00:11
Today, we have a fellow podcaster, Kouma-san. Hello, Kouma-san.
Hello, everyone. What's going on, guys?
I am Kouma from 【ムキムキ夫婦】.
What's going on? 特徴的ですよね。 I'm an avid fan if you haven't realized.
I've been responding to their tweets and new episodes, you know, every other episode or something.
I just like their podcast. It's really funny.
We decided we did some collaborations. Just before taking this episode, we took the one for his podcast
where I am speaking in Japanese about muscles and ballets and whatnot.
Go have a listen to that one.
But here, because he's actually bilingual himself, you know, I figured, you know what?
Can you come and film an episode with us for a few episodes?
Thank you for coming, Kouma-san.
Of course, Asami-san. Thanks for having me, actually.
緊張するね、英語。 I'm nervous, my English.
It's actually my first time recording in English.
I am bilingual, but I consider myself as Japanese.
I was actually born in the U.S.
Oh, okay.
Yeah, so I've been in the U.S., I think...
I think I was in elementary school in the U.S.
Oh, so you came back to Japan in middle school?
No, no, no, I was in middle school, junior high, and high school in Japan.
So all my identities were planted in Japan.
So I consider myself as Japanese.
So I did...
Oh, yeah, 2010.
Yes, but I came back to the U.S. to do my Ph.D. in 2018.
I did my Ph.D. in 2018.
I did my Ph.D. in University of Maryland, East Coast.
で、I got my Ph.D. in 2023.
And then, I moved to California.
で、Ph.D.の力を借りて I borrowed the power of my Ph.D.
I'm a personal trainer. I'm a coach at Gold Gym Venice right now.
Oh, wow!
Yeah, I have to use that Ph.D., right?
That's like, you know, personal trainer.
There are so many of them out there nowadays.
It's like, you know, anyone and their dogs can claim to be a personal trainer.
So, like, you have to up your game by having a Ph.D.
Of course, right?
What exactly?
In fisheries, I guess?
In fisheries ecology.
03:00
It's fishery, I think.
I'm sorry.
That's another question.
It's like, what?
Is there...
Is that a marine biology?
Is that...
What is it?
Yeah, so...
I actually got my Ph.D. in environmental science.
But I consider myself as like...
Yeah, environmental science.
But I'm like a fisheries ecologist.
Right?
So, I do...
How does one decide that, like, you know what?
I'm going to study about fishery for five years super intensely.
Like, how does that happen?
Um...
Um...
Can I speak a little bit in Japanese?
Yeah, go ahead.
As much as you want.
We're all about mixing it.
Yeah, thanks.
So, I got into fisheries because...
People around me are like...
They like dolphins.
They've always liked fishing.
Yeah, that's the image.
Yeah, they love Marine Mammal.
They really love it.
I love my current job.
I wasn't like that.
I was more like...
When I was in high school,
I was interested in life forms and genetics.
I was like, I want to do that kind of thing.
There's a center exam, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I passed it.
And...
Actually, I wanted to go to the center exam
because I was interested in life forms.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But the center exam was overwhelmingly not enough points.
Yeah.
I was like, what should I do?
So, I was looking for a place in the center line.
And I was like, if it's something about fisheries, I think I can do it.
And...
That's where it was.
It's pretty complicated.
Yeah.
That's where it was?
I don't really want to say this, but...
People around me have always been passionate about it.
And...
Uh-huh.
But I didn't really like fishing.
I didn't like cute dolphins for a long time.
But that was the entrance to it.
Yeah.
That's right.
That's how it started.
But now...
You joined the aquaculture industry for a very practical reason.
That's right.
But I am passionate about what I do, though.
Yeah, exactly.
You're gonna PhD into that?
That's a dedication, man.
I know.
Yeah.
But...
I don't know if you've seen the news, but when we were in high school...
Uh-huh.
In 2009, I was watching the news.
And this guy named Katsumi Tsukamoto.
He's an eel biologist.
Yeah.
Eel?
Eel.
Unagi.
Unagi, yes.
Unagi.
He's an eel biologist.
Do you get it?
Do you get it?
The friends reference?
I do not know that.
06:00
Oh, damn!
You did not watch Friends?
No.
I'll send you the meme.
Okay, never mind.
Okay, thanks.
Unagi, okay.
Was that Chandler?
No, that was Ross.
It's Unagi.
I don't know.
What is that?
I'm sorry.
Anyway, there was a professor named Katsumi Tsukamoto at Tokyo University.
For the first time in the world, he found the egg of a Japanese eel in Guam,
in a place called Nishimariya-na-Kairei.
Isn't that amazing?
And for the first time in the world, he found that egg.
A natural egg.
He hadn't found a Japanese eel egg before.
So he didn't even know where it was born.
Didn't he know that until 2009?
Yeah, isn't that surprising?
So when I was in high school, I was watching it and I was like,
Huh? Eels are pretty familiar, but they don't even know where they were born.
I thought it was surprising.
So I started getting interested in marine life there.
So there was a bit of an irresponsible interest spark before,
but the main reason was because you skated in the center?
Yeah, that's how it is.
I'm sorry.
No, no, no.
But even if you're good at it, it's still difficult.
And I feel like, especially those who came with just pure passion,
they get disillusioned very quickly.
They kind of are like,
Oh, so this is how the reality of researchers is.
I think there are a lot of cases where you get disappointed.
But if you come with just passion, it's faster to burn out.
In that sense, I didn't come with passion either.
I was like, okay, let's do it.
I'm going to take a five-year qualification exam.
That's the kind of stance I wanted for my PhD.
Yeah, I 100% agree.
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I think there are quite a few people who drop out just because of passion.
On the other hand, I liked research.
I like the process of making hypotheses and how to approach them.
I've been doing research.
Was that when you were a kid?
Yeah.
I don't know how to say this.
I don't want to keep asking questions,
but I think there was a lot of curiosity.
So people who like to do things from the sea
are probably trying to do it with just passion.
But in my case, I like to make hypotheses and think about how to approach them.
So I think it doesn't matter what the target is.
Even if it's not aquaculture,
I like to think about how to approach it.
I think it doesn't matter what the target is.
Even if it's not aquaculture,
it doesn't matter if it's biology or something more basic.
Like biology of life.
Yeah, but it's still good.
So that's not really important.
It's not about what you're going to do.
I just like the approach.
I think that's what it is.
So, when I backtracked,
I was like, okay, I want to work in a museum.
What sort of skills are useful in museums?
And I realized that they do a lot of molecular spectroscopy.
So like IR spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, that type of thing.
And I thought, well, I guess I'll be good at laser.
I didn't really know when I was in undergrad.
I didn't think I was in such an intense field.
I was like, this sounds cool.
It sounds like it's worth spending five years for.
And then I realized how difficult it was.
I see.
People often ask me, why did you go to the U.S. to get a Ph.D.?
They ask me why I went to the U.S.
I did my master's in Japan.
I did my master's in Japan.
I did research on the movement of Japanese eels.
I did my PhD.
Have you ever heard of a fish's PhD?
Do you know what a fish's PhD is?
No, I don't even remember the kanji.
It's called an ear stone.
It's called a PhD.
In English, it's called an odorless.
I don't know.
It's a calcium carbonate tissue.
It's in the internal organs.
I did research on the movement of fish.
I did research on the movement of fish.
I did my master's in Japan.
While I was reading the paper,
I happened to meet someone who was doing research on migration.
12:03
He happened to be in the U.S.
So I said, I have no choice but to go to the U.S.
and I went to the U.S.
If that professor was in Japan,
he probably wouldn't have gone to the U.S.
If that professor was in Costa Rica,
he probably would have gone to Costa Rica.
He probably wouldn't have gone to Costa Rica.
Even if that professor was there.
So you're ignoring that.
So you're ignoring that.
So it's not like he went to the U.S.
because he had a special admiration for the U.S. university students.
That's right.
That's it for part 1 of the collaboration with Kouma-san
from Muki Muki Fufu no America Nikki deshita.
Tune in for the part 2.
Bye!
