Life in Choji hut, 2023 Summer

At the entrance of Kamitani, which is the core region of Ashiu Forest, there is an unstaffed hut called "Choji hut". This hut is without electricity, water service, and gas, and with NO internet connection at all.

This hut is my favorite place in Ashiu, so I always try to build a plan which include several nights there.

Works

I usually measure the emission, concentration, and production of CH₄ together when I stay in this hut. This kind of experiment takes a lot of time as repetition increases, so it's good to stay closer to the field.

We were a group made up of five people, where the majority were non-Japanese speakers. English was our common language.

We had a green field note (every Japanese field worker has this and calls it "Yachou"), an analyzer, stainless steel tubes, a syringe, a nitrogen bag, etc...

My weak point is forgetting to bring something. I often do that in the field too. But when I realize that I forgot to bring something, a festival starts in my brain. I try to do the same experiment with alternative items, or rearrange the schedule so that consequently get the same outcome, etc... It's super satisfying when I manage to do all the experiments. On the other hand, my supervisor suffered severe trouble because of me several times, so I feel very sorry for him.

Other potential problems are steep slopes and mosquitoes. In Japan, every movement in the forest makes you tired, because of the steep slope. However, it's good news that mosquito does not have malaria.

Although working in the forest was hard, I experienced mind-brewing scenes several times a day.

When I was in the middle of a big wave of cicadas chorus.
When I saw the beautiful legs of deer climbing up the slope on the other side of a river.
When I found Liana as if it's shone by a spotlight, in a dark cedar forest.

I feel I'm a lucky researcher who can work in this beautiful forest.

Eating

We don't want instant foods in deep forest. It's the part of research to arrange fresh and tasty meals without a fridge.

We cooked as following.

We needed to bring a gas burner. I always bring one which is a keepsake of my mother. With this burner and its smell, I can recall vividly the moments at the mountain hut in Mt.Yatsugatake and North Japan Alps where I went with her.

Water, led from a nearby creak, was continuously flowing, very cold, but not drinkable. We needed to bring some water from the forest office. But it's good for cooling beer.

Pleasures in night at Choji hut

Starly sky and firefly ornamented the summer night at Choji hut.

We can enjoy stars because the sky is large around Choji hut, compared to that in the office and accommodation of the experimental forest.

Many shooting stars were seen. we couldn't remember the English word "shooting star". Is it "slipping star", or "flowing star"? No.
He, a guy from Bangladesh, expressed it "dead star" and was accused of lacking in taste. Oh, our professor came, let's ask him! He said, "Burning chips of the star". Yeah, he is a scientist.

Sleeping

Our bed was made of a couple of benches.

Quality of sleep was determined by whether we succeeded in letting mosquitoes out of the room or not. We sometimes suffered a lot.

But another night, lovely guests came. They were fireflies. I enjoyed seeing it flying and twincling until I fell asleep.

Good points in staying at Choji hut

I'll conclude this article by listing up the merits of staying at Choji hut

Let's start with a practical one. We can stay in the middle of the field. Most researchers use the forests around Choji hut, but the office and accommodation are on the other side of the experimental forest. If you stay at accommodation, driving takes 50 min in one-way, but with Choji hut it's 0 min. You now have more time to work, and less fatigue of driving.

Furthermore, this will decrease greenhouse gas emissions. 20km driving go and back from accommodation and Choji area uses approximately 2L of petrol, which means 4.7kg of CO₂ emission. Several trips from accommodation to the Choji area offset the annual carbon assimilation of the tree!

We also have another merit in feeling. I realized how long a night was, and how bright the moon was. We gazed at changes in the light of the sky around the sunset, and walked in the forest in the morning mist, instead of spending time idly surfing the internet.

I feel we come very far away from city life in Kyoto both spatially and temporally, although it's here is less than 50km from Kyoto, and humans lived a life like here less than 100 years ago.

Thank you for reading this article.
It's my pleasure if you are interested in Choji hut, and come here to research or in a guided tour.

(2023-Aug-2)