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graduate on time, but in the United States they
leave you to your own resources and you can take
as long as you want.
SK: Probably, Todai has two aspects with different
goals: graduation and research. To graduate,
people actively help you in order to prevent failure.
For research, they provide a good environment, but
it depends on each individual whether he or she
can enjoy this advantage or not.
* 3 Senpai means more experienced seniors, and kohai
means juniors. Senpai often play the role of mentor to
kohai.
F: Do you have any advice or recommendations
to newcomers? Looking back over your time at
Todai, if there were one thing you could change
or “do-over” what would it be?
Messages to
Newcomers
PS: My recommendation to newcomers is to be
prepared. They do not need to be perfect in Japanese,
but they need to be very determined.
MDS: The most important thing for newcomers
to our graduate school is that they are very determined
to study Japanese when they come here. It is
vital that they accept new ways of doing things. If
they want to come and study here, they need to be
open-minded.
JW: Here in Japan, the research work is totally up to
you. The laboratory provides you with the information,
equipment, and material that you need, but
whether you succeed depends on your own efforts.
I think the Japanese lab system or kenkyu-shitsu is
very good and it gives students a lot of support.
FCR: My recommendation for newcomers is to participate
in their labs and interact with their senpai.
This will help them. Is there anything I would like to
“do over”? I wish I had taken more took advantage
of my lab mates. At first I hesitated to talk to them
because I could not speak very good Japanese,
and I felt intimidated. For a while, I was just present
but not really ‘there’. I wish I had mingled more early
on and I encourage students to mingle more in their
labs because it can be really helpful.
SK: It is up to the students to prioritise their needs,
and to decide how they want to spend their time,
whether they just want to enjoy themselves or
whether they want to do good research. If you want
to achieve good results in your research, the environment
is well prepared here. What you have to do
is to prioritize your research and work hard.
I also recommend making acquaintances in your
research field. For me, the conference was very
helpful. Establishing links and networking at conferences
is useful at any stage of a student’s program:
Bachelors, Master’s, or Ph.D. This kind of networking
will open a gateway for other opportunities.
James Joseph
Hiroshi Fegan F
My name is James.
I am British and I work in
the University’s Division of
International Affairs as a
Project Specialist.
I graduated in 1995 from
the Faculty of Engineering
at the University of
Newcastle upon Tyne in
the UK with a Ph.D.
I have worked in various
industries as an Engineering
Manager and Project
Leader before returning to
Japan. I joined the Division
of International Affairs
only a few months ago in
December 2011.
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