Why did you choose to study at KU?
There are three reasons for choosing Kumamoto University (KU). The 1st reason, of course, is due to KU
has a high quality of education and a nice environment of research, particular in medical sciences. About
2nd reason, I think city of Kumamoto is more suitable for life than other metropolises. Such like the cost,
the traffic and other aspects, those make me feel convenient and let me could pay more attention to my study.
The last reason is about personal preference. I like Japanese manga very much since I was a child. Such likeDragon Ball, Naruto, Kimetsu no Yaiba and so on. I am much impressed with the Slam Dunk, and the author
was also graduated from KU.

How is your student life in Kumamoto or Japan?
Study & Life in Kumamoto:My life in Kumamoto (Japan) is challenging but worthwhile.
My first impression of Japan is ‘this is a comic country’! The sea, sky, traffic and buildings here are exactly
same as I read in the Japanese manga during my childhood. However, studying aboard is not easy foreverybody including me. Language is the most tough problem I faced at the beginning. Japanese have theirown language, and English is not commonly used in our daily life. In order to adapt quickly to life in Japan,I have taken some Japanese classes provided by KU as well as Kumamoto City International Center afterschool.
As a medical student, I have never learned about how to do research and I am getting stress and feelinglonesome ever than never. Luckily, my supervisor and all lab members always friendly and patiently teachme. Our lab set the ‘Journal Club’ in every two weeks, which allowed me to understand the latest advanceof my research and to learn more experimental techniques. Weekly, I discuss about new results withprofessor as well as other lab members during progress meeting. Therefrom, I can get lots of crucial advises
to improve my research. Besides, my supervisor managed some extracurricular activities in special moment,such like welcome party, cherry blossom viewing party and year-end party, which enriched my spare timeand let me know more about Japanese traditional culture.

Since Japan has an extremely high cost for living, especially for some students from developing country,
I had to struggle to solve the problem for living cost in Japan. Kumamoto is not a big city like Tokyo orOsaka, which leads to lower house rents and other cost in my life, as compared with those cities. Moreover,bicycle is sufficient for school and daily travelling. Those have helped me for saving daily cost. On the otherhand, I found some information of scholarship from student office of KU. With my professor’s support, I
tried my best and turned out to be achieved Otsuka Toshimi Scholarship, because I was able to conduct
interviews in Japanese fluently and I had several achievements in research. At that moment, I really realizedthat ‘no pay, no gain’. From then on, I began to enjoy the time of fighting for self.
Japan is definitely a beautiful country with profound cultural deposits. Apart from study, one of myfavorites is travel and it was also a challenge for me. During visit to other cities in Japan, I tried to understandthe local customs and culture via communicating in Japanese with the local people. It was not only greatly
improved my Japanese skills but also broaden my vision. By this way, I found a ton of amazing things thatare originate from traditional Japanese culture. For instance, hogaku (traditional Japanese music), kabuki(traditional Japanese dance-drama), shinto (a religion originating in Japan), and so on. However, I realizedthat some of these cultures are similar to some Asian countries, especially China. Indeed, I thoroughly
enjoyed this culture-shock brought by traditional culture, and cannot help praising the innovative ability ofJapanese.
Finally, I want to say ‘What an amazing life in Kumamoto (Japan)’.

Current status:
Now, I am working as a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) postdoctoral fellow, and mypresent research works are mainly focused on the infectious and inflammatory disorders. I am really would
like to express my deepest and sincere gratitude to my supervisor, for his kind support and supervision
throughout my study in Japan. I also would like to thank the Otsuka Toshimi Scholarship Foundation thatprovided me the scholarship with fully financial support and care. Because of them, I can successfully moveto the next stage of my life.

Any message and/or advice to those who wish to study at KU?
This world is undergoing tremendous changes every second.
If you are unwilling to just accept its changes, try to be a factor of changing it.
A step forward, stay thinking, stay practicing, you will never regret going study abroad.
Fearless Youth!