Visit to North Carolina State University, USA

4 students from the Leading Program visited the College of Textiles at North Carolina State University in USA from March 7 to 12, 2016. The College of Textiles has a long history and has been contributing to the society by sending hundreds of alumni to fiber/textiles industry. The students were given the chance of fiber/textiles-related facility tours and a workshop with NC State's students. The visit was arranged for them to get some actual ideas of what an university in the States is like at first hand, then to compare it with theirs, and to learn the other country's standard. We hope they found their own yardstick.

Day 1
The students were very fortunate that they got to look around the Nonwovens Institute, where is not easy to get a permission for tours, as well as the whole process from dyeing and spinning to finishing. To look closely at their large-scale facilities, which are used for collaborative research with industry and government, were an extraordinary experience for the students.
The students presentations started off to introduce Nagano prefecture's food, culture, and history, then the Leading Program and their individual research work. It seemed hard to believe for the NC State students when they learned it's common to eat horse meat here in Nagano, and when Yukimura Sanada, a famous Japanese military commandar in Ueda region 400 years ago was mentioned, both sides of students warmed and loosened up to engage more to the topic. The discussion got very active about the research, especially on the point of feasibility. Thanks to the welcoming atmosphere offered by the NC State students, it was much easier for the leading program students to relax and enjoy the discussion than usual. They also got to meet with Mr. Yusuke Mukai, an alumnus of the Faculty of Textile Science and Technology, Shinshu University, who's currently in the master program at NC State, and he told them his story of how the studying in overseas is like.

Day 2
The students attended a workshop at ASSIST conference at NC State, which included industry, academia, and government agencies trying to address the need for standards in this field, titled "Standards for Wearable Technology & Textile Electronics." They learned the latest trend of wearable textiles, such as shirts with built-in electronics. They then visited NC Japan Center and met with Japanese post doctoral researchers of NC State. They kindly shared their experience with our students, such as the good and hard parts of being a researcher in a foreign country. It helped our students to picture themselves in a similar situation in near future and to learn what to expect when it comes to living abroad, the transition might not be easy but it also can be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for them to expand their visions.
Their second day was finished with meeting with students of leading program of Nagoya University, who happened to visit NC Japan Center at the same timing. The meeting was not arranged in advance, however, Nagoya students and everyone else welcomed our students kindly and it turned out to be another good chance to learn something new by exchanging opinions.

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We all were surprised to see how big the American portion size really is when we had dinner at a local BBQ restaurant; we wanted to try their famous local food. What we ordered was a half size dish, but it was about the same as Japanese large serving to our big surprise. The good thing was the students did eat it all with no problem!