Jun Araki’s Blog

Today was my first Thanksgiving Day. The Stanford Graduate Student Council provided free Thanksgiving dinner, and I was happy to join the event. Of course, this was the first time for me to eat traditional Thanksgiving dishes such as turkey and pumpkin pie, but I liked them. It seemed like a number of first-year international students joined the event, including me. I got to know some students around me, and enjoyed a little chat with them. Since my last two months were really hectic, this event was a good relaxing time for me.

My classes started late last month. It is approximately seven years since I took regular classes at the University of Tokyo. There is a substantial difference in the amount of homework assignments between the two, although I knew this before taking classes. Sometimes they are really hard, but also valuable intellectual excitement.

The other day I eventually missed Japanese cuisine because I hadn’t eaten any Japanese food since I entered the United States on July 26. So when I fortunately got some help to go to the Japantown in San Jose last Saturday, I was happy to purchase some Japanese food and enjoy tofu cuisine in a restaurant there.

On the following day, I cooked rice and pacific sauries myself. They are typical Japanese autumnal fish called “sanma” in Japan. I was really astonished at the taste of the rice because it was exactly the same as the one in Japan. This is in part because of my Zojiruji rice cooker which I bought online after arriving here, but probably it depends greatly on the result of some breed improvement in Californian rice. My roommate and his friends were also pleased with my cooking. Here is a picture of the cooking:

I know that once my classes start on September 21, I will be so busy that I may not make much time to cook my own food. I, however, would like to continue to do so as far as possible because basically I like eating at home and believe that Japanese food is the secret of the longevity of Japanese people.

I have lived in graduate housing on campus at Stanford University since the end of last month, and enjoyed the process of organizing my life here little by little. Usually I get up in the morning, and study English and computer science, and cook some simple dishes, and sometimes go to some stores around campus by bike. Of course, I have been doing a range of things besides these to settle in this place, and take care of some administrative things for the university, and prepare for my study and so on. Last night I enjoyed chatting with my family in Tokyo on Skype, and was amazed at their technology which offered high speech quality and little time difference in our speeches between California and Tokyo.

I recently noticed that some people around Stanford University are very active. While riding my bike on and off campus, I always see several people running or riding their bikes just for exercise. Stanford is teeming with natural treasures such as a lake, trees, birds and even squirrels, and has pedestrian-and-bike-friendly campus on top of that, so all those people probably find pleasure in their daily exercise. When I have more free time someday, I would like to enjoy exercise just like them.

Yesterday I left UC Berkeley, got on the BART and then the Caltrain, and arrived at Stanford University some time after noon. This move was a short trip for around three hours, but it really exhausted me to take several suitcases. In addition, some offices were closed because my arrival was on Friday afternoon, so I have not yet proceeded with actual preparation, such as getting my student ID card and opening a bank account. Currently, I am staying in on-campus housing for undergraduates as short-term graduate housing. And the other day I was glad to receive a notification purporting that I had been assigned to on-campus housing for graduate students for 2009-2010.

What I was particularly impressed in the move above is that some people around Stanford University kindly volunteered to show me their detailed maps, tell me the best way to my destination, and even give me a ride to my house on campus, although I did not ask them at all. I don’t know why they were so obliging, but it might have something to do with spirit of international volunteerism which has taken root in this country.

Looking back, I have been here around one year and nine months after I made a decision to apply to graduate schools in the United States in November 2007. However, this is just my first step at Stanford University. Starting is of considerable importance to everything, and I will do the best possible to set up my new life, study English and computer science and so forth during the month before my classes start.

Approximately two weeks have passed since I arrived at UC Berkeley, and I really feel how fast the time goes. I currently live in the International House at UC Berkeley and enjoy my life here. The Bay Area, including Berkeley, has such comfortable weather that I don’t need any help of air conditioners even in the summer months. I cannot get this comfort in Tokyo. And some people in Berkeley have very kind hearts. For example, when I was looking for an office and opening up my map on the street on campus, an elderly man volunteered to tell me the way to the office, although I didn’t ask him to do so.

I will leave Berkeley in a week, but would like to have more good memories of it. Below are the pictures that I took at UC Berkeley yesterday.

This is an entrance of Soda Hall, the building of the Computer Science Division.

These are some objects for display at the Soda Hall. The interesting ones on the right side were created for Geometric Modeling.

This is a small animal on campus which delighted me with its quick movements when I was taking a walk.

After a long flight from Japan, I arrived at UC Berkeley three days ago. I have a lot of things which I want to write about right now, but I have been very busy because my classes have given us many homework assignments. So that’s all for today, and I will write something later on about UC Berkeley, the programs in which I am participating, and so forth.

Although it took a couple of weeks to choose a summer school suitable for me, I have finally made a decision to attend the summer English program at UC Berkeley. More specifically, I will take two courses of the ESL 9 during the session E (7/27 – 8/14): “Grammar and Vocabulary for Written English” and “Oral Communication Skills.”

At first, I wanted to attend the EFS 688 at Stanford University because it seems very intensive and practical for an international graduate student like me. I realized, however, that I would not be able to finish my preparation for the transition to the United States by the beginning date of the program. So I was looking for another school.

While I searched for the summer program, I noticed that there were few programs which met my needs in terms of the duration, tuition and location. In the end, I selected the program at UC Berkeley. According to the website for the program, both teachers for the courses that I will take have broad experience of teaching ESL. I am looking forward to studying English from those teachers.

The other day I had the pleasure of receiving an email from Stanford University to the effect that I had been admitted to the Masters’ Program in the Computer Science Department beginning Autumn Quarter 2009-2010. I have not written anything about my application on this blog so far, but in fact I applied to some programs of computer science departments at graduate schools in the United States last year. I have been really excited about this result.

Though I have already a master’s degree in Electronic Engineering in Japan, I believe that this masters’ program at Stanford University is quite a good preparation for my long-term goal. Therefore, I made a decision to accept the offer. My family and friends are also very pleased with the admittance, and some of my friends are planning to give me a send-off party.

These days have been very hectic because of some procedures for my transition to the United States. This is the first time that I have experienced studying abroad, and I will prepare for my new life as carefully as possible so as to make a good start this coming September.

Jun Araki

It is pretty good weather in Tokyo today. You would want to go on a picnic somewhere on such a day. Today I will write about an interesting book, although it has nothing to do with picnics.

Several months ago, someone’s blog article, whose I don’t remember exactly, introduced a Japanese edition of a book. The title of the book is “NUMB3RS.” Wikipedia says that it was made into a television drama in the United States in 2005 and gained popularity among millions of people.

When I read the article, the book looked fascinating because I have never read such a book that conveys concretely the practicability and efficiency of mathematics in the real world. So, I bought the original edition of the book, not the Japanese one, and I have been reading it. As you might know, the book as well as the drama depicts some criminal cases and two brothers who succeed in solving those cases with some applied mathematical methods. The older brother is an FBI investigator, and the younger one is a mathematician.

I like mathematics, and indeed the book is quite interesting. When I was a junior high school student, someone asked a math teacher a question like “What is mathematics useful for?” I don’t remember exactly what he answered, but do remember that he didn’t answer it very well. I suppose that one of the answers is what the book tells us. Mathematics is invisible in the real world because it is abstract by its very nature. However, in light of the fact that some mathematical methods help us solve the cases through criminal profiling and investigation, it is surely of much use in a wide range of fields, in particular behind what we see in daily life.