“Smart Work Week” with Netherlands

 Tohoku University’s School of Engineering will hold another interesting event on Wednesday January 22. This event became possible thanks to the cooperation of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The lecture will be on the theme of “Smart Networks and Reconstructing the Tohoku Area” at Center Hall on Aobayama Campus (where Prof. Koichi Tanaka will give another lecture on Jan 29).
 Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, is called one of the world's Smart cities. The definition of smart city is a place where people can live comfortably thanks to a smoothly operating ICT infrastructure. The targeted subjects of infrastructure include not only hardware like transportation systems and the water supply, but also software for education, medical services and disaster prevention. The Netherlands has solved various infrastructure problems with a unique method called the “Dutch Approach.”
 On the day of the event, panelists will participate from many notable companies in the Netherlands such as Amsterdam Smart City, DNV KEMA, Green it, Phillips, Quby and so on. The Tohoku area is still far from completing reconstruction, so the talk by panelists from the Netherlands will include many good and useful clues and hints for a better Tohoku.
 The event will be held both in Japanese and English, so international students can enjoy the talk for sure. You can take the information back home, and apply it to your own country!

Photo exhibition for recovery assist

 When the Great East Japan Earthquake happened in March 2011, many volunteers from all over Japan immediately moved to the affected areas to help disaster victims in various ways. They came under the spotlight by performing debris disposal and other labor, and reconstruction could not be conducted without their help.

 People who used to live within 10 km from the nuclear power plant managed to move away from there and are now living as evacuees, but some of them had to leave their lovely pets against their will. On the street, abandoned animals such as cats and dogs wander around and wait for their owners to come back. So a rescue crew for animals is working hard to save pets on the street, and to find their owners.
 The name of the Fukushima-based crew is “Nyander Guard.” Their activities are supported by volunteers and relief aid, and one of their essential jobs is to tell others outside the affected area about their activities and organize fund-raising events. From December 21 to 25, they will hold a photo exhibition of cats that members of the crew documented under the title "Don't forget about us." The situation of animals is easily ignored by the media, so this is a rare chance to know about one of on-going activities for recovery. You can visit the gallery on the 5th floor of the AER Building, just north of Sendai Station. Items for fund-raising will be on sale. 

 Sendai is a major city where you come across events that assist the recovery from the Earthquake.

Fund-raising by international students for the Philippines

The sight of the aftermath in the Philippines broke our heart. When looking at the images of people suffering after the typhoon, we grieve the fact that countless people suddenly lost everything, and that there is no food, clean water or medicine at all.

In Sendai, international students at Tohoku University decided to make a collective effort for them: they stood on the street and raised money for the Philippines. In fact, various companies and foundations in Sendai are working on raising funds for repairing typhoon damage in the Philippines. Having experienced the Great East Japan Earthquake, the Sendai City Office also raised money in November, and sent it through the Japan Red Cross Society. We cannot ignore the disaster victims!

Disaster Drill

On Friday, November 22, Tohoku University held a disaster drill for all people who were on campus that day. At 11:50, the bell rang and an announcement told us that an earthquake happened and that everyone must evacuate the buildings.

When doing so, all staff and professors wore helmets, and escaped quickly in a group. Students did not have helmets, but joined this event and listened to a speech given by Prof. Kimio Hanawa who briefly explained about what to do in the event of a real earthquake.

On March 11, 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake happened. Since then, many people became aware of disaster-prevention measures. Everyone took this disaster drill not just as practice but as an occasion to realize that disasters really do happen, so preparation is more important than anything.

Everywhere in Japan is prone to earthquakes. There is an English guidebook regarding disaster prevention on the internet, so please check it out!

International Symposium at Tohoku University

On Saturday December 15th the international symposium titled “The Great East Japan Earthquake’s Lesson on International Cooperation” was held at the Multimedia Education and Research Complex on Kawauchi Campus.  Eight presenters from five different countries delivered lectures, and about 130 people took part in the symposium.  The opening address was made by President Susumu Satomi, followed by Ms. Emiko Okuyama, the Mayor of Sendai, conveying her congratulations to Tohoku University.
http://www.tohoku.ac.jp/english/2012/12/news20121226-01.html 

The first presenter was Dr. Nobuyoshi Hara, Executive Vice President of Tohoku University.  Dr. Hara discussed how various institutions and research teams from Tohoku University contributed to disaster reconstruction and regeneration in the affected areas.  

Next was Dr. Holger Finken of DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) in Tokyo.  Dr. Finken stressed the importance of academic mobility between Japanese and German universities, intensive and careful communication required in consideration of legal and societal conditions, and sustainable funding secured by both sides.

Professor Cheng-Hung Hang of National Cheng Kung University (国立成功大学) in Taiwan not only talked about the responses of the university after the earthquake on March 11^th, but also about concern over the future of nuclear power and alternative forms of energy.

Ms. Kumiko Tsukamoto is a senior education manager at the Australian Embassy in Japan.  She introduced the strong bonds in the field of education between both countries, and Australian governmental support for the areas affected by the earthquake.

Dr. Lalit Acharya, director of international relations of Riverside City, California, explained about his energetic activities so far as a liaison between his city and its many sister cities (Sendai is one of them), universities and high schools.  Riverside City is one of the strongest supporters of Sendai City.

Mr. William McMichael of Fukushima University reported on the situation in Fukushima then and afterward.  Many foreigners left Fukushima out of fear over radioactivity. Mr. McMichael did his best to ensure foreign students’ security and took part in community projects to support students as well as Fukushima itself.  He showed various photos of his vigorous activities.

Prof. Onaka of Iwate University and Prof. Suematsu of Tohoku University presented results of surveys conducted at each university.  From the results of each, we could see how students at both universities assessed the situation, what actions they took, their thoughts, and so on.

A panel discussion followed the presentations, and the audience asked many questions even after the symposium.  This was a good opportunity to face the tough reality of the disaster as well as to recognize the fact that countless people battled and overcame difficulties.

In the venue, a giant cloth, produced through group effort, was exhibited. It was a gift from Riverside City of California, USA, sent to Tohoku University just after the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011.

Greetings, everyone!

Hello everyone! I’m Mustafa one of the members of FGL Facebook team and this is gonna be my first post about Sendai and Tohoku University. I came here 4 months and a half ago. It is a quite a long time ha :) Well first of all, I would like to talk about my decision of coming Japan.

A bird's eye view of Sendai!

As I said before, I came here after the Great East Japan Earthquake which happened on 11^th of March 2011. It has been nearly one year from that day. But there was an irony. The earthquake happened the day after my entrance exam and my presentation. At that time I was totally shocked.


After the earthquake, I was reading and was watching terrible news about both tsunami and Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. As all we know that media really likes sensational news. I know that but at that time you couldn’t be so sensible. So I was really confused. 
Anyway, 1 month later the results were announced and I was selected as a student for Tohoku University International Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Course for Graduate Education (IMAC-G), and the following month I was also selected as a scholarship student. But still I had that question “Is it safe for going Japan?”. With all that news, it was so hard to make a decision. I talked some people who were at Sendai. They said that it was okay to go Japan. Of course we talked a lot but in short they said like that. So with a long decision time :) I decided to come to Japan. By the way it was also one of my childhood dreams to go to Japan, because of Japanese cartoon and anime.
Now it has been more that 4 months since I came here. Up to now everything is really good. Of course there are some serious effects of earthquake and tsunami in Sendai. But I haven’t seen any building that collapsed during the earthquake. There are some buildings that are evacuated because these buildings have serious damage from earthquake, but nothing more, and I think it is just a safety procedure, and that’s all. Lastly, what I have seen that I can trust Japan :)

Red lanterns light up the Osaki Hachiman shrine in Sendai.

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Text and Photos by Mustafa

FGL FB/Blog Team