Welcome to my website!

I am Katherine Develos-Bagarinao, a Filipino expat based in Tsukuba City, Japan. I came to Japan as a student in Yamagata University in 1996, and except for a brief stint in the UK as a visiting scientist (University of Cambridge, 2008-2009), I have lived in Tsukuba ever since.

I am currently a senior researcher at the Global Zero Emission Research Center of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). My main research interests include solid oxide fuel cells/electrolysis cells, solid state ionics, high-temperature superconductors, nanotechnology, and thin film technology. You may find more details about my research activities in the Research page. For a more updated list of research papers, please see my ResearchGate profile.

A full-time research scientist by day, at night I often turn to blogging as a creative outlet for my other passion, which is writing. Given the choice, I would probably end up writing any chance I get, but admittedly, my role as spouse and parent do take up a huge chunk of my time. In whatever time that’s left, I try to squeeze in writing blog entries here. I also love to travel with my family and taking photographs. You may access some of those photos in our photo album.

Life in Japan is a day-to-day adventure, and for an expat like me, it is a unique and challenging environment which lets me learn new things, forces me to adapt and respond to frequently-changing situations, and most of all, frees my mind to explore ideas. A lot of my posts dwell on Japan-related stuff, although I also frequently write about my role as a parent to my one and only daughter.

Last update: 28 June 2020