The Nippon Experiment

by Jagdhishwar Sivarou

It all began last year when three of us, John Lim Yue Han, Muhammad Iqbal Azizi and the writer, Jagdhishwar Sivarou, emerged as 2^nd runner-up (third placing) for the National Science Challenge (NSC). The 3^rd and 4^th place winners of the NSC had been invited to join Sakura Science High School Program (SSHP). SSHP was organized by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and aimed at raising the interest of aspiring youth in science and technology. It was participated by Malaysia, Singapore, China and Korea for one week in Japan.

We were warmly welcomed by the coordinators from Japan International Cooperation Center (JICE) on 16^th of June at Narita International Airport in Tokyo, together with other participants. Our core purpose was to learn and explore science. The next day, we were honoured to be able to meet Prof. Hideki Shirakawa, a Nobel Laureate, who later gave a lecture on conductive polymers. This was followed by a hands-on chemistry experiment to create our own Electroluminescent device under his guidance.

Apart from being scientist apprentices, we also visited Omiya Kita High School, a Super Science High School and University of Tokyo. Here we met more Japanese students and had the chance to communicate with them in workshops and games. Besides academic work, we also had the opportunity to visit landmarks and historical sites. We met ASIMO, too, the famous humanoid robot, and saw how he functioned.