The Sakura Science High School Program is a JST*1 program which invites outstanding high school students from overseas to Japan for one week to increase the interest of visiting high school students in Japanese science and technology, fostering talented overseas human resources needed by Japanese universities, research institutions, and companies through this experience. For this reason, this JST program offers tours to prestigious Japanese universities and prominent national research institutions and so on.
In the morning, Academic Collaboration Office conducted the laboratory tour for 39 high school students from Indonesia and their escorts. In the afternoon, Public Relations Office conducted the laboratory tour for the remaining high school students from the Philippines (23 students) , Singapore (12 students) and their escorts.
In the morning session, a presentation entitled "Greeting from Indonesian Researcher, Career path to NIMS" was given by Dr. Indari Efi Dwi (NIMS Postdoctoral Researcher, Optical Ceramics Group) in Indonesian. The participating high school students listened to her talk in Indonesian with great interest.
Following this, various NIMS educational programs were presented, and then the students visited three labs in Sengen site (Spintronics Group Lab, Green Magnetic Materials Group Lab, and Additive Manufacturing Group Lab).
A NIMS postdoctoral researcher and NIMS Junior Researchers from Indonesia were appointed to explain each laboratory, and they introduced their research in Indonesian. As a result, the participating high school students were well-received and eagerly asked questions even after the scheduled time for each group's laboratory tour had passed.
It is expected that many of the participants will later go on to study at Japanese universities or work for Japanese companies or research institutes, thereby strengthening ties between Japan and ASEAN countries.
*1 Japan Science and Technology Agency
