A (Naive) Smart Restaurant System

The fact that some people around the globe are facing hunger, while the others are indulging themselves with a humongous amount of food reflects that our source is not appropriately managed. This concern came to me when I attended parties, or when I went to an 'All You Can Eat' restaurants where people straight up throw edible foods to the garbage cans. It pains me considering that people in some poor countries are literally suffering to death for not being able to fill their stomachs. When I surfed on Google, I found mind-blowing facts about food wasting that our generation should be ashamed of. Roughly one-third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year (approx. 1.3 billion tones) gets lost or wasted. UN estimates that wasted food can feed an extra 3 billion people which exceed the number of people who face food scarcity. The point is, we grow enough food, but our food management system is way too inefficient.  Food waste is a climate change issue as well, as it generates 3.3 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases.

Furthermore, there are many indirect consequences such as exacerbating biodiversity loss, degrading soils, destroying ocean, depleting fish stocks, and so on. We can contribute individually to fixing these problems with only a small act, by not wasting our food. But It is not as easy as it sounds. Most people, usually in a developed country, often overestimate their daily calory needs. Restaurant, big supermarket chains, even small food shops also provide food way more than the demands backed with the fear of losing profit. The imperfection of human hands also results in wasted products in the production lines and restaurants. I can understand, from the perspective of the owner, it is better to provide way more than providing less. One more policy that also contributes to food wasting is they would instead throw an unfit product rather than to offer unpresentable products to customers. If it is not fixed soon, Our earth will probably run out its resources in the near future. I am majoring mechanical engineering specified in robotics. At first glance, It may seem it is not related at all to the problems that I have mentioned before. But robotics is actually way broader that one may think. And I somehow have the passion for cooking as well. By combining the two of my interests, I can think (imagine more precisely)  several abstract hypothetical ideas that may help reducing food wasting toward a sustainable society.

First, I would like to propose a smart restaurant system which may help reducing food wasting. In a restaurant, every ingredient should be measured precisely to create a perfect dish. But due to the limitation of time and high demands from customers, a chef has to work really fast and efficient. Mostly, they will have no time to measure every ingredient precisely one by one. One small mistake on the components may ruin the taste of the whole food, and it will likely end up in a garbage can. The cooking technique is essential as well, as it is the core of creating a delicious dish. Professional chef like Gordon Ramsay relies more on his experience which makes him able to offer perfection in every dishes He makes. However, when working in a large restaurant, even professional chefs have only two hands which won't be sufficient to complete all the cooking process alone. So professional chefs need chef assistants, and usually, each chef assistants is tasked into a specific job like cutting the vegetable, preparing the meat, boiling the pasta, grilling the chicken and so on. So they work as a team. However, most of the mistakes are made by the chef assistants who are less experienced than the chef. The reason why we often see Gordon Ramsay bursts out his anger was the imperfection done by his chef assistants, and each flaw of human's handy works contribute to wasting food.

 The smart restaurant system is coupled with a data analyst system and automation line. The automation line is comprised of two parts. One is task executing robot which will be in the form of robot arms, robots that can emulate a professional chef's handy works, functions to accomplish a specific small task such as cutting vegetable, preparing meat, etc. With the help of this chef assistant robot, we can minimize the error due to human imperfection and subsequently, reduce food wasting Another one is a delivery system which transports the ingredients from storage rooms to each task executing robots. 

 Each task executing robot is equipped with a bunch of cooking technique data which can be generated by the help of machine learning and artificial intelligence to mimic a real chef movement. And the delivery system will work pretty much the same as the one that Amazon has in their storage room. With this system, we need no one but only the head chef who controls and gives commands to the robot via a user interface. Not only this system costs less than a conventional restaurant, but it also helps to save our world by reducing the food wasted. I can't discuss much about the technical issues here, as I am talking about a hypothetical non-existent technology. The restaurant should also have some sort of data analyst system which helps them to estimate the quantity of raw ingredients they need to provide so that small to no amount of food will be wasted. The estimation may come from the data of how much they made sales on the previous days, taking account several factors that might affect the transactions such as annual event, holidays, peak hours and etc. Over a period of time, the estimation becomes more accurate as it collects more and more data.

Nowadays, even controlling robot arms to draw a circle is a strenuous work, let alone copying sophisticated moves of a professional chef. This idea just popped out of my head when I was reading an article about food wasting. It may seem so unrealistic at this moment, but as what my professor said, an engineer or a scientist has the right to imagine the most ridiculous idea that ever exists. Our imagination shouldn't be limited to the current science law as science is evolving as well. Let your imagination takes you wherever you want to and then find a way to accomplish that ;).  

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Visiting Fukushima and Ishinomaki for an 'Internship'

To be honest, I don't understand why they call it an internship. It is actually more like a field-trip rather than an internship. But anyway, I would gladly put this as an internship in my curriculum-vitae LOL. The journey of this internship was started from 27th of September. There were in total three places that we visited, first was Fukushima Renewable Energy Institute AIST (FREA), the second one was the tsunami-damaged area of Ishinomaki, and the last one was International Research Institute of Disaster Science which is located at Aobayama campus. Primarily the aim of this internship to gain experience and exposure of research from various disciplines which are collaborated to solve specific problems. That is the reason why the course is named "Multi-Interdisciplinary."

Our arrival at Fukushima was welcomed by the staff there, and they guided us to a lecture room for a short introduction about this facility. The director of the institute itself was the one who gave us the short lecture. So basically, FREA is an Institute established after Great East Japan Earthquake in Koriyama city, Fukushima under the umbrella of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) which aims to be a global innovation hub concerning renewable energy. Several potential renewable energy sources are studied and researched intensively to ensure its global usage in the near future. In FREA, the research topic consists of 6 main issues which are, Hydrogen Energy Carrier, Heat Utilization, Wind Power, Photovoltaic Power, Geothermal Energy, Shallow Geothermal and Hydrogeology.

I was particularly interested in Hydrogen Energy Carrier.  So, the basic concept of Hydrogen Energy Carrier is to utilize hydrogen as an energy storage system. For example, energies obtained from a wind turbine, solar panel, and geothermal power are used to electrolyze water into Hydrogen and Oxygen. This Hydrogen takes a form of gas in which it is ready to use. The hydrogen is then compressed or transformed into other forms which have smaller volume such as fuel cell or ammonia. Japan aims for hydrogen society by 2020 in which Hydrogen will conquer the market of the Car industry. However, there is a catch here, the conversion energy obtained to hydrogen is pretty low up to now. And the technology itself is not cheap either, making it difficult to get into the market. Some people even being skeptical about this system. For example, Elon Musk. He thinks this system is redundant and not efficient because there is too much energy loss during the process. It would be more efficient if let say, the energy from the solar cell in the form of electricity is directly stored in a solid-state battery.  So far, in term of efficiency, solid-state battery wins. But concerning energy density and performance, fuel cell wins. So, it is a race between the two of them. I am so excited to see which one will conquer the market.

After having a short tour around the facilities, we had a small discussion, and we departed to Ishinomaki. The moment I arrived at Ishinomaki, I was a bit shocked because everything was just flat, especially nearby the coastal area. Japan seems to be effective and efficient when it comes to building something, and yet even seven years after the tsunami, the progress of rebuilding Ishinomaki is still going on. It just showed me how devastating the tsunami was. Everything was wiped out into open flat ground. It gave me chill down to my spine only by seeing that scenery,  imagining what would I do if I were in their shoes. The story of Ishinomaki was quite tragic to listen. So, two days before the tsunami happened, there had been an earthquake and evacuation alarm was delivered to everyone due to a prediction of a tsunami. Everyone successfully evacuated but the tsunami didn't happen. Two days later, an earthquake occurred again, and there was a tsunami alarm.  Ironically, everybody was skeptical, and they thought it might be a false alarm again. So everybody stayed. Sadly, that was the fateful day. The story couldn't be worse than that. By listening to the story, I felt like I was slapped right on my face. I usually was typical of the person who might ignore that kind of alarm as well considering how inaccurate the prediction is. No matter how inaccurate a disaster alarm is, I realize that it is not something to joke about. From an engineering perspective, we should learn from this incident, and strive to level up our technology into perfection. And for the countermeasures, the government in Ishinomaki does not allow any civilization exists near the coastal area, everything is moved up into the higher area. They also built a taller wall at the beachfront and close to the river bank. With a better accuracy of the prediction method, coupled with improved strength and height of the water breakers, I hope Ishinomaki becomes more resilient to any tsunami in the future. Of course, we would pray that a tsunami will never happen again, but sometimes it is just inevitable as a part of nature itself.

On the last day, we visited the International Research Institute of Disaster Science at Aobayama. The first 30 minutes was a short lecture given by a researcher from Thailand. He showed us how He simulates a tsunami in a computer and observes its consequences.  I just knew that even without an earthquake happened, a tsunami might occur as well. This usually occurs when the epicenter is located far enough from the coast, making the quake is undetectable, and there are no obstacles for the wave to travel in between.  This kind of tsunami ever happened in Japan. For that, we have to rely on our satellite technology to detect the incoming tsunami. After He finished his presentation, we had a small discussion, and we watched a documentary film about the tsunami tragedy from the perspective of Ishinomaki local citizen. The story was heart-touching. It showed us how they lost their family and relatives, how everything was destroyed at an instant.  Overall, I gained and learned a lot of things from this internship.  

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My Experience on Akagi Tsudoi

Yo yo, how are you guys doing with your summer holiday? Mine was marvelous in the August part (in fact I still have one month left of my summer holiday). Nope, It's not about me traveling around Japan. I'm gonna tell my story what I've been through from 18th of August to 23rd of August. So, the story began when I had no idea what I was gonna do to spend my summer holiday. I was thinking about having a productive and positive holiday. It can be volunteering, doing part-time, studying, or anything. But, who the fuck is gonna study during the summer holiday? Meh. And I remembered that last year there was something called Ashinaga summer camp volunteering in which I was about to apply last year but felt reluctant after seeing the prerequisites on the website. One of them says you have to be able to speak daily conversational Japanese. I was barely able to understand when a Japanese is talking to me, let alone to speak decent Japanese. So, it turned me down. But after getting my N3 level last December, I feel like 'Hey, why shouldn't you give a try? If you are not accepted, you have nothing to lose'. Then I consulted a bit with my friend, his name was Omar, and He already joined as a volunteer for several camps. He said that most of the international volunteers He met couldn't even speak beginner level of Japanese. To hear that, I was like 'It was just me being a coward I guess' haha. 

So, l guess I should explain briefly what Ashinaga is. From what I know, Ashinaga is a non-profit charity organization that takes care of orphaned students. So they give scholarships for them to pursue their education and higher education. They even provide a chance for the students to study abroad if they are willing to. The form of scholarship that we are talking about is in the form of a soft loan with no interest. The students have to pay it within 20 years (but it's not that strict). What interesting from Ashinaga is, they are not just a walking ATM. Because not all problems can be solved only by money, am I right? They act like a family for the students, and they give moral support as well aside from financial aid. The purpose of this summer camp (they call it tsudoi ーつどい which literally means gathering in English) is to give a chance for the students to build a strong relationship with other students with the same background and to provide exposure to the world outside Japan with the presence of international volunteers. Based on their story that I heard, the loss of parents for young children may have traumatized some of them, to the extent that they have a difficulty to interact with people. Financial struggles also exacerbate their mental condition. Some of them even thought of giving up on their dream. And by meeting with people from the same background, and listening to the stories of others, the students can hopefully cheer each other and replenish their motivation to chase their dream. 

So yeah get back to the topic, this story should center around my experience joining tsudoi. It started from Saturday, 18th of August, I was worried at first. I mean, I was not sure if I would be able to communicate with the students. I mean, JLPT means nothing when it comes to speaking because the test doesn't include speaking test. And I rarely talked to Japanese, most of my friends are international students. But hey, I met Louise from France and Yasmin from Morocco who couldn't speak Japanese (peace :D). And they had already joined tsudoi before, so I guessed it's gonna be fine haha. The international team consisted of interns and volunteers. Most of them were interns while the volunteers were just Alwan and me. After we arrived at the place, it was basically a public facility where you can rent it, pretty much like a dormitory for athletes, we were welcomed by the leaders. What shocked me about this facility is, there isn't even a single private shower. There is only a public bath. Because the schedule was so tight, we only got the chance to take a bath in the evening. I've never been in a public bath before. So, when I went to the locker room to put my stuff with the others, they casually took off their clothes while having a chat. I was shocked. They were all naked. My jaw literally dropped. I ended up not taking a bath on the first day. On for the next days, I took a bath when everyone was not around XD. Back to the topic. So, the leaders are also Ashinaga scholarship recipients who had already joined tsudoi several times. And they are college students, the same with me, so I guess we could get along easier :/. Their job is to be the leaders and mentors for the high school students later. The first two days were leaders training; the leaders were divided into several groups with one or two international team members. International team members should tag along with their respective group aside from leaders meeting. When the leaders had their meeting, we also had our meeting. Mainly to prepare for what we were going to do on International Team Time on Wednesday. I was placed in group 4, where I met Yami san, Kensuke san, Mi san, Mitsuki san, Cikako san, Maikuru san and Marina san as the leaders. When I introduced my self in Japanese, everyone was like "Nihongo ga joozu desune" which means they praised my Japanese. C'mon, it is just an introduction where you have done it over and over to the point that you remember every single word you have to say XD. Aside from introducing myself, my Japanese is 'bara-bara' (not fluent). I thank you all for patiently listening to my broken Japanese XD. Whenever I didn't understand a word, I would check a dictionary, so the conversation was paused a bit LOL. When had group time, we would play various silly games. I shit you not, it was totally silly that you would never do that outside this camp. At least for me. There was one game that I couldn't stop laughing on. It was called aishiteru game. So basically you have to say aishiteru (in English it means I love you) to someone, while for the person who receives the aishiteru word is not allowed to laugh. In order to make your opponent laugh, you have to put your best honest expression as if you actually love her LoL. From my experience, the girls couldn't help to laugh if you stare directly into their eyes while you say the aishiteru word XD. Kensuke was good at it, I wonder if He is a playboy. The expression that He made when He said aishiteru is so ingrained in my brain that I can laugh anytime just by recalling it. Silly but hilarious. But with these stupid small games, we gradually became more open toward each other. I felt wonderful. This was my first time to burst laughter with Japanese people. Rather than training, I felt like we were having fun around eh? 

When the high school students came, we were split into two groups, leaving me in group 6 with Yami san, Kensuke san, Mi san, and Chikako san. After the opening ceremony, as usual, we must introduce ourselves once again in front of everyone in the group. In group six, there were, Monta san, Sumacchi san, sisho san, saito san, yuipi chan, haruka chan, ai chan and erika chan. Unexpectedly, they are all talkative which made me feel comfortable as soon as I met them. They talked a lot to me, and it was my first time that a Japanese proactively approached me as a foreigner to chat in Japanese. We spent time together on almost every occasion, from playing games, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and cooking together and so on. Aside from that, we had a progressive discussion starting with small talks. They asked me about my impression of Japan, future dreams, even the future of AI. What a productive summer holidays. I also told them a bit about where I come from, Indonesia. Most of them didn't really know about Indonesia, so I got to tell them a bit. Of course, with broken Japanese. 

Three days passed so quickly that I didn't even realize. On the first day, I thought, 'Oh, this is gonna be a long three days.' But it turned out to be so fast because I was so invested in it. On the third day, it was the peak of the event. There was one session called 'My life story' where everyone sat around in a classroom and talked about what their life story. You were allowed to tell pretty much anything. The reason why this session was put on the third day was with the hope that each member of the group at least has become more open toward each other. So, they can comfortably share their story with everyone in the group. It was emotionally intense. The stories are confidential for each respective groups so I can't tell it here. What I can say is, these kids have gone through harsh reality. And back then, they were alone. Some students even cried. I didn't cry at the moment, but I was so sad that I couldn't utter a single word. But I was glad to be able to join this session. By knowing their past, a strong bond grew between us. At the end of the session, I tried to cheer them up and motivate them. I tried to convince them that no matter how painful their past was, a bright future awaits everyone who makes the most effort. And on the last night of tsudoi, there was something called "campfire". Every participant gathered in a field, centering a medium-size bonfire. We were having fun at first, we sang the theme song, and we danced. And then, every representative from each group moved forward. They spoke out their will and resolution loudly while holding a fire torch. Everyone was silently listening to each representative. This session is so iconic. I almost cried in this session. This was the moment that I definitely will not forget. On the last day, we had to write a message to everyone in the group on a sticky note. And later, you pasted it on a carton paper. I slept late to write all of these messages LoL. I want everyone remembers me forever, and I want everyone to feel that they are important to me. So I wrote a pretty long letter for each member of the group. You know that you become attached to a person when you feel sad if you are about to say goodbye. That was what I felt to everyone in the group. And finally, after the closing ceremony, we parted away :'). I hope we can meet again later :D. 

I would like to thank every intern for helping me as a volunteer on many occasions. Theresa, Shane, Yasmin, Louise, Winky, and Xan. You guys are awesome. And to everyone that made my experience on tsudoi unforgettable. 

These are the photos that sum up akagi tsudoi.

*Forgot that I am not allowed to upload any pictures of someone without their permission.  

Campfire

Me delivering my impression on closing ceremony with my broken Japanese

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Establishment of Tohoku University

Introduction

Tohoku University is one of the seven imperial universities in Japan and considered as one of the most prestigious universities in Japan. Established on June 22, 1907, Tohoku University has been contributing to science and technology to the world especially Japan since then. The establishment of Tohoku University was not free of obstacles. Financial difficulties almost made the establishment of Tohoku would never happen. Donation and funding have been playing an essential role in Tohoku University history and supporting Tohoku University to keep contributing to societies.

Donation on Early Establishment of Tohoku University

In the 1900s, Japan faced financial difficulties due to the Russo-Japanese War(1904-05). Therefore, the process of the establishment was hampered because the budget for Tohoku University was cut drastically. However, the process of the establishment should continue. The Minister of Education at that time, Nobuaki Makino, visited the Home Minister Takahashi Hara to talk about this problem and try to find the solution. Knowing the issue that Furukawa Family would make a public donation, they considered having Furukawa family help Japan by supporting the financial to build the building for a new university. Takashi Hara succeeded to approach Furukawa Mining Company for donations and received 1 million yen for the establishment. Prior to the donation, a tragic incident was the reason behind this. The environmental disaster which caused by Ashio copper mining led to huge destruction. Critics and protest directed to Furukawa Corporation arose from the citizen and continued for some years. Unable to escape from public critics, Furukawa had been thinking for a long time to make a public donation so that at least, it could rehabilitate Furukawa Corporation’s reputation among public. That was the first time, national university received donation from private company. Since then, more and more national university received donation and funding from private company. Despite the tragic incident, this event became a major turning point for the establishment of Tohoku University.

Donation for The Establishment and Expansion of the Library

The library first was built in a room within the College of Science. At that time, one aspect which was considered to begin the starting period of the library was purchasing Kano Bunko (The Kano Collection). To purchase those books, the first president of Tohoku University, Masataro Sawayanagi asked a Sendai businessman for donation.  From this, He got 30,000 yen which wasn’t a small amount of money at that time. From this donation, Tohoku University was able to purchase total books reaching 108,000 collections. And since then, the library keeps expanding and has more and more collection and nowadays the collection is reaching 4 million books.

Land Donation for The Establishment of The College of Medicine

The College of Medicine was established at the Seiryo area in July 1915. The Miyagi Prefectural Hospital had just been built before, also at the Seiryo area. As for donation, Tohoku University received the land and the new hospital from Miyagi prefecture in 1913. The land covered 130,000 square meter where at that time it was a huge public donation. And now, those areas become Tohoku University Hospital.

Funding for The Establishment of The Faculty of Engineering

Faculty of Engineering was established in 1919 after Sendai Special Technical School had changed its name into Special Department of Engineering. The building and facility were built in Katahira Area, and the funding came from government (national budget). The total cost was about 200 million yen. After the establishment, this faculty has contributed a lot to society through its research. For example, the Yagi-Uda Antenna which is used as a multipurpose receiving antenna such as TV and Radio.

Research Funding for IPCR(Institute of Physical and Chemical Research), ISRI (Iron and Steel Research Institute and IMR(Institute for Material Research)

Basically, the first reason behind the establishment of this institute was to meet the demands for chemicals, iron and steel supplies during World War 1. Before the establishment, the 2^nd president, Tokiyuki Hojo, had some negotiations with public companies. Finally, the chemistry department received 15,000 yen donations for research funding from Sankyo Co. Ltd. While the physics department received 21,000 yen donations from Kichizaemon Sumitomo. Those companies didn’t give the donation for nothing, they expected feedback from the research’s result. They wanted to keep monopoly on the research’s result and patents so that it would benefit their companies in the future.  Later, this institute would develop into ISRI(Iron and Steel Research Institute) in 1919. The establishment was again funded by Sumitomo’s donations. This time, the donation was really huge, it reached 150,000 yen. In 1922, this institute changed its name into IMR (Institute for Materials Research) and finally, Tohoku University was able to establish research institute through government funding rather than public company donations.

Saito Foundation for Research Funding of Tohoku University

At that time, the funding for research which the university was able to receive were mainly public academic research funding such as the Ministry of Education and the others were from foundations such as Saito foundation. Saito foundation was established by Zenuemon Saito in 1923, he was the second largest landowner in Japan. While at that time, most of landowner would keep their money for their personal sake, he had a completely different way of thinking. He decided to donate his private funds to the public and established the Saito Foundation. He donated 3 million yen for the Saito Foundation. The main purpose of this foundation was to aid academic research within the Tohoku region. There wasn’t any other intention behind this donation unlike the other companies. It was simply because He was such a religious person(He was a Buddhist). He believed that the money He had got was basically a gift from God. Then those money should be used to help others people. Saito Foundation was continuously giving a large amount of donations and mainly focused on Tohoku University’s research.

Conclusion

Donation and funding, whether it comes from Government or public company, had been playing an important role in the establishment and the development of Tohoku University. Tohoku University was established and nurtured through donations. Despite the fact that behind some of the donations there were tragic incident and another intention to gain personal benefits, still those donations were really helpful even became the major turning point for Tohoku University. Since the first time the university was established, Tohoku University have been conducting research and contributing to the society in terms of science and technology.

References :

Nakagawa, M. The Foundation of Tohoku Imperial University. 2^nd Lecture Hand Out.

Nakagawa, M. Development of University 1. 7^th Lecture Hand Out.

Nakagawa, M. Development of University 2. 8^th Lecture Hand Out.

Nakagawa, M. University and Student Life during the Depression. 9^th Lecture Hand Out.

Ashio Copper Mine. Retrieved January 17, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashio_Copper_Mine

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Redefining My Goal

Wow, it's been like two years ago since I wrote anything in my blog. I somehow lost my motivation to write in the past couple of years since I felt like I didn't have any fascinating topic to write about. I regained my motivation back during this semester when I had to write a bunch of experiment reports, and I spent hours and hours writing them and eventually realized that my writing skill sucks. I decided to hone this particular writing skill by reactivating my blog. If you feel that the articles may benefit you, then go, read them.  But if you think that it is just nonsense for you, then leave it. It means the articles were written and meant to be a self-reflection of my future self for what I've been through.

And okay, let's get back to the topic, redefining my goal. The last time I wrote anything for my blog was before I came to Japan. Honestly, after getting accepted into Tohoku University and granted the MEXT scholarship, I felt like I was half done achieving my goals. I worked my ass off really hard during the last year of my school as I desperately wanted to study abroad. And finally, after getting accepted into 3 universities overseas, I thought I could get myself more leisure time to enjoy my life, and I did. I thought I had just made a tremendous achievement that I had never done in my life. And I ended up overly rewarding myself by not working hard enough in the first two years of my university life.

Most of my first year was filled with many parties (we, the Indonesian student who study here, often held our own party.  It's not the typical party that most people here do. I mean like drinking party, dance party, etc. It's more like a food party, where we cook together and eat a humongous amount of food to the point that we can't eat anymore), food experimenting, traveling around Sendai, enjoying the Japanese experience as a newcomer, and so on. In the second year, I felt no significant improvement in myself. I often asked myself what I had learned. And ended up with no answer. I mean, I got to know engineering stuff, but I feel like the pieces of information just pass through my head without me understanding the big picture. I am afraid that I am studying just for the sake of taking exams rather than for the knowledge itself. I am worried that I can't benefit society from what I've learned. The list goes on and on.

This accumulation of guilty feelings leaves me puzzled and disoriented. At this rate, I'll never make it on top. This summer holiday, I sat down on the Hirose river bank. This is the place where I seek tranquility. I questioned myself what kind of goals I should set that could drive me to unleash my potential. I always said that I wanted to study in the USA to pursue my master's degree. But that seems pretty hard from a viewpoint where I am standing now. From what I know, as a result of roaming a bit in Quora, to get accepted in MIT, Standford, and alike, You have to get a good grade, experience many projects, gain enough engineering skills and publish at least one paper.  I only get one year to prepare for everything, and it seems a bit not feasible. Should I give up on this?

.

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Guide for Tohoku University Applicants

Berhubung ada beberapa teman saya yang bertanya tentang tohoku University maka saya akan coba berbagi informasi yang saya tahu tentang proses pendaftaran ke Tohoku University. Jadi penjelasan singkatnya, saya masuk pada program Internasional yang disediakan oleh Tohoku University, yaitu IMAC (International Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Course). Program ini baru mulai tahun 2011 dimana pembelajarannya tidak menggunakan bahasa Jepang melainkan bahasa Inggris (menurut Senpai saya, pada kenyataannya tetap ada yang berbahasa Jepang). Jadi program ini cocok sekali buat kalian yang ngebet sekolah ke Jepang tapi Japanese Language Proficiency-nya dibawah beginner level kaya saya :D .

Oiya, info penting lagi nih, semua mahasiswa Internasional yang diterima dipastikan akan mendapat President Fellowship Scholarship, sistemnya seperti ini. Kalian akan diberi uang sejumlah uang masuk dan biaya kuliah semester ke rekening kalian yang nanti akan kamu bayarkan lagi ke pihak universitas. Jadi bisa dibilang kamu sudah aman masalah tuition fee kalo kamu sudah keterima sebagai mahasiswa IMAC-U.

Sebenernya buat guide dan step-stepnya sudah ada lengkap di website ini. Silahkan diklik dan cari tahu sebanyak-banyaknya, mungkin disini saya akan bahas sedikit mengenai step-stepnya sisanya berkaitan dengan trik dan tips yang gak akan pernah tertulis di website tersebut.

Untuk daftar, semuanya dilakukan lewat aplikasi online, nama aplikasinya t-cens.Nanti kalian buat id dan pass (ini mainstream lah kalian oasti tau tinggal ikutin langkah2nya aja). Nanti tampilannya seperti ini.

Dalam proses seleksi ada 2 tahap seleksi, pertama seleksi berkas, kedua seleksi tulis dan wawancara.
Setelah kamu login, nanti ada banyak data yang harus kalian isi, silahkan tinggal diikuti saja step-stepnya di tcens.

Untuk berkas yang harus kalian siapkan, ada cukup banyak, ada passpor, rapot(yang sudah di translete dan dilegalisir), foto, Essay banyak lah pokoknya baca aja sendiri wkwkwkwk :v semuanya di upload di tcens dalam bentuk pdf.

Yang lumayan penting nih, nanti kalian harus punya standardized test dan english proficiency certificate. Nah buat standardized test ada banyak opsi, bisa pakai UN, SAT Subject Test, Int'l Cambridge A Level, EJU. Tapi kalau pakai UN berhubung UN baru pengumuman biasanya Mei maka kamu hanya bisa mendaftar gelombang 2, oiya kelewatan, ada 2 gelombang pendaftaran, kalo kamu ga lolos gelombang 1 masih bisa daftar gelombang 2. Kurang enak apa coba. Balik lagi, jadi kalo kamu mau daftar gelombang 1 (buat angkatan lulus di tahun yang sama dengan tahun mendaftar) maka kamu harus ikut salah satu standardized test di atas. Saya pribadi ambil SAT karena SAT ada setiap bulan dan keluar hasilnya lumayan cepet. Buat SAT, UN dan A Level nggak ada skor minimal, tapi kalo EJU ada. Skor total minimal untuk EJU 300(Math, Physics, Chemistry). Menurut saya tingkat kesulitan standardized test dari yang paling susah ke gampang(berhubung saya pernah coba semuanya). A level, EJU, SAT, UN( tingkat kesulitan UN fluktuatif kadang lebih susah dari SAT kadang lebih gampang). Tapi over all urutannya seperti di atas. Saya rekomendasi SAT sih dari pertimbangan biaya, tingkat kesulitan dan efisiensi waktu. Walaupun EJU murah, bahan materi pelajarannya susah dicari, kalo SAT bejibun di internet. Buat SAT karena nggak ada skor minimal, kalo mau punya 'good chance' usahakan skor SAT Subject test (Math, Phys, Chem) di atas 2300. Di bawah 2300 peluang tetep ada, tapi peluang kamu akan besar kalo di atas 2300. Buat english proficiency test kamu bisa ambil SAT General Test, ACT, TOELF IBT atau IELTS bebas. Nah buat english proficiency test ada skor minimal, IELTS 6.0 , IBT 79 yang lainnya saya nggak tahu. Intinya harus di atas skor minimal, semakin besar nilainya semakin besar pula kesempatan kamu

Selanjutnya setelah pengumuman 1st stage screening result (seleksi berkas), bagi kalian yang lolos kalian akan diundang tes tulis dan wawancara di Jakarta. Materi tes tulisnnya math, english, sama physics. Semuanya dalam bentuk uraian. Hanya 3 soal, soal pertama kalian suruh bikin essay tentang topik tertentu(english), soal kedua biasanya mekanika bercabang (setingkat pra Olimpiade Sains Kota fisika), soal Math (biasanya nggak jauh-jauh dari kalkulus, geometri, teori bilangan). Setelah tes tulis akan ada tes wawancara dalam bahasa Inggris (fyi, bahasa Inggrisnya orang jepang susah-susah gampang didengar. Bersiaplah!). Pertanyaannya bisa dibilang standar, kenapa pilih IMAC, kenapa Tohoku, kenapa Jepang, apa plan kalian di Tohoku, apa plan kalian di masa depan, kontribusi apa yang akan kalian berikan dan segala tetek bengeknya. 

Setelah itu kalian tinggal menunggu pengumuman, untuk 10 orang dengan overall nilai terbaik dari seluruh aplikan internasional (fyi, kelas internasional ngga hanya IMAC, ada Applied Marine Biology dan Advance Molecular Chemistry. Jadi kalian bersaing ngga hanya sama peserta jurusan tapi juga 2 jurusan yang lain) akan mendapat beasiswa MEXT ( atau yang lebih sering dikenal Monbukagakusho). Artinya kalian selain mendapatkan free fee tuition kalian juga akan mendapatkan living allowance senilai 119.000 yen perbulan. 

Katahira Campus

Kawauchi Campus
Gambar nyomot di google berhubung penulis belum berangkat.

頑張って ください!!!!

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Pathways to NTU/NUS

Siapa sih yang nggak tau NTU/NUS? (Nggak juga sih, banyak yang nggak tau juga). Oke brief exlpanation aja ya, NTU singkatan dari Nanyang Technological University dan NUS singkatan dari National University of Singapore. Bisa dibilang, 2 universitas ini adalah universitas top dunia, bisa dicek di QS Universities world ranking peringkat berapa kedua univ ini. Dan 2 universitas ini juga universitas yang cepet banget naik rankingnya dibanding universitas lain. Dua universitas ini adalah univiversitas yang paling commong jadi tujuan anak-anak Indonesia yang mau study abroad, apalagi anak olimpiade, nggak ada yang nggak tau NTU dan NUS. Kok dijadiin satu sih blognya? Kenapa nggak dipisah aja? Oke saya jawab, ini karena sistem NTU dan NUS secara garis besar nggak jauh beda. Jadi di sini saya mau membahas perjalanan saya untuk diterima di 2 universitas ini.

Logo NUS

Logo NTU

Sebelumnya, saya nggak akan bahas tentang hal-hal yang berkaitan teknis seperti, gimana cara applynya, apply beasiswa gimana dan pertanyaan-pertanyaan sampah lainnya. Karena hal itu bisa kalian cari di websitenya langsung, plis jangan males, kalian yang mau masuk NTU/NUS maka kalian harus riset sendiri. Zaman udah canggih mas, itu internet jangan dipake buat sosmed aja oke?

Oke great, kita mulai. Study abroad is one of my biggest dream, yes. Sejak SMP saya selalu bercita-cita untuk kuliah ke luar negeri. Kenapa? Pendidikan di Indonesia jelek kah? Enggak kok, Bagus malah, terbukti institusi pendidikan Indonesia telah menghasilkan orang-orang hebat. Lalu kenapa? It's merely because I love adventure, saya suka hal baru, keluar dari zona nyaman saya, looking for new challenge in new Environment. Wawasan kamu akan semakin lebar dan sebagainya. Pertama kali saya tau NTU/NUS saat saya masuk SMA, eh salah maksudnya MAN Insan Cendekia Serpong. Counseling teacher saya (Ibu Rini Kristiani) bahkan dari awal kami kelas satu telah giat-giat mempromosikan berbagai universitas luar negeri agar kami mempersiapkan diri jauh-jauh hari untuk bisa melanjutkan studi di luar negeri. 

Pada tahun 2014 pun saya berkesempatan mengunjungi langsung bersama teman-teman saya 2 kampus ini. How amamzed I am, the campus is really really fucking huge. Gede banget kampusnya men, fasilitas nya juga top class. Semua fasilitas olahraga ada, siapa yang nggak betah tinggal di kampus ini. Rasanya, it's such a dream to study here. Dan saya berkesempatan bertemu dengan beberapa alumni Insan Cendekia yang berkuliah di NTU ( Alumni Insan Cendekia yang di NUS hanya kak Thariq Shalafi, konon NUS lebih susah ditembus dibanding NTU).  Seharian rasanya nggak cukup buat muterin NTU dan NUS (di hari yang berbeda loh). We had some campus tour, and presentation from NTU/NUS admission. Intinya, setelah itu saya sangat menggebu-gebu buat masuk NTU/NUS.

Presentation was about to begin

Oke sekarang ceritanya udah kelas 3 nih, persiapan buat UEE(University Entrance Exam) harus lebih giat. Berkas-berkas yang harus disiapin buat NTU/NUS cukup simpel, cuma rapor passport aja kalo nggak salah, rapornya juga nggak perlu di translate. Mereka ngerti bahasa Indonesia sedikit-sedikit kok, oiya IELTS dan TOEFL itu juga optional. Karena NTU dan NUS sudah percaya dengan kualitas tes bahasa Inggris mereka sendiri. Nanti andaikan kamu diterima, ada namanya QET(Qualifying English Test) buat menentukan apakah di kampus kamu perlu ikut kelas bahasa Inggris lagi apa enggak. Nah buat beberapa siswa yang memenuhi syarat bisa dibebaskan dari QET ini, syaratnya apa? Kamu submit nilai IELTS/TOEFL kamu. Makannya optional mau pake IELT/TOEFL/QET, dan kalo nggak salah syarat IELTS di NUS cukup tinggi. Terakhir saya liat, Overall band harus 8. Reading, writing juga harus 8, its kinda hard right? -_- Tenang aja, kalo kamu ikut kelas bahasa Inggris lagi di sana juga nggak masalh kok santai aja.

Nah, apa aja yang dites kan? Sebenernya ini optional tergantung apa jurusan yang kamu pilih. Buat Engineering itu biasanya English, Math, and Physics. Chemistry and biology is optional based on what major you choose. Kamu bisa cek sendiri di webnya, apa aja yang dibutuhkan untuk tes di setiap jurusan. NTU/NUS menyediakan 5 pilihan, pilihan saya pribadi seperti ini:
NTU;
1. Mechanical Engineering
2. Aerospace Engineering
3. Electrical and Electronic Engineering
4. Applied Physics
5. Pure Physics

sedangkan buat NUS;
1. Mechanical Engineering
2. Electrical Engineering
3. Applied Physics
4. Pure Physics
5. Material Science Engineering

Dari semua jurusan di atas, saya cuma tes Math, English and Physics. Nah materi yang diujikan itu semuanya A level, lebih tepatnya A level Singapore. A level itu kurikulum di England, dan negara persemakmuran England juga pake A level dengan modif mereka sendiri. Fyi, A level Singapore menurut saya lebih susah dari pada Cambridge A level, belajar dari mana? Ada beberapa option. Sebelum terjun ke A level Singapore ada baiknya kamu belajar A level Cambridge dulu, saya pribadi buat Math baca buku ini dulu.

Buat fisikanya jujur saya nggak belajar, karena saya anak olim fisika (Y). Kamu juga bisa les A level, di Jakarta ada beberapa kok, dulu yang terkenal St. Ignatius, tapi sekarang udah nggak ada. Ada juga les A level punyanya pak Anton Wardaya, banyak temen-temen saya yang keterima hasil les dari situ. saya pribadi les nggak? Saya les juga sih, di Sinergia Home Schooling(tapi Sinergia ini bukan spesialis A level Singapore, mereka A level Cambridge). Tapi cuma 6 pertemuan kalo nggak salah, dan itupun cuma belajar materi statistic and probabilistic. Buat pure math saya belajar sendiri. Dan special Thanks to my friend Ahmad Fahmi Pratama, dia les di D'angelique dan saya pinjemin buku-buku A level Singapore nya hahahaha. Intinya kalo niat bisa kok belajar sendiri, buat englishnya? Hmmm, saya nggak ada persiapan khusus sih, waktu itu sekalian belajar buat IELTS preparation.

Setelah kamu submit berkas-berkas, nanti diseleksi berkas kalian. Panggilan buat ikut UEE biasanya akhir Desember atao awal Januari, dan UEE dilaksanakan kalo tahun ini buat NTU awal februari dan NUS akhir Januari. Tempatnya kalo NTU saya kebagian di SMAK 1 Penabur dan NUS di Hotel Ciputra, sebelahan lah. Sistem Test NTU dan NUS aga beda sih, contohnya buat Math. Kalo NTU ya kamu langsung dikasih 5 soal uraian bercabang dan itu mencakup Pure Math, mechanics and Statistic probabilistic. Dan fisikanya ada Multiple choice 30 soal kalo ga salah, uraian 5. Fyi, tes fisika di NTU ini aga susah, udah pake kalkulus fisikanya. Buat kalian yang bukan anak olim fisika ato MTK kalo nggak persiapan lebih agak susah kayanya buat ngerjain. Saran saya, belajar persiapan olim fisika buat tes NTU. Buat englishnya? Wah kamu cari-cari sendiri aja ya, saya males nyeritain karena susah banget T-T bahkan dibandingkan dengan IELTS ato TOEFL sekalipun. Nah kalo di NTU, Math dapet poin paling tinggi, jadi kalo Math kamu bagus, kemungkinan besar kamu diterima walaupun yang lain biasa-biasa aja. Nah kalo NUS ini agak optional Math nya. Ada 10 MC dan itu obligation, kamu harus ngerjain semua. Nah kalo uraiannya ada 3 jenis, Pure Math, Mechanics, Statictics and Probabilistic. Setiap jenis disediakan 5 soal kalo nggak salah. Dan kamu cukup memilih 4 soal saja dari sekian banyak soal yang harus kamu kerjakan, tapi tidak boleh memilih lebih dari 3 soal dalam satu jenis. Misal kamu pilih pure Math 4 soal, itu nggak boleh. Kemarin saya pilih 2 pure math, 2 mechanics. Play safe bro, kalo mechanics kan enteng buat anak olim fisika hehehe. Physics nya NUS cuma MC 50 soal. Englishnya kamu buat Essay based on the given text. Kemarin saya dapet text tentang Artificial Intelligent, tenang, kalo kamu nggak tau AI, kan udah dikasih referensi dari given text.
Kesan test NTU;
Math           : 4 soal saya jawab dengan yakin, nomor terakhir nggak perfect ngerjainnya, ada yang                             nggak selesai
Physics       : MC banyak yang blunder parah -_-, uraian lancar jaya
English       : T-T

NUS;
Math           : MC yakin bener semua, Mechanis yakin bener semua, pure math 1 soal yakin, 1 soal                             nggak perfect
Physics       : Beberapa tingkat diatas soal SAT subject Physics, nggak terlal susah. Lebih ke                                      konseptual pertanyaanya mirip SAT
English       : Quite confident with my essay

Buat tes sekian dulu, sekarang tinggal nunggu pengumuman. Alhamdulillah puji sykur untuk Allah Tuhan semesta alam. Pengumuman NTU keluar,

Saya diterima di pilihan ke 3 EEE, not bad lah. Pengumuman Interview beasiswa keluar 3 hari setelah pengumuman kelulusan tes. Dan saya nggak dipanggil :'(. Nggak papa, masih bisa berharap NUS. Pengumuman NUS ini ada 2 gelombang tahun ini, yang pertama Maret dan yang kedua April, saya kebagian gelombang kedua. Here it is

What? NUS? I still couldn't believe it. Whoaah NUS brroo, pilihan pertama *pingin nangis tapi gabisa. Di terima di NUS aja rasanya udah seneng bangett, karena kuota buat NUS jauh lebih sedikit daripada NTU. Dari sekian banyak yang ikut UEE tahun ini yang keterima NUS sekitar 24-28 lah. Kalo NTU bisa sampe 100. Cemas-cemas harap menunggu pengumuman beasiswa, daaaaan. Saya dapet undangan interview tanggal 6 Mei di Hotel Ciputra. Yosh, I had to prepare this as best as I can. Pertanyaan yang diajukan cuku simpel sih, kenapa kamu pilih Mech Eng, apa plan kamu setelah lulus, bagaimana kamu beradaptasi dengan lingkungan baru, kegiatan nonakademik apa yang kamu ikuti. The interview was so fast, it only took 10 minutes o_O . So, make sure The Interviewer impressed by your answers. Saya pribadi sih membuat skenario wawancara, karena saya nggak mau menyia-nyiakan momen emas ini. Terserah sih kalo mau terbiasa nggak preparation buat wawancara itu preferensi pribadi aja. Saya bahkan sampai melakukan riset tentang mech eng NUS di website blog orang lain, you tube pokoknya saya harus tau banyak tentang mech eng NUS. Dan 5 hari kemudian pengumuan keluar.

I got an offer

*Mencoba keras untuk menangis dan ga berhasil. Alhamdulillah, seneng banget rasanya bisa dapet full scholarship di NUS dari ASEAN Undergraduate Scholarship. Tapi disisi lain saya juga diterima di Tohoku University di Jepang, dilema pun tiba. Yahh pokoknya impian sudah tercapai, dan saatnya untuk memutuskan mau kuliah dimana. NTU sudah saya reject karena ngga dapet scholarship.

Sebagai international student, baik di NTU dan NUS, ada 3 years bond setelah kamu lulus. Bekerja di perusahaan yang terdaftar di SG. Nah ini dia yang jadi pertimbangan saya buat kuliah di NUS, saya pribadi ingin langsung melanjutkan Master degree, tapi sayang juga kalo NUS ditolak. Jangan kira 3 years bond itu setelah kamu lulus langsung dapet pekerjaan. Nope, you have to search it by yourself. Kamu harus cari kerja sendiri kemudian kalo udah dapet dilaporkan ke pemerintah SG. Ada batas waktunya loh buat first employment, up to 12 months since graduation day. Kalo apes nggak dapet dapet, you will deal with SG government dan saya nggakt ahu kompensasi apa yang harus kamu kasih ke mereka. But try not to, asal kamu giat insyaAllah dapet. Dan pekerjaan yang harus kamu dapatkan itu yang gajinya up to 3300 SGD per month untuk fresh graduate. Nggak mungkin kan lulusan NTU/NUS ngelamar jadi office boy, kalo kurang dari 3300 SGD nggak dihitung dalam 3 years bond tersebut. Itu jadi pertimbangan saya juga hehe.


Oke cukup sekian sharingnya, jadi saya pilih mana? Ah pingin tau aja ;)

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