Japan

I recently returned from a week business trip to Japan. The 2009 Japanese World Dinosaur Expo located just outside of Tokyo, borrowed several dinosaur specimens from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and I was sent to help with the unloading and installing of the borrowed specimens. The expo was enormous-the largest dinosaur exhibition in the world. It was quite spectacular. I love visiting Japan. Japan is exceptionally clean and the Japanese are very considerate, polite and accommodating. From the first day we were there to the last, we had an interpreter that translated for us and helped us. The only drawback to going to Japan is the flight. Sitting in an airplane chair for 13 1/2 to 14 hours one way makes for a aching hind end and a lot of sleep deprivation. I was lucky enough on my return trip to have a guy from first class come back to my seat row and ask me if he could trade me seats so that he could sit by his family in my row. At first I thought it was a joke and it wasn't until we actually took off that I believed it was real. First class is so different from coach and I never realized how much different until experiencing it for my self. From the first minute you are wined and dined. The chair your in has at least 5 different controls that recline (until you are almost horizontal), work the lumbar region in two different areas, and extend and lift the footstool. You have your own large flat screen monitor with lots of games, movies and tv shows. It made the long trip back to the States so much easier but my butt still hurt. I still can't imagine paying the exorbitant amount of money that flying first class requires though. It was a memorable experience.

The poster for the Japanese Dinosaur World Expo 2009 and me with the mascot of the expo.



Earl Douglas, the founder of the Carnegie Quarry (Dinosaur National Monument) and I hanging out in Japan. On the right, my favorite dinosaurs, the ankylosaurs.



One of the big exhibits was a dinosaur 'mummy'. On the left is the skin covered arm and on the right, a fine pattern of skin around the arm pit of the dinosaur, Edmontosaurus.



Skin around the base of the tail showing medium-sized hexagonal scales. On the right is a vertebra from the back of Argentinosaurus (vert is about 6 feet tall).

The other big draws to this expo were the skeletons of Mamenchisaurus (left) and Spinosaurus (right). Mamenchisaurus is from China and has a disproportinately long neck. This specimen was over 100 feet long. Spinosaurus is not known from a lot of fossil material but the fossils they have for Spinosaurus were very large. This reconstruction is based on those remains and creates a skeleton that is 15 feet longer than the largest Tyrannosaurus skeleton.

It wasn't all work-I did get to eat a lot of sushi and sushimi. Here I am with a nice plate of various forms of sushi. I watched as they caught a fish out of the fish tank behind the counter and made the sushi right in front of us. It was very fresh. With me during my week in Japan was Azusa, a japanese interpreter. Here we are standing in front of the life-size model of Spinosaurus.



Matt Lamanna, Carnegie Museum of Natural History paleontologist extraordinaire, was one of the main collaborators for the dinosaur expo. I had to take this picture of him standing next to himself while a video of him was showing. On the right, sometimes he got too serious and I had to lighten the mood a bit.

A picture of me, Ken Carpenter and Matt Lamanna at the grand opening ceremony. Ken is a world renowned paleontologis and good friend of mine.