Lab Summer Trip: Part 2

The second day.

We got breakfast at the hotel and I further learned that the Japanese haven't quite mastered breakfast foods yet. The spread looked remarkably similar to dinner, however this time there were scrambled eggs and some rolls with jam and butter. I opted for some lettuce (the Japanese think lettuce by itself is enough of a salad) and the rolls. I think banked on the hope that we'd be stopping at a rest stop at some point in the morning, at which time I could procure some actual food.

We piled on the bus and head out to see the remnants of an earthquake from 2004. This day turned out to be much more interesting, as we were taken to different construction sites and got to walk around and hear about the different ways they were repairing after the earthquake.

We saw a lot of soil nailing and retaining walls. We also saw a lot of erosion control measure, from revetments to flood control dams. We also got to visit a few tunnels, I'm not entirely sure why we visited the tunnels, but they're underground so I guess that counts. The one tunnel had been hand dug by the people who lived near there and didn't like getting snowed in in the winter. The tunnel was pretty dark even with flash lights, but you could still see the marks on the walls from the pick axes. For the most part, the tunnel had dirt walls, though some parts had shotcrete or chicken wire on the ceiling.

We ate lunch in Yamakoshi Village, where they are known for bull fighting. Bull fighting in Japan however is not at all like the Spanish version. In Japan, the bulls literally fight each other. The village was also a major koi farming area, with the best fish selling for 1-10 million Yen, which is about 10 - 100 thousand dollars. After the earthquake, everyone had to be evacuated because the landslides had stopped the river and caused flooding. We saw video of dead koi and cows stuck in mud that had to be left in the village. About 70% of the residents have returned in the past 4 years.

For the sake of story telling, I'll omit the remaining details and just say that we headed back to the hotel and found that we had some time until dinner would be served. My roommates and I went to our room and were thinking of playing cards. Jina came over and said that she wanted to go take photos of the rice fields further down the road from our hotel. That suggestion slowly gained more followers until we all ended up going to take photos. It was a good time and I got some good photos.

After dinner, we had another party. It started much the same way the previous night's activities had begun. The Japanese guys drinking and playing games and everyone else socializing. They actually use Rock, Paper, Scissors as a drinking game. I'm not positive how it happened, but I was volunteered to show the Japanese how we drink in the US. I was told to show them out to shotgun a beer. I accepted the position with slight hesitance because we were in a carpeted room and I didn't want to make a mess. I asked around for a key, since I didn't have any on me. I got a room key and the first full can of beer I could find and proceeded to prepare the can under the watchful eye of the Japanese kids. I shotgunned the beer and put the can on the table. A few of the kids near me checked the can to see if I had finished it all, which I had because otherwise it would have been spilling out of the can.

Having seen this feat of drinking, they proceeded to call me "professor" because I had taught them something. They then tried to repeat my performance, with mixed results. Since they didn't chug much, they weren't quite ready to drink the as fast as I had. Most were able to finish the beer though, a few couldn't, but I would say that was because they were already drunk.

I spent the rest of the evening lying low, because I really didn't want to drink too much since we had to get up and take the bus home the next day. After that however, I think I've earned some cred with the guys in the lab though. It was quite the ice breaker I guess.