Campus Life

D1

I am Temuge Batpurev and I have been a member of Kishimoto Lab for about 3 years now. Living in Osaka can be challenging at times. For newcomers, there are many things that they have to do. For example renting an apartment, buying furniture, registering yourself to the city office etc. But with the help of the Kishimoto lab staff, especially our secretary, these are all relatively quickly taken care of. Communication with the staff is relatively easy since everyone is located on the same floor and everyone speaks English. I do recommend people to take the elective Japanese classes so that they are able to communicate simple things with people outside the lab. This helps quite a lot.

Osaka university has many foreign students and opportunity to make new friends is plenty. There are many parties and events throughout the year to meet new people. I heard that there are over 3,000 foreign students studying at Osaka university so that you can almost always find someone else from your country. The campus itself is quite friendly to foreign students in the sense that everything has English and Japanese descriptions. The cafeterias and libraries all have their menus and catalogs in English and therefore it is very convenient. However the university does not allow students to use the university gym. This has always mystified me because why would a university bar students from engaging in physical exercise. So if you're planning on some exercise, prepare to pay a lot for a gym outside the campus.

Outside of the campus, there are many shops and restaurants. Osaka is a big city and you can find any kind of shops or restaurants. If you need to have a drink, there are many bars just outside the campus. There are also many convenience stores around the campus. A new convenience store opened just next to our lab building. So in this respect, campus life is quite relaxed and easy. In fact, if you live near the campus, you don't even need a bicycle. For me personally, campus life has been relaxed and I have had the opportunity to make many new friends.

D1

Masoumeh　Shokati

I came to Osaka University in October 2015. As a new comer, I need to do many things such as get the residence card, open a bank account, find an apartment and so on. Fortunately, both staffs and students in the Kishimoto group helped me a lot. I got huge mount of help to manage those things. I really appreciate them. For the communication with members of Kishimoto Group as a foreign student, there is no problem to speak English, most of them particularly the staffs can speak English well.

We, International students, have special discussion with Professor Kishimoto, usually 30 minutes every week. We discuss our progress on study and research work and sometimes talk about daily life. Professor Kishimoto always discusses patiently and obtains useful suggestions on solving problems.

He lets us find the way by ourselves instead of giving a direct answer. That kind of discussion plays a significant role on improving ourselves in different fields such as research, life and so on. I have learned a lot of things from him not only how to do the research but also how to be an independent person and face difficulties in life and overcome it. I am very glad to study in this friendly research environment where atmosphere is very nice and comfortable.

D3

Research environment at Kishimoto Laboratory,
Osaka University

I am Van Thi Thu Trang, from Vietnam. I have studied in Kishimoto Laboratory for 2.5 years. I am very happy to study in a good and friendly research environment. Every student has a desktop in lab. Atmosphere is very comfortable and friendly. Staffs are enthusiastic in explanation for students. Students can discuss their results and research problems in the research group meeting every week. Specially, although Professor Kishimoto is quite busy, he spends around 30 minutes meeting for each international student on very Thursday morning. Instead of giving directly answer of problem, he asks us questions in order to understand issue and solve problem ourselves as well as know what to do next. In the beginning time, pressure of research made me usually depress. His commitment and patience help me learn the way to face difficulties and overcome it.

Besides seconds of research, we can enjoy lab events, for instance welcome party for new students, new year party, year-end party, seminar trip, etc,…

I am enjoying research and life in Osaka. After 2.5 years, I have learned a lot thing not only in research but also in life, and special thing is that difficulty is unavoidable, let’s keep calm to think and find the exit way.

D1

Happy time in Kishimoto Group

My name is WANG Wei. I am from China. I came to Osaka University in April, the Sakura season in 2010. It was my first time to be abroad. There were two graduate students from Kishimoto Group picked me up in Kansai Airport. They took me to Toyonaka campus and showed me around in the campus. I got a very deep expression by the amazing beautiful view of this city and this university. 

There were so many things that need to do for a new comer from a foreign country, such as get the residence card, open a bank account, buy a cell phone, find an apartment, register essential courses…Fortunately, both staffs and students in this group are very friendly and warmhearted. I got huge mount of help to manage those things. I could not imagine how my life would be like if without those really appreciated help.

Now, I am a first year student for doctor course. Almost three years have been past since the first time I came here. I am very enjoying my study and research in Kishimoto Group, and also the very interesting and happy time for my everyday life in Japan.   For international students, all of us will have special discussion with Professor Kishimoto, usually 30 minutes for each student on Monday morning. We will discuss the progress on our study and research work and even some topics about everyday life. Professor Kishimoto always discusses very patiently and provides useful clue and suggestions on solving problems. He asks us to find the way by ourselves instead of offering direct answer. That kind of discussion is very important for me to improve myself. I have learned quite a lot not only on how to do physics research but also how to be a nice human being in the world. Besides that discussion, we have group meeting on research every week. It was quite hard for me at the beginning since everybody spoke Japanese and always reported some very detail on experiment. However, I didn't give up and caught up it in about half year. 

For the communication with members of Kishimoto Group as a foreigner, there is no problem to speak with English since most of them especially the staffs can speak English very well. And even interesting for sometime that there is no barrier that I speak English and my friends speak Japanese.

I tried to get TA works that teach some basic experiments for Japanese undergraduate students two years ago. I didn't do it well at the beginning since I had no experience and my Japanese wasn't good. Fortunately, the professor was patiently and a very warmhearted Japanese TA helped me a lot. And now there is no problem for me to take TA for a class with 40 students. I deeply believe that everything is hard for beginning, and will get though if you never give up.

Two very big things happened during the past three years. One is the earthquake and tsunami and nuclear power plant accident in March 2011; another is the rigorous relationship between China and Japan in September 2012. And I was going to finishing my holiday in China for both times, coincidently. Almost all of my families and friends very worried about the situation and asked me to stay for longer time. Because they didn`t have good ways to know the real situation and had biases about Japan and Japanese people. I tried my best to explain how friendly and enlightened of Japanese people and told them many stories that I saw and heard in Japan. Finally, I convinced most of them. I know that more works are needed, and I will keep doing to let more Chinese know the real Japan.

M2

The study experience at Kishimoto Laboratory,
Osaka University

The research environment in the laboratory is very productive and independent. Master and PhD students are working closely together with the academic staff for every progress of the experiments. We have meetings with research supervisor and experimental group in a weekly basis, hence students can discuss and report their results and problems efficiently. The research project that I am currently involved is the development of a new HPGe detector at Kamioka Underground Observatory with CANDLES Collaboration. Beside studying and doing research at campus, students in our laboratory will need to travel to experimental sites occasionally, for instance CANDLES in Kamioka and J-PARC at Ibaraki. There are many opportunities to attend international conferences, workshops, seminars and the Physical Society of Japan Annual Meetings to gain new insight for the frontier research in Physics.

I have entered Osaka University as the International Physics Course (IPC) master student. For IPC master course, all of the physics courses are conducted in English with a small group of international students. Due to the benefit of small classes, the lecturers are able to take care of all the student's questions and specific interests. Each of the IPC students belongs to different research group, therefore we could exchange our major studies in various field of physics easily. Besides physics courses, Osaka University also offers Japanese language course with different levels for the international student. Many students are able to understand and speak basic Japanese after one year of study. In case of students who like to experience different culture, there are many occasions to interact with Japanese students and international students from various countries. For example, English Cafe, International Exchange Courses, and annual study tour of research group.

The numerous scholarships opened to international students and the tuition fee exemption system of Osaka University would be a great financial support for the study in Japan. We can easily obtained helpful advice from the university's Support Office and rental housing information from the Global Campus Net. The special offers for international student like free admission to Osaka's museums and homestay program would surely enrich your living experience at Japan. 

With all the interesting research and unique study experiences at Osaka University, I strongly believe that this would help me to achieve greater height in the future.