My Japan Summer Training experience by Sandra Das (MSc LS AB Student)

Ten MSc LSAB students along with Dr Vishnu Prasad started our journey from TDU Campus to Japan on 10th of October 2022 for attending the Japan training summer program towards SDGs by Kanazawa university. We reached Kanazawa University on the 13th of October, and started the  administrative procedures. There was an orientation class followed by lunch. And on that day itself, we visited UNO-IASOOIK.

On the second day we moved to Shiramine, a small village in Japan by Kanazawa university bus. From there we got the detailed schedule of staying in Shiramine and the overview of Shiramine area. We also got the overview of Hakusan national park and visited Hakusan Sabo science museum. After lunch we walked around the snow mountain area but there were no snow in this season. At the Ishikawa prefectural Hakusan Roku folklore museum, we had a hands on activity on straw work.

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On the third day we visited the million rock. It was a huge rock which came to that place many year before during some natural calamity. After that, we visited the center of Hakusan national park. The  Hakusan mountain climbing after this was the toughest task for me. But from that trek, we learned a lot about the biodiversity of that place. We had lunch at the Wasabi garden and met a 92 year old man still working and taking care of that beautiful place. In the evening, we were engaged in the removal of invasive plants in that place.  

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We had a good class on Kampo medicine by a pharmacist at Shiramine on the fourth day. From that class I came  to know that there are a lot of similarities and dissimilarities among Ayurveda and Kampo. In Japan, few doctors only prescribe kampo though it is their traditional medicine which came from China. They also import the raw drugs of Kampo medicine from China only. During the session they provided a  tea which had some medicinal drugs on it. I couldn't drunk it because of its bitterness. After that we visited a millet field and we harvested finger millets. It was a first time experience for me to work in an  agricultural land. Then we visited Hakusan dinosaur Park at Shiramine. It had a huge collection of dinosaur fossils. We also had a hands on activity on fossils excavation and I found a nice fossil of leaves which I have since kept with me.  

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On 17th October, we visited the backyard of Hakusan alpine botanical gardens and then visited the textile museum of Hakusan. We had a hands on activity  on making silk clothes. After lunch we had a workshop on similarities and dissimilarities of India and Japan in culture, biodiversity, medicine etc. We all presented a report on that in a group basis.

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Next day we moved to Kanazawa and had a free time. On 19th October, we had a lecture by Prof. Sasaki  in Kanazawa University, followed by closing ceremony. All of us got a certificate of completion from  Kanazawa university. Lastly, we visited Toyama university, Museum of Materia Medica, Institute of Natural Medicine, and the Museum of Folklore at Toyama municipal folkcraft village. We also visited the United Nations University.

We then had some free time, and explored Tokyo during this time. This was my experience of the Japan trip. Overall, I found it to be a nice learning experience.