Finally at NIMS

After keeping our luggage in the rooms, they took us to their office. National Institute for Materials Sciences(NIMS) consists of three different sites at different locations. These sites are- Sengen, Namiki and Sakura. Sengen is the main site with the biggest main building. Five minutes from Sengen is Namiki site. But, Sakura site is very far, nearly 8 Kms. My working site was Namiki and For Ajinkya it was Sengen. First, they took us to their office at Namiki site and showed me my desk and introduced me with some group members present. Then, we headed for Sengen site to contact Dr. Abe who was Ajinkya's host researcher. We went to his lab where we found an Indian who was one of the members of the group. He told us that Dr. Abe was waiting for Ajinkya to come but has now gone and will meet him later.
So, after showing both of us our working places, they led us to Tsukuba Center. It is mall beside the bus terminal where we arrived. We went to the food court for having lunch. We had some noodle soup with fried vegetables. This was the first time I had Japanese food. I took both chopsticks and a fork but preferred to use the fork only. It tasted very different, honestly not good. Somehow I was able to finish the noodles but I left the soup. That was my first struggle with the Japanese food.

Ninomiya House

We have to stay at Ninomiya house during our internship period. At first sight, it seemed as a big hotel to me. After entering into to it, we could have the royal feeling of the place. We went to the office where we met Mrs. Ojima who was incharge of the new people coming in. We had two different rooms booked for us and the catch was that those were both double rooms. Now, I want to mention a incident which occured in March when we got our internship confirmed at that place. They didn't had single room vacant during our internship period, so they wanted us to suggest a period after July. This left us puzzled since we can only have internship during our summer vacation. We tried to make them understand but it was the language gap which kept creeping in. I told them to manage a double room since I have a colleague of mine with me. And they booked a double room. Now, look what they have done, they have booked two different double rooms for us and those too on different floors. The room alloted to Ajinkya was 3111 and mine was 5104. We didn't say anything about that at that time.

Now Mrs. Ojima gave us the room keys and led us to our rooms.The room keys also had a remote control button which was used to open the automatic main gates of the building. First we went to my room and i left my luggage there. Then we headed towards Ajinkya's room where she made us familier with all the services provided in the room. The room was equipped like anything. There was a big LCD TV, iron, vacuum cleaner, AC, washing machine, intercom with a screen, fax machine, a cordless phone and the list may go on. But, the most important thing there was a free internet connection. There was a nice library in which many kinds obooks like novels, guides, etc. were there. Also video cassettes and DVD's of many movies were also present but mostly in Japanese.

We didn't have to pay the rent of the room but the utility charges which included electricity,water and gas bills were to be paid by us. So, we have to take care that we use those facilities wisely. Another problem was that we both were in different double rooms, the charges may be higher. However, we decided to remain in the same room only that was Ajinkya's room. After this she showed us our mailboxes which already had names of us on them. And we could also see that there were many Indians in the house.

Clueless at Tsukuba center

It made us worried that no one was there who seems to be there for us. I started looking for a telephone booth leaving Ajinkya with the luggage. There was a mall on the other side of the road. There were many entrance to the underground Tsukuba station. But, i couldn't find a telephone booth nearby. We stood there helplessly. There was a map of the area which was inaccessible to us as it was mostly in Japanese. It was the time to take help of somebody native, So, we asked a person who was passing by with his little daughter. fortunately, he had some of english gyan. We asked him about some telephone booth nearby. He didn't know about it but he lend his phone to us for making the call. That was the kind of help we were not expecting from a stranger. We called to my host researcher and he said that he is on his way. The man who helped us has to rush to catch his bus. We thanked him many times and he told us that he had been offered this kind of help when he went to other countries. Now, after some time I was able to figure out a man who was coming for us. He was wearing a black suit and he was my host researcher, Dr. Kunichi Miyazawa, group leader of Fullerene Engineering group, NIMS. I had seen his photo on the website but I was not able to recognize him. There was another person with him who was his group member, Dr. Katao. They came in his car. So, we loaded up all our luggage in the car and headed for our accomadation facility at Ninomiya house. I think they both were not well aware of the path to the house. So, we were roaming here and there and finally reaching at the same place we started. But, finally we reached there.  

Bus trip to Tsukuba

We boarded the bus to Tsukuba from terminal 2 of the Narita Airport. It was raining lightly on that day. As the bus proceeded we started to get the feel of living in a place like heaven. It was greenery all around. The route of our bus was through rural areas of Japan. There were fields on the both sides of the road. Traditional Japanese houses were also seen. The scenery was awsome and we were able to enjoy it all ,since bus didn't go beyod the speed of 40kmph. Tsukuba is around 40Kms from Airport and the bus took nearly 100 minutes. Our destination was Tsukuba Center which is a bus terminal in Tsukuba. We came out of the bus and waited for the driver to unload our luggage. We kept our luggage aside and started looking if someone is there to recieve us.

Morning in Japan

We first took the bus tickets to Tsukuba which cost about 2540 yen.Now we had to call our hosts to inform them about our arrival. Now, we saw many public telephones around us.There were instructions in English and Japanese. But, we were not able to understand anything (Although it was in english, but it was not clear) and were not able to make a call. Then we decided to ask a lady who was some kind of a employee at the airport. But to our diappointment, she didn't knew english. But somehow she tried to help us. Uptil now we have lost our 20-30 yen in our attempts. Now, we decided to put more coins at once in the machine and we were succesful. I talked to my host and told all the necessary details. He said he will be there at Tsukuba center to recieve us. We have to wait for the bus now. There was time, so we were roaming here and there snapping photos. At last our bus arrived and we left for tsukuba.

Ready to board

Now, I have got my visa and ticket, no one can stop me to get to Tokyo. I have made all the preparations in advance. I have packed all kinds of food items. I knew I wont be getting them in Japan. If I somehow managed to get them, they may be very costly. I had three number of baggages, one hand baggage and two check in baggages. Only the hand baggage had the clothes, rest of the two were stuffed with food items mainly. My arrival at IGI Airport took place at about 6 in the evening. My friend, Ajinkya was already there. We took the option of combined check-in. It was very surprising that total of the both of our baggages weighed dot 60 Kg, the weight limit allowed to us. But, afterwards we came to know that if you are travelling with Air India baggage weight is never a problem. We were in the plane in no time and the time for departure was nearing. In the plane, I called at many places with my mobile since it was the last time its' useful. In Japan, it would have no use cause I didn't have international roaming enabled. Soon after, the plane took off. I was travelling in the plane for the first time. I saw the night view of Delhi, it was incredible!
We had a screen in front of every seat (even in economy class). I enjoyed watching movies and listening songs. Before we could complete our sleep, it was morning very early. We took the breakfast and soon our plane landed smoothly at Narita Airport. It was a very huge airport. So big that we had to cross long corridors through moving walkways. We also had to travel through a kind of shuttle train which carried us to the aiport main building. After collecting our baggage we went outside, where we had to call our host researchers to inform about our arrival.

The most difficult week

I had got my Visa application filed at the Embassy by around 12 May. My flight was Scheduled on 19 May at 9 P.M. It was Air India flight AI306 from IGI, New Delhi to Narita, Tokyo. I was worried if I will be able to get my visa on time or not. I reached Delhi on 16 May. Hopefully, I got my visa on 18 May. Finally, I was ready to board my flight in time.

Next is Visa

When it seems that all the problems have ended, now is the starting of new problems to come. Exams were on my head coming closer day by day. I had to complete all the liabilities to have my application filed for visa before my exams start. Somehow, this also got sorted in time and my application was filed at the Embassy in New Delhi. I should also mention that my friend has still not got the passport and the agent withdrew his weapons. In simple words, the agent was a fraud. Now once more my visa application was not accpeted. They demanded for an additional certificate of Eligibility which was not provided to us by NIMS. I contacted them for the same but they replied it was not necessary since my internship period was less than 90 days. Oh, I missed my internship period was 20 May to 8 July. Somehow, the agent was succesful in getting the application filed at the Embassy without the certificate. Also, my friend ,through some connections, got the passport and applied for the visa by 12 May.

Fight for Passport-2

My friend got his passport on 17 March as expected but alas his passport had got the wrong Date of Birth on it, therefore it needs to be corrected. And also there was no notification for my passport also. We went to the passport office once again 0n 26 Mar for getting his passport corrected and also enquiring my passport status also. We came to know that the fixing of the passport may take around one month. This information gave us a shock since we didn't have much time. We also have to apply for the visa also. One more thing that my passport also has got stuck into some process which I was not able to figure out. So, we both came empty handed on that day. Totally confused, what to do next ?
We again went to the Passport Office on 13 April in hope since we have found an agent who assured us that he will get our passport in time. This time I had to encounter the wrath of an angry Suprindentent at the office. Bt luckily somehow I managed to work it out and got my work done. hurray!!!! I got the information through the net that i have got my passport ready on 15 April. I recieved it on the next monday. But no cookies for my friend this time also. I started to dearch for a visa agent to get my visa application filed at the Japan Embassy.

Fight for passport

First wave of the so called war has ended(I can call it a war, it was so like that only). Now awaited the second wave, more difficult to confront than we expected. I had to go for a tatkal passport for which i needed a Verification certificate by an authority equivalent to an IAS. I was in Varanasi which was not my home town. It was difficult to get that job done at the District Magistrate office. You need to have good connections to get your job fulfilled at that place. So, I started my attempts at BHU only. I was able to get thet certificate signed by an Army General at NCC in BHU. I got my friend also have the same certificate by him. Next was to apply for the passport at Lucknow Passport Office. I did it on 8 Mar with the help of one of my best friends(older in age than me). I forgot to tell, on March 1 we both got the confirmation for our internship in NIMS under different supervisors.

At last, a positive reply

I was eagerly waiting for January to come, so that I can apply at NIMS since getting a chance there was most probable. I was once again at BHU in January. I started sending mails to different researchers at NIMS. There were numerous people working there. Till seventh, I finished sending the mails and started waiting for a reply. I also continued sending mails at other institutes. At last, on 17 Jan, I got a positive reply from a researcher at NIMS who was willing to accept me as an intern. I can't tell what a joyous moment was that for me. I firstly told my roomie and my neighbour about it. But, the problem was that my parents were not ready to send me alone to a foreign country alone. So, I thought if one of my friends if possible can accompany me. I came to know a friend of mine, Ajinkya Puntambekar has also got the same oppurtunity at NIMS. I had plans to visit IIT Bombay for techfest. So, I was not able to check my mail for a week. During this time, my best friend who is also my roomie replied for my mails. the last date for completing the formalities was 2 Feb. After arriving from Mumbai, I rushed through all the liabilities. I also have to find a person in our department who can act as a supervisor for both of us. We were able to persuade on of our teacher for this. Now our application was forwarded by the researcher at NIMS to their respective office. This was not definite that we will get the intership by this time. There was procedure to be followed by them. They collect all the applications and a selection round where they granted internships to a certain number of applicants. Its result was yet to be declared.But, it was a mighty relief to get our application reach there. This was not only the problem we had to confront, we both didn't had a valid passport also(my friend had one but it expired in Jan 2010). Now the quest has just begun.

The beginning

Firstly, I want to introduce myself. My name is Gautam Jain, an undergraduate student at Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University pursueing B.Tech in Chemical Engineering.
So, this Japan stuff started as a craze for pursueing an internship at a foreign institute during summer vacations following 2nd year. I made up my mind that I would be at a foreign country this summer. It was not an easy journey. I started my attempts by October 2009. These include googling for Universities and Institutes abroad and sending mails to Professors and scientists working in the chemical Engineering field. I tried US, Germany, France, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong,China,UK and many more. That was a very tiring job. Got many replies, but most of them were negative. I should rather say all of them. I came to know about National Institute for Material Sciences through my cousin brother whose roomie had gone there for his internship last summer. I sent mails there also, but the catch was that the application period there started from January. So, it got all waste cause no one replied. This was the story till mid November. Now, it was the time for end sem exams. So, i nearly stopped sending mails at that time. After the exams, I got to home where I didn,t have an internet connection. So, sent a few mails through an inernet cafe. But, no success uptill now.