On the Bottom Half

An Empty Flight and the 'Asian Squatter'

The day kicked off with a lovely stay in the Melbourne International Airport. The introduction to Japanese culture begins with the first voiceovers during the safety briefing: they are officially bilingual as soon as you get on board. The dinner menu was bilingual, there were Japanese attendants, and the food had Japanese options: green tea hot or cold, oolong tea, fish (not sashimi), etc., etc.

The bird was a 767-300 and it was nearly empty. A wonderful way to spend a long flight, though Qantas couldn't have been happy. The flight was 10.5 hours and we landed at Narita airport in Tokyo. About 3 hours into the flight we overflew Osprey Reef, which for those of you with a detailed memory, may recall that I did some diving there in March. I'd kinda wondered what it looked like from the air, as pilots do. It looks thus:

The connecting flight wasn't until the next morning, so the airline pays for your night in a company hotel. Japanese T.V. is very interesting... at least I think it's interesting. They showed a lot of Charlie Chaplin films, which was really cool because I've never seen Charlie Chaplin before. They are nuts about baseball, but that is not a post-WWII event - it's been around long before that.

The next day dawned rainy, but I was in Tokyo, so I didn't really notice. The flight to Sapporo went out from Haneda airport, which is dominantly for domestic traffic. The only troublesome part is that there is a 90 minute bus ride separating the two. For good reason I suppose. Even though Haneda handles dominantly domestic traffic, it classes as one of the busiest ariports in the world. I'd hate to have too many proximity conflicts with Narita, which probably also classes with the busiest airports in the world.

First impressions of Japan were that everything is very ordered. There were 6 different rubbish bins in the airport - combustibles, PET bottles, cans, glass bottles, papers, miscellaneous plastic. Vending machines are everywhere, but almost exclusively sell drinks. There seems to be very little impulsive snacking in Japan. Apparently there is a legend of Japanese vending machines selling everything, including used women's underwear. That wasn't my experience, but then, I don't think it would ever be my experience... English is spoken in the airport, but only enough to function, not for conversation. One gets the idea what it is like to be illiterate. Pilots! It should here be noted that Japanese airports rarely see the touch of anything less than 767s. I've never been so close to so many 777, 747s, A330s, 767s, etc.

The 1.3 hour flight to Chitose (Sapporo) Airport on Hokkaido went well in a 747 and we were met there by two Japanese colleagues who helped us rent a car (111,000 yen for one month! - about 110 yen/USD), buy lunch, and drive to Sapporo proper. There they nailed down exactly where we were going and then took us out for supper.

Supper was the most exquisite of Japanese delicacies - no fugu (pufferfish). We had sashimi (raw fish only, no rice), cooked fish, sea weed salads, squid, tempura veggies and two shots of sake. This meal led me to one firm conclusion: sake hits me like a brick. As we stumbled home, we stopped in for some tea at the local Seicomart, then wobbled the way up to our room in the elevator and fell to sleep.

The next day, we drove down to the field area, stopping for lunch in a town called Urakawa. There I encountered the 'Asian Squatter' - a form of toilet favoured by the Japanese and other Asian nations. Those among you having travelled to other parts of Asia will have encountered them, but this was a first to me. As for its usage, I'll leave it to your imagination, but I am personally aware that you can, in fact, use them without fully removing your pants. However, if you ever encounter the long drop or outhouse style of Asian Squatter, do not, I say again, do not use it if there is not significant clearance between the deposit in the hold and the level of your delicate bottom. Trust me...

When you are travelling in Japan, you will have difficulty trying to find a place to eat. It's not that there aren't any places, it's just that you can't tell what constitutes a restaurant. They are hidden in alleyways, are peoples houses, typically don't have obvious storefronts, and all specialise in different dishes. There is often a raised platform of tatami, or rice mats, on which to sit, or there are tables to sit at.

The Japanese fellows that helped us out stayed with us for the first couple of days and to give you an idea of the kind of geologists I was working with, I think that this picture exemplifies their passions. Ryuo is on the left, Andy, my supervisor, in the middle and Hiro on the right. They are looking at bits of a rock type called peridotite, which is quarried nearby and is used frequently in making roads whether of gravel or asphalt. Heh...

Accessing the field area is along a stretch of coastline that the road closely follows. I leave you until the next installment with an idea of the drive every morning. The picture shows Apoi-dake in the Hidaka Mountain Belt. This was a mountain on the southwestern edge of the field area.

posted by Kyle @ 00:00