Visit to NUAA@Nanjing and FENDT@Tianjin, China

Due to research requirements, I had a study and exchange at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA) for over two weeks and also attended the Far East Non-Destructive Testing Forum. The first stop of my trip to China was Nanjing, where I was also accompanied by Mr. Amano. We arrived at Nanjing Lukou Airport on the afternoon of May 28th. As one of China's famous "Three Furnaces," Nanjing had noticeably higher temperatures compared to Sendai. I would like to express my gratitude to Professor Ge for personally picking us up and driving us to NUAA. It had been two years since we last met, and Dr. Ge had visibly lost weight, presumably due to having a child (●’◡’●). Dr. Ge and his student, Xu Fei, arranged accommodation for us in the international student apartment. It was a beautiful and spacious house equipped with daily necessities. During dinner time, Dr. Ge took us to a famous "Lanzhou Ramen" restaurant. It is said that in northern China, it is customary for the first meal to be noodles. As a person from the south, I found it quite fascinating. To our delight, we also had the opportunity to meet our senior colleague, Chen Guanren, whom we hadn't seen for two years. He brought a kind of famous Chinese liquorcalled "Xifeng" Baijiu. This baijiu has a higher alcohol content, but Mr. Amano said he could handle it. It was a delightful dinner.

The next day, Dr. Ge took us to the old campus of NUAA (we were staying in the new campus area). It was quite fascinating to see a retired large aircraft parked on the school grounds, attracting everyone's attention. After touring the campus, I had the chance to enjoy a nostalgic Chinese campus lunch in the cafeteria. The meals were surprisingly affordable, costing only around 500 yen in total. In the following days, we visited the laboratories of Dr. Ge and Dr. Li and had academic exchange meetings. During our stay, we conducted experiments on stress testing, which was different from our previous research on defect detection and quite interesting. We also got to know many Chinese students in the laboratory who were very curious about studying and living in Japan. Some of them even expressed their interest in studying abroad in Japan.

While visiting and studying at NUAA, we also explored the Nanjing city. As the most famous attractions in Nanjing, Confucius Temple and Qinhuai River were definitely must-see places. Additionally, I visited Niushoushan and Jinling Xiaocheng. Although these two attractions were man-made, they were incredibly beautiful.

Before Tanno-kun's departure, Dr. Ge warmly arranged for us to have a taste of Huaiyang cuisine, a traditional delicacy in Nanjing.

Next was my trip to Tianjin to attend the Far East NDT Forum. The conference took place at a five-star hotel, the Hengda Hotel. It was my first time staying at a five-star hotel, and the room was incredibly spacious and luxurious. Although I regret not giving a presentation at the conference, I had the opportunity to listen to various reports on non-destructive testing methods and learn about the mainstream non-destructive testing instruments available in the Chinese market. Moreover, it was my first time attending a banquet during an offline conference, where I had the chance to meet many Chinese researchers.

It was a wonderful three-week trip to China. Upon returning, I need to prepare myself in a more energetic state for my final thesis defense.

Edited by GUO