Washington, DC

Washington Office Holds Orientation for Summer Fellows

On 2-3 April, the JSPS Washington Office assisted the National Science Foundation (NSF) in holding the orientation for its "2007 East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes" program. Under it, about 150 graduate students from US universities would be dispatched to Japan, China, Korea, Australia and other Asia-Pacific countries for summer training and interning. Sixty-five of the attendees were slated to participate in the JSPS Summer Program. The Washington Office held two specially tailored sessions for them.

The first day's session was held on the theme "Living and Doing Research in Japan." Lectures were given on how the students should prepare themselves to do research in Japan by Dr. Machi Dilworth, director-elect, NSF Tokyo Regional Office, and Dr. Akira Masaike, director, JSPS Washington Office. They were followed by the office's deputy director, Mr. Hideshi Kobayashi, who explained the summer schedule and allowance arrangement, after which the students were given time to ask questions.

In the second day's session, Mr. Kobayashi gave a lesson on Japanese language fundamentals and taught the students some basic phrases that would be useful to them in their daily lives. He was followed by Mr. Thet Win, who spoke about Japanese culture and customs from the perspective of his own experience. The session was not a mere listening exercise, but a dynamically interactive one in which the students put their newly acquired Japanese to the test, and those with some prior knowledge of Japanese tutored others around them.

The 2-day orientation is thought to have been very meaningful in helping the Japan-bound students in overcoming any anxiety they may have had about living and doing research in Japan.

- JSPS Washington Office

Bonn

Summer Program Pre-Departure Orientation Held by Bonn Office

On 24 May, the JSPS Bonn Office held a pre-departure orientation for young German researchers selected to participate in this year's JSPS Summer Program. The meeting was meant to help optimize the research experience they were about to have in Japan, while giving them an early chance to meet and get acquainted with their fellow travelers. It also served as an opportunity to brief the young researchers on cooperative programs carried out between JSPS and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), which had recruited them for the Summer Program in Japan.

The meeting opened with remarks by Bonn Office director Prof. Yasuo Tanaka, followed by DAAD administrator Ms. Karin Möller, who described various research exchange programs operated between Germany and Japan. After introducing themselves, the participants received a briefing from the staff of the Bonn Office on the Summer Program. Then, Dr. Marie-Ann Betschinger, University of Münster, and Dr. Christian Vogel, University of Duisburg-Essen, who had both participated in last year's Summer Program, gave animated talks on their experiences using an array of pictures snapped while in Japan. They fielded a volley of questions from the Japan-bound fellows, who possessed both anticipations and anxieties about going to do research in a country perceived to be not only geographically but also culturally distant. Many of their questions had to do with life and customs in Japan and with the research culture in Japanese universities. The answers and explanations they received from the two past fellows, both being of their own background and generation, were very helpful in allaying concerns and kindling expectations.

JSPS Club chair Prof. Dr. Heinrich Menkhaus, then, introduced the participants to the activities of the German alumni association and its role in helping German researchers who have returned from Japan sustain long-enduring ties with the Japanese research community.

The meeting was followed by a dinner reception attended by the new and past fellows and office staffs. Delving into Japanese culture and customs, conversations among the participants went on late into the evening.

- JSPS Bonn Office

London

Pre-Departure Seminar and Alumni Evening in UK

On 14 May, the JSPS London Office joined forces with the British Council Japan in holding a pre-departure seminar for British graduate students and junior researchers going to Japan under the JSPS Summer Program and JSPS's standard and short-term postdoctoral fellowships. Twenty-eight Japan-bound scholars attended the meeting held at the headquarters of the British Council in London. The seminar provided the new JSPS fellows with advanced information on research and life in Japan and introduced them to programs they can join after returning home to continue their collaborative activities with Japanese colleagues.

At the meeting, JSPS executive director Dr. Kenichi Iga introduced the participants to Japan's research environment. He was followed by briefings from representatives of the JSPS London Office, UK JSPS Alumni Association, British Council Japan, The Royal Society, The Daiwa Anglo- Japanese Foundation, and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

Following the seminar, the group of new fellows repaired to the School of Oriental and African Studies, where the alumni association held an Alumni Fellowship Evening. The event gave them an excellent opportunity to converse face-to-face with former fellows who have considerable firsthand experience in and knowledge on doing cooperative research in Japan.

- JSPS London Office