So after a few "intermission" posts, as I'd like to call it, we're back to the Japan posts again! :P I can't believe I'm only on the THIRD DAY of our Japan trip and it's already been a month since we left for Japan! I knew I should've gotten a head start on my posts while we were still in Japan..now I feel like my posts are stale and you guys are sick of them. I hope not! I really take a long time to edit, write and post because I want to try to share as much detail about Japan as I can--my readers only deserve my best effort! :) So anyway, as I've mentioned on my previous post, on our third day, we visited a Japanese University, went to the Kasamori Kannon and moved to our assigned place, which is Mobara City in the Chiba Prefecture.
We visited the University of Electro-Communications in ,which is actually a state university that specializes in Science and Technology. It's kind of like Pisay, but for college students! It was good fortune that we got to visit them on the first day of the fall semester! :) We first went to a special lab called the Pictlab which is open 24/7. Only students can use the lab. This is where we saw a 3D scanner (I don't have a photo, only videos! :( ) and these things which can be made by a 3D printer.
Afterwards, we headed to the Dr. Suehiro Laboratory, where we were welcomed by these cute (programmed) bears! They were made even cuter when they played leron-leron sinta (a Philippine folk song) for us! I got touched by the fact the Japanese students took time to research a Filipino song to welcome us. :">
This here is Hiro, a robot the students made. Hiro costs a whopping 5 million pesos I believe, and is programmed to tie a knot. What amazed (and saddened) me was the fact that the school is given a HUGE budget so the students can make whatever they want to. Coming from the field of science and technology, it saddens me that the Philippine government doesn't invest too much in our field.
One of my favorites was this robot which can play Air Hockey with you! It has both an attack and defense mode, and boy the attack mode is super scary--it's like you can't win against it!
Here's another robot which was designed for old people. It can follow you around, kind of like a guard dog.
I couldn't help but think to myself, technology is used to help solve problems, but with the abundance of technology in Japan and already existing solutions to their problems, could it be that the students already ran out of problems to solve? If you've noticed, most of their projects are for fun. =))
This was taken at the tactile lab. When I first heard of the tactile lab, it got me curious. I couldn't imagine incorporating human touch and electronics. Actually, the simple vibrating of your phone is an application of tactile technology. One of my favorite projects was this thing which is light-sensitive. It vibrates when there's light, so it can be used for blind people.
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Nathan, the wonderboy, gave the speech. Nathan speaks Japanese and is the FEU Central Student Organization President. Bigatin my groupmate =))
We had lunch at a buffet place and moved to Kasamori Kannon.
Kasamori Kannon is a temple located on a hilly town of Chonan in the Chiba Prefecture.
The steps going up the temple were pretty steep and I'm scared of heights so I was scared of going down but I'm rarely in Japan so YOLO. Haha! The view was worth it though!
Haha at that constipated look on my face! I didn't want to look below yet Bea was urging me to lean over the edge!
So majestic!
I noticed that at temples, you can get/buy fortunes. This is where you put your good and bad ones.
Before entering the temple, you will pass the Kosazukenokusu tree. It's said that you'd receive good fortune if you pass through the hole! I was able to, albeit some difficulty (hello there bubble butt!).
We took a walk around the town afterwards. Look at this Japanese cat--it's one of the fattest cats I've seen!
We ended our day at Seimeinomori Resort, where we'd be staying for the next couple of nights. Here's a photo of me and my roomies, Queenie and Aira! Since we started being roomies, we always had unintentionally coordinated outfits and we always say we should take photos. However, we always forget to do so because the full itinerary left us so tired that we just plop on our beds when we get back to the hotel! It was only then (at Seimeinomori, we weren't roomies anymore) that we got to have our roomie photo taken.
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