Mini adventures and lab successes

Last week I did my first in situ hybridization analysis as a "test run" for doing the analysis on the adult mosquitofish. Dr. Ogino optimized the procedure for the baby fish but had never done the analysis with the larger tissues before. It was also my first time learning this technique, and Dr. Ogino was a great teacher and really gave me some good pointers on getting it to work.

After a whole week of washes (LOTS of washes) and a few moments with a really critical step amidst said washes, I finally got my first look at the results on Friday. Happily it is looking really good, and Dr. Ogino and I were both pleased that the method is working for these samples and we are seeing this gene expressed where it should be :) I also tried the same method with the baby fish but didn't get that to work...going to finish troubleshooting this week and then will do more adult and baby fish samples next week.

I've also been learning how to do histology this week. This is a technique that's fairly common for papers but in our lab we just send tissue samples to another lab for this analysis. It's nice to be able to learn new things like this that I normally wouldn't have an opportunity to learn. Hopefully we can get some nice data from this as well.

Outside of the lab, I've been up to various things. In the evenings I usually relax and read at home or go to the pool to swim if I didn't run that morning. I cooked at home quite a few days last week; this week I've been a bit lazier but I'm determined to cook tonight instead of going out! I also did some souvenir shopping at the mall earlier this week (including something for myself that I'll take pictures of/talk about later). Shopping in Japan is really nice because the store clerks treat you like a king. I wanted to try on a dress at one store, so I got the attention of a store clerk and motioned to her that I wanted to try it on. She got the dressing room ready for me and even took the dress off the hanger. I kind of felt bad when it didn't end up fitting right! And when you buy something-even if it's just a t-shirt-it gets wrapped up or folded nicely, placed carefully into a bag, and taped shut for you. Reminds me of the hectic days at Younkers when we used to just throw shirts in bags and get people out of there as fast as we could...

Tomorrow I start taking karate lessons. Eri (one of the grad students) took me to a small dojo that is right next door to the lab. We sat in on a class so I could get a sense of what it would be like before signing up; it looked like a lot of fun and reminded me of how much I miss doing martial arts. I'm going to start my first class on Friday and will continue to do that twice a week until the end of my stay in Okazaki :)

In addition to my mini-adventures in Okazaki (things like going to the post-office or eating at a restaurant can be an adventure on their own when you don't speak the language!) I also spent last weekend in the nearby city of Nagoya with fellow JSPS-er David. It's not much of a tourist town (more of an industrial city) but it was nice to get out of town for a day and explore what a larger city had to offer. The port area was really nice and the feel of it reminded me of Tampa. The aquarium was fabulous and for only $25 we got to see tons of fish, sea turtles, dolphins, and beluga whales. There is also a really cool castle (much larger than the Okazaki one) and some nice temples and parks. We also ate at an amazing ramen shop called Misen. You can see into the kitchen right as you walk in and smoke from epic amounts of stir fries was pouring out into the seating area. Of course it smelled fabulous. We ordered the Taiwan ramen (recommended by the Lonely Planet tour book). It was ramen with beef and green onion and was SPICY, probably the hottest thing I've had on my trip thus far. It was right at my level of enjoyment vs pain, but it was oh so tasty...

I've still got some live fish experiments going on now, so I'm only taking small/local day trips, but at the end of this month I'm planning on a weekend in Kyoto with a person I met at orientation. The Okazaki guys and I are also planning on going to Tokyo during o-bon (the equivalent of Thanksgiving) when the lab is "closed" (i.e. no electricity in the office). I may also try to do some hiking in the mountains, as the weather here and most of this area in Japan is quite hot and humid; I think I sweat 5 lbs off in Nagoya last weekend while walking around the city!

So until my next update...jaa, mata!