Collecting and analyzing data with a self-fabricated device. A physics-loving student's enduring passion for making things.

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Graduate of Shirayuri Gakuen Senior High School, a private school in Tokyo

She thoroughly enjoyed her studies, events, and recreation during her time at an all-girls junior and senior high school. By taking her school classes seriously, she entered the Keio University Faculty of Science and Technology with the dream of advancing to the Department of Electrical Engineering (now the Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering), which supports the fields of communications and energy that she had long been interested in. After enrolling, she made use of her proficiency in English to actively engage in assisting at the international student dormitory and participating in overseas volunteer work, absorbing a variety of knowledge and values. In her fourth year of undergraduate studies, she joined the Tanabe Laboratory, where she works on research involving data collection and analysis using a device she fabricated herself. Her future dream is a job where she can utilize the skills in "making things" she acquired at the Faculty of Science and Technology.

[*] Her academic year at the time of the interview (November 2017).

I attended an all-girls junior and senior high school, so the classes themselves were geared toward the entrance exams. So, first and foremost, I valued my school classes. It was also a good change of pace, so I paid close attention even in subjects that weren't on the exams, like Japanese and social studies. It's also important not to leave anything you don't understand in class unresolved and to ask your teachers questions as many times as you need. I think you can get anxious at Juku when you see everyone ahead of you, but by focusing on your school classes, which are the foundation, you can make progress step by step. Though, to be honest, I really only concentrated during class (laughs).

I was in a club called the "Outdoor Activities Club." We would go on two training camps, one in summer and one in winter, where we would go mountain climbing, skiing, and cook rice in mess tins. We didn't have competitions or anything, but we had weekly meetings and did physical training to prepare for the camps. Through the experience of accomplishing something together, I think I learned the importance of teamwork. I was also the type to take sports days and cultural festivals seriously and enjoy them. I was aware that I didn't originally like studying, so I had the mindset of just giving my all to whatever was in front of me, including my classes.

A large percentage of students aimed for liberal arts departments, and I used to vaguely think I would end up in a liberal arts-related job too. But my perspective completely changed thanks to a physics teacher I had in my second year of junior high. That teacher's classes included demonstrations, and for the first time, I thought, "Physics is interesting!" From then on, I was set on the science track. I decided to take the entrance exams with physics, my strong suit. Furthermore, I chose Keio because I wanted to challenge myself and work hard in a high-level environment. However, while I was interested in lightwaves and electric circuits, I knew almost nothing about electrical engineering. After enrolling, I learned that it's related to various fields like optical communications and electronics, but these are things that are hard for high school students to understand. So, looking back, the fact that I could intuitively choose what I liked during the department orientation in my first year of undergraduate studies was a big advantage.

I lived in the UK when I was in the 4th and 5th grades, so I'm good at English. I used that experience to join a student group that arranges overseas internships. It's a group that arranges and supports people coming to Japan from abroad and people from Japan going abroad. I myself went to Malaysia and did volunteer work. I've always had a desire to be involved in international development, so it was a good experience in that respect as well. I also serve as an RA (Resident Assistant), living with international students in a dormitory for those studying at Keio and supporting their daily lives. This includes things like resident registration, opening bank accounts, explaining dorm rules, and sometimes taking them to the hospital by bus at night. Of course, my English skills improved, but I think I also developed the ability to respond flexibly by interacting with international students who have different personalities and cultural backgrounds. And of course, meeting wonderful friends was another great gain.

The first thing that comes to mind is the experiments. It was really tough doing measurement experiments with equipment I'd never seen before and writing up lab reports every week, but I think I gained a lot of skills from it. Also, in a class where we assembled electronic circuits, I used a soldering iron for the first time. It was a struggle, but it was a lot of fun to actually build the electric circuits I had only seen in diagrams, and I was able to see them from a new perspective. Another thing that left a deep impression was a class I took in my first year of my undergraduate studies called "Materials Science and Engineering." It was a class where we learned about the properties of various materials with concrete examples, and I think it was good that I could learn about these fundamental aspects in a concrete way.

At first, I wasn't thinking about going to graduate school. But after a year of research in my fourth year of undergraduate studies, I finally started to understand various things, including the technical aspects. I felt it would be a waste to end it there, so I decided to continue my studies. Sometimes people have the misconception that the Department of Electrical Engineering (now the Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering) only teaches about circuits, but it's actually a department where you can learn a wide range of cutting-edge technologies from the basics, from semiconductors to image processing. Because we learn so broadly and deeply, I believe that taking the time to learn repeatedly is what builds my skills.

To put it simply, I'm researching how to stop or confine light in a very small space so that it can be freely manipulated. To do this, I fabricate elements (devices) called "microresonators," introduce light into them, and observe what phenomena occur. I do the fabrication myself, starting from cutting the material to process the device. That "making things" aspect is one of the interesting parts. Although I'm in the Faculty of Science and Technology, I think my work also has elements of engineering.

It's challenging because it requires both programming and calculation skills, as well as technical skills like processing and measurement experiments. Since it's cutting-edge research, I often hit dead ends. There are difficulties like that, but being able to do research that is an extension of physics, which I've loved since I was a child, is the greatest joy. It's also a very happy moment when I get better-than-expected data from a device I fabricated myself. Also, while my work is basic research, the technology will eventually be useful in the real world, for things like faster communications and energy saving. I feel a sense of reward in supporting those unseen parts.

My job search is just around the corner, but there are still parts I'm unsure about. I want to be involved in international development, and I also have a desire to stay in the research field. However, when I look at the longer term, my strongest desire is to leave behind something that takes a tangible form. Whether it's developing equipment, conducting inspections, proposing socially needed technologies from the standpoint of a think tank, or researching technology that meets the needs of a country in international development. Since I've learned about making things at the Faculty of Science and Technology, I want to put that to use.