Located in the center of Nagano Prefecture, Lake Suwa is the largest lake in the prefecture with an area of approximately 13 square kilometers (5 square miles). It is an important water body that is used in many ways for industry, tourism, and agriculture in the surrounding area, and local residents are highly concerned about the quality of the water. In the middle of Lake Suwa, there are T&D loggers that log data for the monitoring of water quality. Curious about the conditions under which the measurements are being made, we requested an interview with the project team that is conducting the water quality survey of Lake Suwa. Date December 19, 2023 Place Suwa City, Nagano Prefecture Models in Use RTR500BM, RTR505BL Purpose To monitor environmental conditions of Lake Suwa The “Lake Suwa Water Quality Observation Project” is an industry-academia-government collaboration to contribute to environmental conservation by observing the water quality of Lake Suwa in real time. The project aims to visualize the water quality of Lake Suwa using IoT, and to predict the future environment through continuous data collection and analysis. In the project, two water quality monitoring devices installed in Lake Suwa are continuing fixed-point observations, and our

Many people know “Ondotori” as a data logger for recording “temperature” from its name which includes the word “ondo” or temperature in Japanese. In Japan, our data loggers are often referred to as “Ondotori”. “Ondo” here is Japanese for “temperature” and “tori” expresses a “thing that takes”, so a “thing that takes temperature”. But the name “Ondotori” when using different Japanese characters means to take a leadership role. The name reflects our wish to take a leadership role in the world of data loggers. Although not as well known as our temperature loggers, there are several models in the Ondotori-Series that can measure and record data other than temperature. Using a wide variety of sensors, these models measure and record voltage, current (4-20mA), and pulse signals. They can record these values as noise (dB), wind speed (m/s), rainfall (mm), etc…. Furthermore the measurements can be recorded and saved to the cloud for easy monitoring of these values; making them useful across various industries. In this issue, we would like to introduce a case in which our data loggers are being used for measuring more than just temperature. We visited Kankyo Gijyutsu Center Co., Ltd. in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture, and

What is your favorite ice cream? Is it the one that you always pick up at the supermarket or convenience store? Is it the soft serve you find when taking a trip to somewhere new? Or is it the one you eat under the blue skies on a clear day at the beach? Regardless of the place or brand, there are times when just eating ice cream is enough to soothe you and bring happiness! For anyone visiting Nagano Prefecture, we highly recommend stopping by MDI (Mount Desert Island) Ice Cream. It may well change the ranking of your favorites. MDI ICE CREAM (MDI) was established in Maine, U.S.A. in 2005, and now has three stores in the U.S. and two in Japan. With the motto “making the ice cream we ourselves want to eat,” this brand creates unique ice cream flavors made from scratch with only real ingredients. The first shop in Japan opened in the fall of 2019 on Nawate-dori in Matsumoto City, Nagano, and since then it has been wooing customers every day with their unique artisanal ice cream. In April 2022, they opened their second shop and enlarged production facility in the Azumino area of Nagano,

Gdansk in Poland was one of the first cities invaded on September 1, 1939, when World War II began. We recently visited this town to speak with representatives of Conservation Department of the National Maritime Museum in Gdansk about how and why they use T&D products. Gdansk is a port city with a population of about 500,000 located on the Baltic Sea coast and is said to be one of the most beautiful cities in Poland. The old town is filled with Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque buildings, and in the center of town is one of the world’s largest brick churches St. Mary’s Church. One alleyway leads to a small street called Amber Street, which is lined with small stores on both sides of the cobblestone street, selling high-quality amber goods and accessories. In addition, along the Motlawa Canal (Stara Motlawa), with its iconic views of the city, there are buildings of great historical value. Many of these have been turned into fashionable cafes and restaurants, and are now crowded with people until late at night. It may be hard to imagine from such a beautiful townscape, but we were told that most of the buildings were actually destroyed during

From May 9 to 11, we participated in the SENSOR+TEST 2023 exhibition held in Nuremberg, Germany. Although we had participated at SENSOR+TEST for many years, due to the Covid Pandemic, this was the first time in 4 years! Dates May 9 – 11, 2023 Exhibition Name SENSOR+TEST 2023 As the name suggests, SENSOR+TEST is a large-scale exhibition of sensor elements, testing equipment, and new sensor technologies, attracting companies from all over not only Europe but from around the world. Nuremberg, the host city, is the second largest city in the state of Bavaria in southern Germany. The old city is surrounded by a 5 km-long wall and retains a strong medieval atmosphere! In fact, however, nearly 90% of the town was destroyed during World War II, and everything you can see today, from the castle and churches to the brick streets and cobblestone slopes, was, after the war, restored to its original appearance. Our booth was visited by many people from various countries and regions such as the Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, and Switzerland, as well as local German customers. We were visited by people looking for loggers to use in-house, by system integrators wanting loggers for developing and selling

Tsunagi Onsen is located on the banks of Lake Gosho in the western part of Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture. At the far end of the hot spring is a quintessential Japanese style onsen ryokan called “Tsunagi Onsen Shikitei”. We visited Shikitei to learn more about their use of our wireless data logging system to help in managing the hot spring water temperature. Date July 2019 Place Tsunagi Onsen Shikitei (Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture) Models in Use RTR-500AW, RTR-502 Purpose Temperature management of hot spring water for onsen baths We interviewed the president, Mr. Mase, and Mr. Ito, the front desk clerk, in the lobby of “Tsunagi Onsen Shikitei”. Q: Were you measuring the temperature of the hot spring water before you installed our data logging system? President Mase: Yes, we measured and checked the temperature of the bath at regular intervals. We used a simple stick thermometer and put it in the bath to measure the temperature. Of course, with a thermometer like that you can only get the temperature at that point in time, right? T&D loggers show the progress of the measurement on a graph, so it’s completely different. Shikitei uses the wireless RTR-500 Series. For the remote

The man who knows the most about food distribution in Japan emphasizes the importance of temperature control for the safe distribution of fresh, delicious fish at a low price. This time I interviewed Mr. Ryohei Nomoto, President of Haneda Ichiba Co., Ltd. who is the driving force behind a system that distributes fish caught in the countryside to the Tokyo metropolitan area with the same freshness as the source.

The Shibuya area of Tokyo, is a well known bustling area lined with all types of shops, restaurants and bars where the younger crowd walks the streets, but deep within this area is an area known as “Oku-Shibuya”. In this area, away from the hustle and bustle of the busy shopping district, there is a cheese shop that produces and sells freshly made mozzarella and other cheeses. It is called “& CHEESE STAND”. The impetus for this interview came from a tweet on Twitter by the company’s president, Mr. Shinji Fujikawa. We noticed that “Ondotori” were being used during the cheese production process to check and manage temperature. We immediately called them for an interview, and they agreed to talk with us, which led to this installment of Ondotori-ism. Actually they have 3 shops: the “SHIBUYA CHEESE STAND” and “& CHEESE STAND” in the Shibuya Ward and the “CHEESE STAND LAB.” in the Setagaya Ward. This time we visited the “& CHEESE STAND”, a small production space and shop in Tomigaya, Shibuya Ward, not far from Yoyogi Park, to talk with them. Date April 19, 2022 Place & CHEESE STAND Models in Use TR-71wb Purpose Temperature management during the cheese

The Obaku sect is one of Japan’s three major Zen Buddhism sects with its head temple Manpuku-ji located in Uji City, Kyoto. Manpuku-ji was founded about 350 years ago. The main building survived a number of natural disasters and the ravages of war remaining as was founded and has been designated as an important national cultural property. The temple also houses several treasured articles which have been designated as important cultural assets as well. We heard that our data loggers were being used in their “Bunkaden” building where these treasures are stored and exhibited, so we took a trip to Uji to find out more about how they are using our loggers. We spoke with Mr. Nobutaka Hisatsune, the main priest at Manpuku-ji. * Zen is a type of Buddhism which stresses the use of meditation as a way of training and finding enlightenment. Date: February 28, 2019 Place: Obaku Manpuku-ji Temple (Uji City, Kyoto) Models in Use: RTR-500NW, RTR-503, RTR-574-H Purpose: Managing temperature, humidity and illuminance of treasured property Q: First of all, could you give us a short introduction to Obaku Manpuku-ji Temple (from here Manpuku-ji)? Mr. Hisatsune: Of course. Manpuku-ji was founded about 350 years ago in