The first feelings I had when I arrived in Japan were tiredness and surety. It felt like I had not traveled to a different country. My academic goal for the JADE program was to learn more about Japan’s housing infrastructure, and their combination of culture into design. I am also interested in learning about Japan’s resilience-building methods and how they prepare for the effects of climate change. So far I am working to complete my goals through conversations with students at the University of Tsukuba and following the presentations/lectures from the professors at the University of Tsukuba. What I hope to take away from the JADE program is an increased understanding of how engineering can be used to create an Inclusive Smart Society (ISS) and also an understanding of how collaboration within engineering will shape the future of the community. I also want to take away an increased form of curiosity to learn more about Smart Cities, transit-orientated development, and so on.
During the first week, I want to remember the presentation we had on Transit Oriented Delvelopment in Japan by Nakhisa Okamoto, Dr. Eng. He talked about the history of transit within Japan, he spoke about the privatization of the railway system and how it benefited the growth of transit within Japan. He also spoke about Transit Oriented Development and the benefits of development following transit. His presentation allowed me to answer a question I received from a professor within my city and regional class. I previously believed that transit and development work hand in hand and that you can not build new development without transit and vice versa. Right now I am leaning towards development following transit because it allows for a high-density design around the area incorporating every a community needs to survive from food to healthcare access. Transit Oriented Development requires full capacity of creation to ensure its success. I also want to remember the concrete testing from the large-scale structure testing lab. It was cool to see how research within Japan aims to work on concrete strength as a way to make buildings more resilient during earthquakes. I also want to remember that profitability is essential for the innovation of a system. But it is also important to not directly relate profitability to how much more money one can make but also to the social benefit it has in communities.
This week a cultural difference I observed was that people in Japan tend to form lines pretty easily and quickly.