I am definitely on a life-high right now, so I thought it would be a good time to update my blog!
Last Sunday I went to Inuyama, a small castle town just north of Nagoya. I got up early on Sunday morning, went to the station in Okazaki, and took the train to Nagoya to transfer to a different train to go to Inuyama. It was about 9:30 when I got to Nagoya and I rushed to the next platform to get on the train (that I thought was bound) for Inuyama. I knew the ride would take about 30 minutes, but started to get impatient when I noticed that after 30+ minutes of riding the train I still wasn’t in Inuyama. Unfortunately the only map was in kanji and it was hard to find the station names on the huge map of train lines. About 45 minutes into my journey, the train stopped at a station and some cleaning ladies came on to the train to clean the train. I realized quickly that this was the end of the line! Fortunately I heard the announcer say “Nagoya” and realized that this train was going back to Nagoya, so I stayed on it and eventually made my way back to the main station. I think what may have happened is that I got on the train at the right platform but there are multiple trains going different directions that load from the same platform. So even though I was at the platform bound for Inuyama, there are other locations that the train goes to as well. When I got back to Nagoya I went back to the same platform but this time checked that the train that was there was going to Inuyama. Fortunately the kanji for Inuyama is very simple (犬山) and I was able to read the sign and verify it was the right train!
So after my little misadventure, I made it to Inuyama around 11:30 AM. The city is quite small but there were some cute little shops on the way to the castle. The castle in Inuyama is the oldest one in Japan. The other castles I’ve been to previously had all burned down and had to be re-built, but this one is the original construction from the 1500’s. This was also the first castle where I had to take off my shoes (probably because it’s so old) and climb some 14-inch high crazy steps that made the pyramids of Mexico look easy! The view from the top was really cool; you could see the whole city as well as the large river that it’s next to. After exploring the castle grounds I walked down to the river and watched a group of cormorant fishermen. This is an ancient technique for fishing that involves trained birds who swoop down and grab the fish, then bring them back into the boat. They mostly just do it for tourists now, and I got to watch a boat of fishermen in action as they entertained two boats of visitors. Then I walked back up to the castle area and visited a tea house with a really lovely garden. There was also a very nice gentleman who told me a little about the history of the tea house and showed me some of the more interesting parts of the garden. He even took my picture for me! Needless to say after an epic travel day I was a bit tired, so I headed back to Okazaki around 4pm, then swam at the pool and went to see the new Harry Potter movie (subtitled in Japanese instead of being dubbed over, thankfully!)
The rest of my week was spent on lab work and trying not to get rained on/blown away by the wind. Typhoon Ma-On moved slowly towards Japan last weekend and was set to strike the Osaka/Kyoto area on Wednesday morning. Fortunately there was no direct hit and it veered off; if it would have made landfall then Okazaki was forecast to have 70+ mph winds and rain, yikes! All we had to deal with was some wind on Monday and rain all day Tuesday and part of Wednesday. When I went jogging on Friday by the river a lot of the area right next to the bank was flooded over. Most of the water has gone away now but there is still a lot of debris and mud in that area. Apparently there is a chance for more typhoons in August and especially September, so we’ll see what happens the next month that I’m here!
Last week in the lab, I prepared my samples for the first real in situ hybridization analysis. A couple of weeks ago I played around with some test samples, and those worked out great so I went ahead and did samples from two additional time points. Needless to say I was a bit nervous, since once the assay is done the sample is gone... Luckily everything worked out great, and I got some excellent data on Friday! Now that I know the science is working, I need to get better at the more “artistic” side of the technique; i.e. keeping the sample in really good shape to get really nice photos. Of all the things that I wanted to have work in the lab in Japan, this is the one that I really wanted to work. So needless to say I am pretty excited!!
Karate lessons are also going well. Class is every Tuesday and Friday, and usually what happens is that I warm up with stretches, punches, and kicks with the rest of the class at the beginning, then one of the instructors teaches me the stances and techniques for the remainder of the class. It’s nice to have a lot of one-on-one time, even if the sensei doesn’t speak English J The major thing that is tripping me up so far is that the stances are completely different that Tae Kwon Do. So I kind of feel like I have to re-learn how to walk and do all of these basic things before I can get better at this new martial art. As with everyone else in Japan, the senseis are very nice and try their best to teach me what they can, either by things out on a white board or using dictionaries/translation apps to get the main points across. I was also invited to the main school in Toyohashi to meet the headmaster of the karate school and learn more about the history and culture of karate. This was such an unexpected invitation and is really a huge testament of how much the Japanese people want others to learn about their culture
This weekend I went on one of my favorite excursions so far: Mount Takao. David and I took the early train to Nagoya on Saturday and then took the shinkansen to Tokyo station. The bullet trains are expensive but super nice, and it only takes less than 2 hours to get to Tokyo. We were lucky enough to see Mount Fuji in all of its splendor on the train ride; unfortunately neither of us took photos since we thought we would have a good view on the mountain (we did have a good view but some clouds came in…) Hopefully I can get a good picture of it on my next trip to Tokyo! After some transfers from Tokyo station (and after my lesson learned on the Inuyama trip, I was prepared this time, and also asked someone for help instead of just jumping on the first train I saw), we made it to the mountain. We took the waterfall route, a nice 3 km hike in the forest, past a small temple and a beautiful waterfall. The weather on the mountain was cool and shady, perfect for a summer day’s escape from the hot city. The stairs at the end of the trail were pretty killer but the view from the top was amazing! The top also had some restaurants and vending machines; I had brought a lot of snacks just in case there wasn’t anything to be had but we didn’t end up needing them and got some delicious ice cream instead. On the way down we took another route and went over a really cool suspension bridge. They also had a monkey park with Japanese monkeys, and we rode a chair lift back down to the base. Probably not the most intense mountain climbing I’ve done (and certainly not as intense as a Mt. Fuji climb) but it was a lovely day and I always enjoy little nature hikes. It was also nice to go with another American to chat about our experiences thus far and to share funny or curious stories about life in Japan. After my epic Saturday (left Okazaki at 6:30 AM and got back around 9:30 PM…) I spent Sunday reading, drinking coffee, writing postcards, doing a little bit of shopping, and am now finishing laundry and cleaning. All in all it’s been an excellent weekend after a busy but productive week!
After thinking about my trips thus far as well as some other experiences I’ve had in my lab, home stays, karate class, shopping, etc., I realized why Japanese people are so surprised when Westerners have experienced or heard of something about Japan, and why they are always so glad to tell people more about Japan and its culture. It’s not that they think Westerners are ignorant or inconsiderate of other cultures, but I think the Japanese people believe that their culture is very esoteric as a result of so many years in isolation. They seem to think that the Western mindset is the most globally-accepted one and that their perspective on the world is skewed since it’s so different from that mindset. This probably explains why Japanese people are amazed when I know about Japanese foods, arts, and a few Japanese words, and also why they are so excited to teach me more about their culture whenever I show an interest in it, whether by taking karate lessons or visiting tea houses and temples.
Looking ahead, I’ll finally be done with live animal experiments tomorrow (hooray!) and then will be finishing up in situ analysis and some PCR. I’m also getting pretty excited for a trip to Kyoto this weekend, which is one of the all-around must-see cities of Japan. I’m sure I’ll have lots of good stories and millions of photos after that trip.
So until next time,
Jaa, matta!
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