I first arrived in Japan at the end of March 2003 as an invited engineer at ATR Spoken Language Communication Research Laboratories.
At that time, I only knew some simple Japanese words (i.e., "Ohayou", "Arigatou", "Sayonara"), and I couldn't read Japanese characters at all.

I learned only a little part of  Japan'shistory in high school.
I also heard only a little about Japanese society from newspapers and television programmes, and some other Japanese culture I learn through watching Japanese drama (i.e., "Oshin", "Tokyo Love Story") or Japanese Cartoon ("Candy","Ikyusan", "Doraemon").
What I learned was Japanese society is very strict in manner, and I was so afraid about this.
I tried to practice bending my body over and over, but never be sure how many degrees were appropriate. My parents really worried about me, but they still let me go. They said "It may only be once in your lifetime, so just go there, have an experience, and in case you can't survive you can always come back anytime".

Today is June 2008. This means I have been living in Japan for more than five years. I started to speak Japanese in easy
conversation. I can read hiragana, katakana, and a very few kanji. The people here are very nice.

They are always helpful whenever I have a problem, and they really understand if I can not do some certain things correctly in the Japanese way.
The place where I live is called "Kansai Science City". It is a place for research science,
where many local and foreign researchers work hand in hand to develop high technology systems, for a better life in a future.

So there a lot of foreigners who live here too that make my life very colourful. Although the place is still quite suburban, it is located somewhere in the middle of three big cities: Nara, Kyoto and Osaka.
So it is very convenient to live. I can enjoy my relaxing time in Nara park, experience Japanese culture in Kyoto, and have fun with vibrant night life in Osaka.

If I think back again, I realized that what I learnt from news and television in my home country are just only a tiny piece from a whole puzzle of Japan.
Sometimes they are even far away from reality.

But that tiny piece is what I believe to be the truth but may not be the truth at all.
And this may not only have happened to me, but also to many people around the world. This may even have happened as well to Japanese people and the way they think about other countries.

So besides all the great technology that people here are working on, I think there is one thing that we can really benefit from Kansai Science City: the cultural exchange. By exchanging information more and more, about Japanese culture to other different countries and vice versa, it may help to open our eyes into the real truth of the outside world, and to broader our way of thinking. Hopefully, someday we can live in harmony with different characters of people, not only in Kansai Science City but in our
peaceful earth.
 

情報通信研究機構 [NICT] /国際電気通信基礎技術研究所 [ATR]

音声言語コミュニケーション研究所　研究技術員

けいはんなオブザーブ１５号より出典

 I came to the Kansai Science City in 2003, and since then I am working at the Advanced Photon Research Center of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (formerly the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute).
Our Center is situated in Kizugawa city, near the border with Nara city.
This place has a beautiful nature, with the scenery surrounded by mountains, which change their color every season.
The sunsets are really beautiful, with the clouds colored into many gradations of red, or with thin glowing edges back-lighted by the setting sun.

Every ear, the nature offers the sakura blooming in spring (hanami) and the red leaves of autumn (momiji), two major natural events which attract nearly all local population.
Further, many historical monuments are situated here or in the immediate vicinity, including the world-famous ancient cities Nara and Kyoto, with their temples, shrines, Japanese gardens, and so on.
Four years ago, the area near our Center was rather deserted. However, it is now rapidly developing and growing, offering more and more facilities for people.

The Kansai Science City is the area specially devoted for the promotion of international research.
For the foreign researchers, this means easier procedures necessary to come, to settle, and to live.
The foreign researchers enjoy a really friendly attitude of the local people.
Not to mention the possibility to learn about the Japanese culture, to taste the world-famous Japanese cuisine, and to participate in numerous local festivals and other cultural events.

The free Japanese language classes with very kind teachers are available for foreigners. (Special thanks for this to the local government).
However, much has to be done in future, including wider spread of English in official organizations, schools, kindergartens, as well as in the research institutes themselves.

Another much-anticipating improvement is the increasing job opportunities for the family members of the foreign researchers.
The possibility for children to study in an international school is also important. Implementation of these improvements will lead to more happy life and therefore to better outcome in research.
Not only the foreign researchers are benefiting from working and living here.

For the Kansai Science City, the broad international collaboration in science and industry represents the major advantage with respect to other cities in Japan. Talented young and famous mature scientists are significantly contributing to the promotion of the cutting-edge research in the leading institutes situated in this area, including our Center. Last but not least, the foreign researchers provide the possibility for the local people to learn about foreign countries, their customs, and the way of thinking, which is often complimentary to the Japanese one. We should not under-appreciate the advantages which follow from the combination of these complementary ways of thinking in science: it often allows finding better solutions for the problems. For this reason, for the foreign researchers it is important to keep their own way of conducting research. Understanding that the international communication provides a mutual benefit for both the foreign researchers and the local people is the key for the successful development of the Science City. If this understanding is further cultivated, the future looks really bright for the Kansai Science City.

日本原理力研究開発機構 関西光科学研究所 高強度場利用研究グループ　研究員

けいはんなオブザーブ１４号より出典