Hasnan Fiqri
State University of Padang (UNP) – Indonesia
JST Sakura Science Plan is a youth exchange in science and Technology program that presented by Japan Science and Technology Agency.
This program has been started from 19 to 28 October 2014. The Location of this program at Meguro Lab, University of Tokyo. Sakura Exchange is the prestigious program for students and researchers over the Asian and it‟s my honour of being invited in this program.
1st day ( October 19, 2014 )
Arrival to Haneda and settled up at KKR-NAKAMEGURO Hotel. Today is the day of our departure from Jakarta to Haneda International Airport, Tokyo. We entered the aircraft approximately 1 pm. Finally we arrived at Haneda approximately 11 pm local time. Haneda is the first place I met and became acquainted with Watanabe-sensei and Mitsui-san. From there we took a cab to go directly KKR Hotel Nakameguroand then rest.
2nd day ( October 20, 2014 )
Having orientation about the lab meguro and then continued lecture, Global Perspective on Disasters due to earthquake focusing on vulnerabilities‟ presented by sensei Watanabe. At this lecture, I had new
understanding about the meaning of vulnerabilities which means weak
points. This lecture also discussed about the vulnerabilties in Indonesia.
Important point of this lecture is to learn the cause of high vulnerability.
2nd day was our first morning in Tokyo. For the morning session,
after breakfast at the hotel we headed straight Meguro Laboratory, IIS,
University of Tokyo by on foot. The time we have taken to achieve the
campus on foot is approx 40 minutes. In Meguro secretariat Lab, we are
immediately greeted by Minamoto-San, who is secretary of the Meguro
Lab. Then we met with Etri-san, Indonesian students are taking Ph.D.
programs in Meguro Lab.
Then we headed to room 403, where you do the orientation and
Watanabe-sensei explained our itinerary while in Tokyo. Etri-san was also
present on this occasion. After completion of orientation and explanation,
we had lunch in the student cafeteria, where I ordered Udon, a type of
traditional Japanese noodles and chicken nuggets.
After finishing lunch, we returned to the room 403 Then
Watanabe-sensei begins with a introduction lecture of the vulnerability.
The lecture is about global perspective on disasters due to earthquake
focusing on vulnerabilities. He gave us information about how to
differentiate disasters, such as isolated case disaster, rural type disaster,
urban type disaster, and gigantic urban type disaster. He also told us about
his great innovation, the debris flow breaker, which can stop the
movement of big boulders from higher ground to the lower by increasing
its internal friction. I think this system will be very useful but also not
difficult to build at the same time.
Fig.1 Lecture "Global perspective disasters" with Sensei Watanabe
3rd Day (October 21, 2014)
On this day we get a lecture from Prof.Meguro. In his lecture he
explained that the problems related to the disaster is not just engineering
problems, but we need to review the various aspects and issues. Such as
social,economic, cultural, religious, legal, and others.Then he also
explained about the earthquake early warning system in Japan which has
been growing rapidly in comparison in Indonesia.
Then in the next session, Watanabe-sensei continued his studies
that the vulnerability. He reiterated that if the greater vulnerability and
hazard, it will intersect giving rise to the risk of disaster, so we should be
able to cope According to Watanabe-sensei root cause of vulnerability in
most areas is poverty and inequality, as happened in Nicaragua.
Then in the afternoon, we visited the Metropolitan Museum
Disaster Preparedness in Kinshi-cho area. There we get information about
earthquakes in Japan in 2011 were accompanied by a tsunami and fire,
then we also perform simulations when trapped in buildings affected by
fire and earthquake of 7 on the Richter scale. In the evening, we met
students who had research at Meguro Lab came from Iran,India, Thailand,
Nepal, and Japan.
Fig.2 lecture with Prof. Meguro
Fig. 3 Disaster prevention on earthquake ( shaking table conduct with 7 SR)
Fig. 4 Meet and Greet with students from Meguro Lab
4th Day (October 22, 2014)
Seminar on earthquake disaster preparedness by sensei Watanabe. At
this seminar, Sensei Watanabe gave us lecture about how we can build
hazard resilient society. We also discussed about some countries who also
have high vulnerability like Nicaragua and Venezuela. Several points from
this seminar :
- Vulnerability is a weak point.
- It‟s really important to fill stomach ( develop human resources and achieve higher living standard )
- A key to success in dealing with disaster is to learn lessons from the past.
- There is a relationship between hazard and vulnerability. If hazard and vulnerability is becoming wider so that it will make serious damage.
- To prevent natural disaster it‟s also important to have coordination between government and society
- Preparedness for risk reduction on earthquake that has been
implemented by sensei Watanabe ; Debris flow breaker and PP Band
method.
After having seminar, we had Campus visit at engineering Faculty,
University of Tokyo.
Fig.4 having good discussion about earthqauke disaster preparedness
5th Day (October 23, 2014)
This day we went to the Obayashi Co. Ltd for a site visit. Obayashi
is one of the top building contractor in Japan, it is widely known in Japan
and also in the world. The site that we visited was the technical research
institute of Obayashi corporation, the buildings that were there such as the
main building (the techno station), dynamics laboratory and multipurpose
laboratory
First, we got an explanation about the company profile, there are a
lot of well known buildings, not only in Japan but also in another country
that was built by this company, such as the Tokyo Skytree, the highest
tower in the world, about 634 meters high and also a bridgein the United
States of America and they also introduced and gave information about the
system and innovation about base isolation for buildings.
One of the most interesting innovative projects that they have is the Laputa
2D. Laputa 2D is one kind of base isolation system for a building which
combine the rubber bearing isolation and also big hydraulic actuators, this
system can reduce the energy
of the earthquake, so that the
force of the earthquake
accepted by the building is
only 1/30 to 1/50 of its real
force. This system is already
applied for the main office
building.
To explore the buildings of Obayashi we were guided by Ms. Naomi, the
public relation officer of the corperation. First we went to see the work
place of the officers, they used a very effective placing of the cubicle so
that the officers will
always see the boss of
their sections everyday,
and the boss will
always be able to
comunicate and watch
over the workers.Next
location that we visited
is the basement of the
main office building which the Laputa 2D system was installed. There we
saw the rubber bearing and also the actuators.
Then we went to the dynamics laboratory in which we saw the
geotechnical centrifuge system that was the world‟s largest earthwuake
simulator and can produce earthquake motions of a scale greater than that
of the 1995 Kobe earthquake.After that, we also visited the multi purpose
laboratory 2, there we feel the simulation of Kobe earthquake in the
vibration experience equipment, it can reproduce rhe seismic vibration of
buildings with various vibration control technologies and base isolation
technologies including Super Active Base Isolation System “Laputa 2D”.
Then after we finished our site visit in Obayashi, we went to the Meguro
Lab, Institute of Industrial Science, to saw the preparation for Etri-san
The Rubber Bearing
experiment. Etri-san gave us further information about her research and
she also gave us the publication of early results of her work, but because
of some reason the preparation cannot be done that day so after that we
went back to the hotel.
Site visit to Obayashi Corp. Obayashi Corp,the largest constuctor
company in Japan which has built many buildings. The most fascinating
building, Tokyo Sky tree, is the tallest building in Japan which has height
about 634 meters. I had many experience and lessons through this site
visit. For example, I learned about Laputa 2D which is a super active base
isolation system. I also experienced simulation earthquake with and
without using Laputa 2D. I and other participants were in Shaking table
experienced the earthquake with the magnitude of 7. The ground motion
was extremely had big vibration. Compared with Laputa 2D , the ground
motion was slower and didn‟t make any high vibration.
Fig, 5 site visit to Obayashi Corp
After visiting Obayashi Corp, we continued our tour to meguro Lab and
learned about PP Band which has been implemented in several countries
like India, Iran, Indonesia, etc. This technology was founded by Professor
Kimiro Meguro.
Fig.6 Diagram of Super Active Base Isolation System „Laputa 2D‟
6th October 24,2014.
Visiting Metropolitan disaster area, KEIO Hotel and, Imperial Palace.
Metropolitan disaster area has a lot of tall buildings which modern
constructed and high technology. At KEIO hotel, an implementation of
risk reduction of earthquake has been already done. As I looked for more
information, this hotel let people to come inside this building if there‟s
emergency situation like earthquake and tsunami.
Imperial Palace is located in central of Tokyo. Imperial palace has
unique designed building. It‟s not using complex materials to make the
castle stand on the ground. The building‟s foundation are just made from
strength rocks like granite and andesite. Through this site visit, I have not
only known about structures of its building but I also know about history
of metropolitan disaster area especially Imperial Palace.
Fig. 7 Sight seeing around metropolitan government building
Fig. 8 Site visit to KEIO Hotel
Fig. 9 Site Visit to Imperial Palace
7th day October 25, 2014
Lecture on vulnerabilities of Gigantic cities by Professor Meguro
Professor Meguro performed his presentation about vulnerabilities
of Gigantic cities. The root cause of disaster hazard is not just about
structure and materials of houses but it can be included social, political,
religion. Most of casualities due to earthquake are caused by collapse of
mansory houses. At this lecture, Profesor Meguro showed us PP-Band‟s
video which compared with other building without using PP Band.
Sight seeing.
In the afternoon, I and other participants visited Ueno. I loved and enjoyed
all the activities like festival, visit temple, and many other attractive spots.
Fig.10 visiting Kaneji Temple
Fig 12. Asimo
8th day ( October 26, 2014 )
At this Sunday, we went to Odaiba Island to visit Japan Future, Science
and Technology Museum (Miraikan). There we saw a lot of innovation and hightech
machine, gadget or equipment. The first thing that I experience was the
simulation of sky jumping, in which we wear a glasses with some kind of mini
monitor inside so we can see the simulation video of sky jumping and also the
headset for the sound, to enchance the sky diving feeling we were sitting in some
kind of swing and we were blown by a big fan.
Fig 11. Visiting Miraikan Museum, Odaiba
After that, i went to the third floor of the museum where i saw the Asimo
show. Asimo is a robot that was manufactured by one of the biggest industry in
Japan, Honda, which also manufactured cars and motorcycles that is widely used
in Indonesia. In the show, Asimo simulated some moves, such as walking,
running, jumping and balancing on one feet. Asimo also sing a song in Japanese
also with hand-gesture language.
Fig 13. The Earth
In the ceiling of the museum there was a hanging miniature of the earth,
consists of thousands of small LED screen so that it can show the real situation of
the earth as if we are looking at it from the outer space.
After that, I and Watanabe-sensei join a short simulation and seminar
about how the internet works. Then i also visit the Digital Content Exhibition,
there i saw the advanced digital technology that Japanese scientist and engineers
had developed. I try some kind movement sensor that will simulate the
movement and project it to the monitor with effects of anime style power.
9th Day ( October 27, 2014)
Seminar on Vulnerability Reduction and Preparatory Work For The Wrap
Up Session.
I and 8 other participants shared our experiences due to
earthquakes. At this session, I presented my presentation about
vulnerability in West Sumatera. At this session we also had Q&A about
preparedness and bringing new ideas to cope similiar events for the future.
Based on experienced and lecture that I got, I think PP Band Technology
can be used for risk reduction due to earthquakes.After having seminar,
continued lecture on the PPBM technology with Prof. Numada. After
having explanation about PPBM technology, we also had lecture on urban
disasters with Prof. Meguro. Through Prof Meguro‟s lecture, I have one
lessons
Fig.12 Seminar on vulnerability reduction
Fig. 13 Prof. Numada is explaining about PPBM Technology
Fig.14 Lecture an discussion on Urban Disasters and disaster management presented by Prof. Meguro
10th day ( October, 29th 2014 )
Wrap Up Session
This was our final day for amazing experience here. I was so
happy and sad at the same time. I took a granted for all the time since I
was here. We learned alot from the lectures, site visit and conversation,
and we have to make those knowledges useful for our hometown,
Indonesia. Don't make this amazing program stops for only 10 days, but
we also have to continue this cooperation and exchange for as long as we
can for the sake of our future.
I honestly feel so blessed, happy and proud to be able to join this
program. The schedule is nicely packed with knowledge-full lectures from
outstanding people, such as Prof. Meguro, Prof. Numada and our beloved
Watanabe-sensei, who guide us everyday, watch over us, take care of us, I
really don‟t know how to thank you, dōmo arigatōgozaimashita, sensei,
dōmo arigatōgozaimashita. I think the best souvenirs are my thoughts, my
memories and my enlighten mind from this one and only amazing trip.
Purity will be contriving our souls to be extremely passionate,
kindle our heart,bring out our vigour, make life’s better and more value
along with meaningful
