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8000 miles for science!

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Nicole Kollars

by Nicole Kollars (ZEN exchange fellow in Northern Japan)

Over 8000 miles is the distance I am estimating that I have travelled in the last 30+ hours from my home in Charleston, South Carolina to Akkeshi, Japan where I will be assisting Dr. Massa Nakaoka and his team with the 2012 ZEN experiment at the northern Japan site.  My flight left Charleston at 1430 EST and I arrived safe and sound in Akkeshi around lunchtime… 2 days later!

 

With working to bring my own research in Charleston to a stopping point before heading to Japan, I did not have time to start packing until 2230 the night before my flight.  Even the morning of my departure I was still making the phone calls necessary before leaving the country (banks, utility companies, Grandma) and packing right up to the last minute.  Before I knew it my 40 lb backpack (which is larger than I am!) was stuffed into the backseat of my housemate’s car and we were off to the airport.  On the drive there I received a call form Pamela telling me my flight to Washington DC was delayed due to weather.  Upon arriving at the airport, I spent 45 minutes talking with the man at the ticket counter and learned that you should never underestimate an airline employee who knows how to work the system.  First he made sure that I had a reservation on another flight in case I could not make my connecting flight to LA when I arrived in Washington D.C.  Next, he had my gigantic backpack checked all the way to Kushiro (my final destination) and he had printed out my boarding passes for my ANA flights to Japan. This was amazing considering I was traveling on two different airlines.

Japanese banknote

In the end my flight to D.C. only departed 3 minutes late and actually arrived 10 minutes early.  Catching my flight to LA was not going to be a problem and I even had time to find a Travelex kiosk so that I could exchange some US dollars to Japanese yen.  And I must say, the Japanese banknotes are quite beautiful!  With my new currency in hand, I boarded the flight to LA on time and I settled in next to a Buddhist monk heading to Burma and a young woman on her way back to Australia.  We were pulling out of the gate and heading for the airstrip when the Captain announced that all flights were grounded until further notice due to severe storms over the Blue Ridge Mountains just west of D.C..  Luckily, Pamela and I anticipated potential delays when booking my flights so the nearly 2-hour standstill on the tarmac was not going to prevent me from catching the plane to Tokyo once I reached LA.

I arrived in LA a little after 2100 PST (travel time thus far: 10 hrs).  The process of getting from the domestic flights terminal to the Tom Bradley International terminal (TBIT) was quite the adventure.  With the chaos of LAX ground transportation (cars everywhere and incessant honking), I have to admit that when I finally walked into the arrival lobby of TBIT, I was quite overwhelmed.  However, the employees at the ANA counter where I had to exchange the boarding passes I received in Charleston with the official ANA boarding passes were helpful and polite.  They even gave me a head’s up about customs procedures in Tokyo which was very much appreciated.

It took Nicole nearly 2 days to travel                      from Charleston to Akkeshi

I was half-asleep by the time I boarded the plane at 0045 PST (0345 to my US east-coast adjusted body) and I curled-up in my window seat and cannot even remember taking off.  I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to sleep on the nearly 11 hr flight to Tokyo, so when I woke up 6 hrs later, I was quite relieved that I wouldn’t be arriving in Japan resembling the waking dead.

The part of the flight that I was awake for was very pleasant.  The stewardesses were gracious, the seats comfortable and spacious, and the food amazing.  I was anticipating the ANA provided meal ever since I read Matt Whalen’s post about his own experience travelling to Japan and I was not disappointed.  There was just enough time to re-read the 2012 ZEN manual for a quick refresher of the science that awaited me in Akkeshi before the plane began its descent into the land of Nihon.

I arrived at the Tokyo Haneda airport a little after 0400 Saturday morning – Japan time (travel time thus far: 25 hrs).  My first impression of the airport was that it was incredibly clean, sleek, quiet, and peaceful.  I was grateful for this because I was expecting a people-filled, noisy environment of chaos, similar to what I left in Los Angeles.  Customs was thankfully painless; I think the gentleman who inspected my bag was amused by the piles of neoprene that I had packed anticipating the cold water of the ZEN field site in Akkeshi.  If it wasn’t already obvious that I was a foreigner, I think the slow walking pace and my wide-eyed look would have given me away in an instant as I proceeded to wonder through the airport taking it all in – the signs that I didn’t understand, the new sounds and tones, and the sleek design of practically everything.

The road to Akkeshi

I had one more flight from Tokyo to Kushiro before my travels were over. As the plane descended into Kushiro, I was taken back by the beautiful green forests of Hokkaido.  Two members of the Nakaoka lab were waiting for me at the airport – Kyosuke-san, a 2nd year master’s student at Hokkaido University, and Kentaro-san, a research fellow with Dr. Nakaoka.  It was about an hour drive from Kushiro to Akkeshi through lush wetlands scattered with small farms.  We passed a couple of fields of workers stretching out long pieces of the kelp Laminaria to dry.  Kentaro-san explained that the algae is harvested from the ocean, but the coast is too foggy for the seaweed to dry effectively so it is transported inland to be laid out in the sun.  Seeing the fields filled with these algae reminded me of the economic importance of seaweeds and how algae are used to make so many products we use in the USA and around the world everyday, from ice cream, to toothpaste, to sushi.

Akkeshi Marine Station

We arrived in Akkeshi around lunchtime (travel time thus far: 32 hrs).  To reach the marine station, you have to drive through the town of Akkeshi and travel over a long red bridge that marks the separation from Lake Akkeshi (the estuary) and Akkeshi Bay (the sea).  As we drove over the bridge I saw the thick eelgrass beds that dominated these waters – I can’t wait to see these plants up close and personal when we set up the ZEN experiment here next week!

Preserved caprellid amphipods                                      at the Akkeshi Marine Station

After crossing the bridge, we drove down an incredibly steep and curving hill to reach Akkeshi Marine Station.  Kyosuke-san saw that I was settled into the dormitory where I will be staying for the next 6 weeks and gave me a tour of the lab.  When Kyosuke-san showed me the jars of the ethanol-preserved predators and grazers commonly found in the local eelgrass beds, I was shocked by how giant the caprellid amphipods and isopods are here.  They definitely are not that big back home in the Carolinas!

View from Nicole’s dorm room window

Over 8000 miles and 30+ hours later, I am all settled into Akkeshi on the other side of the world from home.  We start the ZEN experiment this next week and I really look forward to the next 6 weeks of giant amphipods and 6 ft (over 2 m) long Zostera blades.  I am grateful for the opportunity to be here, the warm welcome I have received, and the adventures that lay ahead.

When I woke up from a very long nap and looked outside my dorm window to the glassy, misty ocean view, with herons flying by and the soft sound of waves lapping the shore, my first thought was how this is all very ZEN. Literally.

 

 

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