RF and Microwave Technologies in Japan [TCC Tidbits]

This summer, I had an opportunity to live in Japan for nearly two months. As a visitor from United States, I had numerous interesting impressions of how the RF and microwave technologies are used in Japan. While working for NTT Microsystem Integration Laboratories in Atsugi, a city located one hour west of Tokyo by train, I also traveled to many other places in Japan to visit research institutes and to explore Japanese culture. In addition to the Tokyo metro area, I traveled north to Sendai to visit Tohoku University where the Yagi-Uda Antenna was invented and traveled west to Kyoto with my family to visit those famous temples listed as World Heritage sites. I also visited JAXA (Japanese equivalent of NASA) not far away from Atsugi to see their latest technology and results of space exploration.