eVISION
Graduate School of Engineering
Hokkaido University, N13-W8, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-8628,
JAPAN

eVISION

http://www.eng.hokudai.ac.jp/e3/e3so/evision

SEPT.–OCT. 2016

EDITORS

www.eng.hokudai.ac.jp/e3/community/evision

evision2015@gmail.com

Contents

Page No.

Editors1

Announcement

2

From the Editors

3

To Next Generation

4-5

The Cauvery

6-7

Sajal Chowdhury

Internship

8

Editor-in-Chief, eVisionMiss You Japan

9Interview ( Asano Oiwa)

10-11

Six Months in the Far East

12-13Interview (Mari Sasaki)

14-15

Recommended Film

16-17

Time is Flying

18

Hello

19

My Research

20

Campus Snaps

21

Summer in Hokkaido

22-23

FAQ

24-25

Photos26-27

Special Thanks:
Natalya Shmakova (for all supports )Design & Illustration: Sajal Chowdhury
Cover Photo - E3 Community & Natalya Shmakova

Contact
evision2015@gmail.com

eVISIONeVISIONCONTENTS

www.eng.hokudai.ac.jp/e3/community/evision
All rights reserved.

Maria Fernanda Rivas

Srikrishnan Siva Subramanian

Associate Editor, eVision

Sub Editor, eVision

Rimana Islam Papry

eViSION

Feature Editor, eVision

Announcement

FROM THEEDITORS

From The Editor
We want our magazine to be a fun and interesting mean of communication
between students, staff and alumni, and hope that we can exchange different
experiences as part of the e3 community. For this, we would like to invite you toparticipate in our next issue by submitting a short article about the topic of yourchoice.
Following are some suggestions, but any new idea is welcome:Experiences :(share your experience in Japan, in Hokkaido University, tell us about yourresearch, work experience, seminars, etc.)

Food :(tell us about your favorite Japanese food, share recipes from your country, tell
us about special food only found during festivals, etc.)

Social activities :Travel :(share pictures and experiences you’ve had while visiting
Japan, recommend places from your country, etc.)

Hokkaido or

Leisure :(share jokes, fun facts, crosswords, etc.)
Finally, show your talent with the camera by submitting your favorite picture tobe published in our magazine. No writing is required, just a title and the dateand place of shooting.

Guidelines:
Note: (Please try to keep your article about one A4 page long, and include
pictures where possible (if they are not your own, please provide the source).
The deadline to include your article in the June eVISION edition is May
30, but those sent afterwards will be saved for our next issue.
Please submit by e-mail to evision2015@gmail.com.

eVISIONeVISION(what are your hobbies? Tell us what kind of activities you like to engage in,give us an insight in your favorite activities in Japan, etc.)

Thanks to e3 for offering a platform like e-vision to share theexperience and views of students. We really enjoyed our editorial
tasks and learnt a lot from our colleagues since 2014. All of they areadmirable presenters of their views, they spent much time to shapethe e-vision magazine and we acknowledge extended support for us
as well as e-vision all the times. As we are the editors of e-vision,
the e-vision team barely needed the assistance or any kind of help
etc. The whole work has been done earlier and being done at present
by ourselves (e3 students) and as we mentioned earlier, we enjoyed a
lot being a part of this team. It may be mentioned here that this willbe the last issue for the present Editorial Team and finally, thanks,
every student, members and staff for keeping patience all the timewith us and for your instrumental suggestions to select a topic of interest and encouragement to write on our own. Lastly, we wish yourcareer and personal life to be a pleasure of success, prosperity andforever happiness! May you be happy forever! All the best!

I

To
Next Generation
Natalya Shmakova
Coordinator
English Engineering Education Program3

e Field Trip, August 25-26, 2016
would like to express my heartfelt

congratulations to September Graduates!
Just in a few days at the commencement
ceremony 29 students will be conferred theirwell-deserved Master's and Phd degrees.
To 25 of them we are saying goodbye, but fourof Master's course graduates are staying with
e3 for Phd program. Soon we are welcoming
45 students from 23 countries who are joining
Master's and PhD programs under e3, two ofwhom are transferring from Japanese course.
It's a pleasure to witness e3 expanding indifferent directions - reaching new laboratories
within Graduate School of Engineering andour alumni flying over to all corners of theworld to fulfill their dreams, creating new
bridges to Japan and Hokkaido University.
I hope that besides obtaining cutting edgeknowledge and professional skills, building
professional network our graduates will carryback home expanded worldviews, lifelong

friendships and unforgettable memories!
I would like to thanks e-VISION team,whose two members Chief Editor Sajal
and Associate Editor Maria are graduating this September and thank for theirefforts to bring e-vision back to life.

Photo Courtesy - Natalya Shmakova

“The Cauvery:
A source of drinking water, irrigation andnow a party-political godsend”
As this will be the last editorial issue of our team, I
come up with an accountable, interesting as well as
hot topic of international interest. Many of thestudents from developed nations may find thismind-numbingand vague since this is not a common
issue they make out. But for developing countries like
India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Guatemala etc. thesharing of river water among the territories is being a
big problem for decades. As we are bourgeoning
engineers of the decade a thought provoking solutions
from our side is essential for the national andinternational disputes of any kind. I take this as anopportunity to put my views on the century-long riverwater sharingdispute of my country.

Sketch showing the basin area of river Cauvery; Picture copyright (@Maps of India)
As I belong to the state Tamil Nadu, I could mention the following points.
As the Tamil Nadu government claims, the entire agricultureon the Cauvery of Tamil Nadu relies upon the river water.
But it is the mistake of the state government that they did not
make any effort for the storage or alternative sources of irrigation during periods of drought.

Srikrishnan Siva Subramanian
Ph.D. Student
Laboratory of Analytical Geomechanics,
Graduate School of Engineering,
Hokkaido University

Thesharing of waters of the Cauvery River is a serious conflict for abouta century between the Indian states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The dawn of
this conflict evolved from two agreements made in 1892 and 1924 between theerstwhile Madras Presidency (now Tamil Nadu) and Princely State of Mysore(Now Karnataka). The 802 kilometres Cauvery River has 44,000 km2 basin areain Tamil Nadu and 32,000 km2 basin area in Karnataka. Karnataka resists that it
does not receive its due share of water from the river. It claims that theagreements were skewed heavily in favour of Tamil Nadu and has demanded arenegotiated settlement based on "equitable sharing of the waters". Tamil Nadu,
on the other hand, implores that it has already developed almost 3,000,000 acres(12,000 km2) of land and as a result has come to depend very heavily on theexisting pattern of usage. Any change in this pattern, it says, will adversely affectthe livelihood of millions of farmers in the state. Being an agriculture country,
India depends on the wellness of cultivation for the productivity and due to themajor climatic changes occurred in this century, the monsoon discrepancies
influences the water availability in a major way.

The solution to the Cauvery water dispute depends oninherent in a sector where "engineering and technology
aspects dominate management and decision-making
approaches". The fixation with absolute volumes orquantities of waters based on the drainage area is illogicaland provisions for water allocation mechanisms in the eventof extreme climate variations is crucial to the success of awater sharing agreement.

Since the independence of India at 1947, the Tamil Nadu state
government has not done any efficient work for the alternative
arranges from their side but kept on demanding the required
water from Karnataka there and then there was a requirement.
As many of my friends belong to the state Karnataka, I asked
about their views as mentioned below.
Karnataka government had given the required amount of water whenever there was sufficient storage.
During the time of extreme drought, our government urges its
neighbour to share the water with a revised scale based on thepresent availability of water.

Belonging to a developing country, our people face many
issues in daily life. This water dispute is one such thing thathinders everyone‟s mind right now. As people in India aresettled in a linguistic manner, the passion i.e. my language,
my society and my state etc. indulges the mind and on an extreme scale, it ends in violence against one another. I coulddeliberately mention a point here that my opinion about myneighbouring countries i.e. Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka
and Nepal had changed a lot after I came to Japan and met
with fellow country people and now I understand the flaws
made by my government as well. You will well know about
your country once you see it from another! This experience gained from my friends of other nationalities made me
to think with the sense of pragmatism and toanalyse thepolitical contexts clearly. I request all our e3
students tocome up with some topics of social interest to discuss
through e-vision. National or international politics are always
a topic of disinterest for engineers but the key solution forlarge scale problems where technology iscredible shouldcome from the engineers of the present generation.

On an engineering point of view, the following statement could
be cited as a solution.

Further discussions on the topic are happily greeted(srikrishnansharma@gmail.com). Many thanks foryour patience in reading this!

Internship inJapanese
Company

Being foreign students in
Hokkaido University, we have many wonderful experiences
as part of ouracademic work or leisure, but only few
chances to know how the environment is in a Japanesecompany.
Fortunately, I was able to have this experience, albeit for a very short time. For privacy reasons, I
cannot disclose the name of the company, but I can share a
bit of myimpressions during these two weeks ofinternship.
The internship was held in the Hokkaido Branch of acompany with over 100 years history. In this office in
Sapporo, they handle business with many different
companies and government offices, and I was able to visit
some of them, to learn about their activities, sale products,
and services. Additional to these visits, I did a market
research on a topic of interest for the company, and at theend of the internship period I did a short presentation.
I can now count these two weeks as one of my bestexperiences in Japan. The most scary but also interesting
part is that there were no other foreigners around, and so I
had to rely on my *low* Japanese skills to communicate;
fortunately, a few of the office workers were able to speak
English and they were very kind to help me, and also very
keen to practice the language themselves.
It seems more Japanese companies are trying to expand into
a global company, and for this they need to learn otherlanguages and receive feedback from foreigners. They
asked me many questions about my impressions of Japan,
and also about my country: the touristic spots, culture,schedule, working habits, and so on. We even had a few
sessions to learn Spanish!
I also saw firsthand the commitment each worker has to thecompany, putting extra hours to finish the work, and ingeneral doing every activity the best way they could; and ofcourse the reciprocity from their bosses to create anenvironment of team work and sincerity. These are good
lessons that we can apply into our daily lives and future
work back in our countries.
My recommendation to current and future students in
Hokudai is, first, to learn Japanese as this will give you
many opportunities to enjoy life in this wonderful country;
and second, to seize every chance of doing something new and different, as these experiences will
stay with you forever.

MISS YOU JAPAN & e

3

Sajal Chowdhury

I came to Japan for my research study (M.Eng.) in
October 2014 after my M.Arch from Bangladesh
University of Engineering & Technology. I fully
remembered my first day in Japan. The day was sobeautiful and full of moments. I could not ignore thegreen and yellow mixed gorgeous outside, although I
was so tired after a long journey from Bangladesh to
Hokkaido. I was so happy to see my supporter helpful
and kind smile always on his face and was very gratefulto e3 for arranging this kind of perfect management forme. From the very first day of my life here in Sapporo,
I always found the smiley face of all staffs who are
working at e3 for us whole day long. I would like toconvey my thanks and gratefulness to e3 who gave me
this great opportunity to study here and to become amember of prestigious Hokkaido University and special
thanks goes to Natalya Shmakova (Coordinator e3) withall the members of e3 for their kind supports andcooperation in every time. My supervisor Yasuhiro
HAMADA, Professor, Laboratory of Environmental
Ergonomics, Division of Human Environmental
Systems (HES), Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido
University, Japan, first and foremost, I am grateful tohim for giving me this wonderful opportunity to workon this topic. I am obliged to him for his continued
guidance, support and tireless faith throughout the
research as supervisor without which my research work
would never have met a completion. I am ought tothank Prof. Hamada who accepted me in his lab andsupervised me kindly, positively and patiently. Within
this two years, I have learnt a lot from him about
research techniques in different ways in where cultivate
good qualities in learning and researching. It is very
pleasure to me that he gave me much more opportunity
to research in the laboratory of my own interest and sothat, we have already published one of our international
journal paper (Energy & Buildings) and waiting forothers. I would like to convey my special thanks to all
the members of „Laboratory of Environmental
Ergonomics‟, Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido
University, Japan, specially Daichi Saito, Yuji Shibata,
Hiroki Sato, Yuuki Ohmae, Namioka Yu, Zhu Chu,
Takurou Yamada, Mr. Akihiro Fukuzawa, and Miki
Yanagimachi who have provided assistance innumerous ways and beside me in every difficulties. I
am really proud of them and will miss you lot. This
program gave me the great opportunity to stay with myfamily, wife Dr. Srabanti Karmakar during
my study period and never felt alone and always consider my difficulties. After graduating this 26
September 2016, really andbadly, miss you e3 community. Take care always andremember me forever.

INTERVIEW
Why are you interested in this job?

Asano Oiwa
Tell about yourself (your education + career+ etc.)
Nice to meet you, everyone! My name is Asano Oiwa.
I‟m working at e3 office from this April. Please let me
introduce myself.
I‟m from Noboribetsu, Hokkaido where is famous forvery good quality onsen (hot springs)! I recommend you
to come visit Noboribetsu onsen once in your life in
Hokkaido.
After the graduation from high school in my home town,
I proceeded to Otaru University of Commerce and met agood teacher of English there. In his class, speaking
Japanese was prohibited and I learned English forcommunication for the first time. I realized that eventhough I had studied English for about 15 years, I cannot
communicate in English well at all. Until then, English
classes were just for exams, we only studied vocabularies
and grammar, and rarely spoke in English in the classes.
A lot of Japanese students know many difficult
vocabularies that are not used in daily life, and also canunderstand difficult sentences, however they cannot
speak English well due to Japanese education system.
The teacher recommended me to study abroad inAustralia for a month. I really enjoyed the life in new
country with new people, and decided to apply forexchange program to New Zealand. The life in New
Zealand is unforgettable and precious memory of my life.
After the graduation from university, I was thinking that
I want to experience many kinds of jobs. I started to work
as a programmer at first because I wanted to try entirely
new thing. After that, I enrolled into school of hair andmake-up, and have worked at wedding photo studio andcosmetic shops for 3 years. I really love beauty andcosmetics since I was a child, so that kind of job was so
enjoyable for me.
Some think it‟s good to continue same job for a longtime, but I‟m really happy that I
could experience a lot of jobs that
I have wanted to try, and could get
skills and meet many kinds ofpeople through work!

Since I got warm support from International Office of myuniversity to go studying abroad, supporting international
students was one of the jobs I wanted to experience someday. I like university. I can feel freedom here. Students are
studying what they want to study, drinking when they wantto drink, trying new things without concerns, and dreaming
about their future. I feel I can get energy from them!
Besides, I knew Hokkaido University as really beautiful
place. I enjoy the way to office every day. That I can
improve my English through working was also reallyattractive for me.

What are the main objectives of the role?
I help applicants of e3 program with application procedure.
(Collecting necessary application documents, VISA
procedure, arrangement of dormitory and air ticket etc.)
I also support enrolled e3 students in order that they canenjoy their school life without concerns. I‟m glad if youcome talk to me when you have any concerns or questions.
e3 also hold many events such as welcome party, BBQ,
sports day, etc. I‟m now helping for field trip to Akabira andFurano in late August.

What was the last book you read? Movie you saw?
Sporting event you attended?
Sporting event: It is not exactly a sporting event, but I joined
outdoor music festival “JOIN ALIVE” in Iwamizawa at the
middle of July. This event is held for 2 days and more than 70
musicians and 36,000 people join. You can enjoy music lives
under the sun all day! You can enjoy the event as you want, forexample, there is comfortable lawn in front of main stage, so you
can take a nap with good music when you are drunk and tired.
Food is one of the attraction as well. There are a lot of shops ofdelicious local foods of Hokkaido. You can also camp there
during the night if you want. I recommend you to join this event
once in your life in Hokkaido!

Six months in the Far East
Bernardo Frías Bouchez (Mexico)
In what concerns the laboratory work - I couldn‟t be moresatisfied. The fact that students work independently and areallowed to use all the equipment is something to reckon withbecause it has given me more confidence in what I do.

I’m a master student in Environmental
Systems at the Monterrey Institute ofTechnology and Higher Education in
Mexico and I arrived to Japan on
January 2016 in order to perform a
research internship of 6 months.
Although I was exchange student at
Georgia Southern University in the
U.S.A. during my Bachelor studies, andalready had the opportunity to be
immersed in other culture, Japan gave
me a different perspective of life.

My experience in Hokkaido University as a researchintern has been no more than a pleasant surprise. To
start off, the idea I had about Japanese people is thatthey tend to be very competitive (specially withforeigners) and more oriented to work individually.
Gladly, I couldn‟t be more wrong. When I arrived to
the Sanitation Engineering laboratory and wasintroduced to Dr. Naoyuki Funamizu, I was pleasedby his warmth welcome and moreover, students fromthe lab were kind and really took their time to explain
to me the rules of the lab (specially Kaneko-san, Wakana-chan, Megumi-chan and Fujioka chan), they
took me to the cafeteria and taught me how to orderchuu, shou and dai size of raizu, and they evenprepared a welcome party for me at a Japanese stylerestaurant. Funny enough, they explained to me how
to ski even though it was my reckless decision to try
it being my first time to see snow ever! From thissmall but significant details, I knew I arrived to theright place.

Another important thing that I discovered whilst travelingaround the country is the unique Japanese culture – people
are very proud of where they come from no matter how
globalized are the countries nowadays. It is a very interesting
contrast to see the high-technology areas such as Shibuya andShinjuku in Tokyo, and then move to the Todai-ji andKiyomizuDera in Nara and Kyoto, respectively, to enjoy old
temples and shrines. Being able to find the deepest of
traditions dating back thousands of years has given me theopportunity to learn about this country more than ever. Thisis part of what makes it such a fascinating country to visit.

Overall, these six months in Japan have been one of the mostfruitful experiences in my life, not only for what I‟ve learnt,
but also for the wonderful people and beautiful places I‟ve
seen. Even though I do not speak the language, I do believe
there is no translation for friendship. These memories will
stay in my heart forever.

What can you do for e3 family that someone else can’tdo?
I‟m sorry to say but I still haven‟t figured out what I can do for
e3 to contribute, which others can‟t do.

What do you find most attractive/least attractive here?
I believe having friends from different countries might be able
to teach you something you‟ve never thought. Being in e3 will
give you chances to come to know many friends from different
countries. I find it the most attractive aspects of e3.

What was the last book you read? Movie you saw?
Sporting event you attended?

Mari Sasaki

Book: Out on a Limb By Shirley Maclaine

INTERVIEW
Tell about yourself (your education + career+ etc.)
My name is Mari Sasaki and I‟ve started working in International
Affairs Office of Engineering since April 2016. Before I came tothis office, I was used to work in the commercial photography andmovie studio as a lighting staff to assist photographers in Tokyo.
During my life in Tokyo, I started having a desire to go back andwork in Sapporo where I grew up, in addition, I also started having
a desire to work in Hokkaido University where has many attractive
professors, students, and faculties in this very beautiful campus.
Eventually I made my dream come true. My hobby is camping,snowboarding, and going to concerts.

Why are you interested in this job?
I‟m believing in that if professors and students could get theirresearch forward, it also means it‟s getting close the solutions
which we “human beings” still don‟t have answers about. The
reason why I‟m interested in this job is that, if I would be able toassist professors and students in any ways and if they feel
comfortable enough with the support, they might be able to proceed
their research further more and it might solve problems we have inthis world. And I like it.

Movie: Still AliceSport event: sports meeting of Engineering

What is the toughest part of a job for you?
To find the answers for the questions which I‟ve never faced.

What are the main objectives of
the role?

Are you creative? How much creative for e3?

So far, I had been working on mainly
about procedures for the students who arewishing to get scholarships. And there aremany different kinds of jobs our office isin charge of. Through our job as a team,I‟m wishing to make our office more andmore to be the place for professors andstudents where makes you feel stopping by
somehow. (Maybe it‟ s because they feel
comfortable with our office, or maybe it‟sbecause they feel our team is reliable,
maybe sometimes it‟ s because they feellike to chat with us…)

In your current or last position, what are or were yourmost significant achievements?

I‟m sorry to say but I still haven‟t found out the creative abilityof myself for contributing to e3.

In these 4 months, I went through some procedures about
different kinds of scholarship to recommend you as great
students, and these days I‟m getting some of the results. I was
so glad when I figured out all the students passed the screening
about some scholarships. Of course that is not my achievement
at all, but it‟s the achievement of students‟ efforts for theirresearch and study, and that could make themselves to getscholarship. But still it is very happy for me to be related tothis job.

What changes have you made in working with others
to become more effective at work?
I‟m trying to go out with my coworkers to have diner together
as much as possible if there are chances. Chatting withcolleagues about our job, sometimes about colleagues‟ hobbies
and so on (about anything is fine), can make our relationshipbetter and I believe that strengthen our ability as a team toachieve something.

Plot:
It’s a warm story of work and love.
Yoon, a freelance graphic designer, spends days and night editing photos for magazinesand advertisements. Although having a good reputation in his field, the fear of being
replaced in the fierce competition pushed him working every day and everywhere, even at
the funeral of a friend’s father. His life was full of deadlines. But one day, after several
sleepless nights, an annoying skin rash appearing on his neck totally messed up his busy
schedule.
Imm, a young doctor, works in public hospital. She tried her best, hoping to treat thiscrazy working man. She suggested him to take medicine, quit his favorite food, spend his
limited time to exercise and the most important—sleep early. Obviously, it’s impossible
for this man.
Yoon appreciated Imm for her friendly advice and concerning. He didn’t want to makeher disappointed, but still could not put the work beside when facing the deadlines
fulfilling his calendar. Struggling between overwhelming work and gradually weaker
body, this superman finally fell down after more than 10 day’s work without sleep. On thebrink of death, he suddenly understood what is the most important for him, not work, but
the people whom he loves and who love him.

FILM by
Yan MA

HEART ATTACKCountry: Thailand
Release time:2015

Recommendation reason:
This movie has no exciting story, but a little bit romantic, a little bit bitter, touching the heart.
Many people like Yoon, live under high pressure, work very hard, sometimes ignore that there
is something else more meaningful in the life, maybe health, maybe family, maybe the girl youTahereh’s Column

Hello….

Hello every one.

Kanae
KOBAYASHI
I‟m

from

Sapporo.
I have lived in Sapporo for 23 years. All my life isin Sapporo. I think Sapporo is very beautiful placeand comfortable place to live. My favorite place isMoerenumaPark. It was designed by Isamu NOGUCHI. In the end of summer, we can enjoy a granddisplay of fireworks with music. I recommend you
to go there. Now, I‟m a 2nd year of master courseand belong to Water Quality Control Engineeringlaboratory.

TIME IS FLYING
Time is flying and I'm close to my future plan as a PhD student. Living
abroad, in Japan, broadened my point of view to life a lot. I touched this country
and this society closely and I could realize its different aspects such as social,educational, and technological ones. I believe Japan is the country of quality andJapanese people are so nice, polite and respectable even though it doesn't mean that
there's no sign of problems here. Actually there's no "perfect" in the world andtotally based on my personality and my thoughts I can say I love Japan and I would
like to live here more if I can pass my private and work life. Meeting various
famous companies in my field here was a great honor for me and I could realize thehuge difference between developed and developing countries. I learned a lot here
and yet I am eager to learn more and that's why I'm trying my best to manage mybusiness life, achieving more knowledge and more power in order to make progressin my life and if I could have the honor, promote the quality of life for theothers who are waiting for my help. Wish I could succeed. Thanks God andthanks mom.

18

I just participate in e3 course from this April. Why I
joined in e3 course is that I want to study abroad in
future and take myself to world where I have neverseen. In addition, I want to introduce my research
topic to not only Japan but also to the world.
However, now I don‟t have any confidence to live
alone overseas. Actually, there are many
international students in my laboratory, but I can‟tcommunicate with them well. Therefore, I study ine3 course to improve my English skills andcommunication skills.

Three weeks have already passed since I
joined e . At first, it is difficult to understand thecontents of class. I can‟t catch many new technicalvocabularies and what teacher said.
3

I need more preparation in e3 class thanin Japanese class. For example, if I learn in Japanese, I can understand text book at one time, butwhen I study in English, I have to read text bookmany times to catch the contents.However now I
enjoy e3 class because I used to English class andconversation with international
students.e3 course increased mymotivation to study abroad. I wantto enjoy my e3 life. Thank you.

19

MY CAMPUS SNAP
Sristi Das Gupta

MY RESEARCH
Takuro Yamada

In

the

laboratory

that

I

belong(LaboratoryofEnvironmental Ergonomics), it has also carried out research onenergy in addition to the human body physiological response.
This time, I‟d like to introduce some of its researches.
Do you know the cogeneration system (CGS)? It performs
electric power generation by burning gas, and is the machine toeffectively use the exhaust heat out at the same time. In termsof image, it is a machine that power generation functions andboiler functions are combined. Thereby, it is possible toproduce energy efficiently; it helps in the prevention of global
warming.
I have studied things for the home, even in the CGS at
Hokkaido University. When you introduce household CGS into
the home, you can use the electricity generated by it and theexhaust heat for a bath and a heater. It is said that it can saveelectric approximately 40% per one year.

The gas charges will increase to use the gas for fuel, but you willprofit because electricity charges decrease further. A price ofhousehold CGS is gradually falling now in comparison with thepast; however, it is necessary to think carefully when you
purchase it because it is very expensive.
Such household CGS introduced to a variety of home actually, I
analyze the energy savings and utility costs reduction amount atthat time.
It cannot be said that household CGS spreads too much now. But
in the near future, I think the household CGS may be seen allover the world because of an energy conservation performance ofit. Its use in combination with, such as solar power and electriccars are also expected. For the global environment (and your household economy), why
not consider purchasing the household CGS?

Hokkaido is considered Japan‟s last frontier which includes
towering mountain ranges, pristine lakes, volcanoes, vast
forests. Open pastures, and hot springs (onsen). Over 500
alpine flowers bloom with variety of colors in the mid-summer.
Hokkaido offers beautiful nature and flowers fields which are
best explored during the summer. . My write up remains
incomplete if I forgot to mention about Lavender, which has
been cultivated in Hokkaido for more than half a century. The
purpose of lavender has been shifted from agricultural productto tourist attraction.
During the summer period, I visited several places, among
them I liked the Tomita Farm most located in Furano offering
Japan‟s oldest Lavender fields, view of flower beds such as“Irodori field” where flowers are planted in rows of different
colors including white, red, purple and pink.
Lavender flavored ice-cream is very famous among the tourist.
This is the perfect place to pick up souvenirs such as lavenderfragrance soothing soaps, candles and eye pillows. Nowadays,
Furano‟s Lavender field attracts large numbers of visitors to
the region every summer, when the plants are in full bloom.

Summer in Hokkaido
Rimana Islam Papry
Whichseason is better in Hokkaido- Summer or winter? For me it‟s summer
definitely. After a long tiring snowy winter, summer comes with a joy, fresh anddifferent shades of color which makes the Hokkaido more charming and beautiful. As
per my opinion, summer is the best season to visit Hokkaido. The prefecture has themildest climate in summer. It‟s not as hot and humid during the day and become cools
down in the evening, make the night more enjoyable. Average temperatures in thesummer range from 20-250C. The weather is very good compared to the extreme
humidity of Japan‟s main island, which is perfect for afternoon hang out with friends
or driving down the road with the window open as you enjoy the fresh breeze. It is
important to note that, UV light can be quite strong, so precaution must be taken into
account.

At the end I can say that of all the summer time in my life, thiswas my best summer ever, and collected many memories for a
lifetime. The sweet moments of my summer holidays were
somewhere deep in my mind and these unforgettable memories
make me wait eagerly for the next summer time.

At the end I cansay that of all
the summer
time in my life,
this was my bestsummer ever,and collectedmany memories
for a lifetime.

FAQ

Since my study is still on-going, the university will not issue me aranking certificate, what should I do?
You can indicate what you believe is your ranking in the application form. If you areselected, an official certificate will be required for submission to MEXT. Proper explanation
will be needed if there is a discrepancy between what you indicate in the application form
and what is shown in the official certificate.

My university does not issue any ranking certificate, what should I
do?
You should submit an official certificate showing the number of students in the graduation
class and the highest mark obtained by student(s) in that class.

I have taken the TOEFL test but the result will not be out in time forsubmission together with my application before the deadline.
You can email the TOEFL score to the e3 office later.

I have a Master’s degree /doing Master’s studies now and reapplying
for Master’s program at e3, do I have to provide certificatestranscripts for my Master’s in this case?
Yes, please provide us your diploma/expected graduation certificate and latest transcript
even if you are applying for second Master‟s degree. Your grades at Master‟s will also betaken into account.

Is there a format for the research proposal?

What criteria are used in the selection by the admission committee?
Various items are taken into account. They include academic achievements through gradesand publications, research potentials through research proposal (especially for Ph.D.
applicants), recommendation from referees, recommendation from accepting professors.

I'm a bachelor student and not yet published any paper, am I eligible
to apply?
Having a published paper may be an advantage as it shows your research ability, but it‟s nota mandatory requirement so you are well eligible to apply and have all chances to be selected.
Please attach an abstract of your bachelor thesis or research project to the application.

Grading system and standard differ from university to university,
applicants who graduated from universities with strict grading may
be disadvantaged.
We keep a statistical data that provide us a reliable reference on academic performance of
graduates of different universities.
For example, students with a GPA of 3.1 from A
university are better than students with a GPA of 3.9 from B university.

I understand that after the final selection, the university has tosubmit a list of nominated candidates and their scholarship
application to MEXT for approval.
Correct. This step can be regarded as for formality sake. It is also meant for MEXT to makesure that the same candidate is not nominated by another Japanese university.

I’m also applying for MEXT scholarship at other university. What
happens if I was nominated by more than one university?

Since summer 2015 research proposal format for MEXT e3 scholarship was introduced. It isPlease specify in the application form which other universities you are applying. In case you

compulsory for those applying for MEXT scholarship through e3 program. Regarding theself-supporting applicants and applicants with their own scholarship, they may follow MEXT
format or submit a proposal in a free form. The proposal is required to know the applicant's
research interest and to make sure that the applicant knows the research scope of thelaboratory he plans to enroll in. At the same time if professors in the lab the applicant applies
find that what the applicant wants to do fits with the scope of another lab, they will
recommend that the application be forwarded to that particular lab. If you apply for admission to the master's program, a 1-2 page abstract is fine. However if you apply for admission
to the doctoral program, you proposal should be concrete and at the same time demonstrate
your ability and potential in conducting research.

I also want to apply for MEXT scholarship through the embassy in
my country. Is this possible?

The website said that applicants need not contact professors inadvance but some of my friends who were selected did contact inadvance.
Japanese professors are very busy and as a result most prefer to review all the applications
at the same time. Doing so enable them to compare qualifications and choose the mostpromising applicant.

How is the application processed?
After the application deadline, applications are sent to laboratory that applicant indicates as
their first choice. If first choice professors are not interested in accepting, the applications
are sent to the second choice laboratories. Professors interested in accept the applicants willconduct skype interview, then submit his recommendation to the admission committee. If
you tick “I agree to be considered for acceptance by different supervisor/laboratory.” Yourapplication may be forwarded to another laboratory in case it was rejected by first two. By
ticking this box you slightly increase your chances to find right research match.

were selected in few universities, you will be asked to decline all other offers by the specified
by the office date. In case you kept offers in few universities and your data was sent to
MEXT, your application will be disqualified entirely.

Application deadlines, selection schedule and possible admisison dates are different for thisscholarships. If you have applied to embassy (during spring) you will know if you wereselected before the application deadline for MEXT e3 (in November). Please make sure to
inform our office on your embassy application result. In case you were double nominated andyour data was sent to MEXT, your application will be disqualified entirely.

When does MEXT send its confirmation to the universities?
In early July.

I'm not only applying to e3 and after selection to e3 may receive
confirmed offer from other university. When is the last day anapplicant can decline e3 offer?
We will inform nominated applicants about the dates before they should make a final decision.
We expect you to make a careful choice. If the applicant chooses to go to other university anddeclines our offer after the university submits the nomination list to MEXT, e3 will lose thescholarship. As a result e3 will be more careful in checking whether the applicants come fromthe universities it had encountered regrettable experiences and who provided the reference
letters.
If you didn‟t find an answer here, please contact our office eprogram@eng.hokudai.ac.jp