My visit to Japan

was facilitated by Mrs. Akiko Imaizumi and Mr. Tetsuo Takehara, International Coordinators at the University of Tokyo to whom I had been introduced by Dr. Ryuji Oshima. Dr. Oshima was previously a visiting researcher from the University of Tokyo at Arizona State University and was kind enough to meet with me many months ago in order to discuss my desire to visit Japan as I began planning my circumnavigation itinerary. Mrs. Imaizumi and Mr. Takehara arranged accommodations at a University of Tokyo lodge for international research students and set up two weeks full of solar energy technology related meetings and Japanese cultural experiences for me. I cannot thank them enough for the time and energy which they put into making my stay in Japan such an exceptional experience.

On my first full day in Japan, I explored the Hongo campus of the University of Tokyo and walked about a beautiful koi pond in the center of campus.

After this enjoyable experience, I attended The Global Solar+ Initiative, a day-long seminar in which Japanese solar industry stakeholders addressed the question “Is It Feasible to Build Civilization Based on Solar Power as The Main Source of Energy?”. Such individuals as Mikio Katayama, the President of Sharp Corporation, and Koichi Kawana, President of JGC Corporation gave presentations at the seminar. During the second day of my visit, I met with Professor Yoshiaki Nakano, Director of the University of Tokyo Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST) and its Solar Quest initiative, and Professor Yoshitaka Okada, an expert in the area of quantum dots and intermediate band solar cells. Our multi-faceted discussions were very enlightening and proved to be excellent introductions to solar energy technology research in Japan. The third day of my visit found me on the train with Mr. Takehara to Hokuto, a town approximately 90 miles west of Tokyo where a 1 MW demonstration solar power plant project was jointly organized by the Japanese government body The New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) and the city of Hokuto. The plant has proved a successful venue for the comparative evaluation of various types of solar energy technology in Japan and as a research environment in which issues pertaining to the grid connection of a large solar power plant could be studied. Tours of the plant are given regularly and a surprising number of people were there to learn more about the use of solar energy technology. It was a very tangible expression of the popular Japanese interest in renewable energy technologies.

The popular Japanese interest in renewable energy technologies was a common theme to many of the discussions that I had in Japan. Having arrived in Japan only four months after the Tohuko earthquake and tsunami of March 11 which ravaged eastern Japan and initiated the still ongoing Fukushima nuclear reactor crises, the “energy question” was on the everyone’s mind. In fact, during my visit, the prime minister of Japan, Naoto Kan, announced that Japan must reduce its reliance upon nuclear power and move towards the greater utilization of renewable energy technologies. Though this idea has almost unanimous public support, many people that I talked to were unsure of how such a plan would play out. Since many of Japan’s nuclear power plants have been temporarily closed in response to the Fukushima disaster and many fossil fuel plants in northern Japan were damaged by the earthquake and tsunami, Japan continues to face serious power shortages. During my stay, I observed Japanese citizens and organizations working together to reduce power consumption in order to not exceed the reduced power production of the nation. Air conditioners were turned off, elevators and escalators were shut down, laboratories were temporarily closed and factory schedules were rearranged in attempts to avoid the rolling blackouts that would result from exceeding the reduced production capacity.

The day after my visit to the Hokuto solar power plant, I met with Professor Makoto Konagai of the Tokyo Institute of Technology to discuss his work in the area of multijunction thin film solar cells and then traveled to the offices of NEDO in order to talk to Mr. Kohsuke Ohba and Mr. Atsuhiko Kiba about the Japanese government’s funding programs for solar energy technology research. Finally, to conclude my first week in Japan, on Friday, I returned to the University of Tokyo to visit the laboratories of Professor Hiroshi Segawa and the JX Nippon Oil and Energy Corporation, and to discuss the research on organic solar cells that is taking place at RCAST with Associate Professor Takaya Kubo. The contrast in the equipment of the organic solar cell laboratories and the crystalline solar cell laboratories was quite shocking. While they both utilized largely the same cell characterization equipment, the cell fabrication equipment was entirely different. While the crystalline solar cell laboratories contained a variety of expensive crystal growth equipment, the organic solar cell labs contained merely a screen printer, glass substrates and a few flasks of chemicals. Having previously had little experience with organic solar cells, Professor Kubo’s introduction to the area was very informative for me.

Over my first weekend in Japan, I enjoyed many unique Japanese cultural experiences. On Friday night, Mr. Takehara took me out to a delicious tempura dinner. The meal consisted of a number of small portions of lightly fried local vegetables and seafood. Each item was prepared in front of us by the chef and then placed at our table setting. A few of the courses which were particularly unique in my experience were the raw octopus and the eel bone.

Following our dinner, we visited a Japanese jazz club, The Pit Inn, to catch a few sets of originals by local players. Mr. Takehara said that he had been there over thirty years ago and thought that it might be a good place to listen to some Japanese players. He was absolutely right. The concert was fantastic and further highlighted for me the fact that jazz has spread around the globe. It is exciting for me to think that great local players can be found in almost every major metropolitan area in the world. On Saturday, I visited the surroundings of the Imperial Palace in downtown Tokyo and spent hours admiring the area’s gardens and waterways.

Sunday, I explored a number of areas in downtown Tokyo, walking about the Shinjuku, Shibuya and Akihabara districts. Everywhere I looked there were densely packed and brightly lit buildings full of all manner of wares and entertainment. I tried my hand at Pachinko, a unique Japanese game combining elements of pinball and slot machines, and found some old videogame favorites in the arcades. Though people seemed to be having a wonderful time in the many karaoke bars, I did not feel particularly inclined to share my vocal stylings with the other citizens of Tokyo. The final day of my weekend in Japan was on Monday since the third Monday of July is the national Japanese holiday, Marine Day. I took this opportunity to visit the Senso-ji Buddhist temple, the oldest temple in Tokyo. Between the gates leading up to the temple, vendors in small stores decorated with flags and lanterns sold every imaginable type of Japanese snack food and souvenir. At the temple, the many visitors were busily engaged in lighting incense, washing their hands in tsukubai (ceremonial washbasins) and learning about their fortunes at wooden omikuji cabinets. At the omikuji cabinets, one would shake a small hexagonal metal cylinder and then draw from it one of many thin sticks which each had a unique character sequence written upon it. The stick-drawer would then open the drawer of the cabinet upon which the corresponding character sequence was written to receive a piece of paper detailing their fortune. I found it somewhat ironic that when I attempted this, my fortune advised me that I currently had very bad luck and that I should cancel any trips that I had been planning. Needless to say, I did not take this advice.

My second week in Japan consisted of visits to a number of cities outside of Tokyo. On Tuesday, I took the train to Tsukuba, a city northeast of Tokyo which is home to the University of Tsukuba and the National Institute for Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). In Tsukuba, I met up with Dr. Oshima. Dr. Oshima showed me around the University of Tsukuba (where he had worked upon his undergraduate and graduate degrees) and then took me to visit his new place of employment, AIST. At AIST, Dr. Koji Matsubara, gave me a thorough presentation on the many areas of solar energy technology currently being researched there and I toured the photovoltaic research laboratory facilities before engaging in an educational discussion with Dr. Oshima and his colleague Dr. Takeyoshi Sugaya on their current work in the area of quantum dots and intermediate band materials and solar cells. On Wednesday, I took the Shinkansen (commonly known as "the bullet train") to Nagoya in order to visit Professor Masafumi Yamaguchi and his solar energy technology research laboratory at the Toyota Technological Institute. Following my informative visit with Professor Yamaguchi, I continued on by train to Kyoto. On Thursday, I traveled from Kyoto to Nara in order to visit one of Professor Yamaguchi’s former doctoral students, Dr. Tatsuya Takamoto, who is currently working on multijunction solar cells and concentrated photovoltaics at Sharp. Dr. Takamoto gave me a presentation regarding Sharps solar energy technology business activities and had a number of interesting things to say regarding the relationship between academic and industrial work in the area of solar energy technology in Japan, and regarding the international solar energy technology marketplace. Following my morning visit with Dr. Takamoto, I took the afternoon to visit some of the historic temples in Nara, an ancient Japanese city that was the capital of the country between 710 and 784 AD. Historically, the deer surrounding the temples of Nara were considered sacred and today, they are a protected species which roam free and tame around the town. Herds of deer could be found grazing on the grass in front of office buildings, walking across the streets when the crosswalk sign turned green, and approaching temple visitors for a snack or a pat on the head.

On Friday, I walked around Kyoto, taking in the sights and sounds of more ancient temples before returning to Tokyo to pack my things and ready myself for my departure to New Zealand on Saturday.