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If you want to reach for the Japanese cliches then they don't come much bigger than Godzilla. And I'm typing this at the Japanese atomic energy laboratory at Tokai which has been the site of a monster rampage or two in the famous movies.

The complex is a couple of hours north of Tokyo and has been home to at least four nuclear reactors. Alongside inspiring the monster movies this laboratory has also seen the growth of a thriving research community.

Today you'll find scientists not just working on atomic power. They are also exploring everything from biology to cutting edge particle physics. And that's why we're here to look at the vital role the University of Warwick plays as it tries to understand that most mysterious of particles, the neutrino. You can read more about that here.

But away from the science what is it like for a research group from the UK trying to work with Japanese research groups at a Japanese laboratory?

Well as we've discovered getting about and even getting yourself fed can be problematic. Together with my cameraman Kevin we were turned away from one restaurant by the owner. He kept shouting "No pizza!" at us and refused to let us through the door.

But for the most part, as that other Japanese cliche goes, people have been polite and helpful as we've struggled in the heat and humidity. Working here is a different matter though. Talking to a number of British scientists, it's apparent the Japanese expect much of them and don't take kindly to delays and problems.

Conversely the Japanese don't always want to admit to embarrassing problems they have had with the massive physics machines they have here. Preserving honour being another Japanese cliche of course.

Although we met some very senior Japanese people here, who would stress how well things were going, we also spent time with "shop floor" physicists. These guys were much more candid about the technical difficulties this lab has faced. For the British scientists in our group this was the first time they had learned some of the details of the problems which are having a knock on effect on their own work.

It's likely the University of Warwick and the other international researchers here on the T2K experiment at JParc wouldn't have been here at all if it hadn't been for a lack of cash on the Japanese side of things when this latest neutrino experiment was being set up. They needed to look for overseas partners to cover this shortfall. These days of course there's even less money around for everyone so there will be much more of this global science going on.

And for all the problems and the difficulties it's hard not to be impressed by what everyone has achieved here.

When I cover massive science experiments, people always ask me what the benefits are in our day to day lives? Well the internet as we know it today was a by-product of the research at CERN in Geneva. Here in Japan this experiment could give us better technology for medical scanners and a generation of highly trained scientists who could go on to improve our lives in all sorts of ways.

But it's also science for its own sake. This is what humanity it all about. Answering the very biggest questions about why we are here and why our universe is the way it is.

And of course, the other thing this lab gave us is Godzilla.

UPDATE Kevin and I have just realised this. The chap who shooed us away from his restaurant wasn't saying "no pizza!" he was saying "no picture". Many food places here often have famously lifelike plastic food outside or picture menus. For helpless lost Westerners a lot of smiling, bowing and pointing will get you what you want. But apparently not at this Narita eating place!

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