The Japan Training Summer Program by Varsha KP (MSc LS AB Student)

The following morning at 8:50, we left the hotel and headed to Shiramine village, one of the most stunning spots we visited in Japan. All around Japan, especially in this town, manners like politeness and respect were strongly ingrained. It had around 800 residents and was a really lovely community. At Shiramine, we started with an orientation session taught by the Boss about the culture, biodiversity, and other amenities.

After that, we learned more about Hakusan National Park, and then we visited a scientific museum. We visited the Ishikawa Prefectural Hakusan Roku Folklore Museum after lunch and received training for producing straw goods there. We developed skills outside of the classroom thanks to those activities.

On October 15th, we went climbing on Mount Hakusan. The peak has so many magnificent sights that it is really worth it. Mt. Hakusan has a long religious history, being the pilgrimage destination for monks since the early 700s. Nowadays, it is a popular hiking destination for people of all ages, from school children and families, to elderly hikers. After lunch we went to do an exotic plant plucking activity. Japan has so many alien species, so they gave lectures regarding the native and alien plant species.

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On the next day, we had a lecture regarding the traditional medicine of Japan called kampo medicine. Similarities and differences between Ayurveda and Kampo medicine were observed. Then we went to harvest finger millet from a field. Our last stop for the day was the Hakusan dinosaur park where we saw fossils and other archeological remnants, and excavated some fossils.

We then went to the backyard of the Hakusan alpine botanical garden, and to the Textile Museum where we were trained to make stuff with silk. On the next day, we traveled back to Kanazawa university and we had a class from Prof. Sasaki following which we were awarded with our internship certificates. Lastly, we visited the Museum of Materia Medica, Institute of Natural Medicine at Toyama University, where they explained the relevance of the origin of kampo from Ayurveda.

We explored Tokyo during our last two days, and saw Shibuya crossing. During its busiest times, an estimated 1,000 to 2,500 people forge their way across this intersection every two minutes, enough to quickly fill up a football stadium.

The experience I gained from this journey is priceless all around. We are grateful to Vishnu sir and TDU for giving us all this wonderful experience. Thank you so much.