Emails

Today I received a heart-warming email from a friend whom I've never met. In the midst of all the trouble I went through, she wrote to express her support for me. It was enough for me to go on, to protect the good in people just like I've seen in her. I hope my future wife will have this kinda of quuality. :P

I am too tired to explain what happened today, so here is the email I sent out. Almost the 2nd to final ultimatum.

Dear Takei-sensei, Sato-sensei and Yasumi-sensei,

I am afraid I have more bad news to report. Today the Japanese
students had an idea to talk to Kohno-sensei, the head of the
department, but they wanted to make it look like the International
students (Kim-san and me) demanded the termination of Matsubara
because we are believed to have more influence. The Japanese student
thought that Kohno-sensei would've been convinced if this is to
become an international incident (Korea, China, Taiwan, Indonesia,
Canada and Japan) This had been my opinion all along, so I didn't
think much of it. Yet I was too slow to realize that Kohno-sensei
already had prejudice against Kim-san because it was always Kim-san
getting in conflict with Matsubara. Due to some miscomunication, I was
excluded from the meeting. By having only Kim-san there demanding for
the termination only made the situation look worse that Kim-san was
the evil one keep trying to discriminate against Matsubara.

I feel very bad about what happened today. It was my neglect to allow
Kim-san jump the gun and executed their ideas. Right now I am still
contemplating why the Japanese student suggested to make it appear
like only the international students want Matsubara out. Was it also
because they were afraid of their own tails? There is more and more
mistrust between the students on this issue and more so between the
students and the teacher. She had displayed enough inconsistency and
lack of judgment that all the students have lost respect for her as a
teacher. Judging from the way things are going I am afraid no one will
win after this.

The situation was made only worse when Kohno-sensei said there is
nothing he can do. From the information we obtained from the office
secretary, Kohno-sensei had the authority to make a decision, but he
refused to act because he thinks this is not serious enough.
Kim-san became more withdrawn today, he said he will not get involved
anymore with this. He felt like he was betrayed by the professor, the
department head, and the Japanese students. He said to me, "I am just
a student, why do I have to do any of this?" He drank a lot once again
right beside school. He said that if he knows drinking is bad, but if
he does not drink, he will go crazy.

I am afraid this is close to my limit as well. I can no longer see a
lab being torn apart and my friends getting hurt because the teacher
and administration refuse to DO THEIR JOBS. I have almost lost faith
in the school system completely. So far NOBODY offered any practical
ways to help us, but only asked us to calm down, receive counseling
and sweep the situation under the rug, while the real problem runs
rampant with the authority of the teacher.

I have sent an email to Saito-sensei, the vice president for education
in Tokyo Tech, requesting for an appointment. We were fortunate to
have you and a few others who have been so supportive of us and truly
cared for us, but the decision makers have greatly disappointed me. If
the vice president Saito-sensei refused to act, then to me, my
teacher, my department head, the head of my graduate school to the
vice president education don't deserve to call them educators. My job
will be then to correct this crooked system. My voice will be small,
but I will try my best.

I do have one last drastic measure in mind if our cries go unanswered
with Saito-sensei, but I hope I will never have to go to that. If I
do, I hope my sacrifice will be enough to wake the school up. In the
mean time, I will ask Kim-san to make an appointment with
Yasumi-sensei.

Sincerely,

Kenneth

The email to Saito-sensei, the vice president is,

Dear Saito-sensei, Executive Vice President for Education,

My name is Chi-Hua Kenneth Yu, a Taiwanese-born Canadian in my 2nd year
of the master degree in Waki laboratory under the Department of Energy
Science, part of the Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Science and
Engineering. I am also part of the student body of the International
Graduate School, through which I was admitted into Tokyo Institute of
Technology in October of 2007.

I am writing with a great burden in my heart, to plead for your
intervention on the unbelievable things that had happened in my lab over
the past year and many years before that. I fear that if no one is
willing to help us, we students will have to take matters into our own
hands.

To summarize the problem, there has been a problem student named Kenji
Matsubara. Over the past year he had made everybody, including himself
mentally and physically ill and this lab unsuitable for any education
purposes. We have contacted a list of people pleading for help, yet all
of them were either incapable or unwilling to help us. The current Waki
lab atmosphere and supervision is unsuitable for any students to study
in. At the moment aside from the 6 local students (three M2, three M1),
we have a phD candidate from Korea, one new students from China, and
another new student from Indonesia and myself, a Taiwanese Canadian. We
have all been damaged by this problem and Ｉ truly pray that there would
be a solution soon.

Here are the list of people involved,
Direct Supervisor Waki-sensei,
Secretary of Department of Energy Science, Makino-san.
International Student Advisor, Horioka-sensei.
Ex-Energy Science Department Head, Hotta-sensei.
Current-Energy Science Department Head, Kohno-sensei.
Foreign Student Center, Sato-sensei.
Foreign Student Center, Takei-sensei.
Suzukakedai Campus M.D. Yasumi-sensei.
Head of Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Sci.&Eng, Mishima-sensei.

I wish I could meet with you to explain the situation. If you feel the
need, please contact each individual students for their views on our lab
situation. Our contact information can be found on the lab homepage,
http://www.es.titech.ac.jp/waki/

Ｉ can assure you that this is not an ordinary everyday-lab-problems and
must not be dismissed as a minor issue. At this point I am truly
disappointed about the administration system in Tokyo Tech and I am
afraid I cannot shield the younger students from more harm for much
longer. Please contact me at your earliest convenience. I have a rough
story typed up from my point of view, but it is about 6000 words. If you
would like to see ｉｔ, I would be more than happy to send it to you.