10 ก.ค. 2569
We had the opportunity to join an exchange program in Japan and work in Prof. Nishihara’s laboratory. This experience allowed us to learn about the Japanese working culture, how a research laboratory is organized and managed. We also had the chance to experience the Japanese lifestyle and environment.
During the first weeks, everything felt new, different, and exciting. We were welcomed with a small welcome party, given a tour of the laboratory, and started learning about our experiments. At first, we needed some time to adjust to the new environment and working style, but after getting used to it, everything became more enjoyable and fun. During the first week, we also experienced an earthquake for the second time in our lives. We were excited and quickly ran downstairs, following the earthquake safety instructions we had read before. However, we noticed that no one else came outside. We guessed that the local people were probably already used to earthquakes of this level. After realizing that everything was fine, we went back to our rooms and continued sleeping.
In Sendai, there are several beautiful temples and shrines, such as Zuihoden Temple and Osaki Hachimangu Shrine. Each place was very impressive and beautiful. Many temples in Japan are located on hills, so visitors have to walk up many stairs before reaching the main area. The walk was quite challenging and exhausting, but the beautiful scenery made it worthwhile. We also loved the cute charms and souvenirs sold at Japanese temples. They were very unique and adorable.
We also had the chance to visit the Sendai Aquarium with our Japanese friends. They were very kind to guide and took us there. We enjoyed watching the dolphin show, which was really cute and impressive. The aquarium had many kinds of fish, including a large aquarium tank that allowed us to see marine life from a wide view.
Besides that, we tried riding the Sendai Loop Bus, which gave us a chance to see different parts of the city. From the bus, we could enjoy the scenery of Sendai. The city has many green areas and mountains, making it feel peaceful and relaxing.
Regarding our research work, The professors and students in the laboratory always supported and took care of us during our stay. They kindly guided us and taught us how to use different instruments whenever we needed help. At first, we were still unfamiliar and a little awkward when preparing samples, but after practicing more, we became more confident and enjoyed the experience process.
We had the opportunity to use many characterization instruments by ourselves, such as SEM, SEM-EDS, XRD, and GC. This was a very valuable experience because some of these instruments were completely new to us, and we had never operated them independently before. Through this experience, we were able to improve our skills and gain more confidence in laboratory work.