The meet & greet with Professor Hashimoto in Tokyo University Hongo Campus marks the end of my lab visitation activities. Before this visitation, I pretty much had my mind set on Kyoto. So today, I wasn't really looking for anything other than closure. Rather, I was hoping to find signs that would repel me away from Tokyo University forever. I didn't get this sign. Instead I am thrown back to the drawing board all over again.
赤門. The Red Door.
I was greeted extremely formally by Hashimoto-sensei. I believe this is probably due to the fact that I booked this appointment with him over a month ago. He sat down with me in his big office. I handed him my resume and explained my cultural and academic background. I also presented to him the two research topics I am currently working on with the assistance of the presentation powerpoint slides I just made from last week. Thanks to my experience an office clerk, my resume and my powerpoint printouts looked absolutely fabulous.
It was obvious that I could speak English, but when he mentioned about the TOEFL, I was able to provide him with my past TOEFL result (93% hehehe). He said this is the biggest advantage I have as a foreign student, because language ability is highly-valued in Tokyo University. I feel fortunate that I appeared to be extremely professional and articulate. Not only did I have an answer for everything, I was able to use paper to show them in writings. I really thank God for this because I really was in the blind when I was preparing for this meet & greet. Everything went silky smooth. I was later on introduced to the immediate supervisor of the research group. He then handed me to another phD student, who walked me through the rest of the visitation. The majority (all) of the foreign students are from China, The two students that I've met greeted me with enthusiasm and we talked for quite sometime in Chinese. Much to my surprise, Hashimoto-sensei had built this lab to use English as the primary language and the local students are required to use English as well. Whereas the previous lab Segawa-lab was Japanese only.
Engineering building No. 5.
The students told me that the entrance exam does have some difficulties and will take roughly 1 month to prepare if I am coming from an unrelated field. They offered to assist me in locating the "major-related" questions since it has been similar for the past few years. All I really need to study for is the fundamental exam, where the bar has already been lowered for foreign students. Moreover, the PhD student suggested me some channels in the department to local financial assistance. She believes that funding should not be a problem in the first year to be the least.
Before my departure, Hashimoto-sensei told me with great sincerely (he even stood up), "I will accept you as a student into this lab if you pass the entrance exam.", something that Segawa-sensei was unwilling to do. It was slightly comical, because he knows a bit about my professor's run-in with Segawa-sensei. He wanted to make it clear that he wants me to pass the entrance exam to enter. It looks like there is a chance that I will stay in Tokyo. Right now it will be all about my research and graduation. I hope God will answer my prayer about the scholarship soon, too, since I have less than 100,000 yen in the bank now and 4-6 months to go until I finish my master degree. Of course I always have the option of digging into the funds from my family has provided, but this is one of the 4 signs I had asked for.
It's time to review the 4 signs I asked for:
1. Confirmation of Research direction: Now I have two: ZnO & NiO.
2. Lab acceptance: I have two also: Kyoto Yoshikawa and Tokyo Hashimoto
3. Scholarship: not yet.
4. Entrance exam: not yet.
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