A Thoroughly Japanese Christmas experience

Yeah, the last post was a bit gloomy, the next part gets better, but I'll write that soon.

Anyhoo, I survived the madness that was Daimaru on the December 23rd holiday and it was seriously crazy....up there with Christmas eve shopping madness in the UK!
Got cake for work. I figure that since I don't want to be in work this week and working, I'll make it as nice as possible and buying cake means I can distract those hard working Japanese guys in my lab and turn them into lazy British bums instead through the power of cake!
I got home after the crush, stuck on all the Bourne films (with perm-a-frown Matt Damon) and wrote up a pile of nengajo cards (that will be Japanese new year cards to the non residents of Japan), a challenge for me as the address and names I wrote in kanji so lets hope those were all right for posting and that I haven't unitentionally insulted them with some dodgy kanji mistakes.

So here we are christmas eve the cake is in the fridge in work, just finishing my coffee, and sat through the earthquake we've just had- it wasn't big, more like a lurch and then some gentle circular motions. M6.4 off the coast of Sibera, but widely felt across Japan.
I"ll be in tomorrow, but I"m planning the great escape off to my friends (Oyome sans) house to cook christmas dinner- with turkey and crackers!

Merry Christmas!
Some christmas joy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDa40nOCat8&feature=related
okay not so christmassy, but its so funny
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hixZec86Ys&feature=related
More christmassy and its got my favourite muppets in it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR_8kmOmxyk&feature=related
Very Christmassy muppets!

enjoy ( I am)

Stolen moments in Nagasaki- part one

This is gonna be a long post, but I wanted to remember this day as fully as possible.....

I pulled my tired, dehydrated body from the bed with the alarm reaching for the water bottle lying by bedside table. The previous 2 days of conference socialising, presentations and listening weighed heavy on my head and stomach: too little sleep and too much kampai'ing.
I realised I'd already missed the first train I was going to catch and was in danger of missing the next to Nagasaki so I pushed my body into gear and decided to for go breakfast for now.
The fresh cold air of a Fukuoka December morning helped soothe some of the headache whilst the pills kicked in as I hurried to the train station.The carriage was empty when I first boarded and I unpacked my ipod and water, aiming to doze the 2 hour trip from Fukuoka to Nagasaki away and gain some energy for a day of sightseeing. A large crowd of senior citzens came in laden with boxes labelled in Korean, rucksacks and hiking sticks, well seasoned travellers who rapidly stowed their bags and boxes and organised themselves in the carriage. As we pulled out the station I became aware of one of the group hovering near me and nudging and commenting from the rest of the group.
I knew what was coming and there was no escape, everyone one who lives here has probably had this experience at some point- the English practice conversation.The elderly gent sat next to me and we started chatting, the usual information was exchanged. They were travelling back from Korea after a short holiday where they had climbed a peak near Pusan, they were all over 70 and all in the hill walking club- I talked about my wish to climb Fujisan (they've done it). The talk gradually turned to what I was doing, was I going to Nagasaki- yes, what will you see? .....Will you visit the Atomic memorial- I think I should, afterall its an important part of the history....How long will you stay? Just the day! too short!....but I have to return to Sapporo tomorrow so.....
The scenery outside the train became rural- large rice fields, stark and bare for the winter, and the sea steel grey reflecting the bleak sky, I pulled out my camera to take some shots- aware of coversations going on between my neighbour and his friend.I was introduced to another gent sitting in the chair across from ours, he didn't speak any English but his house was close to the Atomic memorial and he wants to drive you there so you can see it. I tried to protest, hoping to have a quiet day to myself and a gentle amble around some sights, but it was no go. I couldn't come up with anyway to say no and so the plan was hatched.Back to the conversation, suddenly the plan became not just the memorial, but all the sights of Nagasaki. Again I protested...you've just come from holiday, I'm sure you must be tired....no, no we want to take you...he has a car, how will you see everything otherwise....
Its impossible to refuse or at least very hard without being rude here and so I was cornered.
We came off the train at Urakami and jumped in the taxi, first to house to collect the car. On the way we passed signs with photos, a primary school was here, the memorial is this way... This hill was completely destroyed by the blast. My "guide" and I waited by the gate whilst our "driver" for the day, went inside to tell his wife to expect some strangers. By now my brain was churning, trying to remember the polite phrases and things to do when visiting someones house in Japan, cursing the lack of any gift to give them.
Come up..come up...he waves and we enter the house, his slightly bemused wife is sorting out slippers and all the polite phrases I can remember are slipping from my lips as I'm taking off my shoes. Tea's brought and I've barely time to take a few sips before we being ushered out and back into shoes to get into the car.
The car is a typical Ojisans (old mans) car, white lacy seat covers and all, my English guide and I are in the back like royalty.
He drops us at the entrance to the Atomic museum, only the two of us and "he'll pick us later"...
Inside we spiral down to the entrance, to the sound of a ticking clock.

In the next section, the clock sound stops and so does the talking. There's not much to say about the memorial and I won't discuss my own thoughts about the why's or should they's here. I wandered around in silence, partly fascinated, partly horrified. The shadows of flowers or clothes, permanently imprinted on a wooden wall as a result of the intense blast of radiation energy was bizarre; the same kind of shadows but of a man and his ladder were more disturbing as was the melted glass bottles, one infused with bones from the hand holding it at the time of the bomb.

I caught up with my guide towards the end of the exhibits and was conscious of the time and the other gent outside in his car so we continued out past the stories of the surviving Hibakusha...

Our "driver" was waiting outside, but as we got there he suggested we go through the peace park and he pick us up at the end and off we strode....
He bounded up the steps like a gazelle, I huffed and puffed behind him trying to keep up and we strode quickly past the stark black monolith which marked the hypocentre of the blast and then onwards up more steps to the peace park, built on the site of the Nagasaki prison destroyed in the blast- only a few lines of bricks showing what was once there. As we walked (I was nearly jogging along, trying to supress the hangover and tiredness) my guide decided to tell me how much many Nagasaki people like to visit the memorial, understandable said I and inside I realise its highly likely these 2 men were young children in Nagasaki at the time of the atomic bombing and the guilt and sadness rises.
The park was bleak in the grey December weather and felt quite folorn. The sculpture of the man with one legged crossed and a finger pointing to the sky is suprising ugly close up, but as I had some moments to spare, I pulled out my camera to at least take one or two shots of this area to remember it by. And then we were off, our "driver" met us in the park and we quickly strode off to the waiting car for the next part of the tour....

Post conference exhaustion

My brain is on overload at the moment, partially from the conference I attended in Fukuoka and all the socialising that went on there and also from the 2 days of intensive sightseeing in Nagasaki and Fukuoka. Sleep was thin on the ground and it was a hard day back at work tomorrow so strong coffee was needed and I slunked ( I hope thats a real word!) off early last night.
I've realised that I should post all my christmas presents this week to make sure they arrive in time so I've been wrapping and card writing since I've got back. After that I can sit down and organise my thoughts and photos and write some of the experiences down. Assuming all the departmental activities let me;the calendar is filling up again and my stamina is not high at the moment.

heavenly daifuku

Oh god....bugger the diet, this stuff is wickedly good

Purin daifuku (custard pudding mochi cake)

Outside, soft mochi (pounded rice)

inside custard and kuromitsu (black treacle)

Happiness.

They sell out before lunch in the canteen.......

its sooooooo goood.

yum yum

Ginkyo madness

On the university campus is famous avenue of ginkyo trees which in Autumn becomes a mecca for the citizens of the Japan (or at least Sapporo). There are probably 2 reasons for this; firstly is the beautiful colours of the leaves. This brings masses of the amateur photographers of Japan to this spot during the peak of the colour...

The leaves are pretty spectacular and in the last weeks I've also been out with the camera

Spontaneous leaf throwing is a common side effect of ginkyo madness

The other reason is nuts...

I don't know who first discovered that you could eat the orange seeds that smell like vomit and give you rashes, but its become a firm favorite among the Japanese during the autumn season.

Ginkyo nuts look much nicer than they smell.

Apparently they're very delicious in the savory egg custard dish Chawan mushi. The nuts themselves contain a chemical that often causes contact dermatitis (itchy rashes) so you can see the people picking up nuts with chopsticks or wearing gloves. It seems particularly popular with the old folks of Japan- maybe because they know what to do with them, or they have destroyed their sense of smell of the vomity nuts over the years.

Some are seriously hard core....
Extreme nut collecting- throw the sticks up into the tree wait for the smelly nut rain to fall

Quick! look like we're just doing some normal shopping.....

selecting their next prey.....

Who owns these nuts? I'm pretty sure the university does, but within full sight of the security guards, hordes of nut theives with bulging sacks go about their not- so - sneaky business.

The "grey brigade" carefully co-ordinate their routine, with the getaway bike close at hand.

I did a quick search (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginkgo_biloba) to find about the ginkyo trees and found that the nuts themselves contain chemicals which are potentially beneficial for Alzheimers disease and memory enhancement. Perhaps these nuts are the key to a healthy old age. Personally, I wish someone would engineer a tree that does not have such an awful smelling fruit with such beautiful autumn colour.

Sliding towards winter...

Struth! Is that the end of October already- where did it go?

*Enjoying the autumn colours here in Hokkaido- the campus is really colourful at this time of year and I often find myself hanging near the kettle staring out at the changing leaves...what am I saying? Actually I like looking out the window at anytime of the year or day. Its probably a good thing there isn't a window at my desk otherwise I would do even less work.

* Getting back to Soranuma dake (actually finally going on a hike!). When I first arrived in Japan almost 2 and half years ago, I went hiking in Golden week here. At that time it was full of snow (over 1m deep in places... in May) and we stayed in the mountain hut overnight- one of the best experiences I've had in Japan. So it was great to go back in an autumn setting...going under tree trunks that I had gone over in the snow and seeing the glorious autumn colours. I must go again and finally make it past the hut (the warm log stove and gossipy ladies lured me in this time, walking in deep snow did it the previous time) and get to the peak.* Getting accepted for another conference in December- this time I'm talking about my own research. It's in Fukuoka in Kyushu so I finally get to see a new part of Japan. This has finally inspired me to try and do some more work and work on some new experiments. Fingers crossed they yield some good results!

* Going to Marukoma onsen with my best friends in Japan (big hugs for you!). A perfect Sunday activity, sitting in the deep bath which is fed by water from Shikotsu ko (Lake) and enjoying the last of the autumn leaves and naked man spotting (an added bonus?).


* I"m managing to go Swimming every Thursday and can do 40 lengths non stop in around 30mins (40 lengths=1km if I can read the sign right in the pool). I hope I can keep this up when the snow arrives.

The start of the obsession....

I've put my pictures up on my flickr site for Budapest so you can go there
http://www.flickr.com/photos/42633451@N04/
I just can't be bothered to write up anymore from that, so if your interested look there.

Anyway, I can see that Sunday out and about with the camera might become a habbit (or perhaps a hobby).
for your delectation I bring you Looking towards downtown Sapporo from my apartment. I really love how I can see the hills from my apartment, on a clear day I can see the distant mountains (above), I don't know what they are ...maybe the Hidaka range or even the bottom of the daisetsu range? I'd love to know.

the streets of Susukino in Sapporo.... Its about to get more colourful
I took a walk down the main street in Susukino on Sunday. Susukino is the largest nightlife "entertainment" area outside of Tokyo apparently. The last image is what most people photograph, I did with my other digital point and shoot, but my new baby does make it much sharper and brighter. I'm looking forward to autumn coming properly so I can see how the leaf colours come out with it.

Silver week snoozefest

This week we had 3 days of holidays, 5 days including the weekend. I was gloriously lazy, I slept alot and enjoyed just being around my apartment.
I had to come into work on Monday as I had to revise a manuscript for a journal and the deadline was that day, I'm glad I did as on Thursday I got into work to find my review article has been accepted for publication, big smiles all around.
Its the first national holiday I've had with no plans, I've not gone anywhere or had anyone visiting. I kinda liked it....maybe I should do this more often?
Of course you'd think I'd have written up my post on Budapest-well sorry, it is coming shortly though, I think it will be a photo heavy one too.

Back in the land of efficiency and miso soup

Back, in body if not in mind.... I think thats still somewhere over Russia. My poster had such a good time its hanging around Helsinki airport still (I wish I was there). The last stage of the journey from Osaka to the apartment was a trail yesterday.... I was seriously sleep deprived by that point. Caught up a little now but I think this afternoon in work will be nap time at the desk and its not helping that its so quiet. Anyway when my brain reaches me I"ll write up my trip report and put up some pictures from my snazzy camera.

Pre conference flight plan... 2 days to go

The last week I"ve been working away getting organised to go. Yeah, I know I'm not trekking up Everest or anything, but hey...
All of a sudden on Tuesday, my mini boss looks at my poster properly and we decide to completely re-arrange etc etc. so I ended up working till 10pm.
Finally on Thursday the poster was good to go, I spent an hour cycling round the campus trying to find the print unit, I even walked past the office but didn't realise. The office name is completely in kanji ( i think I was expecting to be able to read print in katakana or something, more fool me!). In the end I came back and made puppy eyes and sad faces at the guys in the lab and got them to ring and arrange a lab pick up. So all being well the poster arrives today.

At the same time as this I came up with the theory of how it all works- I even animated it, I"m pretty impressed with it so far *preens*.

Last weekend I got some old kimono's from this great shop in Otaru- my mum wants some for some friends of hers, however being old and mostly silk, they're pretty heavy, I hope I can fit them in my suitcase....
I also splurged and got me a digital SLR camera (Nikon D300) with 2 lenses, so this week I"ve been getting to grips with the basics and getting a practical sized camera bag. I hope this means that my Budapest pictures will look fabulous.
Yesterday I bit the bullet and got my hair cut. Theres a new salon at the bottom end of the campus, next to my old apartment. I requested (with photos) the Cameron diaz look from "The Holiday" and I"m pretty impressed. Its the shortest its been for a while, but the guys were good- a fabulous head and shoulder massage and the stylist even showed me how to brush and dry into shape. And the shampoo'ing and styling did not turn my hair into grease. Its weird to have short hair again, I keep running my fingers through and abruptly it finishes. The guys in the lab were suitably impressed this morning. *grins happily*
Now all thats left is to pack this evening and pray the typhoon currently coming close to Osaka keeps away.

Minor meltdown averted- threat level reduced

After my crisis post, I'm pleased to report that a rough draft of my poster is done and the talk is mostly done. PHEW!!

The plan for swimming was abandoned in the end.

I'm back at home relaxed and I'm going off fill my bath and chill out I think

Rabbit in the headlights

Bugger, bugger, bugger....

Why am I getting so stressed about tomorrow??
Tomorrow is the practice run through of the talk and the poster for my conference.
Perhaps its because I haven't done my poster, maybe thats because when I look at what I've got I can see the holes in the data and experiments that should have been done. I'm sitting at my desk but not actually working, I'm not setting up experiments that might just plug some of these holes. I feel like a rabbit in the headlights. And at the same time some part of my brain is telling me to not stress too much, its only a run through and I'll be making changes and its ONLY a poster. I"ve got a civil war going on in my mind at the moment.

Right thats off my chest, I'm going to set up a rt-PCR and then go for a swim, maybe that will do the trick.

Its that Friday Feeling again

Playing with powerpoint to make a montage of Sapporo from the top of Maruyama

I think Friday should be declared a permanent national holiday. I'm sure large parts of the world will join me in wanting this too.

I actually managed to do some work this week. I think the fact that I've got 3 weeks left till I'm at my conference has been a great incentive for work. That and the practice run through, poster check that will happen next wednesday.
My mini boss returned from his conference in the states in one piece, despite having to run the gauntlet of bears between his cabin and the conference site! It certainly makes for a more interesting conference, maybe they can throw those who over run on their presentations out for some bear mauling. Since I'll be in Budapest, I think the chances of me meeting a bear will be much lower- I'll just have to run the gauntlet of not being able to speak any hungarian.

I got some random (read: ARggggghhh why is it like that??!) results and so I've spent this week trying to repeat and see if it was real (which means much more complications if it is). I loathe real-time PCR at the best of times, but today I nearly had a hissy fit at the damed machine.
The real-time PCR machine is several floors below me in the main lab and so I trotted off with my USB drive to pick up my results from the overnight run, thought it all transferred so closed down the ancient laptop. Back up at my desk I discover that the file of results is blank, despite being able to see them on the laptop previously. This is the second time its done this trick, the last time it took 3 goes up and down and then eventually I gave up and had to copy the data by hand off the laptop (which with 60+ samples is not fun). Apparently it objected to my file name this time so fortunately I was able to pull the data from it second time around.
The results aren't ideal still so I guess this means a morning in the lab tomorrow to run some more experiments and pin it down..... SIGH!

Another lazy Friday

Well the end of another week. My motivation levels are pretty low still. This week I've also not got so much sleep, its got all hot and sunny and me being the weakling that I am doesn't do so well with nights that are hot (20C- see how much of a weakling I am). I even had a little nap in my favourite hiddy hole in work- the cell culture room with its gently drone of the extractor fans and sunshine and extremly comfortable chair. That was after I cleaned out the crap that some previous user had left behind. Someone doesn't seem to clean up their spills which gets me gnarky, but I shall zen and not say anything for now.....
Disappointly, I have decided that I can't get to Fujisan this year. Stuff happens- work has gotten in the way of the weekend I was going to go and I've got work that I should be doing hanging over me too. Also, its pretty expensive to fly off to Tokyo for a weekend and then not to be able to climb because the weather is crappy or something. So next year then- by which time I'll be amazonian- woman- like with my fitness (ha ha).
My mini boss is off to a conference next week and we're into the Obon quiet time in the lab, so hopefully I can sneak an afternoon off work undetected.
I think this evening is time for a "pamper me" session in the bath. I have some onsen bath salts from Kyushu to try out. Have a good weekend

Friday loafing

I'm stuck in the lab when I'd rather be outside enjoying another summer day in Sapporo (2 in a row!-miracles will happen). Thank god for my ipod and the guilty pleasure of S club7 and facebook.
I have attend a lecture at 6pm this evening- it will be very medical and the only reason I'm going is that its in English, that and the email which came a few days ago suggesting I go. I've realised when they email in english its usually it means "you will go" as opposed to "could go". I should be reading papers, preparing my poster or something, but heck its Friday and I was at the beer garden yesterday so I'm all mellow.
I love the beer garden in Sapporo- there was a good crowd of us foreigners and we had an excellent time, but the locals around us were really in the party spirit last night- up on the tables dancing at one point. It's so refreshing to see everyone relaxed and informal for once.
Lets hope the weather keeps up for the weekend so I can get to the beer garden.
Have a good weekend!

Messing around with format- whaddya think?

Ohh pink is much better I rekon....

right time for lunch I think- I need to pop back to the apartment and load up on my anti-moz stuff since its time for the annual departmental BBQ today (and its not raining for once!!)

A monthly summary

July has been knackering...It was super busy at the beginning submitting abstracts for meetings and sorting out accommodation for another meeting in September. Then I was put on registration desk duty at an international meeting our department held. Mostly for english language support- though I found myself speaking alot of Japanese. I couldn't stop bowing to everyone, including all the Aussies who were there (score one for loopy foreign behavoir- I think I need to escape Japan for a bit). It was punishingly hard days though- smart and heels for 4 days and smiling and helpful from 8am till 10pm at night. I was a little miffed at being called "secretary" by the department head when he introduced me to the delegates- though I suppose thats what I was actually mostly doing at the conference.
Thank god the following weekend was umi-no-hi holiday weekend. I was incredibly lazy for the whole weekend and it was great, shame that the weather was wet and cold. Though I ended up with a sore throat and fever off that weekend. My hypochondriac brain went into overdrive as I though maybe it was the dreaded H1N1... however a day off work sorted that out. Last weekend I went on a full on Japanese tour up to Rishiri and Rebun island (off the north of Hokkaido), which I will post about at some point.
This week has been a bust on productive work though as I"m fighting off a cold I got when I was up there and I just can't seem to find motivation at the moment. Probably its this god awful weather we've had this month. Not as bad as the south of Japan admittly but still, grey and cool and rain almost everyday- so very different from the last 2 summers I"ve been here.


Okay lets be positive to finish
1. I'm leveling up in my tennis this weekend!- I will no longer be lowest of the low (newmon), but will be at the beginner stage which means an extra 30mins to the lessons (up to 1 and half hours now).
2. I think in the next week I will be able to eat my first ever homegrown (by me) tomatoes last weeks first fruits

3. Finally booked my flights for the meeting in September in Budapest, managing to squeeze an extra days holiday out of it too.

And the title for worst blogger goes to....

Yes, I suck at blogging. I don't know, sometimes I get these ideas that such and such would be wonderful to do, and then give up.
Work has got in the way along with life and I have had no motivation to write anything, especially after reading other blogs and getting major blog envy.
Maybe I'll see if I can stick to just writing small update instead of essays and pictures.
So this post is me trying look busy in work at 7pm at night as the lab is still buzzing with people and I don't want to be the first to leave as I usually do, especially after sneakily taking Friday afternoon off to fly to Tokyo for the weekend.
I should be probably doing some experiments or writing that weekly report or trying to get my figures into my manuscript, but my brain is not functioning at 100% today.