In the name of Allah, the all mighty god, the one and only one, I hereby start my thesis.
Praises to Allah, for his mercy upon me. For his generous gifts of health and brain which allowed me to proceed higher studies at one of the best universities in the world, University of Tokyo.
Praises to Allah, for gifting me with a perfect wife, my supporter through this journey. Thank you Randa for all your support and your cheers through the difficult times of research. Thank you, for your acceptance to accompany me in Japan, while you knew I will always be busy, away from you, working in my laboratory. You went through a hard time, spending most of your time alone while I progressed in my research connecting days with nights, but you only greet me with a smile and a welcoming heart, when I knock your door. Thank you, for making your house, my home.
I deeply thank and raise the hat for my supervising professor, Prof. Ikeda for his continuous teaching and support. Each time I sit with him, I gain a huge amount of knowledge not only in my research field but also in life. His welcoming helped me to settle in Japan and feel it like home, while His teaching provided me with solid knowledge and helped me to become a better Electrical Engineer. This work could have never been achieved except for the guidance I received from him.
I also thank Prof. Asada for his guidance and support throughout the research, and his fatherly advices to help me become a better researcher. All the thanks for Prof. Nakura for his help during my experimental research and measurement. He was always open for any questions, and his words were fulfilling answers.
My appreciation and respect for Dr. Abbas, for his support. He tended to calm me down during rough times, and his experience in our field could help me through complicated situations by providing me his suggestions. He is like an older brother, always there when you need him. I also thank Dr. James Tandon for his support during the start my Masters, and for his precious advices.
I send my thanks to Jordan, for Dr. Khamis, for his fatherly support and help in any matter I need, and for Dr. Yaser for helping me when I got married and supporting me like his son.
I thank all my lab members and research-mates for the friendly environment and healthy atmosphere that makes research and creativity easier.
In addition, I can never forget the trust of Yamashita-san, or the faith of Kobayashi-sensei in me. I can never forget how Taymour-sensei helped choose my desired field, or how Saqf-san helped me through the difficult transition of starting a new life in Japan.
Finally, no words can describe my appreciation for my father, god bless his soul, who wished before he died to see me holding a higher education degree. And my mother, who provided me with everything I needed since I was a child until I left the house coming to Japan. Without her, getting a professional degree would have been impossible. I thank her for all the prayers she has made to help me through my research.
During my time away from Tokyo, here are some of the stuff I missed:
2. The feeling of an emperor when entering a shop. Yeah, in europe they dont bow to u when u enter a shop. They dont thank you for not buying anything or just visiting their store. And when u buy, I missed the fact that the cashier uses his both hands to open the plastic bag for u not by using one hand and BLOWING inside the bag to open it coz the other hand is busy with the mobile! Yup! This is how the cashier treated me!
5. I missed using the suica card, and not needing to count coins for every train ride. Using the suica card, you just put your wallet against a reader and it will read and charge your train card wirelessly.
Feels great to be back!
Yeah! Believe it or not I even felt that the chocolate in the mini bar of the hotel room is not actually expensive! I bought a whole L size pizza, with salads and a cold drink for 1000yen (10$)! A 500ml cola is for 80yen, and a one hour bus from one city to another is 350yen!
Let us just clear some stereotypes about the Europeans:
1. Europeans are very organized and exact in time.
Nope. Far from the truth. When the bus leaves 16:04, that means its 4 minutes late. In Japan, this would never occur unless in rare occasions it was accompanied with a huge apologies. 16:00 means 16:00.
2. Europeans are so open minded and free.
Yeah right! Thats why they kept staring at me and my Japanese professor. You have never seen a Japanese person before? Yeah, I do not drink Alcohol. Yes never. Live with it and please do not keep giving me that weird look and stop whispering about it to your friends!
3. Nobody drinks Alcohol more than the Japanese.
Oh yeah, except for the Europeans. Europeans drink a beer between each two beers. And even during their working hours they drink.
4. Europe is soo clean that we wish Arab countries to be the same.
You are far from the truth here. For two years living in Japan, i did not notice 1 paper thrown carelessly in the middle of the road. That was probably the default case in Praha. Writing on the walls is so spread that you wonder how a clean wall looks like. Ofcourse, do not let me start to talk about their subways and metros! Shinjuku subway station in Tokyo (3 million visitors per day) is much cleaner than whole Praha (population of 1million). Amman also is much cleaner.
All in all, it was a very nice trip where business mixed with pleasure! Ofcourse, since my beloved university paid for all this, who am I to complain? Haha!
First let me state that I am no fluent in Japanese. Far from it, if u consider reading and writing. But what happened during my trip to Praha was just amazingly weird.
Since I left Tokyo and arrived Munich, I have this huge urge to speak nothing but Japanese. In Japan i would be extremely happy if I met a Japanese person who can make a conversation longer than 30sec in English, beside ofcoruse university professors. And now because I have the chance to babble in English, the words refuse to exit my mouth except in Japanese!!
In addition, English words sounded heavy on my ear and annoying too! I felt the language is slow and contains many unneeded particles. For example, I say to someone: “would you please do me the favor of buying this for me?” In English, or “kattekuremasenka” in Japanese! Yup! Short, fast, and delivers the same exact meaning you want.
After taking a break for one week from Japanese, I returned to feel that the language feels much easier, smoother and more understandable. Right now, I have no problems at all in detailed shopping, making long phone calls (like customer support calls) or understanding what my lab mates are talking about. I can also express myself and deliver the message I want to a person infront of me. In the class room, now I only ask my questions in Japanese. Ofcourse, that is in addition to daily life conversations that cause me no problems.
A strong language is defined as a language where you can express more in shorter time, or using fewer components. We say this man is a great speaker if he delivers his ideas using clear definite short words. And that is the case of Japanese compared to English.
Still, I have to apologize to the Japanese before I state, without any doubt, that Arabic is even stronger than Japanese. Since in Arabic you can express and deliver much better using much less components and in shorter time than Japanese.
I am sure now readers would be wondering why i am typing this English then.
I did not use Japanese because as I stated above I am not a fluent. And I also did not write in Arabic because simply typing in English is much faster. In addition, I have a lot of foreign readers of this blog and English would be the only suitable language for this.
Still, maybe in a couple of years I open a Japanese-language version of this blog! Who knows?!
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Total commercial area of approximately 220,000sq m, diverse range of 565 specialists shops and service providers all in one place! AEON Laketown is being opened as the commercial hub of a new town called Koshigaya Laketown being created by the Urban Renaissance Agency in Koshigaya City.
Koshigaya Laketown is located on the shores of a 400,000 square meter lake (Chosetsuchi) and will be home to around 22,400 people (approx. 7,000 homes) and will include detached houses, condominiums, pedestrian paths and parks. Through its innovative combination of lakeside living and an urban lifestyle the Koshigaya Laketown will be unique in Japan. The AEON Laketown shopping center is located alongside an arterial road, the East Saitama Road...
In Japan, paper advertisements hang from the ceilings of train cars. In how many other countries would that be a viable advertising option? Certainly not in my hometown of Melbourne. Back in Australia, the majority of those ads would not survive any given Saturday night.
The buttons that train guards push to play those pre-departure jingles: They are fully exposed! Anyone can walk up and push them. And yet nobody does. They would back home in Melbourne.
The fire extinguishers frequently found sitting out by the sidewalk: No one rolls them down the hill at 3 a.m. Amazing!
Fish tanks that are less than fully secured: Oh my! Back home, the occupants of those tanks would greet the Sunday sunrise floating on their backs in a murky goo.
Valuables: When you lose your wallet in Japan, chances are you'll get it back — cash intact and cards untouched.
Salarymen asleep on the train: They are woken at the terminus with a sympathetic prod by railway staff. Inevitably, the bag containing both laptop and wallet is still resting on the overhead rack.
The last train: Hundreds of drunken people sardined into carriages and not a hint of aggression. Back home, guys would be squaring off on every second platform.
Violent crime: The average victim of violent crime in Japan is attacked by someone they know. Random violence is rare. Perhaps this explains why it is so common to see solitary girls and women wandering home on narrow, dimly lit streets — even in the wee hours in the entertainment areas of big cities.
Police apprehension: It has become apparent in the last couple of years that the average member of the Japanese constabulary is not exactly fleet of foot. Could the extraordinary number of wanted criminals who simply walk into police boxes and give themselves up be one of the reasons why?
The incarceration rate: The prison population of Japan tends to hover around the 60 out of 100,000 mark. For most Western nations it is at least twice that number. For America, more than 700.
