Tokyo Tech-AYSEAS 2022 Held Online

Tokyo Tech-AYSEAS (Tokyo Tech-Asia Science and Engineering Exchange Program) was held to connect Tokyo Tech students with students in Southeast Asia. This program is a short-term study abroad program that has been held yearly since 2013, and is originally a 10-day program in which Tokyo Tech students visit Southeast Asian countries to tour facilities, hold discussions, and give final presentations with local and neighboring university students. In FY2022, the program was held online, and 13 Tokyo Tech students and 29 students from AYSEAS member universities in Southeast Asia participated to deepen exchanges. AYSEAS stands for Asia Young Scientist and Engineer Advanced Study Program.

Photo at the closing ceremony

For this program, participating students at Tokyo Tech participated in three preliminary study sessions in July.

Preliminary study 1: Orientation

Professor Motomu Nakashima, Department of Systems and Control Engineering, School of Engineering (Chair, AYSEAS Committee)

After an explanation of the goals of this program, participants introduced themselves to each other as an ice-breaker. Since many of the participants had never participated in an international exchange program before, they also learned tips for discussion and presentation in English.

Preliminary Study 2: Asia and Japan

Professor Takeshi Nakajima, Institute for Liberal Arts

Prof. Nakajima, a political and religious scholar, taught us about the political history of Japan and world history after World War II. The lecture went as far as the relationship between Japan and Asian countries. Can we think of Asia as a cohesive whole, following the example of Europe, which has achieved stable peace? Unlike Europe, where Christianity is the common denominator, Asia is very diverse. Listening to the words of Okakura Tenshin, Gandhi, and Nishida Kitaro, we were inspired by many thought-provoking ideas about the possibility of creating a framework for Asia.

Preliminary Study 3: English Discussion Practice

Associate Professor Yuto Koizumi, Tokyo Tech Academy for Leadership / Institute for Liberal Arts

The session began with the question, “What is fluency?” Fluency in discussion means to enjoy making mistakes, leading the discussion, and asking questions, rather than shrinking back in an attempt to speak correct English. We learned many useful phrases for this purpose. We then all shadowed using speeches by British Prime Minister Johnson and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger speaking about the situation in Ukraine, as well as the theme song from a movie. The session was a great opportunity to learn specific learning methods on what to do to improve English language skills.

Tokyo Tech-AYSEAS 2022 consists of lectures by a variety of instructors, group discussions, and a final presentation. The theme of the final presentation was “Make plans to launch a company or an NGO (or create a product/service) and make a presentation on it”. This year’s program included the following content.

Group discussion

The themes presented from all groups in the final presentations were full of originality. Below are the titles of each group’s presentation. Group E was selected as the first place by participants’ votes.

Noe Naganuma

First year, School of Environment and Society, Tokyo Institute of Technology

I applied for this program because I became interested in Asian culture while interacting with international students at my university and wanted to learn more about Asia and interact with them.

In the AYSEAS program, we attended lectures in English and had group discussions for our presentation on the last day of the program, making use of what we learned in the lectures.

The lectures were all very interesting and would have an impact on my future university life. They were quite different from the lectures I attended in the past, as the lecturers were from a wide variety of countries and backgrounds, including the founder of an NGO, a professor from an Asian university, and a researcher. I was able to learn about social issues, such as abnormal weather conditions occurring in other countries, that I would not be aware of living in Japan, and it gave me an opportunity to think about how I will learn, work, and contribute to society in the future.

The group discussions helped me improve my English skills and also taught me once again that it is more important to try to understand others and communicate well with each other than to try to speak perfect English.

I was touched by the enthusiasm of the Asian students through the program, and I myself took on the challenge with the positive attitude of learning from and enjoying this program as much as I could. Although the program was held online, I was able to actively participate and interact by asking questions and responding using the reaction and chat functions during lectures and presentations.

In addition to lectures and discussions, I also enjoyed spending time with other members. We organized a party on a weekend and had a lot of fun getting together to chat and play games. By talking with people of completely different ages, nationalities, and backgrounds, I was able to learn about other cultures and new aspects of my own country that I had not noticed before.

Thank you very much for this precious opportunity.

Genki Nakagawa

First year, School of Materials and Chemical Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology

I have lived abroad before, and working abroad was one of my options in the future, but before participating in this program, I did not have good communication skills, presentation skills, or other self-expression skills. AYSEAS is a program where students listen to and learn from various lectures by world leaders and at the same time deepen their understanding of Asia through discussions and presentations. By participating in AYSEAS, I was able to improve my communication and presentation skills and learn about the work of people who are leading the world. In addition, I was able to make many friends from overseas. This gave me the basic ability to understand and connect with people of various cultures in order to play an active role in the international community. The experience I gained from this program is something that I would like to use in my future work and research on the world stage.

Febrina Vienna Soulisa

Second year, Master’s course, Construction Engineering and Management, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology

I was unable to complete my internship in Japan due to the pandemic. Since then, I have been looking for a similar opportunity where I can gain more knowledge and insight from different perspectives of people coming from different countries, especially the ASEAN countries and Japan. A fellow student afterward informed me about Tokyo Tech’s AYSEAS program. When I went online to learn more about it, I knew right away that this was the opportunity I was looking for.

At first, I expected it to be more formal and serious. But it was not the case. All of the presenters were friendly and kind. Everyone was able to express their curiosity and freely discuss topics. The topics were diverse and interesting. I focused on the technology, technical aspects, implementation, collaboration, and how to apply the knowledge to address a specific concern and contribute to the community. Moreover, solving a case study with fellow participants and experiencing how the Research and Development department works was fun as we learned how to tackle it using different approaches. Thank you to all the lecturers for their amazing and insightful presentations.

Another thing that was beyond my expectations was the interaction and communication between all participants. All participants were all super nice and funny. I contacted my fellow Indonesian students for the pre-event and had a great time planning our country’s introduction. I also had the opportunity to meet other students from HCMUT and HUST, students from the Philippines, Japan, Thailand, Myanmar, China, and Mongolia. My group mates from Group A were all very active and cooperative during every group discussion for the final presentation. Shout outs to Tommy, Son, Ryu, Noe, Julia, and Eba!

The weekend party also helped me with the opportunity to learn more about participating students and their cultures. We played games and chatted about a variety of topics. Everything was memorable and exciting. Apart from gaining knowledge, I was inspired to do my best while interacting with everyone.

I am grateful for the opportunity and am looking forward to meeting everyone in person. Thank you, Tokyo Tech AYSEAS team!

At a party on the weekend organized by students