JST Sakura Science Plan

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.

1^st 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.

2^nd 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.

2^nd 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

3^rd 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

4^th 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 :

1. Vulnerability is a weak point.
2. It‟s really important to fill stomach ( develop human resources and achieve higher living standard )
3. A key to success in dealing with disaster is to learn lessons from the past.
4. There is a relationship between hazard and vulnerability. If hazard and vulnerability is becoming wider so that it will make serious damage.
5. To prevent natural disaster it‟s also important to have coordination between government and society
6. 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

5^th 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‟

6^th 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

7^th 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

8^th 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. 9^th 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

10^th 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