There are many people in your country who have studied in Japan. They have established alumni associations for former study-in-Japan students and are fostering friendship and collaboration among those with the same experience of having studied in Japan. In fact, there are already more than 270 such organizations in 98 countries.

These alumni associations also play a major role in promoting understanding of Japan. We urge you to contact the alumni association in your country. You can find a list of alumni associations and contact information at the following URL:
http://www.studyjapan.go.jp/en/ath/ath0201e.html

Congratulations for having come all this way.

We are contacting you because we want you to know more about us. In our return to Brazil, colleagues who had the same privilege of studying in Japan have created alumni associations in various Brazilian states.

Presently, I am the president of the Japan-Brazil Alumni Association of Brasilia (ABRAEX), a congregation of colleagues who had the same experiences as you are now going through. We have all taken academic or specialization courses in Japan, including master’s and Ph.D. degrees, and now would like you to get to know the communities we have created.

We want to keep alive our past experiences and deepen our cultural and academic relationship, to publicize new MEXT scholarships, to create or cooperate with cultural events, and to inform and exchange ideas with new scholars before their departure.

We would like to invite you to take part of our alumni association when you come back. Available information, including contacts, can be found in our site,
http://www.abraex.org.br.

Super shadowgraph, “Taketori Monogatari (The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter),” scheduled to be performed on July 8, 2007 in China by Kageboushi Theater Company

Please visit the following URL for events related to Japan in 2007.
http://www.studyjapan.go.jp/en/
eventinfo/event_info-map.html

You can also check what's going on at the websites of Japanese embassies and consulates. Please access the one in your area through the following URL:
http://www.mofa.go.jp/about/emb_cons/mofaserv.html

2007 is the “The Japan-China Exchange Year of Culture and Sports” and “The Japan-India Exchange Year.” There will be particularly many related events taking place in Japan, China and India. The participation of all of you who know Japan well will surely make these exchanges even more fruitful.

The next time you returnees are back in Tokyo, you might be surprised by how even more convenient public transport has become.

The use of IC cards at ticket wickets – where commuters can simply wave their cards over readers instead of buying a train ticket – has been in place by East Japan Railway Company (JR East) in the Tokyo metropolitan area since 2001. Since 2002, it has also been available for use on Tokyo Monorail and Tokyo Waterfront Area Rapid Transit. Known as “Suica,” 19 million Suica cards had been issued by the end of February 2007.

Private railways, subways and bus companies in the Tokyo metropolitan area introduced the “PASMO” IC card on March 18. Suica and PASMO are interoperable, so you can utilize either a Suica or PASMO card when using almost all public transport in the area.

The contactless IC card ticket system developed after much effort by JR East enables processing in 0.2 seconds at a data transmission speed of 212 Kbps. It was awarded the IT Excellence Award in 2004 by the World Information Technology and Service Alliance (WITSA), the highest echelon in IT. PASMO was developed on the basis of the high reliability and accomplishments of JR East’s technology and system. Because there is a complex network of public transport in the Tokyo metropolitan area, advance verification of fares for transfers among different modes and companies amounted to roughly 1.23 billion types. These are now being supported by a vast information processing system.

Like Suica, the PASMO IC card can also be used as electronic money at convenience stores, shopping centers, cafes, restaurants, bookstores, and other shops. Stores where they can be used now number approximately 12,700 (as of March 28, 2007; total number of Suica and PASMO IC card member stores). The number is expected to increase even more greatly in the future.

The IC card technology has also realized a barrier-free system for the use of public transport and for shopping by the elderly and those with handicaps. We look forward to your next visit to Tokyo, so please do come. Enjoy your stay utilizing these convenient IC cards.

If you are interested in returning to Japan to continue your studies or research, why not utilize the following programs that offer support?

<Follow-up Research Fellowship>
This is a program implemented by Japan Student Services Organization (JASSO), an independent administrative institution. It is available to foreign students from regions such as Asia, Central and South America, and Africa, who studied in Japan and is currently active after returning to his/her country in the fields of education, academic research or public administration. The program provides an opportunity for those selected under this program to carry out short-term research with researchers at Japanese universities.
For details, please refer to the JASSO website.
http://www.jasso.go.jp/exchange/follow_e.html

<JSPS Fellowship Program>
This is a program implemented by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). It provides an opportunity for young researchers from abroad to carry out joint research with and under the guidance of colleagues at Japanese universities and research institutions. The Postdoctoral Fellowships for Foreign Researchers (Standard) is available to foreign researchers from any country that has diplomatic relations with Japan. The Postdoctoral Fellowships for Foreign Researchers (Short-term) and the JSPS Summer Program are available to foreign researchers of Canadian, American or designated European nationalities. Selection and awarding of the fellowship and support is based on the academic value of the joint-research, regardless of the field of research.

For details, please refer to the JSPS website.

JSPS Fellows Plaza
http://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-plaza/index.html

Postdoctoral Fellowships for Foreign Researchers (Standard) (Short-term)
http://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-fellow/fellow.html

JSPS Summer Program
http://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-summer/index.html

Dr. Gardias Hewawasam Mummullage Jimila Subashi

After studying at the University of Moratuwa in Sri Lanka, I entered the doctoral program at Saitama University in 2002 under the Japanese Government (Monbukagakusho) Scholarship program. Since October 2005, I have been receiving support as a Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and am continuing my research at Saitama University. My field of specialty is engineering science. I will be returning to Sri Lanka in October, and I plan to continue my research at the University of Ruhuna as a senior lecturer after my return.

I am very satisfied with my current research activities as a Fellow. I am being enlightened as a researcher through my ties with talented professors and others, and I am able to continue productive research under a favorable environment. The financial support currently being provided to me by JSPS allows me to lead an even better life with more leisure than when I was a Japanese Government scholarship student, and this certainly helps.

If you want to continue research in Japan, I hope that you keep in close contact with the professors who guided you while in Japan. Furthermore, I hope that you will participate even more proactively in international conferences and academic meetings and create opportunities for you to come in touch with many researchers.

Maintaining ties with your academic supervisor in Japan is very important, not just in terms of having a host researcher for the application under the JSPS Fellowship but also in order to further your future research. They will help you develop the future of your research. Furthermore, researchers who have undergone the JSPS Fellowship program should be able to provide you with useful advice for making applications under the program. Having access to a wide variety of such information is a good reason for your participation in the alumni associations of your country.

With April just around the corner, reports of the blooming of Yoshino cherry blossoms are starting to arrive from various regions around Japan. They seem to be blooming earlier than usual in many areas this year, perhaps because of the warm winter experienced in Japan. Cherry blossoms bring to mind cherry-blossom viewing, a favorite Japanese pastime along with the viewing of colorful autumnal leaves. You have probably enjoyed this with friends during your stay in Japan.

Cherry blossoms have long been noted in Japan, and there is no other flower that has been so loved by the Japanese. In fact, there is mention of them in the Record of Ancient Matters compiled nearly 1,300 years ago in 712AD. About 40 waka poems related to cherry blossoms have also been listed in The Anthology of Myriad Leaves, a collection of ancient Japanese poems dating up to 759AD.

We hope that this inaugural issue of this email newsletter will remind you of your experiences in Japan. Please come and visit Japan, hopefully during this season of cherry blossoms.