Party Time

Our lab has had party after party in the past month. We have gatherings to welcome new students, to say goodbye to current students when they get a job and are heading off and to congratulate students who complete their studies. Some parties have been multi-person affairs where we welcome or say goodbye to a group at a time while others have been individual farewell parties.

These events are mostly held during the week and usually involves dinner and nomihodai (bottomless drink). There is always a speech by the incoming or outgoing individual and a "question time" where others get the chance to ask them a question in front of everyone. I don't understand most of what is said though so those parts don't hold my interest. Here is a photo of my host researcher addressing the party.



Last night we had a farewell party for the phd student who was assigned to help me get comfortable in Sapporo. He picked me up from the airport, helped me move furniture, helped me buy a computer, set up my internet at home (a colossal undertaking in Japan when you are using an English operating system) and countless other things related to work. Needless to say, I will miss having him around. He is off to a government research job estimating fish stocks and seems really excited about it.

This farewell party was at a Jenghis Kahn place. Jenghis Kahn is the name for mutton BBQ, usually cooked on a domed grill placed over hot coals, here are some photos. I have eaten this before but have never really understood the connection between the name of the dish and the Mongolian founder and emperor Genghis Kahn. My supervisor shared his explaination of the name with me last night. I will relate it now, but take no responsibility for accuracy (I have found in Japan that different people often have very different interpretations of history - could be translation issues of course).




He told me that about 50 or 60 years ago, Hokkaido was having difficulty with meat supply and government officials were trying to find a solution and a new source of protein. Their solution was to introduce sheep farming to Hokkaido but the problem with this was that people wouldn't eat mutton. As a way to create demand for this new meat, they created a meal of mutton and vegetable BBQ and called in Jenghis Kahn, an arbitrary name related only because Mongolian people like to eat mutton. This dish became known as "Hokkaido speciality" and is now commonly eaten in restaurants and on picnics in the summer.

I have been intrigued by the ways in which Japanese government solves social issues. Installation of speakers in toilets with recorded toilet flushing sounds to prevent excess water wastage when people flush while going to mask the sounds of their own pee is another good example. I guess just telling people that it is an unnecessary waste of water wasn't enough.

Here is some of the other more interesting fare we enjoyed as "second party" (all parties are followed up by second party). Mmmmm - whole raw mini squid.