour’s degree at the National University of Singapore, Singapore, 2002.

ART WORK

1. Cover art, “Birthday Girl”, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 18(4), 2006.
2. Cover art, “Sam’s Brain”, Mind and Brain. Innovation: The Magazine of Research and Technology, 5(3), 2005.

PRESS COVERAGE

1. Pickens Gift Propels Brain Health Research. Dallas Business Business Journal, Dave Moore, 15th to 21st February 2008.
2. Culture May Make and Impression. The DANA Foundation, Nicky Penttila, Released 4th June 2007. Available at http://www.dana.org/news/features/detail.aspx?id=8008, sourced on 4th April 2009.
3. Culture Sculpts Neural Responses to Visual Stimuli, New Research Indicates. News Bureau, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Released 1st May 2007. Available at http://news.illinois.edu/news/07/0501culture.html, sourced on 4th April 2009.

COMPUTER SOFTWARE SKILLS

1. Fluent in Windows, Mac, Linux operating systems.
2. Brain imaging analysis: BrainVoyager, SPM
3. Other analysis software: Matlab, SPSS and AMOS, R

Talks

1. Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Perception. Invited talk presented at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Spring 2009 course on Cognition and Personality Across the Lifespan: Only as Old as You Think You Are, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL. [pdf]
2. Aging, Culture, and Ventral Visual Selectivity. Presented at the 2008 Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, Washington, DC. [blog entry][Google docs]
3. Age and Culture Modulate the Ventral Visual Area. Presented at the Advanced Sensory Developmental Neuroscience Seminar, 2008, 17th March, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL.
4. Aging in Different Cultural Environments: Visual Brain Activity and Eye-Movements. Presented at the Beckman Graduate Student Seminar 2008, March 26th, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL.
5. Age Differences in Activations of a Frontal-Parietal Network Associated with Categorical and Coordinate Judgments. Presented at the 2007 Regional Symposium on MRI, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.
6. Word Frequency and Subsequent memory Studied Using Event-Related fMRI. Presented at the Annual Scientific Meeting, 2003, Singapore General Hospital.

The Best Soba in the Universe

I have been asked for more details about this mysterious restaurant in Kyoto. Well, I don't know the name (its in Japanese). But it is just in front of the Chion-mae bus stop, which itself means the front of Chion (temple), a famous temple in Kyoto.

Here is what the shop looks like in front:










Here is the bus-stop:


And here is the menu:

Day 7 and 8: Hakone

Ryokan Yuugiriso
Charlene and I have been here before (blog). But we found this ryokan very relaxing and enjoyable, that we came back again. This time with an even bigger crowd! Yuugiriso is located just at the south shore of Lake Ashi. It is a modern ryokan, which means that it has the standard onsen (hot spring bath), tatami floors, yukata, dinner and breakfast service, as well as more western amenities, like bathrooms in each room rather than a public shared one, and other modern conveniences (e.g. TV). No internet though! The point is to relax and be whisked away into a different world.

We checked in and first went for a lake cruise on Lake Ashi, then a walk in the Onshi park nearby. We came back and dipped in the hot spring. That was absolutely relaxing. Then, the dinner was fanstastic, just as we remembered. There is the Yuugiriso plum wine as a starter drink, and this is followed by a wonderful large dinner spread, dessert and coffee/tea. We ate till we could eat no more, and were completely relaxed.

So we drifted off to sleep.

Hakone - Owakudani
The next day, I get up early, and went for another dip in the hot spring again. After this, we had breakfast, which was another fantastic spread! We quickly check-out of the ryokan, and then headed for sight-seeing around the Hakone area. This area is a hot spring area because of the exposed lava, and geothermal structures. The main place to see this is Owakudani National Park. You kind of have to plan ahead for this, because Hakone is a mountain area, so the way to travel is not so obvious. Word of advice, buy the Hakone 2-day visitor pass at the Hakone-Yumoto eki, or the Odawara-eki (whichever you get off the main trains to come to this area). This gives you unlimited rides and entries into most Hakone places of interst. There's the old Hakone rail train, the cable car and the trolleys. You'll have to switch between these to get to Owakudani, but the sight is worth it. On a good day, you might see Mt Fuji.

After successfully going through all the sights, we rushed back to Hakone-Yumoto to get onto the train to Tokyo again, and then on to Narita. Charlene's parents and Mimi were leaving first, so we all sent them off.

Day 6: Kyoto - Nijojo, Soba, and Osaka Fugu

Nijojo Castle and the Nightingale Floor
Finally today, we had to go see the famous Nightingale Floor (uguisubari, wiki, Youtube clip) at Nijojo Castle. We got up early, took the bus and arrived at Nijojo-mae at 10am. We bought tickets and headed into the castle grounds. The castle is huge. And the moat and gardens surrounding it were beautiful. Not long after walking around the area, we hear the beat of drums. We ran towards the sound, and lo and behold, a concert of traditional drums by children. They were really good! Nothing like a good drum beat to get your heart going. As they played, I can imaging the intimidation of drums in the castle, which is mainly a military base. But also, you can feel the rush of the beat as a warrior might, getting ready to fight, brushing aside all hesitation, doubt, and fear. The exhiliration!

After the concert, we walk around more to find the famous floor. And guess what? The entrance to the main castle area was closed because of the New Year holiday! Fantastic isn't it? After three days of by-passing Nijojo in Kyoto, we finally get in, but the floor still remains barred to us. Well, if the floor doesn't want to see us, then we don't want to see it either! We pick ourselves up, and start heading towards the Gion area again to buy some gifts.

The best Soba in the Universe
We took the bus from Nijojo to head towards Gion area. But we stopped in front of Chion Temple (Chion-mae, or 智恩時). It was about lunch time, so we were looking for a lunch place. Getting off the bus, our noses detected a fragrant aroma. Here's a good advice. When hungry, follow your nose. We saw this tiny looking place with just an unassuming entrance, and the smell of good food was coming from there. So we step in, and the restuarant was a small one with only seats enough for about 20. It was mainly a soba restaurant. Our party of 6 had to split up to sit down. Mimi and Peipei sat at the counter area. Me, Charlene and her parents sat at a table which we shared with 3 other older Japanese folks. Through our limited Japanese, we managed to order the most awesome soba noodles I had ever tasted! It was soooooooo good that I would remember this bowl of noodles for the longest time! I have the name card of the place, and if ever I go back to Kyoto, I must eat there.

As I mentioned, we shared our table with 3 others. It turns out, as we sort of tried to communicate, that they were the parents of the owners of the restaurant. We ganbei-ed them. And the father treated Charlene's dad to another bottle of sake! So goooood! Present-o! We slurped the noodles down, I ordered another bowl of oyako-donburi. Did I say? This was the best soba and oyako-don in the universe?!?!?

Fugu in Osaka
After lunch, we continued our shopping in the Gion area. We bought tea, snacks, and all sorts of things as gifts for friends. We then head to Kyoto-eki to take the train to Osaka, where apparently there is a famous fugu restaurant (Zuboraya). Osaka is less than an hour away from Kyoto by express train. We arrive at Zuboraya. You can't miss it. Its got a huge fugu (puffer fish) in front of it. We got our seats, and looked at the menu. Fugu is a delicacy. The prices are also very "delicate". Our experience at this restaurant was a little weird. Here's what I mean. When we were ordering, the waiter who was taking our order (he speaks Mandarin) started rejecting our orders, saying You won't like this, or That is not nice. We were a little shocked that any restaurant would tell its guests that their food is not nice! So we ended up ordering the most basic of all (because all his recommendations were really expensive - 5000yen average!) - fugu-nabe. It was not so delicious...but we are told that's because fugu meat is very light...very delicate. Not my kind of food at that price!

Well, we had good soba today, and we had a good drum show. Head back to Kyoto!

Day 5: Kyoto - Kinkakuji, Nijojo-mae, Gion, Kyoto Eki

Kinkakuji, the Golden Shrine
Kinkakuji is a shrine covered in gold. We took the bus there today. You can get the day-pass from any bus driver in Kyoto. Bus rides are a little different. You get on at the back door, and get out the front door, and pay as you leave. The ride was extremely crowded, so that we were completely squashed...it was very warm and cozy that way! Kinkakuji has a 200 yen entrance fee. We spent the morning there strolling in a cloudy, light drizzle. There was still a crowd even though it is a Saturday and the 2nd day of the New Year. Someone famous has his remains there, somewhere. Some general...can't quite remember the name. The temple is surrounded by a lake so there is quite a nice view of the temple. There are three stories, the first floor is made of wood, second and third has gold, and have different designs. On the way down the hill, there were samples of pickles and nuts again. That's the wonderful thing here, samples before you buy, so you know what you are getting. And it all tastes so good after a walk up and down the hill.

A restaurant called "Now"
We tried to eat a famous all-you-can-eat seafood buffet place, but that was closed for New Year holidays. So instead, we had lunch at a place near Kinkakuji that was called "Now". I had soba, Charlene had tonkatsu. Food was good, and again, was served really fast. I don't have the website for this restaurant, but it is along the main road just outside Kinkakuji, about 5 min walk to the right when facing out. The seafood place is along the way. I am told that people actually go back there to eat more than once per visit to Kyoto. We will have to try this next time we come.

Shopping area in Teramachi Street
We wanted to see Nijojo Castle, but found out that ticket sales close at 3pm. We'll try again tomorrow. So instead we ended up in Teramachi area, which is the shopping area just before Gion, where we were yesterday. Lots of small tidbits and shops, including Takashimaya and Daimaru. We bought some donuts made from soy beans too. Light taste, sweet, and warm, with nice tender crunchiness. These are probably the best donuts in the universe.

Ramen street dinner at Kyoto Station
It is dinner time and we head toward Kyoto Eki. On the 11th floor of the Isetan building there is a whole food court called The Cube with of all kinds of ramen shops. We take the escalators up in the cold chilly wind, but fantastic night view of Kyoto tower. Finally we arrive at piping hot ramen with chasu! As with any good place to eat in Japan, there is a line, and the ramen shops are all tiny, with minimal seating space. The point is to eat and go. Nothing like a hot bowl of ramen after a walk in the cold.

Day 4: First Day of 2009, Kyoto

Tokyo to Kyoto on the Shinkansen
Kyoto, the greatest city in the universe! We took the Shinkansen using our JR Pass, which allows us to travel on most Shinkansen lines (excludes the Nozomi line). The bullet train goes at 300 kph, is absolutely quiet, absolutely clean, and absolute the best train in the universe. We had our bento sets along the way as well. Which includes rice, sushi, grilled eel (or unagi), and pickles. The bento set is cold, or at least it is not heated, but it tastes great. Along the way, we pass Mt Fuji on the right. Mt Fuji sightings are notoriously erratic, because legend has it that she is a shy one - sometimes she'll let you see, sometimes she won't. Since its a two hour ride, we set down to writing postcards to friends and family. Postcards were bought in Shimokitazawa, Jiyugaoka and Ginza.

Our Kyoto stay at Tenshi-Tukinuke
Our apartment in Kyoto was Tenshi-Tukinuke, owned by Nishimura-san. The place is nice and quaint. Two-story with tatami living room and a small view garden on the first floor. The toilet bath area has a window also looking out into the garden, giving you an almost onsen like experience while you shower. The second floor is the sleeping area which is spacious enough to contain three of us. Microwave, hot water boiler, tea, coffee, toiletries all provided. Price is around about 5000 yen per person. The location is on Matsubara ji, between Gojoji and Shijoji (5th and 4th roads), close to Gion area by bus number 50. Nishimura-san is a very pleasant person and well versed in the area. He picked us up from the Kyoto Eki and introduced us to the facilities. He also provided plenty of tour information like bus times, places of interest etc. Do contact him!

First Day of 2009 at Gion Area
After settling in, we set out for more best adventures in the universe. Kyoto, of course, is known for its temples and tradition. So more temples, and more post-New Year crowd! It was already pretty late, so went to Yasaka shrine. There were already a lot of people there at around 5pm. The night food markets were out, the temple was at full blast. So more wonderful yakitori, oden and hot sake.

After the temple, we later took a short walk around the traditional district around Gion, where geishas dart in and out. Although we didn't see many owing to the late night and new year's congregation at the temple. After that, we had a nice dinner at a place near where we live that allows you to choose your dishes. I forget what its called, but we had various types of food, including of course, oden.

Its been a long but amazing day. Back in our apartment, we got rested and ready for the next day, which promises to reveal more in the daylight. Happy New Year!