So two days ago on Friday, Frank and I visited our assigned lab, the Senoo Lab, for the first time.
We had a seminar which started at 3pm, that was about the SECI model of knowledge introduced by Nonaka and Takeuchi. This model of knowledge explains how tacit and explicit knowledge are converted into organisational knowledge… The strength of the seminar was basically everyone who was in Senoo Lab, and of course, the medium was Japanese. Frank and I spent our time mostly just Googling the SECI model of knowledge and obtaining understanding off articles on the net.
After a little more than an hour, we took a short trip to the Ernst and Young office in Hibiya. As usual, the medium was Japanese, but in essence we learnt more about the projects they undertake in EY, using IT and AI to serve their clients, and we had a tour of the beautiful office they have.
After the tour, the Senoo Lab held a welcome party for the both of us, and we had a great spread of food and drinks as we talked and learnt more about each other. The language barrier is real, but because I have learnt a bit of Japanese of my own before coming, I feel that I can get by most of the time with what limited vocabulary and grammar I have. For more complex concepts, I’m glad that there was another exchange student, Yoonas from Finland, who has already been in Japan for awhile, so he could be a translator of English and Japanese for us.
In general, these friends have been really friendly and warm to us, and I really look forward with working with them for the next two months!
As the day went by really quickly, I did not take many photos.. unfortunately.
