Japan - Day 11

Today started with a new record for my earliest time waking up in Japan - about 6am. This time, however, I decided to go back to sleep until my alarm went off an hour later, which, considering how tired I've been today anyway, was probably a good idea. After talking with some people online for an hour, I showered and went over to the 100-yen store to get some breakfast and a much-needed drink. I stood by the bus stop waiting for a little, getting gradually more worried that I was going to be late for getting to the lab, but as it happens I was a little early after all. I sat down at the back of the room and took a look at the handout for the presentation one of the people in the lab was going to make (every week, I think, one person from the lab makes a presentation about a scientific paper they've read). The abstract and the figure legends were in English, but the explanations were all in Japanese, as was the entirety of the presentation, so I wasn't really sure what was going on v.v Also, I had to introduce myself to the group before we began, which was also a little embarrassing ^^' After the presentation, I asked my supervisor what I should do today, and he said that for starters I could help out with cleaning the lab. The people in the lab are divided into two groups, who take it in turns to clean the lab, wash up equipment, etc. I was added to the list of people doing it today, and so I was helping Manato put away some equipment which had been left to dry, such as conical flasks, gel plates, etc. Then I was shown the procedure for PCR (I've only ever done it with instructions in a guidebook before, so I don't know the procedure by heart yet), and where everything was to do it with. I think that, once I've done it a few times, I should start to remember it off by heart After the samples had been set to run in the PCR machine, we all went to lunch at a Chinese restaurant a little bit out of town. Everyone was trying to decide which kanji would fit my name, as I only had the 'ma' part already (真, meaning 'truth'). Eventually they came up with a 'shuu' kanji which I can't find online right now, but which apparently means twilight. Then I think they came up with a pair of kanji for my surname meaning 'spirit'. For lunch I decided to have some pork ramen with baby bamboo and something called 'zasai', which I just looked up and is 'a type of pickled mustard plant stem'. Didn't taste too pickley or mustardy though, so it was very tasty :-)
I did start to worry that I wasn't going to be back in time for library orientation, but as it turns out I didn't have to worry, we were back right on time. At the library we gave in our student cards, then went on a library tour while the librarians attached a barcode onto our student cards to let us access the library. The natural science textbooks are on the ground floor (which, given where the main entrance is, is more like a basement), and the natural science journals are in the 5th floor annex (the main 5th floor is currently being earthquake-proofed, so won't be open again until spring next year). I was very impressed by the sliding bookcases though, allowing them to fit twice as many books/journals into the space. We then got our cards returned to us and went into the conference room to watch a short (slightly cliché but very funny) video, followed by a talk by a guy who didn't seem to be very good at English, about the internet's online facilities. After this, Jen showed me a very good bakery on campus and then I returned to the lab
Once I got back to the lab, the girl who ran me through the PCR in the morning was a little busy, so I was left to sit waiting for a while, during which time the guy sitting opposite me on the bench asked if I wanted to play shiritori. For anyone who doesn't know how to play this, the first person says a word, then the next person says a word beginning with the last letter (or in Japanese, syllable) of the previous word, and so on. If someone ends their word with the Japanese letter ん (n), the game ends because that letter doesn't start any words in Japanese. He said we'll play again tomorrow, so this'll be good for building up my vocabulary :-)
After playing shiritori for quite a while, another one of the girls came up and asked me if I wanted to try making some gels, as I needed to run the DNA from the PCR. Again, this is a process I've been through at Manchester, but only with a step-by-step guide. Still, it wasn't too bad, except the mixture bubbled over in the microwave a bit so there wasn't quite enough to fill all four little gel plates. After the gels set, I was shown how to run the gel electrophoresis. After running for 20 minutes, I put it into the UV illuminator. Unfortunately, it didn't really work (I had been warned that it had a low success rate for some reason), even though it looked like there was a veeery faint line in one of the lanes
After getting a photo, just because I could, I was told that, because of the nature of the work, not all of the data I produced would be able to go into my final report, so I need to check with my supervisor what I can and can't write up in my report for Manchester. I'm going into the lab at 10am tomorrow, but I'll be in and out a few times on account of getting Japanese test results, followed by Japanese class orientation, so after checking that with the people I was working with, I left for my room, picking up some tasty noodles for dinner on the way back :-D
Well, that's about all from me today. I've been knackered today but now I've got back here, I have a bit of a second wind, so I'll stay up a little longer, maybe read some more, then get some sleep :-) Night all