Harvesting mozuku

Umi-budo don is a traditional Okinawan dish prepared with the umi-budo seaweed. The seaweed is served over rice with sea urchin, salmon roe and sanbaisu sauce, made from equal parts soy sauce, vinegar, and mirin.  

The Challengers get a taste of Okinawa on a trip to Ocean Expo Park.

The welcome ceremony for OIST’s 2015 PhD students ended with a performance by local dance group, Shimabukuro Ryukyu Dance School, including OIST’s Ami Chinen. For the incoming students, this was one of the very first exposures to Okinawan traditional culture.

Researchers from the Marine Genomics Unit stand with co-authors from the Onna Fisheries Cooperative on Nabee Beach in Okinawa. Together, the team collected and decoded the genome of ito-mozuku (Nemacystus decipiens), the popular Japanese brown seaweed.

Food collected by the four branches and the department of the Bank of Okinawa for the OIST food drive. This image appeared in the news article: "Local business teams up with OIST to raise donations for food drive".