Although slowed by fatigue and jet lag, our first day in Tokyo went well. In the morning, we met with Ozaki-san, a friend of Aridome-sensei who gives tours of Tokyo. I gave my first jikoshōkai, or self-introduction, to Ozaki-san. I was pretty nervous beforehand, but once I got into it and finished, I felt relieved and more at ease with the new setting. Jikoshōkai will likely be important for me throughout the summer to introduce myself to my teachers at the language immersion program which I will attend.
We spent the whole morning in and around Tsukiji fish market, but we did not go to the early morning auction. Seeing the space and the vendors at work helped put together a picture to go with the chapter on the market which I discussed in my previous post. The production and consumption of food is part of process with various stages and I think we got a good sense of how the more industrial aspects of seafood production meet the commercial and individual consumption aspects of the food cycle.
Please forgive the brevity of this post, as I’m getting over jet lag and need to rest my mind a bit. Tomorrow I will be working in the National Diet Library by gathering research materials for my project and making photocopies. My advisor and I will break away from the rest of the group, who will start discussions with professionals of fields relevant to each student’s project. I’m looking forward to getting some hard copies of research material that will be invaluable to my project.