Vol. 4 No. 2

WINTER 2006

This issue features…..

and a lot more!

Blog on our field trip
Flash floods in Himalaya

EGPSEE-SU activities
New student’s voice
Interview
Travel Diary
Food Corner

E-Vision

Winter 2007

EDITORIAL BOARD

Editorial

Editor-in-Chief
Yogarajah Elakneswaran

Our EGPSEE family is becoming bigger and bigger. Every semester,

Publication Officer
Yogarajah Elakneswaran

students from different origins are joining to our family. EGPSEE-SU has
been organizing memorable events semesters after semesters. More andmore non-EGPSEE students and staffs are joining the activities.

Editorial Assistants
Aileen Parra Huelgas
Arshad Baharudin

Now on its fifth year and seventh issue, with latest interesting and exiting
events/articles from our colleagues and friends, E-Vision has added to its
regular sections the blog on our field trip by our EGPSEE friend, Ms
Fumiyo Takahashi, secretary of the Laboratory of Mineral Processing and

Jacqueline Satur
Richard Diaz Alorro

Resources Recycling. The said article featured her impressions on thefield trip itself and the EGPSEE as a family.
Ms. Miwa Yokota who works in CEED was the interviewee in theinterview section. Surely, you will enjoy reading the whole bulletin forevery article will bring you to a new experience, a new world.
To all your support and contributions, our heartfelt gratitude.
Finally, we wish you a new year filled with happiness and success-fromvisions and dreams fulfilled!
Editorial board

E-Vision is a biannually released bulletin of the
English Graduate Program in Socio-Environmental Engineering-Student Union(EGPSEE-SU)
The web edition in full colors is available at: www.eng.hokudai.ac.jp/EGPSEE/notices.htm
For comments and suggestions, please write to: egpseesu@eng.hokudai.ac.jp
C

EGPSEE-SU PUBLICATIONEGPSEE-SU and E-Vision logos are properties of EGPSEE-SU

EGPSEE-SU

1

E-Vision

Winter 2007

Tables of Contents

Editorial-Mufundirwa Azania
Page 1

Messages
From the EGPSEE Head
Page 3

Page 11
ArticleFlash Floods in the Himalaya:
Origin, Process and Mitigation-Krishna Prasad Dulal

From the EGPSEE-SU President

Page 12Page 4
Travel Diary
A Reunion with Indonesian Alumni- Werawan Manakul

Project and Activities of EGPSEE-SU-May Thithiwat
Page 5
New Student Voice
Everyday is a surprise

Page 14
Food Corner
Dhal Curry-Divadasta Agung Ruri

-Mohanaraj Rengarasu Terrance
Page 6

InterviewOn Nebraska, English and Heavy Metal Rock:- Richard Diaz Alorro
Page 8Page 17
Blog on EGPSEE Field Trip
-Fumiyo Takahashi
Page 18
The Graduates

International Page
Zimbabwe2

Page19EGPSEE-SU

E-Vision

Winter 2007

3e

I'm writing this massage in early February. It's unusually warm and we have really less snow, actually, it rained
yesterday! I hope more snow will fall for the Snow Festival, the Nordic World Championship, an abundant
harvest from my wife's small vegetable garden... to prevent Finnish students say that "Sapporo winter is warm!”
By the way, I would like to proudly announce that our new English program, named English Engineering
Education or "e3", was approved by MEXT. This program will take over EGPSEE starting next October. The
number of scholarship increased to seven for both Master and Doctor courses. Seven subject groups were
established from 11 out of 15 divisions in the Graduate School. An official committee directly under the Dean
will be established soon to operate the new program. One of the Vice Deans will be the head of this committee.
However, this program is still not a final one. MEXT will renew English graduate programs in Japanese
universities again in 2012. We have to make a new English graduate program next time comprising of all thedivisions in the Graduate School of Engineering and in the Graduate School of Information Science andTechnology as well. Meanwhile, we have to continue to make efforts to improve the present English program.
So, we established Quality Assurance Working Group (QAWG) for this purpose. The working group reallyneeds your feedback.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
Yoshiaki Fujii
Head of EGPSEE (2005-2007)

EGPSEE-SU

3

E-Vision

Winter 2007

Happy new year to everyone! Year 2007 is the 7th year of the 21st century and of the 3rd millennium. It is abelief that 7 is a lucky number. We just hope and pray that this year will bring us more good fortune, happiness,love, and peace.
It is winter season again. Winter represents many things – to some, it symbolizes death as with Robert Frost’s“Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening”; to others, it suggests the absence of hope like C.S. Lewis’s“The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”; to some, it means fun and excitement and the best time for ski or
snowboarding. Whatever the winter means, to EGPSEE it’s only one thing – another semester of experiments,
classes, and assignments.
Many events have unfolded these past few months. We welcomed eight new “all gents” students last October
2006 to our family. They were tried and tested in coordinating our Bounenkai 2006 last December which turned
out to be very fun and exciting! EGPSEE also expanded its wings by actively participating in CEED’s
International Research and Cultural Exchange Program organized by Japanese students. The EGPSEE-SU
spearheaded a survey about students’ view of the EGPSEE program and of their laboratories. The summary was
submitted to the Quality Assurance Working Group of the program. It is our fervent hope that the survey
contributed something for the betterment of EGPSEE. Furthermore, EGPSEE-SU applied and luckily got a slot
for this 58th Sapporo Snow Festival in Odori. A snow sculpture designed by Raxchaya entitled “OurCommunity” served as the EGPSEE’s entry.
This semester is also the last term for the incumbent EGPSEE-SU officers. New set of officers will be electedby late of February 2007. I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks and gratitude to
my colleagues in the office – Hiroe, May, Takuma, Rax, and Laknesh for the cooperation and dedication. May
our experience as officers of the organization enrich us as citizens of the world. To those who will tread the pathour feet had trod, take the responsibility as a challenge, and do the best that you can. And to Mrs. Werawan andthe whole EGPSEE community, thank you very much for the support, trust, and confidence. Let us continue tomove forward towards new and better horizons. Good luck!
Richard Diaz Alorro
EGPSEE-SU President (2006-2007)

4

EGPSEE-SU

E-Vision

Winter 2007

Projects and Activities of EGPSEE-SU(Winter Semester)by
May Thithiwat
D1
Laboratory of Water Quality Engineering
Welcome Party (October 12, 2006)
This semester, eight new students, all ofthem are gentleman joined the EGPSEE
family, with new students from China andZimbabwe. All newcomers were tested
with a set of tricky questions and thenpresented to the group. The program wascreatively organized by Surakha and
Minte who were picked up to be the MC stars for that day. We welcomed them with Japanese famous foods,
such as Sushi alongside with Korean foods.
Year End Party (December 18, 2006)

The activities for 2006 culminated with the bounenkai, which was mainly organized by the new students. They
themed this event with polka dot costumes. The costume competition was one of the significant events in theparty. There were many attractive costumes but the “Santa Dot” by Caro couple was the hands down favorite.
Not only that, we were entertained by musical performance led by Hara in violin. The games were also one of
the most unforgettable moments. The very beautiful decoration was courtesy of Anna and Juan.
Sapporo Snow Festival (February 6, 2007)
How can we forget that experience in the yuki
matsuri. It is the third time for EGPSEE to joins the
Sapporo Snow Festival; a come back activity after arest last year “Our Community” was the chosen
theme for the sculpture. Members of the EGPSEE
group, including professors and friends worked forfive days to carve a giant block of snow to let thelight come in.
EGPSEE-SU

5

E-Vision

Winter 2007

New Student Voice

Everyday is a Surpriseby
Divadasta Agung Ruri
M1
Laboratory of Environmental Ergonomics
It feels like it was only yesterday since my arrival in Sapporo. As I went out the gate in Chitose airport, I heardsome people calling my name. When I looked at them, I was very surprised to see my tutor, Mr.A, with Ms.S
standing outside giggling, holding a big sign saying “Welcome to Sapporo, Diva”. That first memory was so
unforgettable. And so do the experiences that I’m going to share in this short story.
Coming to Japan is a childhood dream come true for me. That’s why during the first day in Sapporo, it was hardfor me to believe that I’m really in Japan. I kept on saying “Wow, this is Sapporo!” My impression was that
Sapporo is a beautiful city. And people are really friendly. And most of all, everything is easy. Probably, themost difficult thing to do is just to wake up in the morning. It’s too cold and too good to wake up early, isn’t it?
My first week in Japan was filled with party, party, and party. Yeah, there could never be too much party inJapan. “Work hard, party hard”, I guess, that is the custom here. Every party that I went to was great. I
experienced eating sashimi for the first time. Surprisingly, nothing was cooked. I was very shocked. “Like, youwant me to eat that?” But, anyway, I did, because I’ll never know if I didn’t try, right? But then the craziest
thing I ate was the raw squid with its legs still moving. It stucked on my tongue as if it was saying, “don’tswallow me”. Hehe. But seriously, that was interesting. Later, I learned that being raw, means more fresh anddelicious. So until now, I am learning to eat it, and getting used to it. In fact, sushi and sashimi became myfavorite Japanese foods in addition to tempura.
Even though the parties were fun, the morning after every party always cause trouble. Like one day when I
woke up, I looked at the clock and I realized it wasn’t early anymore. Meanwhile, I have to come to the firstmeeting of new EGPSEE students with the professors. I heard that here in Japan, we can’t be late forappointment even for one minute. So I took bath quickly and steped on my bike pedals as hard as I can. But oh
no, it was too late. The EGPSEE meeting had started. Imagine that, first day, first impression, my sensei was in
the middle of his speech, when I came sneaking in. He said, “Aa, here he comes, my student, Diva fromIndonesia”. With sweat dripping from my forehead, I was speechless and very embarrassed. From that moment
on, I promised to myself not to be late again. But you probably can guess already whether I kept my promise ornot. Haha.
As time goes by, I learned many things about life in Japan that kept on surprising me. For example, mostJapanese people don’t shake hands when they greet. Nevertheless, greeting is very important to them. Also inthe street, I found out that cars actually stop if a person on bicycle crosses the road (this rarely happen in my6

EGPSEE-SU

E-Vision

Winter 2007

country). On other occasion, I can’t believe that a hand phone cost only 1 yen in Japan. And to my surprise, I
didn’t know that when you’re asked to go to eat for lunch or dinner together here in Japan, it is always betsubetsu (pay your own). I guess that there’s no free lunch after all.
What pleased me is that there are many interesting festivals in Japan. There was a culture festival in the facultyof Engineering called Bunkasai. There, I joined Japanese traditional tea ceremony and games. Then, I asked
someone to take my picture with a beautiful Japanese girl in kimono. It is what I had envisioned before I cameto Japan. What a great experience it was! I am looking forward to seeing many more things. Especially, I would
like to see a samurai soldier. I admire their way of life, spirit of bushido. I hope it’s possible for me to meetthem one day.
It was a freezing morning, when the wind blew to my face as I strolled with my bike around the campus. The
first snowfall in Sapporo was the nicest thing I have seen since I came here. The snow fall always looked
amazingly beautiful. Especially when it’s getting thicker and everything is white. I really like snow, even ifsnow is not always friendly to me. One day I was walking in front of Hokudai gymnasium and all of a sudden,
wham! I slipped, fell, and landed on my back. Ouch! But anyway, I just enjoyed that moment by looking at thesky and the beautiful stars as if I’m trying to make friends with them.
Speaking of friends, in my laboratory, my Japanese friends are “friends from the first sight”. They don’t mind
spending a minute to talk to me. A lot of them try to speak in English most of the time. And I am amazed thatthey can speak very well. As time goes by, I’m starting to get familiar with the campus, EGPSEE, and lab
friends. I learned about what we can or cannot do from them. For example Ms.S (EGPSEE student) that sits
next to me, likes to sleep on her magical pillow. From there, I learned that if I’m very tired, I can go to sleep fora while. Mr.T (another EGPSEE student), who can toughly drink more than 7 bottles of beer in one night,
always taught me about Japanese young customs which is flexible and different from the book about Japan that
I always read. Last but not the least; I also have a very cool tutor, Mr.A. Thanks to him that after several weeks
of my first arrival in Japan, I can get used to Japanese life. My tutor also said that “Hey man, thanks to you, I
can practice my English again”.
Finally, I just want to say that I feel comfortable studying in this campus. I enjoy living here in Japan. I can’t
wait for my next surprise. Everyday is a wonderful day, so have a great one!

EGPSEE-SU

7

E-Vision

Winter 2007

InterviewOn Nebraska, English and Heavy Metal Rock:Things You Want to Know About Miwa Yokota

When we talk about Miwa san, what will be the first thing tocome into your mind? Maybe…a smart lady who works in CEED and
can speak very good English with an American twist. Yes, that’s true.
But there are still a lot of interesting things you need to know about
MIWA YOKOTA. And so I asked her, and these are what my pen has
inked on her answers to my questions…
Where are you from (home town)?
… Taiki, Hokkaido, Japan (1-hour drive from Obihiro)
I heard that you studied in USA? Where and what university?
… Yeah…University of Nebraska at Ohama.
But before going to the USA, what were you doing?
… I majored in English Literature in Musashi Women’s Junior College for two years. I studied Shakespeare(Interesting...hmmm. We have to ask Miwa san about Romeo and Juliet!). And then I worked for several years
here in Hokkaido to earn money for my US studies. Although I got scholarship, I had to pay for the other costs
like living expenses.
So when did you go to Nebraska?
… I was in Nebraska from 1998 – 2002.
What did you study in the University of Nebraska?
… I took B.A. in International Studies and MBA concentrating on International Business (Omoshiroi ne?).
Why did you choose this major field of study?
… In this field, there are a lot of opportunities to meet international people, learn different cultures; learn about
International Relations…especially in the US. Did you know studying business is to study “people” as well?
May I go back to the university, why did you choose Nebraska?
… I like Hokkaido very much. Nebraska is very similar to Hokkaido, with four defined seasons. But I think the
major reason is that University of Nebraska is famous for International Relations and the tuition fee is quite
affordable.
8

EGPSEE-SU

E-Vision

Winter 2007

Being in the US for quite some time, what things did you observe in America that is very different fromJapan?
… Many, many differences (she mentioned three major ones) In US, they respect individuality…that each one
is unique. Everything is SUPERSIZE in America…they like Extra-Large, Jumbo, Mega sizes as contrasted toJapan which promotes minimalism. (I asked her if she watched the documentary film about McDonald’s entitledSUPERSIZE ME…have you watched that movie. You have to…the movie blamed McDo as one of the major
contributors of obesity in America). And finally, USA is a melting pot of cultures…you can meet and see
different people, different religion.
What do you think is the best thing you’ve learned from USA?
… I think the best thing that America gave me is showing me my true identity. I learned more about Japan, who
I really am (Don’t undermine the great improvement of her English skills also…a legacy of America to her).
Some unforgettable experience?
… I went to see WWE. Do you know what WWE is? It stands for World Wrestling Entertainment. That was so
fun! You can see “soap opera with action”. Hahaha…(she laughed…Cool!)
Having learned and able to communicate with English effectively, what did the language gave you in return?
… It gave an opportunity to meet and talk to different people. English is a universal language. By learning
English, I also learned a lot about people.
How long have you been working in CEED?
… Almost one year. I started working at CEED since February 2006.
Being with CEED, what do you think is the most rewarding or the best thing about your job?
… Having experienced living abroad, I became competent in helping foreign students and Japanese students aswell. My experiences in US make me knowledgeable and understand the feelings of foreign students living herein Japan. And since I can communicate with them, I can extend more help to them. I also helped and assisted bygiving advises Japanese students who want to go abroad.
Any advice to Japanese students?
… I want them to express their opinions, to speak up and express their feelings. They don’t have to just listen
only all the time. A good listener becomes a good speaker. So they can do it. (I just hope Japanese students canread this article).
How about your future plans?
… Maybe pursue a doctoral study in international business. I am not sure, but if IB will be offered in Hokudai, I
still prefer to study here (I hope Hokudai will offer this program…sounds interesting isn’t it?).

EGPSEE-SU

9

E-Vision

Winter 2007

We talked a lot about serious matters! Can we go to the lighter side? What do you usually do during yourfree time? I mean your hobby.
… I usually listen to music, jazz, or heavy metal (I didn’t know Miwa san is a rocker!). I like the music of
P.O.D., a Christian heavy rock band. Sometimes I play flute. I have two flutes – a Native American flute I
bought in the US and the other one is from Japan. I also read books. My favorite book is Gap Creek by RobertMorgan. This book is about life and relationship.
How about you favorite food and drinks?
… Pizza! It’s too bad I can’t find delicious ones in Japan. I also like tea (Hmmm… I also like pizza, but
unfortunately, it costs a fortune here in Japan! I wonder why an ordinary family size pizza would cost you about$25 here in Japan).
Why is it that every talk always ends with food? Hmmm…I will leave that as your assignment.
Anyways, there were still a lot of things to talk about but we had duties to fulfill, and so we decided to end ourchit-chats. At the end of the day, there is one thing we have to think about…a smart and spontaneous lady like
Miwa san can be a cool and heavy-metal-rock-WWE-fanatic woman. But one thing is certain; Miwa san will
always be available to assist foreign students with open arms as long as she is still in CEED.

An Interview by
Richard Diaz Alorro
M2
Laboratory of Mineral Processing
and Resources Recycling

10

EGPSEE-SU

E-Vision

Winter 2007

International Page

ZIMBABWEby
Mufundirwa Azania
M1
Laboratory of Rock Engineering

Zimbabwe comes from the Shona name Madzimbabwe, which means “House of stones”. It is located insouthern Africa. Zimbabwe is a landlocked country, surrounded by South Africa to the south, Botswana to thewest, Zambia to the northwest and Mozambique to east and northeast. It gained political independence on 18
April 1980 from the British rule.
English is the official language in Zimbabwe and shonais the mother language. Zimbabwe has a literacy rate of
95.2 %, the highest in Africa. Zimbabweans generally
value and pursue academic achievement. There are 14 universities in
Zimbabwe, with the University of Zimbabwe being the first and largest
university. The population of Zimbabwe is 15 million. There are seven cities
in Zimbabwe; the capital city is Harare with a population of 1.8million.
Zimbabwe has a land area of 390,757km2, with most of the land exposed to mining, agriculture, parks, andinfrastructure. There are plenty of wildlife parks in Zimbabwe, the country major tourist attraction, withanimals like elephants, lions, giraffe, buffalo, crocodiles, etc. The Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River is a niceplace to visit with many interesting and affordable world-class hotels for business or pleasure. In the kitchen,comes a range of dishes with sadza as the staple food. Sadza, better known as white mealie meal or whitecornmeal is usually taken for dinner and lunch. The process of making sadza is mixing the mealie meal withwater until the paste has boiled. More mealie is added to thicken the paste until it is hardened. The meal isusually served with greens (spinach, collard greens, etc), beans, andmeat that is stewed, grilled or roasted. Rice and chicken, andcabbage salad are often served as main meal at weddings andgraduation ceremonies. Family gatherings are often celebrated withthe killing of goat or cow for barbecue. For transportation,commuters normally use minibuses, train, and cars in going to workor school.
Enjoy your studies and visit Zimbabwe someday!!
Capital city at night: Harare

EGPSEE-SU

11

E-Vision

Winter 2007

ArticleFlash Floods in the Himalaya:
Origin, Process and Mitigationby
Krishna Prasad Dulal
D1
Laboratory of Hydraulic Research
The countries around the Himalaya viz Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, India, Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh,called South Asia rank first in nearly all statistics related to water-induced disasters, particularly floods.
Annually, the region records the highest number of floods, people affected, economic losses, and fatalities. Asia
is not first, however, in the number of insured losses, hence resilience to these disasters in this region is very
low. Flash floods are gaining increasing attention.
Inherent to mountain areas, they have three major
origins.
The most common cause is extreme rainfall and the highslope of the country. Short high intensity rainfalls arecommon in the Himalayan region. They can cause aflood wave of disastrous proportions with potentiallydevastating effects within a very short time. The second
cause is the breaking of dams built for various purposesor dams caused by landslides. The third and particularly

Rampaging waters in the Jhikhu Khola watershed during a
flashflood of 2002. (Nepal)

the most pertinent problem in the Himalaya is theincreasing numbers and sizes of pro-glacial lakes situated between an (often) ice-colored moraine ridge andretreating glacier tongue. Whenever such a lake breaks through the walls of its damming ridge, a glacial lake
outburst flood (GLOF) occurs. The study conducted by International Centre for Integrated Mountain
Development (ICIMOD), an international INGO working over two decades shows there are many potential
GLOF sites that exist in the Himalaya region.
Flash floods are mostly local events independent of each other and scattered in time and space. Usually theyoccur from small catchments and sometimes covers a bit bigger, but ultimately it combines with others in themain river course giving bigger surge, though less destructive due to bigger waterway in the main river course,which caused to decrease the energy of the wave. Typically, they have an extremely sudden onset and peakwithin minutes to hours, unlike normal river floods which peak only within hours or days. A surge wave can
propagate quickly to locations tens of kilometers downstream, making them difficult to monitor and react in ashort time and hence dangerous to mountain people, properties, and infrastructure. Generally, the extent of the12

EGPSEE-SU

E-Vision

Winter 2007

problem is difficult to assess. Reporting on flash floods is often
integrated with river floods and many events are left unreported. It
is clear that the problem is of considerable significance withprobably thousands of fatalities and households affected in theregion annually. The frequency and magnitude of flash floods are
increasing every year. For instance, the study conducted by
ICIMOD shows deaths caused by flash floods, exceeded thosecaused by river floods in the last few years in China. Chinaemphasizes the need to address and improve management of flash
floods andis the only
country in

The Mingyong glacier seen cascading
downstream from a mountain in Yunnan,
China. Glacial lake outbursts are the mostcommon causes of flash floods

the region
that singles
out flash floods in its disaster management approach.
Other countries deal with flash floods with a multihazard approach. Mitigating the effects of landslides
blocking rivers is generally difficult and expensive, but
the situation can be monitored and early warnings can
The friendship bridge in Bhotekoshi, at the Border between
China and Nepal, which is complety washed away by the
flash flood of 1981

be issued provided the necessary information andcommunication systems are in place. There is an urgent
need for improved forecasting and real-time warning

mechanisms for flash floods within countries and regionally. By strengthening the preparedness and response
mechanisms will help to save many life and properties in the community level. As much as flash floods are anational concern, they are also a transboundary problem because many rivers in the high Himalaya crossnational boundaries. One such example is poiqu in the Tibetian Autonomous region, China, which becomes
Bhote Koshi and Sun Koshi in Nepal. Several flash floods have occurred within this transboundary catchments:
the latest took place in 1981 and caused immense destruction on the Nepali side, completely washing away a
bridge and parts of the main road to Tibet (Arniko highway) as well as triggering landslides. Since the1981 flash flood, more infrastructures have been constructed in the river downstream. Hence, the vulnerabilityof the catchments has increased. There are numerous glacial lakes in mountainous catchments and the ICIMOD
study shows that some of them are in potentially at risk of breaking through their natural moraine dams. For thisreason, installation of an early warning system from the river obstruction upstream to the downstream valley isthe urgent concern to save human and the properties. Unfortunately for the transboundary rivers, early warning
system only covers the part of the river up to the border in this region, which has a very less warning time andis not sufficient for people to get to safety and secure property and infrastructure. This can be sorted out by
transboundry dialogue and common understanding on how to approach the problem of flash floods and increase
the level of disaster preparedness.
Source: www.icimod.org
EGPSEE-SU

13

E-Vision

Winter 2007

Travel Diary

A Reunion with Indonesian Alumni
byWerawan Manakul
EGPSEE Program Officer
Last November 2006 I attended a meeting in Bali. I took this opportunity to visit our EGPSEE alumni in
Surabaya and Banda Aceh. It was my second visit to Bali and to stay at the hotel
where we were staying. Both were business trips and our days were mostly spentin the meeting rooms. Everyday on the way to and from our hotel room and themeeting room we walked past people on vacation in colorful casual wear or
swimming suit and could not help feeling sorry to ourselves. So a warning toreaders -- avoid attending meetings or conferences held in resort hotels!
Surabaya is Indonesia's second-largest city, andthe capital of the province of East Java. Two of

Hotel room in Surabaya

our alumni are there – Dr Antoni, who kept all EGPSEE events alive during
2001-4 with his digital camera and Dhanny, our SU President (2005-6). Since I
would stay only one night there, aside from my shoulder bag I only carried aBalinese dancers

knapsack which was full of instant curry soup, omiyage from some of you here.
Surabaya is about 50 minutes by air from Denpasar (Bali).

I did not see Antoni who said he would pick me up at Surabaya’s Juanda airport. As the time in Surabaya is anhour different from Bali I began to worry whether I would have to wait there for another hour. I looked aroundfor public telephones but could not find any. A man approached and asked me something but I could notunderstand. I used a sign language to tell him that I was looking for a public phone. He went to an old man
standing 3-4 meters away and led him to me. The old man had a mobile phone hanging from his belt. Thatkind man, joined by another kind man, did not leave me and acted as coordinator until I finished talking toAntoni. That walking mobile phone cost me 7,000 rupeah (about 100 yen).
Ten minutes later, Antoni walked towards me with a smiling “rounder” face. Dhanny and Antoni came together
in Dhanny’s CR-V (I learned later that SUVs are popular in Surabaya because of frequent floods). They said it
was the first time for them to come to this airport, opened just a week ago, so they did not know the exact route.
From the airport we went straight to Petra Christian University where both of them earned their B.Eng. Antoni
is now Petra’s Lecturer and Head of the Graduate Program. Dhanny has taken over his father’s business andseemed to be very busy. While driving he had to answer phone calls now and then. I witnessed a clear
difference between being an academic and a businessman!
14

EGPSEE-SU

E-Vision

Winter 2007

I introduced the e3 program to a group of undergraduate students. Some asked questions in English whilesome in Indonesian and Antoni did the translation. Petra Christian University is one of the top universities forcivil engineering. After the e3 presentation, Dhanny took me to Institut Teknologi Sepuluh November,(November 10 Institute of Technology, ITS), the largest engineering institute in Eastern Indonesia with over
17,000 students. We went to ITS’ biggest and major campus in Sukolilo district. Dhanny’s father who used toteach there wanted me to meet the new Dean. The Dean’s office was so spacious that I felt small after entering.
Dhanny’s father was there too. The Dean told me about his plan to organize an international symposium nextyear.
Dhanny then drove me to my hotel and said that he would pick me up for dinner. Hotel Majapahit (Madarin
Oriental) was designed in the Dutch-period style and built in 1910. It was refurbished but still keeps the oldfeatures which include stained-glass windows, terrazzo floors and colonialstyle balconies and verandas. My room was big and had a high ceiling. The
old furniture in the room provided a good hiding place for mosquitoes. I had agood time catching mosquitoes with the drinking glass.
That evening we went to a restaurant where Antoni’s and Dhanny’s former
adviser and his wife whom I know personally were waiting. There I met
Antoni’s pretty friend for the first time. We talked about the hot mud flow in
Cigarette factory
Sidoarjo caused by an oil drilling accident in May that has displaced more than
10,000 people and inundated entire villages in Java. The government had elected a soil embankment to containthe mud hoping that the discharge would stop but it has not and continues to discharge about 40,000 m3/day.
Since my flight back to Bali was in the evening, I was eager to visit the place. Antoni did not give in to myrepeated requests to take me there. His reason was that it was extremely
dangerous as the embankment could burst anytime.
The next morning, Dhanny returned to his business life and Antoni took care ofme. We went to the Dji Sam Soe Cigarette Museum. In a display room, 5-6
female workers sat in a glass room to allow us a close look at the way cigarettes
were rolled. On the other side we could look down and see a factory floor
Antoni`s pretty friend

where hundreds of women churn out hand-rolled cigarettes at a speed of morethan 325 sticks per hour. In fact Sampoerna, with a workforce of more than
37,000, could have gone totally automatic but to preserve the old way and employment, a portion of theworkforce does the work manually. We had a very nice lunch at the Museum. It was the first time for me tosee ox-tail soup with its soup in one bowl and ox-tail fried with sweet sauce come together with rice.
I left Surabaya that evening to return to Bali. The following day we left for Jakarta and stayed one night there
to catch the first flight to Banda Aceh. On the flight to Banda Aceh, the newspaper headline news was a story
on an explosion due to gas pipe under the mud flow embankment where I insisted to visit. The explosion caused
blazing fire nearly 50 meters high and damaged the embankment killing nine people and leaving five missing
and 11 injured. Antoni was very wise to refuse to take me there.
EGPSEE-SU

15

E-Vision

Winter 2007

Banda Aceh is the capital city of Aceh province, a devoutly Islamic province and one which has been in civil
and political conflict for 30 years. Foreigners were not allowed to enter Aceh until after the most devastating
Tsunami struck in December 2004. The flight time from Jakarta to Banda Aceh is 2 hrs 40 minutes. Although
the air ticket did not indicate a stopover, we had a brief stopover in Medan. I appreciated the stopover as I
could buy a big scarf to protect myself from the strong air-conditioning onboard the flight.
Dr Muttaqin who graduated in 2003 and continued as a JSPS PD till 2005 and Dr Taufiq who
graduated before EGPSEE was established and their wives were at the Sultan Iskandarmuda Airport to receive
us. Both are teaching staff at Syiah Kuala University, the largest university in the Aceh province. After thetsunami the university was first given a task to provide immediate humanitarian relief and later to come up witha comprehensive strategy for rehabilitation and reconstruction. We immediately noticed the important rolethese two alumni have been playing in the rebuilding of their province. We also noticed that they have at thesame time turned into businessmen. The reason was simple – foreign aid agencies believe in their knowledge
because they graduated from Japan, a country that has the most advanced knowledge and technologies withregards to seismic and tsunami.
Drs Muttaqin and Taufiq took us to the devastated areas.

There were no

mountains and the whole land was flat. In my opinion, even if there was awarning well in advance there were no higher places to escape to. We passed aplace that was once a village where the university lost almost 150 teaching staff
there.

Muttaqin`s supervisor turned
student

That night we had dinner at Dr Taufiq’s big and beautiful house. There were about 20 people including otherteaching staff who graduated from Japanese universities, their wives and children. The only nihonjin was Ueda
sensei. All the talks that night were done in Japanese. Everyone – husbands, wives, kids – spoke Japanese. Dr
Muttaqin’s four kids used Japanese among themselves.
The following day we checked out early in the morning, left our luggage at the hotel and headed for Syiah
Kuala University. We visited the university President who told us how important Drs Taufiq and Muttaqin wereto the university. We returned to the faculty of engineering where Ueda sensei gave a lecture and I an
introduction to our e3 program. This time the audience was graduate students and engineers. One particularperson among the audience was an old lady. She was Dr Muttaqin’s undergraduate supervisor. She has now
retired but reenrolled in the graduate program under Dr Muttaqin’s supervision. What we saw throughout thisuniversity was that there were so many female staff and students. At the structural engineering laboratory, thelab supervisor was female and about half of the students who were there were female.
It was one of our happiest trips seeing our alumni doing very well in their own country.

16

EGPSEE-SU

E-Vision

Winter 2007

Food Corner

Dhal Curry(Paruppu Curry)byMohanaraj Rengarasu Terrance
M2
Laboratory of Infrastructure Planning and Design
Ingredients (Serves for 6)
2 cups Red Dhal
2 cups thin coconut milk
1 dried red chili, broken into pieces
1 teaspoon Ground turmeric
1 tablespoon Ghee or oil
6 curry leaves

Dhal

2 medium onions, finely sliced
5 cm strip daun pandan or rampe leaf
5 cm stick of cinnamon½ cup thick coconut milk
Small stalk lemon grass or strip of lemon rindSalt to taste
Method:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Wash Dhal well until water is clean.
Remove and discard Dhal that float on the surface of the water or any that are discolored.
Put drained Dhal in a saucepan with the thin coconut milk, chili and turmeric.
Bring to the boil, and then cover and cook slowly until Dhal are soft.
In another saucepan, heat the oil and fry the curry leaves, onions, rampe leaf, cinnamon and lemon grass
until onions are brown.
Reserve half the onions for garnishing the dish and turn the Dhal mixture into the saucepan.
Add thick coconut milk and salt to taste, and simmer uncovered until Dhal are very soft and theconsistency of runny porridge.
Serve with rice.

* Dhal is preparation of pulses which have been stripped of their outer hulls and spilt, as well as thick, spicy
stew prepared therefrom, a mainstay of Indian and Pakistani cuisine.
EGPSEE-SU

17

E-Vision

Winter 2007

Blog on EGPSEE Field Trip
(31 Aug -1 Sep 2006, Tomakomai-Noboribetsu-Muroran)
by
Fumiyo Takahashi
Secretary
Laboratory of Mineral Processing
and Resources Recycling(Sept, 2, 2006)- I took part in the field trip of EGPSEE which ended yesterday. I had great fun as all themembers were very cheerful and open-minded. Moreover, the trip explored some plants and they were very
interesting
andexciting.
EGPSEE is an English program in thegraduate school of engineering
composed of many foreign students.
As I am very interested in different
cultures, I eagerly to joined them. The
photo in right side is the reason why I
could join this EGPSEE's activity. I
designed the T-shirt for them and they invited me to join the field trip as a kind of award. I’m very happy to see
all the members wearing the T- shirt which I designed. I think it suits every member. Thanks for their invitation!
The factory tours of a recycling factory, a paper company, and an iron company for survey and observation,
were very impressive. I think it is important to see the actual process and to feel the smell, the sound, thetemperature, and the atmosphere so that the excited mind could let the researchers find many ideas. Even for me,
my brain becomes more active and filled with so many questions.
We also went to the active volcanos "Jigokudani" and "Mt. Usu". It has been years since my last visit there.

It is said that Japanese demons, we call them ONI, live there. Do you believe?
I really had a good time during the two days trip because of three points: firstly, I was inspired by the artificial
great systems of the factories; secondly, I rediscovered the huge power of nature; and thirdly, I got energy fromthe EGPSEE members because they are very cheerful and motivated and that inspired me a lot. And also, there
were many entertaining events which amused me so much.
18

EGPSEE-SU

E-Vision

Winter 2007

The Graduates

Tenth Graduating Class (April 2007)
Yadab Prasad DHAKAL
Degree: Master of Engineering
Supervisor: Prof KAGAMI Hiroshi
Laboratory: Urban Disaster Protection Planning
Division: Architectural and Structural design
Thesis title: Prediction of velocity response spectra of strong
ground motions considering path effects in northern Japan.
E-mail: yad_dha@yahoo.com

HARA Hiroe
Degree: Master of Engineering
Supervisor: Prof WATANABE Yoshimasa
Laboratory: Water Quality Control Engineering
Division: Built Environment
Thesis title: Removal of pharmaceuticals from municipal
wastewater using membrane bioreactors and activated sludge process
E-mail: aspirin@eng.hokudai.ac.jp

KONDO Ryota
Degree: Master of Engineering
Supervisor: Dr. HAMADA Yasuhiro
Laboratory: Environmental System Research
Division: Human Environmental System
Thesis title: Study of environmental energy diagnosis
for detached houses
E-mail: ryo_ta@hotmail.com

EGPSEE-SU

19

E-Vision

Winter 2007

OHYA Manabu
Degree: Master of Engineering
Supervisor: Prof NAWA Toyoharu
Laboratory: Resources and Eco-Materials Engineering
Division: Solid Waste, Resources andGeoenvironmental Engineering
Thesis title: A study of shrinkage characteristics
for restrained mortar
E-mail: gaku_1982927@yahoo.co.jp

SHIMAZU Yoko
Degree: Master of Engineering
Supervisor: Dr OKABE Satoshi
Laboratory: Water Quality Control Engineering
Division: Built Environment
Thesis title: Persistence of host-specific Bactereoides-Prevotella
16S rRNA genetic markers in environmental waters
E-mail: yo_shi07@hotmail.com

SHIOZAWA Takuma
Degree: Master of Engineering
Supervisor: Dr. HAMADA Yasuhiro
Laboratory: Environmental System Research
Division: Human Environmental System
Thesis title: Study on residential hydrogen energy
system at normal temperature and pressure

20

EGPSEE-SU

EGPSEE
STUDENT UNIONC EGPSEE-SU 2007