Taipei and Hong-Kong with Dim Sum

We visited Taipei and Hong-Kong to have interviews of applicants for our new undergraduate degree program for foreign students. The tasks were quite tough but completed with no trouble, because of warm and careful support by G30 office staff and our new director, Dr. Lin, of Kyushu University Taipei Office, opened in a Law School building, National Taiwan University.

After each interview mission, we enjoyed dim sum in both cities. Those were artistically delicious. (Only an exception was a lunch in a small restaurant in Hong-Kong.)

Sampling of carp blood at a aquaculture pond

For functional assay and protein purification/characterization of fish complement system, we regularly visit a culture pond of the common carp located at just outside of Fukuoka City for bleeding. The carp are big enough to get 30-50 ml of total blood, yielding 10-25 ml serum. This day, we processed 40 carp, weighing about 1.5 kg each. For new students of my laboratory, this sampling activity is an important practice and introduction to our laboratory research. They'll be realized how laborious is this fundamental procedure for our study.

After bit painful labor, the students enjoyed a good lunch, grilled eel on the rice and sashimi (raw meat) and soup of fresh carp, in a restaurant next to the culture pond.