..."Rin?"

[isn't that the name of his traveling partner's kid... then again he knows jack shit about Japan so it's not like he can tell how common a name that is and both of them would probably know if she was around]

Well, I certainly wouldn't mind getting involved with that network. I tried starting up something similar several months after I arrived, but beyond regular communication with several people who I already knew to be scientifically-minded, it never really went anywhere.