A Relaxing Day

You would think that on the first day where we didn’t have to meet up until noon I would take a night to recuperate, catch up on some sleep, and restore myself from the ever-evil chains of jet lag……. But I’m in JAPAN silly! I can’t waste time doing silly things like sleeping :P So instead I was up with the sun at 6 am. Wide eyed and bushy tailed I worked for a short while on my blog before getting ready. Cynthia knocked on my door around 8 and we headed out to walk down to the Tsukuba Center. On the way we got to take in the beauty of our dear campus, this time under the rays of the sun rather than the dreary gray clouds that were covering the sky our first few days here. `

Our first stop in the mall was the infamous Mister Donut. I was one of the only one who hadn’t tried it yet, and I had heard that it was the donut shop of legends. I bought a few I thought looked good and we sat down to enjoy. They were indeed rather delicious, although imagine my surprise when I bit into one to find….. Curry! I had bought a curry donut! However, once I got over my initial shock, I found that it was actually really good! :D

We spent the next little while wandering around the mall and the surrounding streets just scouting out the city. We also picked up a few groceries and then headed back towards the school. There we met up with the rest of the group and a few of our dear Japanese friends who led us to the Agricultural and Forestry Research Station on campus.

As we arrived we were led into an office building where we were introduced to the Dean. He was a nice Japanese man who seemed very excited to have us there. He talked about the school and the study program they were introducing for foreign students. He also asked us about ourselves and our majors. That’s when I made the discovery that Brendan and Trevor (the Anderson brothers) were not Agriculture majors like the rest of us. I was a little intrigued as to why they were in the group since this was an AG focused trip, but hey trip to Japan right?

When the meeting was over we took a group photo with the dean and then headed out onto the farm to learn a little about how they ran things in their little operation. First stop was the greenhouses. Here we got to see an array of beautiful flowers, some familiar and some not. One thing I found neat was how they utilized their scarce resources. Water and space are two expensive resources that they must deal with. To combat this problem they have two layers of plants on each table. As they water the top plants water escaped through the bottom of the top rack and waters the bottom.

After the greenhouses we got a small peek at the rice paddy and the orchard. It wasn’t planting season yet so the field was empty and dry, but still cool to see, as Namora-Sensei explained to us a little of the practices they used. When we came to the silage area, Dr. Namora explained that the two silos they had on the farm were to expensive to run and upkeep so they used other methods. One of them consisted of piling the silage up on the ground, covering it with a tarp and then laying a few tons of dirt on top. that was kept for a couple years and then dug back up. We got to watch as the tractor made its way down one row of silage slowly revealing the blue tarp underneath as it removed layers of soil.

Beyond the field we found the milking barn, where we were introduced to the small herd of 10 that were currently lactating. The milking area itself was rather small, but organized. In fact, I think I could only really describe it as….cute haha. It seems as with all things in Japan they just like to do it smaller haha.

After saying goodbye to our new cow friends we were released for the day to run amuk…..I mean explore….. I took a quick break in my dorm to rejuvenate and then headed out with Cythia, Sam, Shannon, and Crista to wander around campus. We eventually happened upon the campus botanical garden. As we wandered about its winding paths we found brides and pavilions beside beautiful ponds. Once again we were thwarted by the late blooming season, and many of the trees were still leafless. However we did come upon a fun little bamboo forest and some deciduous trees, whose green leaves and needles made me a little nostalgic for home.

It was soon time to finish our night by meeting up with the Japanese students again to go out for dinner. We had been told that we would be going to a ramen house that evening but as Namora dropped us off he told us that it actually appeared to be…. Can you guess?.... haha a CHINESE restaurant! I was so excited! As I perused the menu I was overjoyed to see an array of familiar dishes from the good old days back in Changzhou. I had the hardest time deciding what to get and eventually settled on a good old bowl of noodles. It wasn’t the same as our beloved noodle shop but it was still pretty awesome, and put a warm glow in my heart even as it warmed up my belly.