On the 15th of February, in the early morning, the team of Sakura science program 2023 Faculty of Biology Universitas Gadjah Mada met up at the Sukarno Hatta International Airport. The fifteen students and two lecturers were preparing to start the journey to Yamagata on the Sakura Science Program. After the last briefing and commencement (9/2/2023) by our Dean Prof. Dr. Budi Setiadi Daryono, M.Agr., Sc. , this was the first time our team met in complete assembly.

We met at 3.00 am. Everybody looks so excited about this trip. Some students were accompanied by their parents, who also looked elated and happy for their children to have such an experience studying abroad with large groups.  After dropping the baggage at the check-in counter, we later parted ways with parents and family in front of the customs gate. The students took the first step on this trip with a blessing and prayers from their parents.

We had a very eventful flight with very minor turbulence. At 3.00 pm, we landed at Narita Airport. There is a long way to a guarded quarantine check point for Covid-19 screening, immigration, and customs.  It was good that we prepared for this check-in by filling in the Visit Japan (https://www.vjw.digital.go.jp). We can see that in the future all these check-ins will be done automatically with an auto machine and minimal staff.

Prof Jun Yokoyama, our host Professor, had traveled a long way from Yamagata to pick us up in Narita. We met him directly after we got out of the customs check-in. Prof. Yokoyama greeted us very warmly and took us to subway stations to get us from Narita Airport to Tokyo Station. After more than 6 hours of flight, our team members are still in high spirits. With our big luggage in tow, we were going up and down several flights of stairs at the subway station to catch the trains. Unfortunately, one of our member lost the railway tickets, so Prof. Yokoyama accompanied the member and let us get on the shinkansen by ourselves. With the limited time that we had, it so happened that we didn’t notice that our Shinkansen train consisted of 2 trains that would be separated at Fukushima Station.  We got on the second train. After pushing our luggage from the 4th carriage to the 10th one, we just realized that there was no way for us to get to our carriage on the 17th. We were so stressed out and confused. Fortunately, we could get hold of Prof Yokoyama on call, and he talked to the carriage officer about what was the best way for us to move to the correct trains up front. One of our students (Alifya) was also very helpful with her Japanese and let us know that we had to get out of the next station and run to the front train. With that idea, all of us were huddled near the exit door with all our luggage and getting ready to sprint to the nearest upfront train doors. We were in a hurry since we only had less than one minute to get all 16 of us to the correct trains. It was a surreal experience to run with big luggage and make sure all of us got on the train.

Finally, at Omiya station, we sprinted for our lives, to get to the front train. During this run, we could really see that the Shinkansen train was two trains with different locomotive heads that travel together (Yamabiko trains and Tsubasa trains). We finally got on the Tsubasa train that we were supposedly on, and once more pushed our luggage from the 11^th to 17^th carriage, but this time we did it with relief since 16 of us made it safely to the Tsubasa train. We finally arrived at Yamagata Station at 9.59 pm and met with Prof Yokoyama’s student, Mr. Yuji Yamamoto.  He led us to a hotel where some of the team members would stay during the program, which is 11 minutes walk from the rail station. After all the members that stayed in the hotel settled down, got their dinner bento, and went to the room, Yuji-san then led the rest of the team members to go to Yamagata University.

We walked for another 25 minutes from the hotel to the Yamagata University guest house.  It was a very quiet night in Yamagata. We could see the snow covering all the open surfaces and gathering on the side of empty streets along the way to the campus. We arrived in the dormitory at almost midnight. However, since it was a new experience to enter a Japanese university dormitory, we were excited to learn about this new environment and fortunately, Yuji-san kindly explained and answered our questions from how to prepare hot water to sort the trash. Afterward, we then settled in our rooms and had our hot halal bento that was heated using a hot pocket. It was a very yummy and fulfilling dinner for our famish selves. We slept tight and will be ready for the next day.