Akio Kawasaki

Impression of the Visit

This visit was very fruitful. I accomplished what I planed to do, and I obtained a variety of information.

Campuses of the two universities were quite different from that of the University of Tokyo. At UC Berkeley, buildings were Western style and the lawn was maintained well. It was spacious and like a park. Stanford University had more varieties of buildings. The size of the campus was larger than that of UC Berkeley. It was impressive that most buildings were three stories high, not only the campus was vast. There are various kinds of people in the campus, but it was impressive that the number of Asian people was large.

At the individual visits, all professors welcomed me. Especially, it was impressive that professors at UC Berkeley, whom I met in the first half when I didn’t get accustomed to the visit, explained their experiments to me with a great enthusiasm. Even if I visit their laboratories with the name of this program making an appointment in advance, it was even surprising to me that eminent professors welcome a junior student.

I think I was able to know what the Department of Physics is like at the universities. I obtained more information on the entrance exam of the graduate schools than I expected. The increase of the chance to talk with Japanese living there by the change of the original schedule enabled me to get characteristics of the two universities from Japanese point of view.

However, there are something that I regret. One is that I didn’t have much time to communicate with undergraduate students at the universities. There were some unavoidable reason as for Stanford University, but it would have been better to have more time for it. Also, although I am satisfied with the individual visits because I enjoyed it very much, I think it was a failure that I only visited laboratories of experimental particle physics. As I am not only interested in particle physics, I should have planned to meet professors majoring in other areas or join others’ visit.

As a whole, however, it was excellent visit. Summarizing in one word, it was fun.

Tomohiro Fujita

To make my article beneficial to readers I would like to write seven words of wisdom which I was taught in this program instead of my personal impressions.

1. 『Today‟s background is tomorrow's observed object』
   By Dr. Ichimura in LBL.
2. 『We don't know what we don't know』
   By Mr. Takahashi in U.C. Berkeley.
3. 『At first finish designing outside of the building』
   By Dr. Nakajima in LBL
4. 『Advertising is necessary even if you invite a tape recorder.』
   By Dr. Suzuki in LBL
5. 『Scientists don‟t have national border』
   By Prof. Yamamoto in Stanford
6. 『It is happy that you have time to study textbook』
   By Prof. Yamaguchi in Stanford
7. 『Fantastic‼』
   By Prof. Adrian in U.C. Berkeley and me!

Haruki Watanabe

I was convinced that it is necessary to go abroad for at least one year someday in order to understand how the education in the University of Tokyo is special and strange from other university.

• students earnest attitude toward learning
• intensely competition not only of professors but also of students
• diverseness of students witch far beyond my expectation
• vigorous participation and discussions

all these things simulated me a lot.

Sho Nakosai

This program provided me with precious experiences. I could get much knowledge, which I never get on the internet, through visiting universities and institutes in the US and communications with local people.

I start with the difference between universities in Japan and the US. First, the environment in the US is extremely good because there are lots of massive facilities based on rich resource. One department has 3 or more building, so people have large space and full laboratory equipments. Such space make it easier to improve quality of experiments. For example, in the laboratory where I visit vacuum pump was set in next room owing to eliminate vibration, which is crucial problem to get ultra-cold state. Secondly, there is a blossoming of interaction between researchers. They have many collaborative projects. People in lab. have their own theme separately and personal level connections between each other. I saw a professor and a postdoc. discussing recent result of their study. It impressed me that they were talking on an equal footing. I think these enriched environment and active exchange attract researchers to the US. Unfortunately, in Japan there are no such circumstance and interaction. Now our challenge is “what can we do as affairs now stand?” Because we could view our circumstance objectively, we will be able to make a breakthrough.

Then I mention universities where we visit. UC Berkeley. The striking personality of UCB is diversity. Students in UCB are various; Caucasian, African American, Asian, Hispanic and so on, and they have multiple background. They are proud of their diversity and free school environment (they call UCB Cal). Their sincere love for Cal unites them tightly. We Todai students were surprised by the strength of love because we never have had such love for our Todai.

Next, Stanford University. I felt calm atmosphere here, and at a time I was received deep impression from innovative building such as JAMES H. CLARK CENTER and ENVIRONMENT & ENERGY BUILDING. They aimed for fusion of fields of study and they removed walls in the buildings. The driving power to realize ideal environments make America more America.

Taken as a whole, this program includes every element for students to have all kinds of experiences. Interviews with top-level researchers highly motivate us, and remind us about scarce skills. Those provided us good chance to use English, which is vital when we are active in the world. This program drove my desire to study abroad and what I got in this program will help me then.

At last, I thank all who were concerned with this program; the School of Science the University of Tokyo, staffs and students in UC Berkeley and Stanford Univ., 9 members of this program, and especially Gosho-san in International Liaison Office.

Mei Sasaki

ESSVAP is an exciting program that gives you an opportunity to visit foreign universities and meet people that you usually never get to meet when you are only an undergraduate. You are required to take appointments by yourself, and meet researchers and talk with them about your field of interest. It‟s challenging, but fun! After participating in this program, I feel more confident, and I will probably be less nervous next time I have a discussion with foreign researchers. The fact few people seem to realize is that ESSVAP is a great way to get to know would-be scientists in different fields. You get to know different methods adopted in different scientific fields, you can have discussions with students in other departments – ESSVAP is a truly stimulating program I wil

Ko Arimatsu

I am deeply grateful to Miss Gosho, and the other stuffs of the International Liaison Office.

And I also truly want to thank all members of this program. I was very lucky and am truly proud of joining this program as a member of this group.

Considering my luckiness, I was very fortunate to join this program as a third year undergraduate student. I hope I will put my fruitful experience during this program to use in my future works as a student and as a researcher.

Korenobu Matsuzaki

I was able to experience various new things through this program. Sending e-mails to prominent professors overseas, visiting their laboratories, and having a discussion with American university students I was able to learn a lot from these experiences. Another thing that was beneficial to me is that I had an opportunity to get acquainted with bright students in other departments of the University of Tokyo, with whom I usually don't have any contact. I would like to thank the School of Science for giving me an occasion of this kind, and I will henceforth do my best to take full advantage of these experiences in pursuing my research.

Ryoma Matsui

This time, I visited UC Berkeley and Stanford University through ESSVAP. These days it is said that the United States is the center of Life Sciences and a lot of cutting-edge researches are being done in American universities. Both universities we visited are at a quite high level in terms of their researches. I wanted to directly know and see the differences of research environment and educational environment between Tokyo university and American universities. That‟s why, I decided to join this program.

First thing I noticed was their large campuses. They have vast lawns and I was amazed at wild animals, including squirrels, running around on campus. Furthermore, there were many doors that people in wheel chairs can open only by pushing a button, so I had an impression that these universities are accessible to wheelchairs. As for laboratories at both universities, I couldn‟t find big differences in the quality of instruments and facilities from Tokyo University. However, aisles between desks were wider in American labs than Japanese labs.

I think the best experience for me on this visit was the time of Individual Visit, during which we could visit any laboratories we wanted to visit. I could visit 3 labs at UCB and 2 labs at Stanford University respectively. Professors, postdocs, and students at every laboratory welcomed me and I could learn and know lots of things from them. Through the conversations at each laboratory, I noticed some advantageous systems. For example, each lab accommodates only a few graduate students, so individual students can frequently have the opportunities to discuss with their bosses. In my opinion, it is such meticulous trainings that nurture and produce a lot of competent scientists in the United States. In addition, it is general in the US that scientists obtain independent positions from the position of assistant professor and this system would promote young scientists to do researches in which they can make the most of their potentials. I should also mention the high fluidity of researchers and students between universities. In the US, it is common to change their universities when they become graduate students from under graduates, or when they become postdocs from graduate students. Therefore, researchers with a wide variety of backgrounds were getting together in a laboratory. Such diversity might lead to come up with new ideas through discussions among diversified members in a laboratory.

I learned a lot of things through the entire visit of this time. What I learned ranges from the research environment and educational situation in the U.S. to the American culture itself. For me, who has never been abroad before, this journey was quite meaningful. I cannot help but express my cordial gratitude to the Faculty of Science for giving us this precious opportunity.

Dong Kang

U.S. assumes a special status in the current world in a lot of senses: Thanks to its commingling culture, America created prosperity not surmounted by others; due to the very same reason, a great many of social problems including racial frictions has their deep roots. When I flied to America this time, I gain all kinds of impressions-some are described as follows-in a journey both academically and casually as a Chinese student studying in Japan.

1. Magnificent College Education
   Without any doubt does the American way of College Education surpass that of Japan. If Japan is still complying to the rule of „Teaching Is First‟ under the traditional oriental influence, US is always consistent with its spirits of freedom, the welcome attitude towards the challenge to authority and the pedagogue of the „Knowledge‟ which leads to other knowledge, in other words the formation of deliberation circle. It is of certain that to some extent the similar thing is being conducted in U of Tokyo in Japan too, whereas as for both scale and serious U of Tokyo falls behind. As a result, the American students at least are able to obtain a strong sense of attainment through their studies, and be equipped with fundamental requirement to learn by themselves. In Japan, as the professing style is more conservative since professors only teach „pure knowledge‟, the accomplishment of the assimilation relies entirely on the personal endeavors and their gifts. This conduces to two extremes: „the able student‟ and „the dilettantes‟. „The able students‟ are way above the average of American students while on the other hand, „the dilettantes‟ are solely dabblers of their studies, and can only resort to the fame of U of Tokyo as their magic card during job hunting and so forth.( to see additional information please refer to the Education& Current State)
2. A Wobbling Social Foundation
   When America is honoring its whole gamut of races, it is simultaneously being marred by the same thing. For the reason that America, different from China or Japan, has only been established for over 200 years, it is impossible for it to absorb such many races in a very short notice. Therefore, when it is advertising its equality, the problems such as iniquity and differentiation are ingrained. For instance, from Universities to Government, superior jobs are by and large taken up by white people, and as to the two schools I visited, I can seldom recognize a black American Professor. Of course this issue arouses so many other possibilities that cannot be argued adequately in one sentence, but the truth is that the reality is somewhere below my expectation about American Spirits. Moreover, since many of the American people cannot digest the multi-culture, many sections-for white, for black, Japan Town, China Town-are founded to function as a placebo of their own mother culture or country, and it is worth noticing that in US, places like Japan Town has more to do with nostalgia than commerce.
3. Overcoming the Cultural Obstacles
   It is difficult to find one‟s own stance for America is not a single-culture country. I absolutely felt the same thing when I went there this time. Compared to 4 years ago when I first came to Japan, More time and work must be spared to deal with various cultures. Just as one U of Tokyo OB professor currently in LBL said, the most complicated thing to surpass is not language but culture. How to cope with an unaccommodating staff, how to overcome the reluctance of tipping, and how to devour the American junk food are all things that seem infinitesimal but the encounter with the embodiment of culture in reality. To what degree people can overcome all of these obstacles depends on their will. But in my opinion, if one can be at ease in America, he will be out of question in anywhere else in the world, which is also a form of growth.
4. The Things Acquired During The Journey
   The most incredible thing about this journey is that I could go to America with people from other disciplines in an academic way. It is indubitable that I am lucky enough to see America as what it is, but what is more, I can experience US in such a thorough way and in such a good timing, that I can probably not feel the same thing the same way ever again. Also, it is important for me to be finally able to have conversations with people from department of physics considering the fact we could hardly speak anything at the beginning. The path to sage is not a single way, and it is not a good excuse to abandon other knowledge like maths just because I am major in biochemistry. For the reasons above, I think this journey will be my new basis on which I can build my future both intellectually and mentally.

Du Ngoc Hien

Over all, in American universities, time spent on individual education is much more than that in universities in Japan. For examples, in addition to lecture, most of the classes have discussion time when graduate students help lower grade students to revise what have been done in lecture. The number of students in discussion time is usually small, from 5-10 people. Moreover, professors have the so-called “office hour” when students can freely come to the professor's office and personally ask questions about the lecture. Most students use this time effectively to enrich their knowledge.

The movement of students or postdoctoral fellows in America is more intensive than that in Japan. Most people spend 4-5 years in one lab then move to another lab either in the same university or in a different university. Therefore, the network between labs is very large and people can easily exchange things like experimental reagents or animals.

At the end, I want to thank The University of Tokyo, School of Science to offer me this wonderful opportunity. I found that my view has broadened after joining this program and my desire to be a scientist has become stronger than ever.

We would like to convey our special thanks to Prof. Tai Hasegawa, Prof. Oka, Prof. Ahn, Prof. Ohno, Prof. Kawasaki, Prof. Karasaki, Ms. Jennie Akune, Prof. Nishino and Prof. Yamamoto for the arrangements and having us at their laboratories/office in UC Berkerley and Stanford University this time.

Akio Kawasaki

I am grateful to people at the Faculty of Science who planned this program and Ms. Gosho, who lead us during the visit. Especially, Ms. Gosho flexibly accepted my change and addition of schedule and contributed to the success of the individual visits.

Tomohiro Fujita

In this program I could gain lots of valuable experience thanks to many people. Especially, I would like to express my thanks to following people.

Lisa, I'm so sorry that I was too sleepy to speak vigorously. But I enjoyed talking with you. Thanks a lot. Dr. Nakajima, Dr. Ichimura, Mr. Takahashi and Dr. Suzuki, I really appreciate your support and consideration. I am looking forward to meeting you again.

The secretary of Prof. Linde, Thank you very much. Thanks to you, I could listen to good advisers. Mr. Noorbala Mahdiyar, your lecture was great. I would like to be as competent as you. And I also would like to say thank you to the graduate student in the room. Without your help it would have been difficult for us to communicate. But I was slightly fed up with your joke. On the other hand, Mr. Yaida, your jokes were excellent. Perhaps I might use yours if I had a chance. Furthermore, your talk was excellent ,too. I appreciate it. And, Prof. Yamaguchi, your warning doesn‟t work for me. I still think to become a theorist in the Cosmology field. Your advices were pretty practical and useful. Now, I will stand firm as long as possible.

Finally, I would like to finish my article with appreciative words for Ms. Gosho. Thank you for conducting the ESSVAP. Thank you for taking care of us. Thank you for all your trouble. I and my fellows deeply appreciate it. THANK YOU‼

Haruki Watanabe

Delicious breakfast, deluxe bed and excellent Asian cuisine which we weren‟t able to eat all… Thanks to all the effort by Ms. Gosho to find good hotel and to disccount, we had wonderful ten days in America which was far beyond our expectation. It couldn‟t be better!! Thank you so much!

Mei Sakaki

I am grateful for being chosen to participate in ESSVAP. (I hope this program continues for a long time. I would like future students in the school of science to learn a lot from this program as I did.)

I would like to thank Ms. Gosho for conducting a great visit to the western coast.

I would like to thank my ESSVAP friends for making this visit a very exciting one.

I know I will always be proud to have taken part in this program. Thank you so much.

Korenobu Matsusaki

I wish to express my deepest appreciation to Ms. Gosho and other staff members at the international liaison office, who booked the airplane and the hotel, arranged the schedule for the group visits, and did many other things for us. Without their effort, we couldn't have had such a great experience.

Dong Kang

Thanks to Ms Gosho, we can have so many incredible experiences in US and she always looked out for us in almost every way. I especially want to thank her because although America is not so convenient as Japan, I did lost my direction solely because of Ms Gosho. I hereby want to pay my tribute to Ms Gosho and other staff in the international liaison office, professors from Science faculty and anyone who made this trip possible and wonderful for us.

Du Ngoc Hien

For Ms. Gosho

Gosho, thank you very much for your excellent support.

Sho Nakosai

To Gosho-san, I greatly appreciate your efforts to organize this visit. We had precious time in the US thanks to you. This experience will help us when we will study abroad in the future. I admire sincerely the fact that this program includes all kind of preparation for future study. Finally, your tough energy shone in every scene, especially when you climbed on the wall to take photos

Date	Day	Activities
3.4	Wed.	AM 10:15 Arrive at San Francisco Int' l Airport 12:30 Arrive at Hotel (by BART) PM 13:30 Leave Hotel for UCB (by BART) 15:00 Dormitory Tour 2610 Channing Way at the Resident&Student Services Programs Building(Map:E/F-5) 13:30 Meeting with UCB students Human Rights Center 460 Stephens Hall 18:30 *Dinner together (with UCB students) Great China Restaurant in Berkeley
3.5	Thur.	AM 9:00 Leave Hotel for UCB (by BART) 10:00 Campus Tour-(90+30 minutes) leave from Visitor Center, 101 University Hall, 2200 University Ave, located at the corner of University Avenue and Oxford Street PM 13:30-14:00 Science Lab Visit (1) Astronomy Lab (Prof. Geoffrey Bower) 601 Campbell Hall 16:00 Individual visit to the laboratories (1)
3.6	Fri.	AM 8:00 Leave Hotel for UCB (by BART) 9:00 Department of Physics LeConte Hall (West Entrance) Prof. Adrian Lee, Prof. Ohno 10:10-12:00 Department of Nuclear Engineering GONERI Office Prof. Ahn, Prof. Kawasaki Prof. Karasaki (from LBL) 12:00 Pizza Lunch with Prof. Ahn, Prof. Kawasaki, Prof. Karasaki, Prof. Ohno PM 14:00-18:00 Individual visit to the laboratories (2) 19:00 *Dinner together with Prof. Hasegawa & UT graduates
3.7	Sat.	AM 9:00 Leave Hotel for Golden Gate Park (by BART) 10:00-14:00 Visit California Academy of Sciences
3.8	Sun.	Free Day (Downtown San Francisco)
3.9	Mon.	AM 8:00 Leave Hotel for UCB (by BART) 12:00 Arrive at Hotel PM 14:00-15:30 Visiting Prof. Yoshihisa Yamamoto's laboratory (Applied Physics) Ginzton Lab. 16:00 Individual visit to the laboratories (3)
3.10	Tue.	AM 10:00 Hoover Tower 11:00 Campus Tour (1 hour tour) Depart from the front steps of Memorial Auditorium 12:00 Lunch with Prof. Hasegawa PM PM 13:30-14:30 Science Lab Visi (2) Nishino Laboratory 15:00 Individual visit to the laboratories (4)
3.11	Wed.	AM 9:00 Rodan Sculpture Garden 10:00 Visiting Clark Center-1 hour tour Meet at Clark Center Seminar Room S363 (3rd floor south, through Peet’s Coffee) *Dinner together
3.12	Thur.	AM 9:00 Leave Hotel for San Francisco Int'l Airport 13:15 Depart for Narita
3.13	Fri.	PM 16:25 Arrive at Narita Int’l Airport