The first day started early and the drive to get to Akkeshi field station was long (about 8 hours from Hokudai). We arrived with enough time to pound back some soba (thick white noodles) then get changed into field gear and head out in the dark for sampling. We were working on night tides and low tide on the first night was at about 9:00 pm so we were heading out basically as soon as it got dark. We donned the headlamps and rain gear (it was of course pouring with rain – but the rain gear isn't for the rain, it is for the waves I later learned) and scrambled out over slippery boulders to get the the rocks where the research plots were located.
First thing on the list to do is to measure wave splash height. I thought that the students were kidding when they handed me a ruler and pointed to the rock where the plot was drilled into the rock and told me to go and stand in the breaking waves and watch for 5 minutes to see what the highest point of wave splash was (this is of course before the tide went out fully). They weren't kidding, so I did, and of course like a rookie, didn't have my rain jacket hood on or the jacket zipped up, so I took a big wave down the back of my waders and had to spend the rest of the night in wet pants (thankfully years of Canadian winter and paddling in frigid Pacific water all winter has left me skilled in layering and wool clothing).
The night went fine otherwise and the students were very good to work with. We returned to the dormitory at the field station where we were staying while in Akkeshi, here is a picture of the dorm.
It was very old and run down, but I had a room to myself and a bed with lots of blankets. I was the only woman in the place so I even had my own bathroom that I didn't have to share – small victories have become very important to me. We washed up the gear, made some food, showered and got to bed around 2:00 am. This turned out to be the earliest night of the trip for us.
The next morning I was awakened early by the construction crew jackhammering holes in the concrete wall beside my bed (this is not an exaggeration – they were actually jackhammering the walls of the building all day, every day starting at 8:30). After such a long night scrambling around in the surf, I really wanted to sleep late, but with the racket at the dorms it was impossible. Good thing I brought a knitting project with me and a textbook to read.
The second night of work was a long one, we visited two sampling locations that night and got loads of work done. An interesting, and frustrating at times, cultural difference that I have noticed is that Japanese people seem to leave out crucial information until the very last minute. This happened numerous times while on this field trip, but I will illustrate with an example from the beginning of night 2. We were geared up and walking to the site through a grassy area. Again – it was a very dark night, so you can't really see anything beyond the circle of your headlamp. I was following Fukaya-san and he started down a hill and turned to me and said “now we go down cliff, very steep” and pointed to the 50 foot drop off 3 feet to my left. Right...... There were ropes to use for the steepest parts and we all managed to make it down (and back up) ok. I guess that it didn't make much difference in the end that I didn't know what to expect beforehand, but I tend to think that things like that are best when people are informed and can prepare themselves.
Here is a photo of the coastline in the area where we were working. I will post more photos of field work later – right now they are still on another computer and the student hasn't come in to work yet.
Day 3 began with more jackhammering of walls and very little sleep. There was a TV in the main dining hall where we ate lunch and the news was on. The students were discussing the news and pointing at the tv (in Japanese of course) so I took a look and they were tracking a typhoon moving north from Honshu up the coast of Japan, scheduled to reach us by that evening, just in time for us to head out to the rocky shore (I don't think that there is a worse place to be in a typhoon). Great. At least I managed to convince one of the students to take me to the store to get some cereal because I wasn't up for eating white rice for breakfast any longer.
The third and fourth night of work went well, and in the end the typhoon moved east and missed us, but we were slowed down by the extra large waves that were generated from the offshore storm. In general, the work was physically hard because of how slippery the rocks were but otherwise ok. The biggest time investment is in clearing the plots of barnacles (one plot at each site is used to measure the number of animals that come back to that location if it is completely bare of any other animals). To do this we use a torch and burn the plot first (wheeeeeeee, fire), then we use a wire brush that is like a large toothbrush to scrape off all of the dead shells and remnants. In the crevices we have to use a metal pick to get all of the little critters out. It seemed to me a little like being a rock dentist, brushing the rock and picking away at any cavities.
The food was good – and loads of fun to see what kind of food they cook on a daily basis for themselves. My contribution on the last day was to make french toast with real Canadian maple syrup. The students seemed to like it, or at least were polite enough to have seconds. I will go into more discussion of the food some time later. It was great to get out and have some time to get to know the students better. They were a little scared of me at first (and still are to a degree), but we had some laughs and they taught me some Japanese - it will go a long way to making things easier for me during my time here.
