what the heeeeeeckkā¦
research can be so fun and also ā¦ people really will be on one in any field, huhā¦
omg enjoy the Terry Pratchett!! I remember devouring like every book the library had of his back in the day. makes me realize i could go back and finish em all off now probably!!
I mean, I assumed it was translated by AI but the whole plan being written by AI is kinda rough. Japan is all in on AI and we often get told in lab meetings to āask AIā when we arenāt sure about something. So far the most useful thing Iāve found is to ask how you can measure various biomarkers. However, the time it takes to verify what AI says probably takes as much time as just looking it up yourself in the first place, so maybe itās best to avoid the AI step in general.
Terry Pratchett is great because he has a bajillion books all in the same universe. When you read a book and think āwow, I really like this character/place, I want to read more about them/it.ā Terry Pratchett has got you covered. My first introduction to him was being read Wee Free Men as a child. I decided to listen to the audiobook last year and was hooked. Tiffany Aching is probably still my favorite character and I love all the witches. People online say her series and the Ankh Morpork City Watch series are the best introductions to the Discworld, so Iām working my way through that series now. Next will either be the Tiffany Aching series again or Equal Rites and the Witches series.
Un Lun Dun has a similar feel to Terry Pratchett actually, but it is a childrenās novel as well as a standalone. I really wish the author wrote a sequel or trilogy, itās such a fun universe.
i bet the Unseen University books / subplots really hit when one is employed by a universityā¦ 
Well, it is better to avoid being eaten alive xD
Honestly, that is one of the greatest compliments for presentations. My general experience with academic presentations is that the person giving them already does not understand everything they are presenting (particularly senior faculty presenting their students work) and then the audience getting even less, because noone bothers aligning their presentation to the specific audience 
And honestly, thatās sad, because we give these presentations because we want to tell others what kind of interesting things we researched and give them the opportunity to benefit from it, or give us helpful feedback! So, good on you for doing it well!
Ahhhhhh, the one thing you gotta check with AI is hallucinations
AI is great and everything, but thereās still some obvious points of failure (as an AI researcher - thereās still gigantic problems xD) - cell lines (probably with abbreviations) seem like the perfect point where a model is happy to hallucinate. Like - ahh, abbreviations follow this pattern and you would like a cell line with these properties ā sure, take this abbreviation which absolutely fits those properties
I can understand your frustration here! I donāt know, what kind of presentation that was, but I assume some kind of somewhat official meeting. In general, these kinds of scientific presentations are highly results focused, also in part, because they are meant as practice for later bigger academic talks, though in a lab setting some proportion about things going less well should be ok in my opinion. How do the presentations by other lab members look like?
This is one of the sad things about science - you generally only ever hear about the positive results, while negative results/failures are only talked about in informal settings. Can you at least talk to your mentor/supervisor about these things? Do they provide feedback? (It seems your mentor does help quite a lot, which is nice!) In my group we have like monthly meetings with my supervisor, where we just discuss the ongoing stuff, which I feel would be like the suitable setting for all things going wrong, while in my group presentation, which I have to give twice a year, I generally only talk about results that I do have.
love this xD
I hope they can find new funding, this does sound like some of the things we should really fund!
That insurance situation is crazy! How is it that bureaucracy everywhere is hell 
Ugh!! āItās such a time saving to use AIā
When you can catch it totally making stuff up and steer it on track..
..
I have a friend with a theory that those who will do the best in the next phase are those who hone AI prompting skills now
I fear the data when people donāt find the mistakes and then that solidifies as the new input that we build out future onā¦
I am stupefied that they never had submitted your paperwork, so it caused a ton more paperwork! 
Wishing you luck on getting gels that you can depend on (from cells that you can depend on)
Yeah, kit gets lovingly inherited for generations of researchers.
I did some high tech research that was well funded and started on FORTRAN and took my first data that I published on floppy disks. In 2006. I then used my research funding to get so much new kit I was the envy of every subsequent conference 
bwahaha
This can take you far donāt underestimate it!
And then I read the rest of your post which, to be honest, hurts so bad and there are so many warning signs of a lab that either has a lot of incompetence or indifference 
yikes, to answer all your questions no itās not normal, or, perhaps itās normal in some labs but itās not good and doesnāt lead to valid scientific discovery (or even degrees or jobs at the extreme end)
Let me know if you want a full on rant but maybe Iām misreading the situation so Iāll stop there
My students used to say this about my teaching English as well, but that was in big part because I was trying to teach in a language I only knew about 5000 words in. Was never much of a languages person either, so I had to explain it in a way my brain could understand. Languages people are amazing, but I am not one of them lol. My teaching style is for those who canāt remember all the parts of speech and have to go through a list of stupid questions to understand a sentence (which I saw my students using to help each other, so proud T-T).
Oh thatās so cool! Researchers unite! And yeah predicting what would be a good cell line vs what actually exists is an important distinction .
It was our standard weekly lab meeting, we go around with a lot of presentations from staff who talk about the various projects they have as well as the various updates from PhD students. Itās 1-2 staff and 2-3 student presentations every week. The reason this presentation was important is it was my debut to introduce my own research project and what I will be doing in the lab. Staff have made multiple presentations since I joined in April but student presentations seem to be less frequent, but thereās also a lot of us to get through.
Yes I can. He actually has told me multiple times to come find him MORE to ask questions XD. We donāt have a lot of formal meetings, usually just finding him in one of the various lab rooms whenever my experiments are done. His method is very āgo fast and break thingsā and therefore pro-mistakes actually. When I make mistakes he just laughs. When I tell him about my mistakes or canāt answer his questions itās like in Heated Rivalry when Shane is way too honest and people are surprised but also endeared by this. My mentor appreciates my honesty (I think), but over honesty may not be appreciated in Asia.
The weird part is they submitted my pension paperwork, but not my insurance paperwork. They were literally right next to each other though. It didnāt exactly cause extra paperwork, just one more round of filling out my name and address as well as taking my temporary insurance card to the clinic I visited about a month ago (they were VERY grateful). Probably need to fill out more paperwork when I apply for a fee reduction, but that makes sense.
To be clear, I was really surprised by all this that came up literally the day before my presentation. Both before I applied and now I donāt get the impression that this lab is a bad lab, if anything the opposite. I feel like this is more an effect of this being Asia so the research environment here hasnāt quite caught onto āpart of your duty as a researcher is to train the next generation.ā I also suspect my mentor is traumatized from his PhD which was at one of the big universities here in Japan. Me and him are the only non-Asians in the whole lab and probably the whole department, so people can look at us a little differently. Have to prove ourselves more as people in Japan have a lot of assumptions about the gaikoku and people from it. For example, at my very first visit to the lab while the professor was showing me around another researcher passed by and made a comment about me and my professor had to very sternly tell him that I speak Japanese and he should shut up. Then thereās the lab manager who goes on and on about how itās hard to train us students because we are so āun-Japanese,ā but none of the other staff seem to agree with his sentiment.
Also, to be clear, my research has been quite thorough so far and the excessive questions from other staff would be to make sure my data says what Iām saying it says. My impression is my mentor is trying to make my presentations more smooth so I can just get back to experiments without getting harassed. My mentor also does not seem to use AI, which I am grateful for. Recently a staff member got absolutely ripped apart for trusting AI too much in his research (something didnāt make sense, it was likely an AI hallucination), so there is definitely some skepticism for AI.
Sounds pretty good with your clarification, hopefully the AI research proposal getting through was an anomaly with an explanation somewhere
Itās great to have these opportunities to present your research to the other staff and get grilled, and great that your mentor will answer your questions and encourages you to seek them out more. Thatās my only advice - you win when you get out there and talk to as many of the other researchers as possible, discussing questions with each other etc. It will be embarrassing sometimes but will also bring you so much in connections and knowledge, plus itās the fun part of research to untangle mysteries with each other
141 reviews
mostly appeased the owl
lecture x2
The Fifth Elephant
Heated Rivalry
Not great days for Japanese practice, but good days for books. I got the āexpiring soonā notice on The Fifth Elephant and was only 51% of the way through so I made it my mission to listen to the rest of it (7 hours or so) before my loan expires. Despite the Wikipedia page saying this was one of the weaker stories in the series, I really liked it actually. Men at Arms is still my favorite but I think this one comes in second or third so far. After being a major character in the first book, Sybil doesnāt appear much going forward, however in this book she takes on a more main character role and you get to see the lovely relationship that her and Vimes have developed. This book features two men who are ready to burn down the world for their partners, as well as partners who are willing to and do fight for their men before any burning down happens. Terry Pratchett writes really great female characters. He makes his characters strong and independent while also keeping them feminine, because you shouldnāt have to lose your femininity to be powerful. The Fifth Elephant really is a beautiful story of love, even though it also involves kings, werewolves, and ancient bread. Still waiting on the next book so that means I have time for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks in the meantime, or Equal Rites as the waiting list on that one is short. I also find myself itching to reread Walking in Circles by Todd Wassel, which I consider to be one of the best books ever written. The perfect camping weather right now makes me desperately want to go on an adventure of some kind.
I also started reading Heated Rivalry the novel. Generally speaking I am a āthe book is always better than the movieā person, but this might actually be the first time I donāt agree. While obviously the book goes much deeper into the internal thoughts of the characters, I still feel like something is missing. Maybe itās a picture is worth a thousand words? Or that I saw the series first? Like you can read how Ilya is described but thereās nothing quite like the accent, Slavic f*ckboi uniform, and sassiness in the delivery of the lines. The book is not bad, itās just different. The best way I can describe it is Rachel Reid made the story interesting, Jacob Tierney made the story beautiful. What I will say is the series is quite faithful to the book so far, which is something I appreciate in a piece of visual media. The book also has a lot more hockey, which was something I thought was somewhat humorously lacking in the series.
It was supposed to be the weekend I take Obaachan to the vet but the clinic hours suddenly changed so they are only open on one of the weekend days and the appointment system is kinda wack. Like registration opens up and you have to register to get a spot then when itās almost your turn you go wait at the clinic. Easy in concept, but becomes very challenging when you want to plan your day because you cannot predict when your appointment will actually be. I canāt exactly do it on a work day because what if the earlier appointments go fast then I have to run home and get Obaachan, or just take the entire morning/afternoon off, which I donāt think my higher ups would be impressed by and I personally have experiments to do that take several hours. This is more doable on the weekends but the appointments filled up and were closed within four minutes. Itās like trying to get concert tickets. Like I understand why they use this system and it is good in a way, but it is very much designed for housewives. Like I donāt exactly have the time to be waiting around for an appointment for five days of the week, and if I just had a set time appointment I could leave an hour early from lab and call it good. Or, if I had a housespouse, they can just pause their chores or whatever and take Obaachan when itās appointment time. But, alas in this day and age most of us donāt have the luxury of a housespouse and have to do it all ourselves. At least I can call to pick up more medication but for an exam I have to wait until next weekend and set an alarm for the minute appointments open.
Have I ever shared my theory that one of the vets wants to flirt with me? Basically itās a young guy whose career has probably reached a point he wants plus give a couple years to get comfortable with it, then bam āhey, I want a girlfriend.ā I asked Mr. Engineer about the timing of him looking for a girlfriend and ding ding ding it was the same for him. Idk if this is an observation all people make, but at least my mom has described similar behavior. My other theory about the vets is the other vet speaks English and is just holding out on me. Like I got confused for a second about medicine instructions and she said āevery other dayā in near perfect English. Like first of all, good accent, second of all, thatās not a phrase we teach in the basic curriculum lol.
Obaachan has multiple of her own beds as well as my bed and a couch, yet recently she wants to sleep in the bag pile either on my hat or on a reusable bag 
One of my lectures was about prion diseases which lead to learning about this fantastic research and also that a sheep disease I heard about throughout my years helping raise sheep is actually a prion disease. The homework question asked why spontaneous cases are recognized in humans but not in animals, so I put on my farmer hat and wrote out my explanation. The answer is simple: unless multiple animals are dying, farmers sure as heck arenāt contacting a research laboratory. Thereās also the quote from my neighbor of āif youāve got livestock youāve got dead stock,ā referring to the fact that it isnāt uncommon for animals to just die for unknown reasons. To those who donāt live on farms, such as most people in research laboratories, this may not be well understood. These days Iāve taken on a ātraumatize them backā approach to my homework assignments and wrote about the solutions my family used for animals that died randomly, which involve either digging a hole or feeding to other animals. I also highlighted the lack of education farmers have about these diseases, because yeah I knew that Scrapie was a disease but I didnāt know the symptoms and thought you avoided it by not letting your sheep near other peopleās sheep. I even learned about prion diseases during this timeframe, since I was a high school student on the STEM track. Yet, that lecture was my first time truly understanding what the disease was. Whatās even funnier is the professor who gave that lecture is actually in my lab and sits behind me, so one day in a couple weeks he is going to be reading the homework assignment thinking āwtf is this very detailed report about how farmers deal with dead animalsā then realizing the name at the top is the person who sits behind him lol
I read it on the plane over here when moving to Japan a few years ago, great book. It opened my eyes up to Shikoku, and Iāve been once now, but doing full pilgrimage is still right near the top of my bucket list as a result
Literally one of my biggest (irrational) fears. Like I will look up if there are prion diseases in a region before I can commit to moving there. 
Hmmm, how to start this? 
A while ago (I think back in March), Malinkal was talking about moving into a new apartment on their study log and I was interested in the experience and kept asking questions. At some point, the amazing Bidoof told me that I should check your log (post number 200 something), since youāre also going through a similar process and youāre documenting everything (plus the lovely rants 
). I put a pin on it and wanted to do so for a while. However, upon checking your log, I didnāt think it would be fair to check only that post/comment. Hence, I embarked on the journey/challenge to read your whole study log (maybe because I thought it was around 300 or so posts when I started it and thought of it as a nice idea and definitely not because I wanted to check the journey 
). Boy, oh boy was I glad I made that decision back then.
I finished reading the whole study log (and I mean it) two weeks ago (I apologize for all the notifications), but didnāt get the chance to write this post until now.
After finding the time and gathering the courage to write this post, I have to say that I enjoyed reading your study log a lot Your rants and the way you document everything from an interesting perspective are fascinating Some of the rants just made me laugh out loud
I have nothing but respect for you and I mean that Itās not easy to travel to a new country (or move there) and to learn a new language (that is totally different and has nothing to do with your mother tongue) and to live there and go through everything you went through while trying to do everything you can in Japanese This journey you had is a huge inspiration and you deserve rounds and rounds of applause 
I believe I can relate to many things you went through and/or you discussed here and I find the way you approach them and rant about them amazing. Your adventures back at the settlement, your adventures with your adopted cat/cats, your adventures with Mr. Engineer (and the names you pick for different people), your experiences at the school (especially that annoying teacher. I wish she and my colleague would just disappear with the snap of Thanosā fingers), the hunt for a new apartment, the hunt for scholarship, trying to figure out how the university work there, the insane amount of bureaucracy (somehow both Japan and Germany seem to still live in the stone age), your wish and desire to write a book about your adventures, your rants about how stupid some things are, your experience with research and you being the kind person the world deserves more of, are all amazing
Thank you for writing everything in your study log A really big thank you
Regarding old computer systems, we had computers back then (about 6~10 years ago) using Windows XP (and Iām sure they still are). The problem is that some equipment has specific programs and those programs donāt support an operating system higher or more advanced than Windows XP and those companies wouldnāt bother with developing a newer version (mostly because the programming would just chatter if itās to be created for a new operating system or maybe because the programmer doesnāt work there anymore and no one has any idea about how the code works) and if they offer an update, they would offer that at a higher price and universities being what they are (with the limited funding they have) donāt favor such expenses. Iām pretty sure there are other reasons, but those are the ones Iām aware of.
The insight you provided on how the research was handled back then in the US was fascinating. Unfortunately, research is handled a bit differently in Europe and thatās just a tragedy. Over here (Iām pretty sure it got worse after covid and everything), you would be going around knocking on doors like a homeless person (thereās another term, but itās not as friendly) begging for money or funds because everyone wants some and their whole research life/situation depends on it. The professor you have plays a crucial role, too. Generally there are three types of professors:
Thereās a fourth type (which combines the bad features of the first two types), but those donāt usually survive much in academia.
I find what your old mentor taught you and how they supervised you amazing. Such people arenāt encountered that much in academia. Such people would be a very good example of what an academic researcher should be, per se.
My āshortā experience with academia isnāt the friendliest nor most wholesome, but having someone you can really rely on when it comes to answering questions and supporting you is really wonderful. In the āwild wild westā version of academia, every person is for themself out there and the professor is a god who canāt and shouldnāt be questioned at all and if you have a question, then good luck with that.
I apologize for the big rant and offer you a Sakura as an apology 
The other thing that I found fascinating is the flirting attempts you came and still come across Is that normal in Japan? and does it usually work the other way around, too? (meaning do japanese females try to flirt with foreign/japanese males, per se?) I really find interesting, because usually people would run away from me when they see me walking on the street, so itāll be interesting how that would be in Japan
Once again, thank you very much for everything you wrote in your study logs and I apologize for the long post
How do you plan to do it? Like on foot, bicycle, tour?
I actually did the first 23 temples by car back in summer 2024. I drove all the way to Tokushima, people were doing a double take when they saw the Niigata plates on my car lol. It was one hell of an adventure. Unfortunately I did not feel well received by the people of Shikoku, but that is the opposite of what I heard from everyone else so maybe itās a me problem. Perhaps people are tired of tourists doing the pilgrimage or not doing it āthe right wayā? The book is a good example of the Japan I live in, so I prefer to point people to that instead of the megacity of Tokyo which most people imagine when they think of Japan. Not sure I will ever complete the rest of the pilgrimage, but maybe someday if it works out.
They are creepy arenāt they . The first time I learned about them I was horrified. What I didnāt like about the lecture is I found out prions are a rather zoonotic disease. Like great thanks, I totally spent my whole childhood playing in animal barns. However, generally speaking as long as you arenāt eating brains it should be fine.
First of all, Iām glad you like my study log!
I did the same thing last summer with Bidoofās study log. Somehow I ended up reading hundreds of the posts while bored at work over the course of several weeks or months until I caught up.
When I moved here I already had 3 years of Japanese classes and two study abroads under my belt, so I wasnāt starting from zero, but that first year nearly broke me. Probably did break me honestly, donāt think Iāll ever be the same person I was before, in both bad and good ways. Somewhat related but back then I spent a lot of time hanging out with Obaachan the cat and called her my best friend in Japan. This is part of the reason feel like itās my duty to take care of her in her old age.
Yeah this is definitely 100% the reason, plus the equipment is often so expensive labs will use equipment until it completely fails. Probably the most janky computer set up Iāve ever seen is the computer I use for imaging which has two big steaks across it from broken pixels and is literally taped to the wall with a sign that says ādo not closeā .
My professor is the mad scientist type. Like heās a little crazy but I trust him. He treats us well and hires good people, which apparently results in lots of papers. If I heard around the lab correctly, we are already on our third publication of the year.
Almost everyone I know who went to grad school hated it lol. Definitely heard a lot of horror stories. I specifically picked this lab because it looked like the best working conditions. So far that seems to be working out well. I donāt actually meet with the PI that much, but interestingly the staff member assigned to mentor me wants me to ask more questions. Literally told me I need to interrupt him no matter what he is doing. Donāt think Iāve ever gotten in trouble for NOT interrupting someone before XD.
Thatās a complicated one . Essentially it boils down to my definition of flirting, Japanese peopleās limited interactions with foreigners, the entertainer roll of boys in society, possibly my style of speaking, and my own interest in the inner workings of the male brain.
It is normal for 16 year olds to aggressively flirt with you? Yes lol. Outside of that, not exactly. Japanese people in general are quite shy but boys are seen as entertainers so a certain subset of boys are very aggressively friendly and will do anything to get attention/a laugh. A lot of what I describe as flirting isnāt actual flirting, more just taking an interest in me. Many people in Japan do not even consider dating a foreigner but can have the light bulb moment of āoh, foreign girls(or boys or people) are hot/fun I should study English.ā Like what I call flirting from the vet is his unnecessary talking, like talking beyond just the clinical and customer service, which is very rare in Japan (like I told him I started grad school recently and he said he wants to go back to grad school). With the youngsters they more just seem overwhelmed by my presence and manage that by overeager service. My way of speaking Japanese is rather charming (a mix of very polite, struggling, and cracking jokes) which probably comes across as a bit flirty, hence getting myself into these situations more. Itās fun to make people laugh or get flustered. That said, plenty of people run away from me too hahaha.
Essentially, outside the aggressively flirty high school boys, the reason I encounter a lot of flirting is because of my own perspective. Basically I interpret people taking an interest in me as flirting and realize I may be part of the stepping stone path to guys deciding they should study English more seriously* lol. Like Iāve never been nanpa-ed in the street and have definitely had to be the one to ask out Japanese dudes because they are just too shy. Less familiar with how Japanese girls flirt, but in my rather limited experience they are just really friendly and touchy? Like grabbing my hands or touching my hair. From what I have heard from my guy friends it can be challenging to date Japanese girls, but it all depends on the person I think.
*Notes about this: In the English classroom, girls massively outperform boys on average. A boy who speaks English decently without obvious career implications, whether they admit it to you/themselves or not, probably took it seriously in part because they think foreigners are hot. Interactions with foreigners in real life reinforces that and why English might be useful.
Anyhow, glad you enjoy the study log! Iāll probably keep writing random stuff, hopefully can get my Japanese study back up too.
LoLoL
Spoken like a child of the zombie entertainment generation
And, yetā¦ Itās true (at least as far as jumping species) ā¦
I did that too last year and what a journey you can go on while reading a study log (I currently have 3 more study logs that Iām working my way through, slowly but steadily ).
Even with preparation, itās still not an easy feat
The first year is always the hardest and yeah, the change that happens due to that is something
I feel such experiences are important in some way, but maybe without having to live through the hardships. Itās ok to know about them and understand them fully, but being the person living through them ā¦ is something else
Those equipment really live the real life, donāt they?
I remember we had a computer that wasnāt allowed to be shut down, because it might not boot again They had it secured with 2 UPSs so that it doesnāt lose power (with a similar sign warning against shutting it down ).
Another thing I remember is when my mentor needed to buy some equipment, she had to search through the whole web to find at least three different offers and to write some kind of a āthesisā to explain why each one would be the best (the different factors like price and other stuff) and hope that the person who authorizes such purchases would be kind enough to accept one of them, because theyāre usually sent back due to them not being satisfied with what they read
Iām glad that you have such a professor Thatās a good number for publications so far
Iād advise you then to try and learn as much as you can from him This is a real gem
Iām really happy for you and hope you never have to experience the horror stories 
I appreciate you taking the time to answer that question in both versions I really like both versions of the answer and appreciate the insight provided in the longer one
The explanation provided in the longer version reminded me of the meme where if a girl is nice towards a guy, the guy would get lost between whether sheās just nice to him or sheās flirting with him Itās perceived as a meme, but I can tell you for sure that itās a real struggle because itās not easy to know which is which and you donāt know what to base your actions/thoughts/opinions on This might be worse than the friendzone jail
The longer version also reminded me that we base a lot of things, logically, on how we perceive them, but rather more on how we think we perceived them and try to act upon our understanding/definition of what we perceived The brain is really a wild place
Itās also interesting to see how things work the other way around and I appreciate again the insight you provided
Thank you again for that
Itās not easy to balance everything out, but Iām confident youāll find a way Hereās a Sakura to help you out and eve more
