Oku

This weekend, 13 people from the MISE lab went to Oku and stayed in the cabin you see below. It was a bit crowded, but a lot of fun! Everyone slept on futons lined up on the floor.



We got to see some wildlife...although some were not so alive. The Okinawan Rail, locally known as the Kuina is an endangered species endemic to Okinawa. Estimates are that there are less than 200 birds left. They are flightless and below is a picture of a giant con



Next we saw a Habu! The poisonous Okinawan snake was apparently road kill. When alive, this pit viper can jump up to 3 meters so we weren't too upset to find a dead one. If you look closely at the second picture you can see venom still dripping from the fangs!



Everyone took turns cooking meals. Nate and I made blackened fish and spaghetti for dinner Friday night. Carey and Javier made Eggs and bacon, American style for breakfast on Saturday. Megumi and Iuri made sushi and onigiri (sort of sandwiches made with rice instead of bread) for lunch on Saturday. Jamie and a few helpers made burritos for dinner on Saturday. See the pictures below of the Japanese folks eating their burritos with chopsticks! Only in Japan! Yuka, Takuma, and Okuto made spam, sprouts, and eggs for breakfast Sunday. It was all so delicious. Oishii!



We also went on a couple of dives at some really neat places. We got some pods and Nate got some good photos. We went for a snorkel at low tide to find a rare coral. This was an adventure! We repelled down a vertical cliff one at a time in case of rock slides from all of the rain and then had to climb back up the cliff using a rope after the swim. It was worth it!



The waves were very big because of the typhoon that was in the neighborhood. On our first dive it looked pretty good, so we all swam out past the breaking waves and found ourselves with 3 meter (~9 foot) swells! But, we were already out there, so we dove anyhow. We all made it safely back. The video below shows some of the big waves from Cape Hedo...it doesn't do them justice!

The Big City

Kris went to a three day orientation for her Japanese Society for Promoting Science fellowship in Tokyo. Unfortunately, due to the cost of a plane ticket to Tokyo (~$850 US), Nate had to stay in Okinawa. Not to worry, he went diving and hung out with some of our new friends while I was gone.

Tokyo is a huge city and after being there I would say it could be anywhere in the world...just with a lot more Japanese people than, say, Chicago. Once in Tokyo, I took three trains to get to the hotel....see map below, not . Luckily there are a lot of English signs in Tokyo.


At the orientation, I met 29 other JSPS fellows from all over the world and we had a great three days. It was very informative and at times entertaining. We learned how to read and speak some Japanese, about the JSPS program, and about some of the cultural differences between Japan and other countries. My favorite part was when the Japanese professor, Dr. Suto, who studies dark matter and dark energy, gave a presentation. He mentioned the "great American philosopher", Donald Rumsfeld! The best part, was that he understood the irony of his statement! He quoted Rumsfeld's speech, which accurately describes the study of dark matter and energy:
"There are known knowns; there are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns; that is to say, there are things that we now know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns; there are things we do not know we don’t know." It was really awkward to be the only person from the U.S.A. at that moment!

Half of the second day and all of the third day were spent on a Japanese tour bus with our "Professional English speaking Japanese tour guide," as she introduced herself! She is the one with the flag below...too make sure we could find her. We did lose someone for a few minutes along the way, despite our tour guides explicit instructions that the bus will drop us off on the 1st floor and we will go to the 2nd floor and we will meet at the bus on the 2nd floor at 2:10 pm. The man in the snakeskin pants is someone that I just thought deserved to be photographed!



Below is a picture of Tokyo from the observation deck of the Tokyo Tower, seen on the right as we left. It is modeled after the Eiffel Tower in France. The observation deck is 150 meters above ground level. It was pretty neat to see, but made me want to get back to Okinawa!



Many times on this tour we crammed so many people into the elevators that told us "Sorry the elevator is crowded," and so I thought it was worth a picture. One time three people had to get off before the doors would close. When they set the limit to 17 people, I think they meant 17 Japanese people, not Europeans and North Americans. At the Tokyo Tower, there was a man with a dustbuster cleaning out the elevator before each trip to pick up more people.



One of our stops was The National Safety Center, where we learned what to do in case of a fire or earthquake. It was informative, but also entertaining. We had to go into a room, six at a time, and escape a "fire" with smoke and all. If anyone wasn't low enough to the ground an alarm went off and the instructor would yell over the loudspeaker "You're dead!" (But in Japanese). Then we got to experience a 6.0 magnitude earthquake under a kitchen table. The best part was that the rest of the group got to watch as we experienced these situations.

For those who might come visit...please read the instructions below as found in the womens restroom at the Safety Center. The t-shirt is just a great English word t-shirt that I saw.



Then we went to a Shinto shrine...the traditional religion in Japan, worshipping gods of nature, nd a Buddhist temple. The pictures below are of a typical schoolboy that was near the shrine and of the outside of the Buddhist temple.



At the Shinto Shrine, you toss a 5 yen coin into a box, bow once, clap twice, bow twice, say your prayer, and bow again. This will ensure that your prayer is answered. At the Buddhist temple; however, you toss in your 5 yen coin and bow, but don't clap! You can purchase a fortune for 100 yen. If you get a good fortune you keep it. If you get a bad fortune, you fold it and leave it at the temple as seen below. Then you have to go cover your body with the incense smoke to make you more healthy. It was really interesting in a very touristy sort of way. For a significantly higher amount of money you can meet with a Buddhist priest who will listen to your prayers.



Glad to back on Okinawa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Diving...diving...and more diving!

We have been diving a lot lately...it is great! We've seen all kinds of cool things and have seen some really cool dive sites. We are up to 11 species of leucothoid amphipods (and counting)! Pending further analysis, probably at least half are new species! (This is good news for the postdoc.) Here are some pictures from our dive at Manza, where Nate first dove on Okinawa. This was Kris' first time diving here, and it was really cool! The first is a lionfish in action. They are usually spotted hiding in crevices or caves. Then a bunch of squirrell-fish in a cave and in the third picture, Nate above the cave.



In between all of the diving, we went to Maika's Sports Day and a festival at the University. Maika is Jamie's (Reimer-sensei)-just-turned 3-years-old-daughter. Sports day is a huge event in Japan. Kids from each class practice and participate in races, balance beams, jumping through hoops, summersaults, etc. Here are a few pictures. First...Nate had a baby! Not really, he is just holding Seira (Jamie's 6 month old daughter) who loves Nate very much by the way! One of the classes did a traditional Okinawan drum dance dressed in purple. The next picture is of Maika (second from the left in pink shorts) and her group getting reading to jump through hoops like bunny rabbits!


Later that afternoon, we went to a festival at the University. Maybe a start of the school year festival...still not so clear on that Japanese reading. Nate practiced some archery and won a giant cheeto. After much consulting about this next picture (sorry, Moms!), we have decided that this girl was simply selling fried chicken. And here, we though something was definitely lost in translation! (Be sure to enlarge the picture to read her sign.) And of course...one of many English word t-shirts for entertainment.



Back to the diving...here are some shots of diving at the Sunabe Seawall. It is a soft coral garden. The first picture shows some fish and a cuttlefish in the background. And of course...there is Nate collecting a sponge to check for pods.



We dove at Zanpa Cape with Catalina for her very last dive on Okinawa. Catalina is a masters student that just graduated. Nate took a great head-on shot of a cuttlefish!



Off to dive some more....