Fragment 2.

Wednesday 17th August 2011:

Wednesday was also an amazing day.

On Tuesday night in Akihabara, Saito-san asked me what I would spend my last day doing, and when he heard I was going to spend it on my own, offered (along with Kaki) to come with me!

So on Wednesday morning, I woke up really early with the intention of going to Tsukiji market (finally) with the guys. However, I then found out that it was closed for Obon. We decided to still go to Tsukiji for some fish for breakfast, but just not to the market proper. So I spent the early morning packing and cleaning ready for my check-out inspection, and met up with Kaki at Suitengumae station at about 10am.

He told me Saito was running late and would meet us there. So we took the train to Tsukiji together.

When we arrived, we had a look around the shops and restaurants, but a lot of them were also closed for the festival. We found one place that was offering free samples of Korean food, and because that was his favourite he asked me to try some. It was really good actually – not as spicey as I’d been led to believe, but good!

Saito met us about half an hour later, and we tried to decide on a place to eat. His favourite place was one of the ones that wasn’t open, so instead we aggreed on going to a carousel sushi place because that way I could pick what I wanted rather than having to struggle with a Japanese menu.

The fish was beautiful. So so so good! Possibly the best sushi I’ve had since I arrived in Japan (and I know that I say that a lot! But it’s true!) I had maybe 6 plates, and I tried a lot of different types that Saito recommended. Kaki kept trying to get me to take more plates, but it was really filling so I couldn’t do it! I drank a hell of a lot of green tea too. Mmmm.

Afterwards, Saito said that we should go get some Japanese sweets. He was adamant that we go to a specific place for it in Ginza, so we started walking there. When we arrived though, it was also closed. We finally found somewhere else to go in a shopping mall, but he told me that it wasn’t as good. I had matcha kakigori with a sweet bean sauce. It was pretty damn good, but I was still full from the fish. Saito treated me to both the sushi and the kakigori, which was kind.

We strolled around Ginza for a bit, looking in some shops and stalls. We went to a bookshop and Kaki pointed out his favourite book to me. He found a copy that had been translated into English, and then bought me a copy as a gift. It was really sweet, and usually I suck at accepting gifts and free meals etc, but it’s impossible not to in Japan because it’s really culturally offensive to turn down an offer. So I accepted it, and really appreciated it. 😀

Then, Saito went back to work as he was really busy with an experiment. Kaki decided to spend the day with me instead of going back to the lab. I was a bit worried about him getting told off because he was also late on Tuesday from oversleeping, but he told me it’d be fine.

We then took the train to Shibuya. I really like Shibuya because it’s so vibrant and interesting. Instead of going to the big shops this time, he took me to some of the quieter areas and we looked at the little boutiques and stuff. On the way back into the main town, we stopped for a Frappuccino and chatted. He’s pretty shy, so I think it was the most I’d heard him speak since I arrived! We then went to the Disney store (because I’m a massive kid) and Tower records. He showed me some of his favourite Japanese bands and I showed him some Western ones. I was really shocked to hear he’d never heard a Nirvana record. That’s just crazy by English standards! Haha.

We were going to go to Asakusa for a while to look for souvenirs, but it was getting late and I had to be back at the apartment for my check out inspection. It started at 5.45 and I hadn’t hoovered or anything. Woops. So instead we went back on the train.

I mentioned that I’d got no plans for dinner, so we agreed to meet for Korean food in the evening. I was really looking forward to it because the Korean in the morning was so good!

So I got home, cleaned, packed, yadayadayada, and then had the inspection. It went well, and they said everything was fine. So afterwards I had a quick shower and headed back onto campus to meet for dinner. I got to the lab about 5 minutes late. Not that that detail is important, but just weirdly it bothered me. I hate being late. haha.

It was a pretty good turn out. 7 of us went for the meal: Me, Kaki, Watanabe, Akimoto, Yugi, Toyoshima, and Uda. (-san. etc.) Unfortunately, the Korean restaurant was closed (Grrr) so we went for Japanese food instead. I had a rice dish cooked with soy sauce, with eel on top. It was really delicious – It’s just a shame we couldn’t have the Korean. Everyone was really chatty which was nice. Even Akimoto who I’ve sat next to for the past 6 weeks but have barely said 2 words to. I was really glad to get to know them better, even if it was so close to the end! I’m really going to miss everyone!

We went back to the lab briefly after the meal and I said goodbye to a few more people. Then, Kaki and I went down to the  main campus to meet up with Kyle for a drink. We walked into the area around Hongo-sanchome, and went to a bar Kaki recommended. We all had beer. I like Japanese beer.

We left at about 11 and went to the station. Kaki walked us there and we said goodbye by the ticket gates. I know I keep saying it, but I’m really really going to miss my labmates. Urgh.

When I got in, I packed my final bits and bobs, had a bit of a cry about leaving (I was exhausted, emotional, a little tipsy, and didn’t want to go home).

Then I slept.

Thursday 18th August 2011:

Thursday. Hometime. Depressing.

I woke up at 4.30am after nowhere near enough sleep. I set both phones’ alarms because I was paranoid about oversleeping, and was so glad I did when I realised my iPhone is buggared and didn’t ring at all.

I got to TCAT really early (and thankfully had some help with my massive suitcases) and took the 6.15 bus to Narita. I was thinking too much on the way. Always dangerous. It got me all upset again.

I was at the airport much to0 early, and check-in didn’t even open for another hour. On the bright side, that meant that when it did open, I was nearly the first to check-in and so didn’t have to stand in a queue. I also got offered a seat upgrade because they hadn’t sold out the World Traveller Plus seats. I didn’t want to pay 3000 yen though (perhaps a stupid decision) considering I needed to pay for an extra suitcase in check-in, so I turned it down.

I spent the next few hours regretting that decision while walking around the airport. 12 hour flight. Insanely cheap considering. Stupid Sophie.

I had some waffles in a cafe in the airport, and had a brief moment where I felt like I’d never seen a knife and fork before in my life. How awkward. I definitely prefer chopsticks.

When I got on the plane, I had a really shitty seat. I was next to an elderly Japanese couple who smelled like mold and greasy hair. The man also spent 3/4 of his time farting. Definitely regretting not accepting the seat upgrade.

I then found my telly didn’t work. It was a long flight, and so I was a bit miffed, so I asked one of the air hostesses if there were any free seats I could change to.

I got moved. To an exit seat. To EPIC LEGROOM!

Best.Thing.Ever! (And much more legroom than I would have had if I’d taken the upgrade.) SUCH A GOOD MOVE.

The flight was boring, so I won’t write more other than that I watched 4 movies (“Thor” – Epic; “Terminator” – AMAZINGLY EPIC; “Red Riding Hood” – shit; and “Sucker Punch” – Epic.) and spent a lot of the flight thinking back on my time in Japan and reminiscing.

I am so sad to now be home.

I miss Japan already. A lot.

And that concludes my Japanese adventure!* 😦

* Excluding randomness which I will blog about over the next few days. Afterthoughts etc.

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Part 1 of 3.

It is so hard to keep on top of doing this blog each day, especially when I am getting home late. Sorry. I will blog the last 3 days now, but do them as seperate posts because of length and photos…

 

Friday 22nd July 2011:

“It’s Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday…” I had this monstrosity going around in my head ALL DAY.

Friday was pretty excellent. I came into the lab bright and early and finally began doing practical work! It was such a relief because as much as I enjoy the lectures and discussion work, I feel that I perform best in the practicals. Professor Kubota was providing our training so that we would be ready for our actual project beginning next week.

We were given lab coats to wear. I wish that I had brought my own actually, as the one I was given didn’t have elasticated wrists and didn’t fit properly, so I wasn’t as comfortable in it as I am used to. It is also not signed by Sir Paul Nurse, and as such, fails by definition.

The work that we were doing was very simplistic. First, we had to ‘learn’ how to use a pipette. It was pretty tedious actually, but Davis had never worked in a lab before so needed to learn everything from scratch. We did several transfers of water, and then measured accuracy by mass. After that, we were shown how to use the nanodrop spectrophotometer. We were told to make serial dilutions of a dye in water, and then measure the absorbance to determine the accuracy of our transfers. Slightly more precise than measuring by mass. I’d never used a nanodrop spec before, so it was pretty cool actually. Also, my transfers were dead-on, and my absorbance measurements were perfect. So I was pretty proud of myself. Davis, on the other hand, found it very difficult and couldn’t get to grips with using the pipette or spec. Never mind. He will pick it up soon enough.

After that, we went to the cell culture room and began practicing sterile work. My aseptic technique is pretty good as I’ve had to work with pathogens in the past. We were shown how to prepare cell cultures with minimal contamination. As before, I had done this numerous times in the past and so found it very easy. The one thing that I had difficulty with was that the bench had been set up for a right hander, and as a lefty it was very awkward and hard to manipulate the equipment. I was able to reverse some of it, but some things were either fixed or attached to tubes that couldn’t be extended. That will be a bit of a nightmare when it comes to the real practicals as it is hard to do things accurately with my right hand.

Davis had more trouble with the techniques, but eventually we finished up for the morning. We were shown how to clear the bench and remove all hazards. We then went back to the main lab and I tried to practice some kanji. I feel as though I am picking it up much more quickly now. I can remember what a lot of the characters mean, but not how to pronounce them in Japanese.

We went for lunch and ran into Deborah in the canteen. After lunch, we returned to the lab and had a research discussion with Komori-san. The signalling pathways that he discussed were things I had covered in some detail at York, so I felt quite comfortable with the area. It was quite short, and so afterwards I was done for the day.

I was due to meet up with the UTRIP folk at a restaurant in Ningyocho at 7.30pm and so it didn’t make sense to take the train home first and then come back, so I hung around in the lab trying to learn some more Japanese. The amount of time that I am spending learning, you’d think I’d be able to speak some by now! But it’s so difficult and I completely lack confidence.

I headed out of the lab at about 6.45 and started walking to the station. I ran into Rachel on the way so I hung around with her for a while. There was a beer party going on in Science Building 1 for the chemistry department, and so we kind of spied on that for a while, then went to the restaurant.

We took the train to Suitengumae and then walked to the Nihombashi Ningyocho apartments to meet the group. The walk from there wasn’t long, which was good because I’m still being eaten by mosquitoes. I must be a delicacy!

The restaurant was really nice. It was a traditional Japanese sushi restaurant, and we had to sit on Tatami around the low tables. Quite a lot of us went and so the chef gave us mixed platters instead of us all ordering separately. We all sat around a large table but ate as groups of 4. I ordered a Japanese beer; as did a few other people. There were 3 courses and lots of appetiser dishes: First we had salted edamame. And then a sashimi platter. The sashimi was infinitely nicer than what I had on my first night in Tokyo, but I didn’t think it was as good as what I had with Maria in Shinjuku. I also tried shrimp for the first time and realised… I REALLY don’t like shrimp. It was arranged beautifully, and I tried everything. I didn’t really like the shellfish sashimi but the others were great. There was a flying fish head and ‘wings’ as decoration on the plate, and Jing tried to eat it at one point. It was pretty funny.

After the sashimi, we had a kind of fish stew and some Japanese pickled vegetables. I was less keen on this dish. It also contained Daikon, which I’m not really a fan of, even though it is a big part of the diet here. Some people’s fish also had eyeballs in it, which, being a Westerner, is not something you’re used to.

We then had deep fried tiny fish, similar to whitebait inbetween the courses. These were pretty delicious, but quite crunchy and very salty. I didn’t eat many because of the salt.

We then had the final course: Sushi. It was what everyone was looking forward to most I think. The sushi was delicious. Inna, who has eaten sushi a lot before, said it was too sticky, but I didn’t notice. I haven’t had proper sushi before though (I maintain that English sushi isn’t sushi) so I thought it was yummy. There were about 6 different types. my favourite was the tuna. I also tried one that contained fish roe. That was really good. I was skeptical at first but when I tried it, it was SO nice.

After the meal we headed back to the apartments. Rachel, Mark, Anna and I went to the 7-eleven on the way back and then to the park. They wanted to play frisby. I didn’t stay long though because of the mosquitoes. I also had to be up really early for the train the next day.

So… then I went to bed.

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