Trip Report – Andreas Hegendörfer

How long were you in Nagoya and with which research group?
I was in Nagoya for 2 months in Prof. Kakimoto’s group.

 

What did you research while you were there?
One objective in developing a piezoelectric energy harvester is to increase its operating bandwidth. During my stay at NITech, I performed some simulations of different harvester configurations to ultimately achieve a wider bandwidth leading to higher efficiency of such devices.

 

What was the most interesting thing about your experience?
Many things were very interesting. Probably the biggest difference I encountered was the culture. Therefore, getting to know the Japanese culture was the most interesting experience.

 

What was one thing that you found especially different?
Japanese food is very different from Western food. In Japan, there are some restaurants that serve only raw food… I think eating raw horse meat is especially different considering I’m used to Western style cooking where everything is heated.

 

Where else did you travel in Japan?
We IRTG colleagues, including the Japanese colleagues, have traveled a lot. The most beautiful places I visited were Miyajima, a wonderful island next to Hiroshima, and Tokyo – the largest metropolis in the world!

 

What will you always remember?
My stay in Japan was a really great experience that I will never forget. A Japanese colleague who is also a judo coach took me to a judo training session. I think practicing judo with a Japanese judo group is one of the experiences I will never forget in my life.

I also think that my colleagues and I had a lot of fun overall. We did a lot together, including trips and leisure activities. Internal jokes about „piezoelectric eels“ and „highway robbery“ also emerged, which I will not forget as well.