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Ryokuyo Maru
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Kutsuwa-haze or Istigobius campbelli.
A species I will be studying.
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Fugu (perhaps Takifugu niphobles)
in a local rivermouth.
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Alex who saved my ass at the airport
and train station. Youre the real MVP.
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Interesting Polyclad worm found on
my first freedive off of the lab.
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Some kind of jellyfish of which
the name I am blanking on.
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Shoju-san and Tachibana-san, awesome labmates.
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The man who got me here! Professor Reiji Masuda!
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My tutor and good friend Chika!
Photo Credit Yumi Henmi
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Edit by Chika.
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Alright here it is! The update you've all been waiting for. I FINALLY made it to Japan after 2 years of emails, nerve-racking applications, and a closed border limbo where I gained more weight than I care to share. It has been a fever dream the past week or so I have been here. I have little grasp of the language, extreme nervousness about new customs, and a google translate that's shotty at best. Thankfully, I have had incredible support along the way. It started even before I left the airport where I met Alex, a true godsend. He help we rescheduale my flight as the quarintine procedure made me miss my connection to Kansai Airport. After a shit ton of jetlag we make it on the trains from Kansai and I'm mezmerized by the landscape. Cherry blossoms are in full bloom here and it couldn't be more beautiful. Osaka and Kyoto were spralling cityscapes with such interesting acitecture and city planning, all vivible from the trains. I hope to go back and visit for longer in the future. Alex and I part ways in Kyoto and I take the bullet train (>150mph) up to Maizuru. I'm greeted by Reiji right there at the train station and immediately get welcomed into the fold at the labratory. It has been a huge rush to get paperwork in order and other buerocratic mess out of the way but I am finally starting to feel settled in. I have even gone out to stores and resurants by myself and easily ordered food, groceries, and found hard drive repair kits. A big FUCK YOU to American TSA who rummaged through my luggage and broke my one of my hard drives by not placing it back in the padded box I had it in.
I want to take this last little part to say Thank You to everyone who wished me well on this jouney back in the US and a thank you to everyone who is currently help me feel welcomed here in Maizuru. I can already tell I am going to love it here. I really couldnt have had the courage to do this without all the encouragement I have recieved on both ends of the flat disk we live on (theres an ice wall I swear). I hope to provide even more Japanese marine life in future updates... but for now, I'm gonna toast to all of you.
乾杯
Kanpai!
~Hunter
