Trip Report – Niharika Gogoi
How long were you in Nagoya and with which research group?
I was in Nagoya for 3 weeks with Prof. Jianqing Wang’s research group. My 1 months’s stay was cut short due to IEEE Sensors conference in Dallas, Texas.
What did you research while you were there?
My stay in NiTech was basically exchange of information within the subgroups of Project A. The 3 weeks was spent in presentation and discussion with Prof. Wang, Prof. Anzai, Prof. Yano and their students. The discussion evolved mainly around the limitation of piezoelectric elements for shoe application and how to overcome it.
What was the most interesting thing about your experience?
Many actually such as:
–Aged working force. I came across an 80+ year old man who was a full time employee. I came across many 60+ employees in NITech.
–3D visuals of food outside the restaurant
–Healthy and fit people
–Strict waste segregation, confusing at times
–Discipline queue to get into public transport
What was one thing that you found especially different?
Kindness of Japanese society and their polite body language. Language barrier is an issue – despite that, the effort put towards strangers or external students, who do not understand their native language, to be felt inclusive is really to be appreciated. No matter how worse their English is, they definitely put an effort to talk or interact in group outings as such.
What was one thing that you found very similar?
–Strict rules
–Bureaucracy
–Punctuality
–Language barrier
–Waste management
Where else did you travel in Japan?
Kyoto
What will you always remember?
Warmth, kindness and hospitality of the Japanese society, and definitely culinary delight!
