Stroopwafels - 13/2/'14
The day started early, wake up at 6:30 AM. Some of us were not really well rested, because we decided that it was a good idea to drink some beer and a bottle of whiskey the night before. The reason for waking up early was that we had planned a company visit at Fujitsu in Atsugi, which is about 100km away from our hostel. During the train ride we befriended some local Japanese people who were interested in where we come from and what we are doing in Japan. Before we got off at our final stop we gave them a “stroopwafel” to let them experience the taste of excellent Dutch candy.
After a long train ride we arrived at hon-atsugi station where we needed to walk five minutes to reach the bus station. When we arrived at the bus station we realized that we either just missed the bus or that google maps displayed the wrong time. The next bus was bound to leave in about half an hour which meant we would be too late for the company visit. The travel planning comity decided to call our contact person at Fujitsu and ask for advice on how to get there as fast as possible. Eventually it was decided to take the next train one stop closer and take a bus. This meant we have to run back to the station and gave us a direct indication of how bad the stamina was of some electrical engineers.
Eventually we reached Fujitsu an hour later than planned, but this did not seem to bother the people at Fujitsu and they just shifted the program with an hour. First we got a demonstration of a high resolution TEM(transmission electron microscope) which can display atomic structures of materials by illuminating a sample with an electron beam and focusing it with an electromagnetic lens. The energy is scattered by the sample and measured to display an image of the atomic crystal structure. After the first demonstration we headed to a technological exhibition of products and prototypes that Fujitsu makes. There was a cute robotic teddy beam which a webcam in its nose which was able to interact with people. It seemed to have trouble with waking up from his slumber when we were there so we just thought that he had a hangover. Other things in the exhibition were high mobility MOSFETs, environmental sensor networks and biometric equipment. The company visit was ended by presentations of analog electronics(Maikel was really happy afterwards) and of course our presentation of the University of Twente.
After the company visit it was time to take the bus downtown and lunch in small groups. Our group decided to go to a sushi bar with an conveyor belt. When you enter the restaurant, you sit down and can choose any of the dishes that pass your chair. All the plates have a different colour which indicates the price of a dish. At the end of your meal, you hand in a stack of plates and the price gets calculated.
When everybody finished their lunch it was time to go to the hiking trail by taking the local bus. We arrived at our destination in our business suits and had a small stroll to the mountain. Unfortunately the GPS navigation brought us to the backyard of a local. She quickly pointed us to the right location. Hiking up the mountain was a tedious task because there was still snow and mud from days before, some of it frozen solid. This made some parts slippery. At the end of the hike was a temple on the top of the mountain. After hiking for a couple of hours, we took the bus back to the station and headed back to Tokyo. Once arrived in Tokyo we eat together and packed our bags to prepare for an early wake up for the trip to Kyoto.
By: Roelof Grootjans