Postgraduate students and undergraduates of INPhE have undergone training at the Tokyo Institute of technology (TIT). This was part of the implementation of the interuniversity project "Training of leading scientists and engineers in the field of health, medicine, nuclear power and energy industry between Japan and Russia", which is designed for 5 years.

As part of the project, MEPhI has already received three students from Japan for a two-week internship, which took place at the Department №1, Department №2 and the Laboratory of computer engineering modeling in the field of nuclear technology. During their stay in MEPhI, Japanese students got acquainted with the basic principles of reactor control under normal and emergency operation modes, gained knowledge in the field of ionizing radiation and radiometric and dosimetric control equipment, practiced in complex modeling of nuclear power plants with the help of modern Russian and foreign codes.

The next stage was a two-week internship of our young scientists in TIT. Postgraduate students from INPhE Anton Smirnov and Evgenia Korneva told about their experience.

Anton Smirnov:

- Selection of masters and postgraduate students of MEPhI for an internship at the Tokyo Institute of Technology was quite serious. One of the mandatory criteria was excellent knowledge of English, and, of course, scientific specialization, corresponding to the subject of TIT research. Japanese colleagues are interested in adopting our experience in developments.

Time after time I have presented reports at international conferences in European countries, for example, Italy, Germany, France, so I speak English quite freely.

I trained under the guidance of Professor Toru Obara in a laboratory that deals with innovative reactor technologies. By the way, the laboratories in TIT are called both large structures like our institutions and their subdivisions – research groups, indicating the name of the Professor, steering the group. During a two-week internship, we performed calculations of one of the advanced reactor concepts, analyzed how the characteristics of the facility were changing depending on certain conditions. This only partially corresponds to the course of my studies at MEPhI, but its benefits are indisputable. At the end we had a ten-minute defense of the presentation beside the staff of the laboratory.

We were integrated into a permanent group of 20 people, 15 of them are students, and only a half are Japanese. The rest of the guys are from neighboring countries – Vietnam, Malaysia and others. Relations in group are very warm, hospitable, we had an informal cultural program after the working day, walked around the city. What particularly surprised me was the exorbitant order and cleanliness in the streets. Also very tasty Japanese food, fish in sushi were really fresh, as they say - "in the morning it did not think that it will be food in the evening." The menu of our restaurants does not include even five percent of the cuisine that Japan has.

During a two-week internship, we were paid a scholarship of 80,000 yen, which is about 40 thousand rubles. And it is very generous, it was enough for food, transport, souvenirs.

Our Japanese colleagues organized a cultural program especially for us. We visited one of the oldest cities in Japan – Kamakura, which is actually the same age as Moscow, the city was founded in 1192.

Eugenia Korneva:

- I was trained in the laboratory of radiochemistry under the guidance of Professor Tsukahara. The research group, where I worked, is focused on the release of certain radionuclides from liquid radioactive wastes. My task was to conduct several tests, but since they are long-lasting, I managed to completely hold only one. Preliminary preparations for two tests were already done, so I was already in the final part of the analysis.

The Laboratory of radiochemistry is an international one. I worked with students from the South Africa, Korea, China, Thailand, and the relationships between all of us were wonderful. I was the only one from Russia in the group and it was very good because there was no temptation to communicate only with fellow nationals. I was fully immersed in an international environment, therefore, besides the scientific experience, got a good experience of English. We actively communicated, discussed working moments, walked together after work around the city.

It was my first internship; I used to take part in international conferences and various workshops in America and Moldova. The work I did at the Tokyo Institute of Technology is sure to contribute to my dissertation research.

Despite the fact that the trip to Japan had primarily scientific purposes, it was also a unique experience of getting acquainted with the culture, life and mentality of the Japanese nation. What impressed me most about Japan is food and transport. I agree with Anton, Japanese restaurants in Russia have nothing in common with dishes, which the Japanese eat constantly, and those that we have in Russia, for example, sushi and rolls, have quite different taste.

A transport system is very complex and interesting; in fact there are no buses, they are replaced by a network of ground trains. Railways run through Japan, it seems you can reach the most remote village by rail.

It's a pity that we didn’t manage to visit the city of Fukushima, too far. But it means I have a reason to visit this interesting country again.

In September, our University will host the next group of Japanese students. Waiting for it!