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Bc. Ondrej Rehák, Brno University of Technology,

ročník 4

Faculty

Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication

Field of study

Electronics and Communication

Field of internship

Computer and Information Sciences

Specialization of Internship

Computer Programming, Other

Internship period (from - to)

11.6.2018 - 31.8.2018

Internship duration (weeks)

Transport (means, price)

Airplane - Prague->Milan->Tokyo, 15 000 CZK (retrurn ticket included)

Insurance/Insurance company

Groupama

Visa/Work permit (yes/no)

90 days free tourist visa

Price of Visa

None

City of Internship

Japan, Tokyo

Internship reference number

JP-2018-50-UTK

About the country

Location of the place

Hongo campus of the University of Tokyo.

City

Tokyo is capital city of Japan and Greater Tokyo Area is the most populated metropolitan area in the world. It is divided in 23 special wards(cities) and there is always something to explore.

Surroundings (possible trips, ...)

Tokyo is big and there is a lot to see. I was usually exploring Tokyo parks, museums and shrines during week. There is possibility to travel outside of Tokyo and reach some mountains for hiking like Mt. Takao, go to the beach in Kamakura or visit other places like Nikko - National park. All these possible trips are around 1-2 hours by train from Tokyo.

Employer

My employer was University of Tokyo, Department of Computer Science. My supervisor was professor Reiji Suda with expertise in parallel computing.

Work description

My supervisor gave me a program for calculating Fast Legendre transform. This program is used for complex computations. My task was to study the program and use parallel programing to improve and make it faster.

Salary (sufficient for local conditions?)

My salary was 70 000 yen per month which was sufficient enough to cover food and transportation cost to work and back.

Language requirements

English is what you need, but even with good English it is hard to talk to them. I was surprised that Japanese people in general have such a problem to communicate in English.

Accommodation (price, who provided it)

Accommodation was paid and provided by University of Tokyo. I was living in a sharehouse in an east part of Tokyo. There were 15 rooms, shared kitchen and shared showers. Room was small and simple, with no view from window but I were not there in the day so I didn't mind. Most of the people living there were Japanese, only three other guys were international. Around sharehouse was quiet in the night, even cars were not passing by, which I appreciated. Metro station was close and accessibility to city was good, only 10 minutes to work and 17 minutes to Shinjuku.

Social life

Meeting IAESTE members (pick-up at the airport, organized events...)

I was communicating with my contact person (CP) via Facebook two weeks before I arrived. Part of internship in Japan was also to learn travel in Japan by train, so he wasn't allowed to pick me up at the airport. He explained to me via text which line should I take from airport to train station closest to my sharehouse. He was waiting for me there.
As for events, I joined almost all of them. I was on cooking party, went to Mt. Takao and also climbed Mt. Fuji and went on Yokohama tour. These events were really nice organized and I enjoyed them.

Meeting other foreign students

I met a lot of foreign students in Tokyo. I met most of them on the events organized by IAESTE. There were four IAESTE members directly in my university campus so we spent a lot of time together going for lunches.

Sport and culture

One of unofficial IAESTE event was football game with Japanese students and IAESTE members. As part of cultural experience I went to Samurai day in UENO park, I tried Japanese tea ceremony in Himeji gardens and also I tried Obon dance on the street.

Food, local specialties

There is a lot of typical Japanese food to try like ramen, udon, gyoza, okonomiaki, yakitori, sushi and so on...

Other information

Possibilites to communicate with the Czech Republic

Internet - messenger, skype or any other similar services.

Recommendations for students who will go to the same place

If you plan to go in summer, bring more t-shirts, shorts and some good shoes for hiking. I brought more jeans and sweatshirts which I used only on top of Mt. Fuji, otherwise there is too hot in summer. Also if you plan to visit some places during weekends and be as cheap as possible, I recommend to buy Willer bus pass ( doesn't have to be used consecutive like JR pass) and travel by bus in night to save money for accommodation.

What not to forget with you

Rainy clothes, raincoat, shoes, cash and something typical from home country.

Benefits of the internship

Internship was full of new things for me. Working in different environment on the other side of the world thought me how to handle new situations and I also met there a lot of new interesting people. It was truly amazing experience.