The first month in Japan

The first month in Japan – 2017.

The morning of 25 September, I came to Nagasaki with 3 other guys from Vietnam. The first day in Japan was pretty "pressure" for us, a lot of things to do and remember: registeration, luggages, dormitory,... and I must say that I was overwhelmed. Luckily, there were many nice people in the lab who helped us at that time so that we did not get lost. Everything was new to us, culture, language, friends... Studying abroad is not easy, there are a lot of problems that you have to deal with. However, day by day, we got used to it. We started knowing the way around, going to the supermarkets, attending classes and learning Japanese. I am really grateful that Nagasaki University offered free Japanese courses for international students so that we can be able to communicate with Japanese people. The new student's orientation given by Dr. Fujioka and other professors was very helpful for us to know what we want and need to do. The lessons are also very well organized for the new students to know about the principle of water engineering, monitoring and treatment process. I want to express my gratitude to all professors, especially Dr. Fujioka for giving me the chance to study here and providing me with a lot of support. I will try my best to study and enjoy my time being here as well.

Minh Quang.

   Moriyama-sensei is giving lecture

   Tada-sensei

                                                           

Doing BOD Test with Itayama-sensei and classmates

 Park-san and ??? :)))

                                                     

My first experience in Japan - 2017 October

In April this year, I came Japan and joined in Water and Environmental Engineering Master Course at Nagasaki University. It’s really a big opportunity for me. I can get the chance of starting my life in a new country, experiencing Japanese culture and making foreign friends. Especially, under enthusiastic teaching of Japanese Professors, I obtain wide experience and specialist knowledge. As you know, language skills are very necessary for students. See its importance, there are many English classes in courses to help students interact effectively by English. In addition, Nagasaki University has offered free Japanese courses for international students. That give us the confidence to have basic conversation with native speakers. Moreover, University also have many special scholarship opportunities for foreign students where we can get financial assistance for life in Japan. If students want to find a part time job, supervisor always create the best condition and give full support. So many good things that I can not say all of them now. I feel delighted to have a chance to study in Japan so I will try and enjoy this time.

                                              Visited at Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum

                                       

                                        Nagasaki University in April - cherry blossom season 

March 2017

March again comes. Usually, March does not give us much feeling. But for now, March comes and brings us a plenty of memory. It brings us back to 2 years ago. This time - 2 years ago - we were busy to prepare for coming Japan, for starting a new page of our life, for enjoying a new trip of our youth. This time - 2 years ago - we were eager for being a Master student. We were also nervous for the first long trip that we could not meet our family everyday, for living in a country that was not our mother country. However, forgetting all the worry, we came to Japan with our belief, with love of family and friends and with the caring from all Prof. of this course.

We - 2 years ago

Just 2 photos among hundreds of our interesting photos

This time - 2 years later - we have done well our thesis defense. March comes and gives us a few last days to be a student, to be a residence of Nagasaki City. Although we have different plans after graduation, we still forever remember the time we were together.

From deep of our heart, we would like to express our deepest appreciation to all Prof. who contributed to our achievements. Without their help, without us today.

We - 2 years later

Last but not least, may thanks to our dear friends.

FIRST TIME EXPERIENCE IN THE WATER AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING MASTERS COURSE AT NAGASAKI UNIVERSITY

Joining a foreign University for advanced studies, breeds too much tension and anxiety amongst new students. This is attributed to the fear of the anticipated unknowns ranging from different cultures and norms, climate, weather, language barrier to lecturing and evaluation methods.  The feelings, as described above were part of my life while enrolling for the master course in Water and Environmental Engineering during the autumn entry period of October 2016. 

 I still clearly remember the friendly welcome and orientation I received from my tutor    (Nam Duhyeon) on my very first day, which eased a lot of my anxiety.  However, I must say I was still very overwhelmed by my new life. The new students’ orientation programme organised by Associate Prof. Fujioka Takahiro, was another life relieving event. It was during this programme that all teaching staff in this course made English presentations of their specific areas of research to new students. Many new and interesting research topics were presented which caught the attention of students, an attribute that increased the students’ motivation. The topics covered a wide range of different engineering specialities but all tailored towards improvement of the water environment. Unforgettable to mention was the use of English as the language for communication which eased a lot in my new students’ life.

From the second day, onwards, I started to meet a lot of nice people in our students’ common room, many of whom were senior students.  I was also offered with an opportunity to study Japanese intensively at the university for the first six months as an aid to smoothen my daily transactions with Japanese speaking communities. On top of this, I was able to attend my supervisor’s lectures which gave me a good insight on how membranes can used for efficient water treatment.   

I find much pride in being part of the water and environmental engineering course. The lecturers are quite polite, helpful but very efficient and diligent. Turning the various experiences which Iam learning in this course, I want to immensely contribute to the advancement of the water sector when I return to my country, Uganda.

Author: Katalo Ronald

Overseas visitors (May 2015 - September 2016)

Since Taka relocated from Australia to Japan in May 2016, many colleagues and professors have visited in Nagasaki to catch up with me. I wanted to thank them on the first anniversary of my relocation, but there's been quite a bit of delays. See below the list and their photos.

8th - 9th September 2016     Prof. Da-Ming Wang (National Taiwan University, Taiwan)

26th April 2016     Prof. Takeshi Matsuura (Ottawa University, Canada)

 

16th - 18th November 2015 

Prof. Mikel Duke & Prof. Stephen Gray (Victoria University, Australia)
Research collaboration meeting.

 

13th - 15th November 2015

Hokyong Shon (University of Technology, Sydney, Australia)
2nd NU membrane workshop

 

22th - 26th July 2015

Long Nghiem (University of Wollongong, Australia)
1st NU Membrane workshop.

A seminar from National Taiwan University

On 9th Sep, we had a guest from National Taiwan University - Prof. Da-Ming Wang. He is a professor of the Department of Chemical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taiwan. He is also a member of the R&D Center for Membrane Technology in Chung Yuan University, Taiwan and currently a visiting professor of the Center for Membrane and Film Technology in Kobe University, Japan. His main research interests include fabrication of polymeric membranes, membrane separation techniques, and biomaterials. He also serves as one of the editors of the Journal of Chemical Engineering of Japan and an editorial board member of the Journal of Taiwanese Institute of Chemical Engineers.

He presented an interesting topic about the mass transport during membrane formation. His research group has developed a method by using the FTIR microscopy to investigate the change in concentrations of polymer, solvent, and nonsolvent in the casting solution during membrane formation. Then, the composition path on the ternary phase diagram of polymer, solvent, and nonsolvent can be constructed. With the technique, they were able to obtain information such as the time that the solution composition in a position of the cast film needed to reach the phase separation region, what the solution composition was as phase separation occurred, and the time the solution stayed in the metastable region (in between binodal and spinodal).