So, today is the 3rd of February and in Japan it is also known as bean's throwing day or the Setsubun festival. It is a Japanese traditional that coincides with the beginning of the New Year (using the old Japanese calendar, which is the same as the Chinese one) were families come together to chase out evil from their homes and wish good luck to enter by throwing soy beans.
The father in the family wears a mask of a devil and the rest of the family throw beans at him in the doorway whilst chanting "evil go out, good luck come in" The reason why I'm sharing this bit of Japanese tradition is because today my boss at work wore a mask and the rest of us threw beans at him! It was a truly enjoyable experience. After throwing beans, everyone is allowed to eat as many beans as their age...in my case 23 beans! It was nice to be part of something so Japanese.
The rest of the month has been very busy too! We've had tea parties in the green house built on the company grounds and we've had parties to celebrate the end of a successful project. We've also worked very hard, spending long days in the labs carrying out so many techniques that I have only read about. It's absolutely amazing to be able to carry out PCR, DNA sequencing, purification, electrophoresis, transformation, culturing, screening and so many other procedures on a daily basis. Also, this week we hosted 13 delegates from Delft university.
The professors amongst them gave us presentations on the research that they are conducting and explained how Delft is working with many different companies (including: Danone, Nestle, Heineken, DSM and many others) in the form of consortia. This arrangement is helping research to progress at an incredibly fast rate. They have done a very good job with setting up an ideal situation which allows for the progression of research towards cleaner and more efficient energy sources, healthier consumables and many other products. At the end of this year, the building of a state-of-the-earth bio-pilot plant will commence. This will allow for anything researchers need to be found in one place and unlimited resources to be available. As for the work being done, it's mind-blowing! Professor Isabel Arends is doing some impressive work with enzymes as bio-catalysts and DSM are taking pro-biotic nutrients to a whole new level of efficiency. I sat there, listening for three hours and could not believe how lucky I am to be where I am. For the first time I am witnessing what science does in the real world and not simply on paper. At the end of the presentations, an open discussion was held in which European and Japanese minds came together to try and begin to close the gap between Japan's and Europe's idea of biotechnology. It's at times like these that people in my situation realize just how closed off Japan is from the rest of the world. It also made me realize how rare opportunities like mine are...very few European people have the opportunity to enter and be part of Japanese industry. The language barrier and the differences in mentality do not make it any easier.
What else have I been up to...well during the week I relax and sleep too much in Mobara and on the weekend I live it up in Tokyo! Last weekend, we had dinner at this really cool place in Harajuku! It was really cool and the food was really good too! The place is called Nabi and I think it's my favourite place so far. We then headed to Atom for a good dance which lasted till 6am! Needless to say Saturday was obviously spent recovering from such severe sleep deprivation. Sunday, I caught up with an ex-Vulcanus student who has remained in Japan working with Mitsui Chemicals. We met in Shibuya (my long awaited return to Shibuya...my, my how much I missed it!)
This week, we are off to brave the cold up North in Aizuwakamatsu! The time has come to catch up with my host family and enjoy being part of a family for a little while!
Catch you all soon!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
Major Catch Up
A lot has changed since my last post. I have finished Japanese language school and started my internship at Mitsui Chemicals. Also, I have moved house from Higashi Totsuka to the middle of nowhere...officially known as Mobara!
Christmas was cool! All the Vulcanus students that remained in Japan came together for Christmas Eve and cooked lots of food. We ate, laughed and had an enjoyable evening. I also did some travelling between Christmas and New Years. WE woke up on the morning of the 28th, caught a train to Shinjuku station, bought a five day pass and jumped onto a train in the search of snow!
And my did we find it! It was one of the best memories I'll take home with me! We saw so much snow and travelled over 600km in three days using only local trains! We went up to Sendai, Matsushima (one of the three most scenic places in all of Japan), down to Aizuwakamatsu and onto train so as to travel down the Tadami Line. However, that plan got altered slightly as most of the line was closed due to the snow! Thus we got loaded onto a small mini van and driven down to a small village known as Tadami. Here, the train station is actually a vegetable shop! It was a once in a lifetime experience. There was so much snow everywhere...you couldn't even find the train tracks! When the train did eventually turn up, we were the only people to board it all the way down to Koide! We ended our little adventure with a night train to Shinjuku station. Just a small note about night trains...the one we were on had the lights on (hospital-like lights) all night long!
So...Mobara...well it s difficult to describe...the Japanese would tell you it's countryside and I would tell you it's middle of nowhere land! However, it has this peaceful vibe to it that calms your mind. I think I will survive country life as long as I jazz it up over the weekends in Tokyo! And the best part...the express train gets me into Tokyo in under one hour! I took the train last Friday and as the train moved closer to the city and all the lights I thought I would pass out I was so excited (sorry but that s what a week in Mobara does to you!) A week out of Tokyo and after 5 minutes I was reminded of all the reasons why I'm totally in love with the city. I honestly do think it is one of the most amazing cities in the world and it's captured my heart completely. We found one of the coolest Mexican restaurants and ate guacamole and nachos all night. It was really cool as the waiter comes up to your table and asks you to choose the avocado you want used to make your dip!
The company I'm interning with is amazing! Mitsui Chemicals biocatalysis department is a dream job! The people and the work are great! It's more than I could have ever dreamt of having. This program is truly a dream come through...and a once in a lifetime opportunity. The flat I share is massive and Satai San (my room mate) is really helpful and sweet. I work Monday to Friday from half eight till ten past five and I spend most of my time in the lab carrying out genetic engineering procedures and using the latest technology (machines and tests). The only hurdle I found but am overcoming quite quickly is the language. Most of the staff do speak English but it is difficult for them and I feel like I should make more an effort to speak Japanese instead. I'm going to try to build up slowly. Although I do understand a fair amount it is so difficult to get my brain to talk back in Japanese, even though I can construct sentences fairly well inside my own head. The problem is getting the sentences from my brain to my mouth in one piece..it always comes out as a jumble of words and nothing like it sounded in my head!! Oh well... がんばって ね！
Christmas was cool! All the Vulcanus students that remained in Japan came together for Christmas Eve and cooked lots of food. We ate, laughed and had an enjoyable evening. I also did some travelling between Christmas and New Years. WE woke up on the morning of the 28th, caught a train to Shinjuku station, bought a five day pass and jumped onto a train in the search of snow!
And my did we find it! It was one of the best memories I'll take home with me! We saw so much snow and travelled over 600km in three days using only local trains! We went up to Sendai, Matsushima (one of the three most scenic places in all of Japan), down to Aizuwakamatsu and onto train so as to travel down the Tadami Line. However, that plan got altered slightly as most of the line was closed due to the snow! Thus we got loaded onto a small mini van and driven down to a small village known as Tadami. Here, the train station is actually a vegetable shop! It was a once in a lifetime experience. There was so much snow everywhere...you couldn't even find the train tracks! When the train did eventually turn up, we were the only people to board it all the way down to Koide! We ended our little adventure with a night train to Shinjuku station. Just a small note about night trains...the one we were on had the lights on (hospital-like lights) all night long!
So...Mobara...well it s difficult to describe...the Japanese would tell you it's countryside and I would tell you it's middle of nowhere land! However, it has this peaceful vibe to it that calms your mind. I think I will survive country life as long as I jazz it up over the weekends in Tokyo! And the best part...the express train gets me into Tokyo in under one hour! I took the train last Friday and as the train moved closer to the city and all the lights I thought I would pass out I was so excited (sorry but that s what a week in Mobara does to you!) A week out of Tokyo and after 5 minutes I was reminded of all the reasons why I'm totally in love with the city. I honestly do think it is one of the most amazing cities in the world and it's captured my heart completely. We found one of the coolest Mexican restaurants and ate guacamole and nachos all night. It was really cool as the waiter comes up to your table and asks you to choose the avocado you want used to make your dip!
The company I'm interning with is amazing! Mitsui Chemicals biocatalysis department is a dream job! The people and the work are great! It's more than I could have ever dreamt of having. This program is truly a dream come through...and a once in a lifetime opportunity. The flat I share is massive and Satai San (my room mate) is really helpful and sweet. I work Monday to Friday from half eight till ten past five and I spend most of my time in the lab carrying out genetic engineering procedures and using the latest technology (machines and tests). The only hurdle I found but am overcoming quite quickly is the language. Most of the staff do speak English but it is difficult for them and I feel like I should make more an effort to speak Japanese instead. I'm going to try to build up slowly. Although I do understand a fair amount it is so difficult to get my brain to talk back in Japanese, even though I can construct sentences fairly well inside my own head. The problem is getting the sentences from my brain to my mouth in one piece..it always comes out as a jumble of words and nothing like it sounded in my head!! Oh well... がんばって ね！
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