First Few Days

May 13, 2018

The rainy weather was an unexpectedly warm welcome to the country and though our delayed flight may have taken from us time we could have used wandering around the city, we ended up arriving to cool and quiet streets. It was no doubt that even when everybody was asleep, the surroundings still buzzed life and excitement.

Though it was actually funny to see twenty students with their luggages rolling around the cities as the wheels made an endless parade of noise, it was also cool to be rushing towards the hotel because it was already 10 pm. We were originally supposed to arrive at 7 but we ended up arriving at around 9 pm. The flight may have stolen some time from us but I did steal beautiful sights I shall be returning to in the next few days and it was unexpectedly fortunate that the city was quiet yet so alive! And not to mention safe.

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Pictures of Japan’s Public Transportation

May 14, 2018

Usually, walking to the train station would be an exhausting trial of patience and endurance due to the heat and all the cars polluting the streets. But this 6 30 AM walk didn’t leave you haggard and sweating all over because of the calming morning sunlight as well as the properly installed pavements. The pavements were painted with cross walk signages you can clearly distinguish, even in the most trivial of crosswalks but the idea is that everyone follows an orderly path. Sights weren’t difficult to have them captivate you during your walk but we were running after a 7 30 train that will most definitely be there on time.

Throughout the walk, one can never avoid those usually annoying power lines above that make the scenery look a lot more sloppy but in Japan, even though unintendedly, they make it look like its some part of an aesthetic package. In addition to this were men who seemed to always carry their suitcase with their right hand as they unconsciously copied how the person in front of them walked.

Arriving, I had not anticipated how much more we needed to walk because all we needed to do was take a little turn and there we have this hidden institution. And as we waited outside, batches and batches of about 8 males for every female entered the premises. And to think, these second year undergrads were about my age. And even later during our PE class, a student named Mau said she was just sixteen years old.

The actual classroom was unexpectedly a rowdy one with a few boys who looked as if they were in fact assigned to be the loud ones in class. But I couldn’t actually tell if they were productive comments because they all spoke in such strong Nihonggo. Even in tennis with the girls, I spent half the time motioning whether it was my turn to serve or I had to give it to the person I switched with in the court. Despite this, the student that led us to the dressing room complimented me and said that I “play tennis well” even though I’ve only actually played tennis in the wii.

Picture of NIT AKASHI

May 16, 2018

“You’d be a good manager.” Man I don’t know how else I’m supposed to take it from someone who has been working as a highly respected member of the Caterpillar company in Japan for around 30 years. Imagine how many people he has met and how many personalities he has juggled with in his work as collaborating with others is a huge part of the job. Imagine all of his acquired experience and then this guy says this to me after I ask a question about how they deal with demand and supply.

It’s not just some comment from some guy because this is a Japanese company. The Japanese race is known for manufacturing quality materials. It would be dreamlike to work in one, and even lucky to be able to ask the higher ups of these companies about how they manage things.

As normally as I’d like to take it, I can only think that that exchange would be one of the most gratifying moments here out of all the unique memories. It has left in me a pushing factor that I will use throughout my academic life.

After the Caterpillar Visit in Japan