Interview for Suzuki foundation scholarship award winner 2019
Nagy Balázs
Term: From 3/20/2019 to 9/20/2019
Supervisor: Associate Professor Yuichi Kobayashi
- How is your life in japan for both case, private and research? Please explain it through your experience.
First when I came to Japan, I was a little bit nervous and very excited. I had no previous experience about living in abroad, so it was my biggest adventure so far. Luckily everybody is very kind and helpful in Japan. I made new friends at the laboratory and in my residence too. The professor and students at the laboratory are also very kind people. They helped me a lot and during my stay I learned a lot. Both about Japanese culture and research as well.
- What is your concrete research and study in Dr. Kobayashi’s laboratory? Pease explain it.
My research field is robot navigation with deep learning algorithms. In simple words I want to program an algorithm which learns how to predict a moving robot position without being explicitly programmed. I am also researching other the possibilities to apply deep learning algorithms to robot navigation to help autonomous robots move more smoothly.
- In the future how are you planning to develop the result of your research in Japan? What is the target that the research aims?
Currently my main goal is to assign a paper in connection with my PhD studies. I am in the middle of my studies now, so this is my firs priority. Hopefully I will stay in contact with the Japanese lab and with the professor so in the future we can work together. Maybe I can come back to japan or some Japanese students can visit me in Hungary.
- Did you make travels in Japan? What kind of feelings do you have through your travels in Japan?
In my free time I make a lot of trips. Everything was new to me so there were a lot of places to explore. Let’s say I did my best to explore Japan as much as I can. The public transportation is very good in Japan, I think. At least compared to Hungary. I had no problems. Clean, fast and the staff always helpful. During my travels I made a lot of good memories. And since I stayed for 6 months I had the opportunity to see more about Japan not just the most famous tourist spots.
- Do you have any exchange with Japanese students and/or Japanese people beside the research?
Yes. We made some trips and dinners with my Japanese labmates and I also made Japanese friends out of the university. I was lucky that I could made several trips with my Japanese friends. Local people showed me a lot of unique places that I have never found myself.
- How do you feel the cultural differences between Hungary and Japan? What are the main differences?
In general, almost everything is opposite of Hungary. Driving on the other side of the road is just one thing. The food is very good in japan, I liked it very much, so it wasn’t a problem for me. The biggest difference maybe the people themselves. I mean Japanese people are very kind but also very shy too. Because of this It was a little bit hard to make new friends. In this manner I missed the mentality of Hungarian people. People in Hungary are more open or friendlier and make new friends more easily.
- Do you have any opinion about the international exchange of intercollegiate? Do you have any opinion about supporting the international relationships by Suzuki Fundation?
I think this Suzuki Fellowship program is a great opportunity for young researchers like me. Building new relationships related to work or private life is the greatest value of it. I hope in the feature more students and researchers will join to this program. After I go home to my university I will tell my story to the new generation and encourage students to take part in this program and I hope I can keep in touch with the people who helped me during my stay in Japan. Or maybe I will write a book about my experiences.
Interview for Suzuki foundation scholarship award winner 2018
Vámosi Péter
Term: From 8/1/2017 to 1/31/2018
Supervisor: Professor Nobuyuki MASE
Research title: Rapid Optimization of Reaction Conditions Based on Comprehensive Reaction Analysis Using a Continuous Flow Microwave Reactor
1 How is your life in Japan for both of case, for private and research? Please explain definitely through your experience.
To visit Japan was always on my ‘bucket list’ so when the opportunity came to visit Japan I hesitated very little. This half year was one of the best experience in my life so far including the lot of challenges, and obstacles I had to cope with. It was my first time to live abroad and completely alone, so it was a good wake up call from few points of view, but I enjoyed looking after myself. The research I did was far from perfect, but it was decades ahead of what I could have done at home.
2 What is any impressive and/or interesting matter whiles the staying in Japan.
Japan is not much that different from Europe, but there are quite a few differences which I found interesting. The public transport is just fantastic (of course not minding the crowd) the punctuality, the cleanness, the connectivity. I think there are not many places which you cannot reach with some form of public transport. The milieu in general is very likeable, I enjoyed the clean streets the modest building, and the organized house fronts and gardens. One thing was very strange though I very rarely saw public trash cans. It was quite inconvenient sometimes.
3 What is your concrete research and studying in Dr.Mase’s laboratory? Please explain definitely.
My research was assigned to me by Dr. Mase. It was the development and test of an optimization method based one fast reaction analysis and conducted on a flow microwave reactor. The method got the ‘9+4+1’name. I managed to finish my research in these 6 months and make a publication of it. More details can be found in it. (P.Vámosi, K. Matsuo, T. Masuda, K. Sato, T. Narumi, K. Takeda, N. Mase; Chem. Rec. 2018, 18, 1–9. )
4 In future, how do you develop the result of your research in Japan? And what is the target where the research aims?
Personally, I cannot continue this research at Hungary because I don’t have the equipment and the possibility, but as far as I know Dr. Mase plans to continue this subject in the future.
5 What is the reason why you applied for recruitment of Suzuki foundation?
The main reason is, that I saw a wonderful opportunity to visit another country and do research in a much more advanced laboratory, which would benefit me personally and scientifically. Secondly, as I said before, visiting Japan was on my bucket list.
6 Did you make travels in Japan? And what kind of the feeling do you have through your experience of Japanese travels in Japan?
I personally don’t like to travel alone, which my personal flaw, but thankfully my girlfriend came to visit me and stayed for 2 weeks in Japan. Together we went travelling and visited several cities, which I greatly enjoyed.
7 Is there any big deference between the actual life in Japan and the image of Japan before you’re coming to Japan?
Not much different. I had a bit insight through anime series and everyday life turned out pretty much how I imagined it.
8 Is there any difficulty in Japanese Life?
Special difficulty, I don’t think so. Just the same difficulty as anywhere else, maybe the written language, but after learning it, even that is not that difficult.
9 Do you have any exchange with Japanese Student and/or Japanese people beside the research?
Not really, I’m an introvert person, and I make friends a bit hard, but occasionally we went out to have a drink or to eat ramen.
10 What kind of and How do you feel the culture deference between Hungary and Japan?
Very different in a lot of aspect, the biggest, for me, was the working morale, I never heard anyone complain about that they have to work, and most of the people happily worked Saturday. But mostly the clean and organized milieu which I noticed everywhere I went. Frankly I enjoyed the Japanese culture more than the Hungarian.
11 Do you have any opinion about the international exchange of intercollegiate?
This 6 months was not long enough for me to get myself to start to learn Japanese, but I definitely would have if I stayed longer, which of course would help a lot in longer terms. But, despite that it was a very useful experience.
12 Do you have any opinion about the supporting the international by Suzuki Foundation?
I’m really grateful for this opportunity, and I would like to thank very much for the help and hospitality the SUZUKI Foundation gave me. They provided a wonderful opportunity for me to improve as a person and as a scientist.
Interview for Suzuki foundation scholarship award winner 2016
Nagygyörgy Viola
Term: From 4/1/2016 to 9/30/2016
Supervisor: Associate Professor Masayuki OKUYA
Research title: Controlling a haze effect in transparent conductive oxide films and their application to dye-sensitized solar cells
Q1. How was your life in Japan in terms of private life and research?
Living in Japan was a dream of mine for a long time. I have been in Japan as a tourist before and after that I decided to apply for this scholarship and move to Japan. Both my private and research life was full of new experiences. I was living alone for the first time and also in a foreign country so there was a lot of new things to learn what I really enjoyed.
Q2. What was the impressive and/or interesting things you experienced while your stay in Japan.
It was really interesting to see how differently things can work in Japan compared to Europe. Since I spent time in Japan I do a lot of everyday things differently. I was really impressed by the very good structure of transportation.
Q3. What was your specific research topics you studied at Shizuoka University?
I was working on depositing special light refracting layers on glass substrate to be used in dye-sensitized solar cells to achieve a higher conversion efficiency of the light to electricity. We were working with different layers to find the most suitable one for our solar cells what ensure good efficiency but stays transparent to be used in any kind of windows.
Q4. How will you develop the research result you obtained in Japan? What is the targeted outcome?
I am planning to use the results to support my ongoing research in Hungary. My main topic is the electrolytes of the same type of solar cells, what we were focusing on with Dr. Okuya so having a better view of other parts of the device can probably help to upgrade my research results.
Q5. Why did you apply for Suzuki foundation research funding to conduct research in Japan?
I was really interested in the Japanese culture since I was a teenager and after spending a week there as a tourist I really wanted to have a longer experience while also working on an interesting topic with one of the professors of the research area and in a nice oceanside town. When I saw the details of the application I knew that this is my opportunity I was waiting for.
Q6. Did you travel in Japan? How was your travel in Japan?
I had the chance to travel during golden week and when going on conferences. I really enjoyed all the travels. People were very nice and polite everywhere, they are treating the guests the best way. I had the feeling that every time I went somewhere it was very different from all the previous places, every town and city has it1s own unique character.
Q7. Was there a gap in between the actual life in Japan and your image of Japan before coming to Japan?
It was a little bit difficult to deal with the everyday life alone and take care of all the bureaucracy but after getting used to it the life in japan was very much how I expected with all the delicious restaurants, the lot of people everywhere and with the beautiful landscape.
Q8. Was there any difficulty you found in Japan?
The only difficulty I had was dealing with bureaucracy because I couldn1t speak Japanese well enough but I always got help from Dr. Okuya or others and even in offices the workers were very friendly, patient and helpful so after a couple weeks it was not problematic anymore.
Q9. Did you have any exchange with Japanese Student and/or Japanese people beside the research?
I don’t have any Japanese exchange students around me in the laboratory at Budapest University of Technology and Economics but from time to time I meet Japanese students from other universities in Budapest.
Q10. How did you find the cultural difference in between Hungary and Japan?
I think there is some differences between Japan in Hungary both in their private life and working culture but if you face it with an opened mind and learn a little about the other country it is easy to adapt and accept the habit of the others.
Q11. Do you have any opinion about the international exchange in between Universities?
I have attended Japanese classes and some seminars where we could talk about our experience and prepare to take care of ourselves in Japan while speaking in Japanese. I saw that exchange students from all around the world can work very well together with Japanese students and help each other with the Japanese or English language what can be a huge help later in private and business life, too.
Q12. How did you find the supports Suzuki Foundation offered?
Suzuki Foundation’s support of this exchange was very good, they were very helpful according to any problems if I had and provided conference occasions, they also followed my research and how I feel myself in Japan with regular meetings. I am very thankful for this opportunity to them, I will never forget my time in Japan!
Interview for Suzuki foundation scholarship award winner 2014
Péter Lajos Sóti
Term: From 4/6/2014 to 3/31/2015
Supervisor: Professor Nobuyuki MASE
Research title: Supported organocatalyst on gold nanoparticle: self-organizing construction of active site in artificial enzyme
Q1. How was your life in Japan in terms of private life and research?
It was a lifelong experience for me, both from scientific and personal aspects, to spend one year (between April 2014 and March 2015) at Hamamatsu Campus of Shizuoka University in Japan. I am very grateful to the SUZUKI Foundation and to the SUZUKI Company for this great opportunity. I am also thankful that I enjoyed special attention from Professor Mase and all his colleagues and students from the day of my arrival, which really eased my integration into the work of the lab team and into the Japanese everyday life as well.
Q2. What was the impressive and/or interesting things you experienced while your stay in Japan.
When I first came to Japan, I was impressed by the perfectly organized everyday life, such as the public transportation, the wide variety of easy-to-use automats and high-quality supply services. After that, I realized about the continual kindness and helpfulness of Japanese people in any situation, which must be unique in the world. Moreover, I was surprised by the simplicity and rapidity of the official administration.
Q3. What was your specific research topics you studied at Dr. Mase’s laboratory?
Nowadays, the catalysis is in focus of many industrial fields (transportation industry, chemical industry, etc.). Elaboration of cost efficient methods for asymmetric reactions is of great importance in production of active ingredients and other fine chemicals. Organocatalysts are widely applied for asymmetric reactions in organic synthesis. Unfortunately, high catalyst loadings are required in many cases; therefore, recycling and reuse of the active catalyst is required to ensure the environment-friendly and cost-effective character of these catalytic processes. Therefore, we aimed to develop a new type of recyclable organocatalyst for asymmetric synthesis.
At the end of my stay, we successfully synthesized a nanoparticle-supported catalyst which was characterized by numerous analytical methods and it was successfully applied in asymmetric reactions. In addition, the immobilized organocatalyst operates under pseudo-homogeneous conditions, and is easily recycled and reused at least five times without significant loss of weight, activity, and selectivities. The obtained results indicate the efficiency of our catalytic system.
Q4. How will you develop the research result you obtained in Japan? What is the targeted outcome?
During the 12 months research period; I had time for executing innumerous experiments and to evaluate them. Moreover, I attended four conferences and I had three poster presentations and I won a poster award in last January. Now, we summarized our results in a manuscript, titled “Synthesis of a self-assembling gold nanoparticle-supported organocatalyst for enamine-based asymmetric aldol reactions” which was submitted in a high level catalysis journal. I hope our new catalytic system may open a new strategy in the research field of supported catalysis.
Q5. Why did you apply for Suzuki foundation research funding to conduct research in Japan?
I have had a dream to visit Japan since my childhood and when I started my studies at the university, I have always been interested in science and research. Then I realized Japan is the center of modern sciences and high-tech innovation. Thus, I did not hesitate to apply for the scholarship offered by the Suzuki Foundation. But I just heard the great opportunity when my Hungarian research group got in touch with the Magyar Suzuki Company.
Q6. Did you travel in Japan? How was your travel in Japan?
I tried to visit in Japan as many places as possible but it is a quite expensive. Beginning of last summer me and my host professor attended a conference in Sapporo. During the summer I enjoyed several beaches around Hamamatsu (Nakatajima Sand Dunes, Bentenjima Beach etc.). As for longer vacations, I visited Tokyo which trip is an unforgettable memory for me. One of my greatest experience was to travel by Japanese superexpress between the big cities. I especially enjoyed the comfortable seats, the easy-to-use and well-organized transportation. I was impressed by the speed and punctuality of Shinkansen every time when I used it. During my travels, what impressed me the most is the beauty and diversity of nature and surroundings of Japan, including the coastline, islands, mountains, volcanos, etc. and all with their exotic plants and animals and cultural values.
Q7. Was there a gap in between the actual life in Japan and your image of Japan before coming to Japan?
Actually, the life in Japan was much more easy and enjoyable than I imagined. Before experiencing, I think I was mostly afraid of being in a complete stranger Asian country without any language knowledge, and also of the cultural differences and the everyday habits.
But in contrast to my expectations, fortunately it seemed to be quite easy to get along in the everyday life with English. Thanks to the kindness and readiness of the people, I have never felt lost in Japan, and instead of being frightened by the cultural differences, I always enjoyed when I could get familiar with Japanese habits, customs or ceremonies. Furthermore, I also had to realize soon, that I love the Japanese food and high-level services in Japanese restaurants. Returning to Hungary, I really miss it.
Q8. Was there any difficulty you found in Japan?
The inconvenience is, which I could mention, maybe the climate. During the winter, the windy days and the lack of heating system were unusual for me. During the summer, sometimes I worried about the typhoons but I was informed by my Japanese colleagues and also the residence officer every time when they approached for Hamamatsu area. On the other hand, I really loved the mild and sunny autumn, the flowered spring.
Q9. Did you have any exchange with Japanese Student and/or Japanese people beside the research?
Yes, we often organized common programs with my Japanese colleagues and students, such as short tours in the surrounding mountains, picnics, excursions, karaoke evenings, sightseeing; sometimes we visited some special Japanese restaurants, and also organized BBQ party, etc. Among our common programs, the local Kite Festival is one of my greatest memories.
Q10. How did you find the cultural difference in between Hungary and Japan?
At the first sight the cultural difference between the two countries could seem to be enormous; the religion, the architecture, the philosophy, the history, the art, the everyday gesticulations (for example, the bow compared with our handshake habits), the importance of hierarchical order within an organization, etc. For me, there was the most difficult to understand the contrast between the traditional Japanese culture (including the wood based architecture, the kimono wearing women, the Japanese shrines and gardens, traditional Japanese sports, etc.) and the post-modern Japanese life (including the manga and anime culture, the widespread single life, the extreme shoes and hairstyles, etc.). But maybe, for an oriental people seem to be also enormous differences in the European or Hungarian daily life. I believe if someone spends more time in the both countries, he can understand the differences, and he will recognize more and more similarities between the cultures and the daily life.
Q11. Do you have any opinion about the international exchange in between Universities?
I consider it as a very important and useful opportunity. Such cooperation can provide innumerous benefits to the participants, including both professional and personal aspects.
Q12. How did you find the supports Suzuki Foundation offered?
First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to Mr. Owada. Everything was very well organized without any problems. In addition, I am more than satisfied with the support I received from the Suzuki Foundation. I especially enjoyed the welcome and farewell parties and the visit of the Suzuki Plaza and the Kosai Plant of the Suzuki Motor Company, where I had a chance to meet many honorable professors and engineers. It was particularly interesting to me to see the production of automobile. I hope to keep in contact with the representatives of the Suzuki Foundation and I believe my collaboration with Professor Mase will be also fruitful in the future. Many thanks for this life-long experience!