Myself Swapnil Ghodke, PhD research scholar in Department of Crystalline Materials Science at Nagoya University. I have graduated from IIT Hyderabad with major in materials science and engineering. In my masters, I have worked on development of ecofriendly piezoelectric materials for vibration sensor applications topic under guidance of Prof. Ranjith Ramadurai. This work was also part of "Information Network for Natural Disaster Mitigation and Recovery Project" (DISANET) project. My research interest is “Investigating and developing high performance energy harvesting materials”. My research topic is the prime motivation to choose Japan. After M.Tech I joined Ikuta laboratory, Nagoya University, through JICA- Friendship program. Here, I started my research work on thermoelectrics materials, under the guidance of Prof. T. Takeuchi. My PhD work is focused on finding high performance ecological thermoelectric materials and suitable ways to enhance figure of merit.

My valorous journey began in Oct 2013, in a completely novel world with new language, different culture, exotic food, inexperienced climate, and in short it was new birth of Swapnil San in the land of rising Sun. World recognize Japan for technology, research, unique culture and especially for their inherent love for peace, discipline, kindness, and honesty. One best thing is their love for the nature. It’s not exaggeration to say that I am unable to differentiate between “people live with the nature or nature live with the people”. The lab culture, it's an exciting and most important part of my life in Japan. Currently, I am the only international student in my lab. The interaction with lab meets is quite fun; we enjoy broken English or broken Japanese for communication. There is one major change in lab culture, all the seminars or group meetings are being tried to be conducted in English. I really appreciate the hard work everyone does, as many a time its round the clock work. Apart from our busy life, we have enjoyed parties together and particularly when faculties are around. Although there are some problems in communication, but everyone has supported me for getting adapted to this new culture, and new life.

I have visited some of the finest industries in Nagoya like NKG insulators and Chubu Electric Power through Factory visits, organized by Nagoya University for International students. These visits cherished me glimpse of elite management, technology and the quality of work for which Japan is known for. JICA Chubu also provided nice opportunities to meet and interact JICA participants came from different countries by inviting me in cultural and formal events. I am exploring Nagoya city by visiting Nagoya Castle, Toyota automobile museum, City science museum & planetarium and botanical garden especially in cherry blossom. Yet, there are still many places in my list to visit.

I would not say it was very difficult but, it wasn't that easy to get adapted with the most chilled nights, communicating with the people or learning cooking. But, all these things were made simple by enormous support from JICA officials, my friends, my sensei and my parents. I am sincerely grateful to FRIENDSHIP program, Nagoya University, and my Dr. T. Takeuchi Sensei for giving me this opportunity to pursue my dream. I will do my best, for making a contribution to scientific community and for betterment of our society.