SUITA, Osaka Pref. -- Both as an explorer and an anthropologist, Naomichi Ishige has visited more than 100 countries since his days as a Kyoto University student.

Although he could not understand many of the local languages, he discovered a foolproof way of communicating -- eat whatever was offered.

"By doing so, I was accepted by the local people. I sometimes had to eat everything, even if it was hard to do from a hygiene point of view, such as the blood of a live pig," said Ishige, 64, who is now director general of the National Museum of Ethnology.