69 days in NIG equals 10 weeks of hard work and fun. I worked as a summer intern in Dr Takano's Lab, Division of Population Genetics. Under Takano Sensei's guidance I dwelled through the mysteries of 'Biological Robustness', an important biological phenomenon. The lab had a very welcome environment encouraging you to think for yourself, work at your own pace, convenience, with every member of the lab eager to help you whenever you need them. I am most grateful to my Sensei who was there to help me when I was hospitalized, to encourage me when I was not getting results, to worry about me as a father when I wanted to climb Mt Fuji and to tell me wonderful stories about Mishima and Japan whenever we had a chat. At NIG, other than Lab work the interns are encouraged to attend various Journal clubs and Japanese classes. In the journal clubs members discuss interesting papers for the benefit of the listeners. Japanese classes helped us in our day to day activities in Japan. Our teacher Miyayouchi Sensei used to sweeten our lessons with Japanese delicacies. Apart from this we were also given the opportunity to attend world conferences to broaden our reach to current sciences. We were provided the best accommodation as well as facilities. We were also given the opportunity to visit other labs and interact with professors and learn about their work from them. On the whole NIG internship programme gave us a platform to meet and work with renowned scientists, interact with fellow interns of other nations and be a part of Japanese culture and way of life. My 69 days in NIG have reinforced my dream to be a researcher, hopefully at par the people I met here.  |
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Jyothi V Nair