Raden Harya Dananjaya Hesti Indrabaskara, 2nd year PhD student, Research Center for Landslide Disaster Risk Cognition and Reduction, Disaster Prevention Research Institute

Date of Interview: July, 2025

Before Coming to Kyoto University
This is my second time living in Japan. Several years ago, I pursued my master's degree in Civil Engineering in Japan. My major is geotechnical engineering. At that time, we had an Indonesian traditional music group, and many members of the Japanese communities, such as elementary school, elder care facility staff, etc., invited us to attend their events, such as mochi-tsuki matsuri (mochi-making festival), natsu-matsuri (summer festival), and a run event in elementary school, etc., to perform our traditional music group or just to participate. I have enjoyed my life during my 2.5 years of stay in Japan. However, good memories about Japan ended after I graduated and returned to my home country to work as a researcher at Universitas Sebelas Maret in Indonesia. During my work, I developed a passion for disaster mitigation, especially in landslide prediction and mitigation. Years fly, my university asked me to pursue my Doctoral degree, and here I am in the Graduate School of Science at Kyoto University to expand my knowledge and to make other good memories in Japan.

Life at Kyoto University
After several years of leaving Japan, many things have changed, but good old memories still remain. In Kyoto, I lived in the outskirts of Kyoto city, around 3 km from Uji Campus. Here we have a balanced vibe, not overly crowded, but not deserted either. Every year, at least twice, we can disseminate our research, and thus we can travel around Japan to embrace Japan’s beauty. Sometimes our professors asked us to accompany them to visit a landslide area in a remote area, such as in Tokushima. Those are good moments to learn directly from the field and see Japan’s natural beauty. During my study, I also tried to find support funding to attend an overseas workshop to sharpen my knowledge. Thanks to the reputation of Kyoto University, I have found some sponsors, such as the Association for Computing Machinery and Riken, to support my overseas travel to attend overseas workshops, such as workshops in Singapore last March and in Lisbon next July. My off-campus life is also enjoyable. Besides spending the weekend roaming around Kyoto, I also attended several cultural events to embrace Japanese culture, such as a Japanese Calligraphy (shodo) class, a traditional Japanese fan-making class, a tatami-making class, etc. Thus, we have a balance between on and off-campus life.

-What were the biggest challenges you met?
Although this is my second time in Japan, the language barrier remains challenging. Thankfully, nowadays we have Google Translate that can translate many sentences in Kanji. However, I need to learn basic Japanese as well to communicate with the Japanese and embrace their culture. My other challenge is to try to think of a problem from a natural science perspective instead of an engineering perspective. Due to my engineering background, I used to think of any problem, including my research, from an engineering perspective. In the early months of my doctoral course, my professor continuously asked me: “What is the contribution of your research to the natural sciences? You should not think from an engineering perspective!” Those questions used to frustrate me in the early months of my doctoral course. However, as time passed by, I gradually learned how to think in a natural science perspective instead of engineering.

-What did you work on to overcome the challenges?
To overcome the language barriers, of course I use Google Translate 😊 However, I also try to learned Japanese to increase my skill in Japanese. To overcome the natural science thinking challenge, I have to read many papers from reputable journals. After getting used to reading many natural science articles, I gradually developed the ability to think like a natural scientist. The other method I used is to actively discuss with my professor. Thus, we can know the way our professor thinks about the problems.

-How smooth was your experience adjusting to life in Kyoto?
I did not experience culture shock during my life in Kyoto, because it is s my second time in Japan. In the first week of my stay in Kyoto, it was a little hard because my mobility to roam around Kyoto was limited. However, after I bought a bicycle, everything worked well like a charm. If I am tired of my research or my research isn’t going as expected, I run my bicycle and go to the Uji River bridge, and spend my twilight time to embrace the beauty of the river. Or sometimes, I am going to go to the hill around the campus and breathe the fresh mountain air. Those are like therapy to freshen my mind after getting tired of my research.

-Research at Kyoto University
At Kyoto University, I belong to the Landslide Disaster Cognition and Reduction Research Center. My focus is to investigate the behavior of a landslide dam during failure from a geotechnical and hydraulics perspective. My supervisor asked me to use a geotechnical centrifuge to mimic the landslide dam failure event. The problem is, in Indonesia, we don’t have such an apparatus. Thus, I need to read a lot of scientific papers about geotechnical centrifuges before I can utilize them. And in my early experimental tests, he showed me how to use a geotechnical centrifuge, which helped me a lot. This is valuable knowledge that I gained during my study. Due to the sample box weighing more than 100 kg, and I have to conduct the test alone, the tests not only develop my knowledge about landslide, but also develop my muscles 😊

What do you hope to do after graduating from Kyoto University?
After graduating, I hope I can apply my knowledge to mitigate landslides in Indonesia. I will continue my research at my university, which sent me to Kyoto University. And I hope I can still have a research collaboration with my professor and colleagues at Kyoto University.

Message for Future International Students
If you are a resilient and hard-working student or researcher, but still want to make good memories, looking for high academic quality, a good experience on and off campus, Kyoto University is the right decision for you. Here we can receive a high-quality academic life and research, while embracing Japanese cultural and natural beauty. After arriving in Kyoto, don’t forget to buy a bicycle to roam around Kyoto to see the beauty of Kyoto and make unforgettable memories.