Excursions

Daniel Ortega, visiting researcher at EIIRIS, September to October 2013

Japanese people are Japan’s main asset—Period.

This may sound like a cliché quoted in travelling guides like Lonely Planet or Time Out about any country in the world, but nothing describes the land of the sake better. To a foreigner coming from the other side of the world, inadvertently exposed to the inaccurate picture of this country offered by some global media after the March 11 earthquake in Tohoku, living in Japan could be a bit of a gamble. Sure? Sorry, but that must be somewhere else. As soon as you step out of the plane, you realise that beyond the traditional food and architecture, it is the Japanese people who make the difference before and after your stay. When you are here, you really learn the actual meaning of ganbaru: it is not just about one self, it also concerns the treatment you get as a visitor. Whatever you need and whenever you need it, they will always try their best in giving you a lift up despite the sometimes insurmountable language barriers between nationals of different countries. Of course, this does not prevent you to get equally amazed by those little details you do not usually see in Europe: the refreshing wet towels in every restaurant; the con sense of safety even in the most highly populated cities like Tokyo and Osaka.

No wonder that living and working in Japan, particularly at EIIRIS in Toyohashi, is one of the big stories I will tell my grandsons. Their unique character, along with their determined technology bid, makes of the EIIRIS not just a good place to work in but a place to really enjoy working in science.

Although in rōmaji , arigatōgozaimashita my friends.
Dr Daniel Ortega
IMDEA Nanociencia
Faraday 9, Ciudad Universitaria de Cantoblanco
28049 Madrid, Spain
http://www.nanoscience.imdea.org/

Internship in Penang, Malaysia

Yosuke Sakashita, Department of Electrical and Electronic Information Engineering

I was one of 21 students who travelled to Penang in Malaysia, for an internship from January to the end of February 2014 as part of our final year undergraduate program. We can choose to do internships at companies in Japan as well as overseas in countries including France, United States, and Malaysia.

The 21 students in this group decided to go to Malaysia because the people there are one of the best English speakers in Asia and recently the country has made remarkable economic progress.

I did my internship at Mini-Circuits technologies Malaysia Sdn Bhd—a company that has expertise in manufacturing RF (radio frequency), IF (intermediate frequency), and microwave signal processing products.

I worked four days a week for the two months on soldering and designing circuits. My boss and all of the other people at Mini-Circuits were very kind to me, so it was easy to ask them for advice.

But there were some things there were difficult for me to understand. For example, I was surprised that Malaysian workers prayed during working time. It doesn’t happen in Japan. Approximately 60% of Malaysians are Muslim and they have to pray a few times each day. That’s why it is common sense there. So you can see this everywhere in Malaysia.

The other members of the group from Toyohashi Tech worked at companies including Toray, Panasonic. Everyone seemed to have similar experiences as me.

On holidays, we attended lectures held by local workers at TUT-USM Penang, an overseas education base in Penang, and sometimes went sightseeing. I learnt a lot about foreign culture from this internship. It will be useful experience for my life.