Five students and one accompanying teacher from Srinakharinwirot University Ongkharak School arrived at Naha Airport.
Welcome to Okinawa!!
In the morning, a welcome ceremony was held at Okinawa Prefectural Kyuyo High School, where students enjoyed self-introduction activities.
At lunchtime, we had a Welcome BBQ at Kyuyo High School, where Kyuyo and Thai students cooked grilled meat and yakisoba together.
In the afternoon, students collected ants on the Kyuyo campus and at a nearby city park.
Today, the training program at OIST began.
In the morning, we attended a science lecture by Dr. Aysen and toured the OIST research buildings. Dr. Aysen’s lecture was very clear and enjoyable.
In the afternoon, Dr. Mayuko Suwabe, a researcher from OIST’s Environmental Science and Informatics Section, gave a lecture on ants, followed by identification of the ants collected yesterday.
In the evening, everyone enjoyed cultural exchange activities by cooking curry rice, playing a watermelon-splitting game, and setting off fireworks.
In the morning, we conducted ant sampling in Okinawa’s Yanbaru forest around Mt. Nago, exploring various locations from the entrance to the deeper areas. We were excited to see what kinds of ants we could find.
In the afternoon, we visited the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in Motobu to learn about marine organisms that inhabit subtropical regions.
After dinner, we had a lecture at the seminar house on statistical analysis using the software “R.” Discussions focused on analytical methods required for community analysis, and the lively debate continued late into the night.
Today, we worked on identifying the ants collected around Kyuyo High School, Tobaru Park, and Mt. Nago. Once again, we received support from researchers in OIST’s Environmental Science and Informatics Section.
In the latter half of the day, we attended a lecture and live demonstration on specimen preparation, aiming to improve our mounting skills.
In the evening, another lecture on community analysis was held at the seminar house, where discussions once again became lively and enthusiastic.
Today was a day dedicated to cultural exchange, focusing on Okinawa’s local culture and history.
In the morning, we visited the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum for peace studies.
In the afternoon, we explored Shuri Castle and the Okinawa Prefectural Museum to learn about Okinawa’s history. After the museum visit, we collected ants at Shintoshin Park located behind the museum and on the campus of Okinawa Prefectural Naha Kokusai High School.
In the evening, we enjoyed tacos rice on the Chatan coast while watching fireworks.
Today was a refresh day, and we visited the American Village in Chatan.
We had planned for everyone to enjoy the beautiful subtropical sea and sunshine, but it was too hot to play on the beach.
Today, we returned to OIST once again.
In the morning, Dr. Rio Mizuno from OIST’s Biodiversity and Biocomplexity Unit gave a lecture on ants. Since Dr. Mizuno also conducted ant research in Thailand during his graduate studies, he has extensive knowledge of Thai ants and kindly assisted us in identifying specimens collected in Thailand last year.
In the afternoon, it was finally time for the closing session, where each participant received a certificate of completion.
Today was the final day, and we gave farewell greetings at the seminar house.
Next, in September at Ant Link in Thailand ’25, our Kyuyo High School members will visit Ongkharak School in Thailand.