Day 10: Picture perfect

Saturday March 5th, 2011 by Giel Op 't Veld

The last official day of our program in Tokyo was again a full day of technical excursions. Most alarm clocks went off before 6, but some coffee and a huge amount of toasts brought back at least some smiles. Still smiling, we left on schedule, but the faces quickly turned when today’s Day Committee (I swear, it’s not the author of this article. No, really) found out that 8.38 actually needed to be 9.38. A small miscommunication over e-mail caused us to end up in Suzukakedai one hour early. You must have heared about Suzukakedai before, it’s that small town famous for having absolutely nothing to do…

Nevertheless, we enjoyed waiting in the morning sun untill some students from Tokyo University of Technology came to pick us up. This particular campus featured more research than student activities, which is why we were surprised that everything was so quiet. Unfortunately, our contact prof. Hiroshi Iwai was absent, but we still received a warm welcome in his lab. Our guide showed us the clean rooms and activities in the field of nano-electronics. Since we know all about the process of creating chips, a good discussion quickly arose.
Ironically, the other lab tour featured research we knew nothing about: Earthquake analysis and prevention. Since we hardly have any earthquakes in the Netherlands, we were introduced to the impact they have on Japanese engineering and building policies. Some of us were even invited to an earthquake simulator, shocking!

In the afternoon, we visited the Canon Headquarters. Our jaws almost dropped to the floor when we saw the luxurious meeting rooms, the incredible buildings and the large gardens cut to perfection. We enjoyed strolling around the Canon showroom, where we got the chance to look in the past as well as the latest cutting edge technology. Afterwards, we had a discussion with top engineers and CTO of the Imaging Products Operations. Our contact spoke perfect English and acted as an interpreter during the discussion. Even though he was no engineer, which introduced an extra barrier, the discussion went very smoothly and lasted for more than 1,5 hours!

Tomorrow is the last day in Tokyo, which everyone can spend the way they like it. Some will be making a big trip to Nikko, others to Yokohama or the Imperial Gardens in downtown Tokyo. These are hard choices, since our busy schedule keeps increasing our desire for sleeping in. There is more than enough to see, but time is running out. Next up: Nagoya.