Living and researching at the Akkeshi Marine Station

7/6/2017

Two of the greatest things about doing my research at the Akkeshi Marine Station are the view and the nonexistent commute: the dorm and the research laboratory are located directly on the ocean. The dormitory houses mainly visiting researchers and students in field courses during the summer. Though incredibly inexpensive for me to stay in, it provides more than enough of the necessities with a full kitchen, dining room, shower room, and spacious bedroom with an ocean view at my disposal. It's like being a boat, without the seasickness. When there are students at the dormitory, I have to schedule meals a little bit differently to not get in the way of the housekeeper doing the cooking, but all the students are very respectful, and not very rowdy at all in comparison to typical American undergraduates.

View of the dormitory from the laboratory - the drive up and to the main road is behind the dorm.

Gravel drive coming down to the station - very lush vegetation and steep hill

Room with a view! Though there are four beds, I don't think I will have a roommate while here. Not pictured: sink, cabinets, little sitting area.

The dorm even has a little gym ;)

Kitchen with full access to pots, pans, dishes, and basic cooking needs (oil, dish soap, etc)

Work for most generally begins between 8:30 and 9 and ends around 5 or 6, with an hour lunch break at noon. Most of the students take lunch at the dormitory where we can cook or eat leftovers. Several of the students here will keep most of their food in the dormitory and eat both lunch and dinner at the dorm during the week, staying later in the evening to work in the quiet dining area.

Various research projects are ongoing at the station, with a large majority of them focused around the biodiverse and productive sea grass beds plentiful outside of the station. Others deal with potential effects of climate change, water chemistry, or working with the oysters that Akkeshi is known for. The station has plenty of space, with an immaculate molecular/water chemistry lab, wet lab, environmental chambers, teaching/seminar room, offices, and of course, the aquarium room where I spend most of my time. This room used to be an aquarium but has since been converted to research space where there are ample running sea water and compressed air taps to feed into multiple aquaria large enough to fit several people in.

View of the laboratory from the dorm

Helping Ahn-san collect some water level data in a river

Aquarium room - running sea water and plenty of aquariums

Experiments all set up and running - stay tuned!

Shoes are taken off upon entering the laboratory building and slippers are put on instead. Same in the dorm - I immediately (and embarrassingly) bought a pair of croc-like shoes to wear throughout the dorm. Keeps the floors much cleaner though!

Everyone has a nametag that you flip over upon arrival and flip when you leave - last one to leave locks the door and sets the alarm!

Everyone knows where everyone is if they're not at the lab - no going out on your own for field work.

Examples of some of the research conducted here

The only thing difficult in living at the station is the lack of independent access to, well, anywhere else. It would take about an hour to walk into the nearest side of the town, and longer still to get to the grocery store. Therefore, I depend fully on my labmates to provide rides into town for groceries, research supplies, medicine, recreation... anything. However, the Japanese are extremely gracious and generous people as a whole, and they usually offer before I get a chance to ask. Fortunately, another student is here from Germany for 6 months, and he is in the same position as I am.

Wednesday's are cleaning in the lab! This is just an example of the level of teamwork that exists at the station - everyone pitches in to help each other out, and are happy to offer suggestions or their expertise in a certain area to each other. Another benefit of living at a field station that only has about 17 people total working there is that lab members instantly become friends! The town is very small, and their lives revolve around the lab, so you work, play, and eat with the same people. That means that weekends are the time to see some of the sights or visit the festival in town together.