Hello everyone. I’m Mayuko Kuse, a first-year master’s student in the Okumura Lab.
From November to December 2024, we had the pleasure of welcoming Ms. Sarah Ismullah, a doctoral student from Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) in Indonesia, who came to Japan for a short-term study program and spent time in our lab. We all called her “Sasa.”
In this blog post, I’d like to share some of the wonderful memories we made during her two-month stay.
On November 16–17, we took part in an evacuation drill held in the Ama district of Minamiawaji City, Hyogo Prefecture. I shared a room with Sasa, which gave us a great opportunity to talk and learn more about each other. (Unfortunately, I forgot to take any pictures of our room!) Those two days really brought us much closer.
On December 21, I went on a fun day trip to Mt. Hakodate in Shiga Prefecture with Professor Okumura, his daughter, Sasa, and myself. Sasa and I teamed up to build a snowman—but we struggled a bit to get it nice and round! For lunch, we had soba noodles, and on the way back, we stopped by to see the beautiful Metasequoia tree-lined avenue.
It was also a very inspiring two months for me—I learned so much from Sasa during her time here. I hope I can visit Indonesia next time and see her again.
Thank you, Sasa, for all the wonderful memories!