Message from Pioneer

We introduce messages from pioneer!

Ying Gu

I have visited University of Tsukuba for three times. As I was a PH.D student, I joined the Kusaka's lab for the first time in 2007. I was probably the first doctoral and international student of Prof. Kusaka. My purpose for first visit was to run WRF model to analyze the issues of urban climate. Kusaka's lab is a good choice. I acquired the knowledge of the single-layer urban canopy model (UCM) developed by Prof. Kusaka and designed a boundary layer scheme. A visit to NCAR financially supported by Prof. Kusaka took me into a new field of data assimilation and WRF-Chem. The one-year experience in Kusaka lab did great help to my dissertation on "Numerical simulation of the impact of urbanization on Ozone in Shanghai".

After graduation, I was invited to a short visit by Prof. Kusaka in 2011. I began the research of urban fog in Japan at that time. To restart my scientific research, I took one year out for visiting scholar in University of Tsukuba in 2017. Urban fog was continued to reveal the impact between urbanization and fog. Then urban climate change was discussed to show its impact on fog.

For me, three visits to University of Tsukuba did a great help to me. In terms of my research, I acquired the new knowledge of urban climate, boundary layer, fog, climate change, and modelling, as well as skills of numerical simulation and downscaling. I was relaxed when studying in the Kusaka's lab due to good supercomputers, convenient data obtaining, useful experience sharing, etc.

Kusaka's group is one of the best and well-known groups in urban climate research. The members are skillful at solving urban climate issues using mesoscale models. They have also achieved the technique of large eddy simulation and developed their own model. This group is full of new ideas and new methods, which is attractive to researchers. In the Kusaka's lab, as long as you have an good idea and put it into action, the group will help you overcome the difficulties. Moreover, the members have many opportunities to discuss and communicate with famous experts.

I lived in Japan for more than two years in total. It is really a nice place, especially Tsukuba. Tsukuba is a quiet international city and suitable for living and studying for international students. I made some friends during my stay in Tsukuba. A travel to other places is a good opportunity to be familiar with Japanese culture as well as Japanese food.

I am very lucky to select University of Tsukuba and Kusaka's lab. I keep in touch with them up to now and hope to visit again in the near future.

Don't hesitate if you are considering to study in University of Tsukuba, especially Kusaka's group.

Lidia Vitanova

In October 2013 I visited University of Tsukuba, Centre for Computational Sciences, Kusaka lab where I had opportunity to study current state and future projection of Urban Heat Island by running WRF (Weather Research & Forecasting Model).

The overall objective of my work visit to the University of Tsukuba was to enhance my knowledge and scientific research skills in the field of climate changes and, more particularly, climate changes in large urban centres. For me was very useful also to learn from the experience of well-known world scientists in the field of urban climate and climate change as prof. Kusaka. The knowledge and skills that I acquired in the course of my research in Kusaka lab was of great significance for future work on my dissertation on "Urban heat island in Sofia city: Causes, Current State and Future Prediction".

It was very useful for me that I spend some time in Kusaka lab and study with a team about some methods for urban climate exploration.

I selected Kusaka lab because one of the best laboratories and technological facilities could be found there. Furthermore I am impressed by the good and friendly team as well as the correct and professional attitude to me.

I am very glad that I had the opportunity to be in touch with Kusaka team who help me to understand and resolve very important tasks related to Urban Climate and to avail myself of their experience, organized data, rich libraries and scientific facilities.

I really like Japan! I found many friends here! I visited many interesting places and tried many delicious foods. University of Tsukuba is very quiet, green and natural. You can relax and focus on your study.

I am deeply grateful and I want to encourage each student to take part and study in Kusaka team!

Thank you prof. Kusaka!

Mamunur Rashid

I have been continuing my PhD in University of South Australia since 2012. My PhD research includes downscaling of multi-site daily rainfall and projection of changes of hydrologically relevant matrixes and extreme indices of rainfall in a South Australian catchment. Under the Mawson Lakes fellowship, I had opportunity to visit and work in Kusaka Lab as an exchange PhD research student from June 2013 to November 2013.

It was a great opportunity for me to work in Kusaka's group as this is one of the best research groups in climate research. The technological facilities available in Kusaka Lab is highly modernized and competitive than any other renowned research organizations over the world in the field of climate research. Moreover they have extra-ordinary expertise and skills particularly in climate downscaling which coincide with the main focus of my research. That is why I selected Kusaka Lab as a most suitable place for my exchange research visit.

During my visit in Kusaka Lab, I achieved remarkable experiences and skills in dynamic downscaling technique through the application of Weather Research & Forecasting (WRF) Model. I gratefully remember the continuous support from Kusaka Sensei and other group members particularly Asuka San during my stay in Japan. I found a cooperative and supportive research culture in Kusaka's group which in turn helpful for quick learning.

Besides Japan is a very good place to live and enjoy the life. People are very polite, honest, cordial and helpful. Most importantly I found a homely environment in Japan.

I wish I could join Kusaka's group again!!!

Gong Hao

As the most cutting-edge lab in the field of urban meteorology, Kusaka Laboratory, I was fortunate to join in 2013 and engage in the use of satellite remote sensing technology and geographic modeling methods to research urban heat island phenomena in mega metropolitan areas.

As a world-renowned top urban meteorological research laboratory, Kusaka-lab develops and maintains the famous WRF-UCM model. The laboratory is located in the Tsukuba Supercomputer Center (famous for Cygnus and PACS), which means that members can have sufficient computing resources to support their research work. Not only that, the research laboratory has always been adhering to the tradition of breaking through the tradition. During my studies, I mainly engaged in research based on meteorological remote sensing satellite image processing and geo-model development, which is not the main research direction of the laboratory. But even so, for such a research direction that integrates other disciplines, Kusaka-sensei and other senior members have given me tremendous help and many valuable opinions for my research.

The experience in Kusaka-lab made me fully appreciate the charm of the laboratory culture in Japan, not only in scientific research but also in daily life and research life. The annual summer stays and usual activities that are still fresh in my memory have brought closer the relationship between the researchers and labmates. This is an extraordinary and precious experience in my life!

I am very grateful to Prof. Kusaka and want to encourage every student to join and study in the Kusaka-lab!

Xiaoyu Xu

I visited University of Tsukuba twice by the support of Prof. Kusaka. The first visiting was for the Tsukuba Conference 2019, and I was invited to give a speech entitled "Lessons learned from modeling irrigation from field to regional scales", which shows the important role of crop-specific irrigation in simulating land surface fluxes over the central U.S. Prof. Kusaka was very interested in this topic and asked me how to consider the effect of shallow paddy water over rice fields, which is more prevalent in Asian countries such as China and Japan. This important question brought about my second visiting to University of Tsukuba from January to March of 2020, during which we worked together with Maruyama-san, an agriculture expert from Institute of Agro-Environmental Sciences, to incorporate the shallow paddy water layer for improving the performance of Noah-MP-Crop over rice fields. For now, we've been focusing on the field-scale simulations and the ultimate goal in future is to enhance the regional-scale model performance over flooded rice paddies in Asian countries by WRF/Noah-MP-Crop.

It's a great opportunity for me to work in the Kusaka's lab, and I am deeply impressed by and do benefit a lot from great supercomputers, efficient data obtaining and helpful experience sharing there. The Kusaka's group is a professional, creative and energetic team, and the members are very skillful in exploring urban climate issues by numerical modeling. They also developed their own large eddy simulation tool for further investigation on urban climate at the neighborhood scale. Prof. Kusaka, the group leader, is a well-known expert in urban climatology, local winds, numerical modeling and climate downscaling. He developed the WRF single-layer urban canopy model (SLUCM) and achieved the Helmut E. Landsberg Award in 2021, which recognizes an individual or team for exemplary contributions to the fields of urban meteorology, climatology or hydrology. Most importantly, all group members are very friendly and happy to help if you have any problem. You'll learn a lot from Prof. Kusaka and his team in urban climatology and numerical modeling if studying here.

In addition, Tsukuba is a quiet and nice place to live and work, where you can focus on your study and meanwhile, experience a lot of delicious Japanese food and Japanese culture. Also, it's very convenient to travel to Tokyo and other places from Tsukuba. I feel very lucky and greatly honored to be invited to visit the Kusaka's lab, and thank you so much, Prof. Kusaka!

If you are interested in urban climatology and numerical modeling and considering to study at University of Tsukuba, join the Kusaka's lab!

Angela Monina Ticobay Magnaye 

During my days as a researcher in Manila Observatory, my former boss suggested that I apply for a PhD in the University of Tsukuba and send an email to Kusaka-sensei. After months of preparation, I was able to start in April 2022 remotely and arrive in Tsukuba around July due to restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, I was able to learn new things about the WRF model and improve my skills as I did my research through Kusaka-sensei’s guidance on the impact urbanization of Metro Manila during extreme heat events. The laboratory environment was also very helpful and organized, thanks to the senpai-kouhai culture.

I had the opportunity to attend international conferences and trainings as part of the laboratory. I kept my connections with my former work especially in CORDEX-Southeast Asia and I also visited Tokyo, Sapporo and Kyoto with students from Kusaka-lab and met other professors and students from other laboratories in Japan. Here I learned from Kusaka-sensei that collaboration has an important role in conducting research.

Life on campus was very relaxed and peaceful. I attended classes together with my best buddy Sharifah-san, Lingbo-san and Thisara-san. I also met other international students in the university through clubs, and being part of the Filipino group in Tsukuba made me feel at home away from home for 3 years.

On a personal level, Tsukuba changed my life and I found lifelong friends from different countries and cultures. I was able to travel a lot around Japan, and I experienced four seasons with an exciting adventure to look forward to. I also met my husband because of my studies in Tsukuba. Thank you Kusaka-sensei for all of your advice and support, for letting me grow in and outside the laboratory, and for always making me feel at home.

SHARIFAH FARIDAH BINTI SYED MAHBAR 

I came to Tsukuba after receiving a postgraduate scholarship from the Government of Malaysia for public service officers. Before starting my PhD, I had worked in government for over 15 years. I chose Japan because it’s not too far from home — just about an 8-hour flight, and the University of Tsukuba because Tsukuba is known as the Science City of Japan, offering a strong academic and research environment. I also liked that it’s outside of Tokyo, making it a more comfortable and affordable place to live with my family of four, yet still close enough to enjoy the city when we wanted to.

To be honest, I had never met Kusaka-sensei before applying. I came across his profile while browsing potential supervisors whose expertise aligned with my interest in urban climate and extreme weather. What convinced me was a simple yet powerful line in his bio that mentioned he loves to teach. That resonated with me, because I came here to learn. While many professors focused only on technical expertise, Kusaka-sensei stood out with his dedication to both research and student development. His work in urban climate studies and WRF-UCM modelling also matched perfectly with my research goals.

Being part of Kusaka Lab has been an enriching experience. The lab members are supportive, respectful, and always willing to help. Even those who are a bit shy never hesitated to offer assistance, whether in research or daily life. The lab also provides access to excellent facilities, including high-performance computing (HPC), which is crucial for running high-resolution simulations using models like WRF-UCM. With the right support and tools, my PhD journey became more manageable and smoother despite the usual ups and downs.

Beyond research, I actively joined sports activities such as badminton, volleyball, and basketball. I had the chance to participate in several open tournaments organised by the university’s sports committee. These events were a great way to stay active and meet other international students.

My experience at Tsukuba has been both academically and personally fulfilling. Kusaka Lab became more than just a research group — it became a second home. If you’re considering the University of Tsukuba, especially Kusaka’s group, don’t hesitate! I’m glad I chose Kusaka Lab, and I’m sure you will be too.