00:10
So, yesterday, just yesterday, you know him. I was hanging out with Yassan.
Oh, how is he doing?
He's doing very well. So this is our mutual friend here in the United States.
And since you left, I have gotten to know two or three more new Japanese people.
Oh, really?
In the school, yeah.
So, it's partly thanks to Yassan, who is like very active in making friends, making Japanese friends.
And I just basically tag along.
But yeah, so it was me, Yassan, and three other people, all Japanese.
Three of us are graduate students. Oh, actually, four more. So there were like five or six people there.
Yassan is postdoc, one other postdoc.
And all the rest of us are in various departments.
Like some of us are in biomedical engineering.
Some of us are in mechanical engineering.
And the other one, I think he said that he's in economics.
It's either economics or international relations. I'm not super sure.
But yeah, so it's a mix of, you know, different disciplines of people.
But yeah, we're all Japanese. And we did a Shinnenkai.
And we're recording this in like mid-March.
But yeah, we're like, you know what, you know, first time singing since the new year has begun.
So it's a Shinnenkai.
So yeah, people who went back home in Japan during the winter break brought back some okashi.
一人の子が駄菓子セットみたいなのを持って帰ってきてくれて。
日本から? It was so fun.
Yeah, like, you know, you can eat.
ポッキーとかはさ、こっちでもあるけど。
We had like キャベツ太郎とか。
I don't know what that is.
It's basically like お好み焼きのうまい棒をちっちゃくしたみたいなやつとか。
本当に駄菓子よ。
お祭りとかで屋台とかで配ってそうな、駄菓子屋さんにありそうな。
03:01
So like a bunch of random おせんべい、何が入ってるかよくわかんないグミみたいなやつとか。
And yeah, and we're just hanging out.
Yasu-san cooked us a dinner.
And yeah, it was pretty fun.
That sounds fun.
As you know, where we were, where you were working and where I'm currently working,
there are not a lot of Japanese people around.
I think there are definitely cities where there are way more Japanese people than here.
But neither in the school or in the city, I don't think there's a ton of Japanese people here.
You know, the first time when I met Yasu-san, do you know this story?
Actually, don't. I don't think so.
When I was working with another Japanese friend who was in the same lab,
we were heading to get lunch, I think.
And then suddenly, this strange person who just came to us,
and then he suddenly asked,
Are you Japanese?
That was the first moment.
That is so Yasu-san.
Are you Japanese?
And then we were so, you know, we would chat about everything in Japanese because...
Right, because you don't think that other people are listening.
I don't remember what we were talking about, but suddenly this stranger asked in Japanese.
So that was the first time we met.
And then he said, Would you like to get lunch with me?
And then, you know, that was it.
What a move.
But yeah, I can still picture him doing that.
Yeah, I mean, so Yasu-san and I work in the same department.
So like, you know, our encounter was a bit more natural.
Like, we probably met at like a department holiday party or something.
And somebody was like, Hey, Asami, you know, there's a Japanese guy and that kind of thing.
But yeah, I mean, you know, in a way, you kind of have to go out of your way,
the way Yasu-san did in order to get to know other Japanese people in this school,
because there are just so few of us.
But magically, somehow, he managed to make enough friends to have a little party.
And so that was really fun.
Like, you know, it's funny because I don't know if I would have been friends with these people necessarily
if I were in Japan or if they were just in my department, you know, as a non-Japanese people.
But something about being a minority in, you know, in a school like this,
06:01
you all came from far away, all the way from Japan, at various different points in our lives.
But especially many of us came after undergrad, right?
So, I mean, I was in the States since undergrad and I have been in English-speaking environment
for a long, long time before that.
But for many people, they were in like 100% Japanese environment until college.
And then they came to PhD to our school or postdoc in our school.
So it's quite a bit of adventure, you know, and you don't know anybody
and you might be, maybe English isn't like as comfortable as you are with Japanese.
And like for many of us, you have to kind of deal with that on a daily basis.
But once in a while when we get together, you know, we can talk about
日本人にしか面白くないジョークとか
Or like share the food that your non-Japanese colleagues may be like,
Oh, what is that? You know, but being able to like share food like that,
not worry about having to explain to people what they are and like that kind of things.
It's definitely like nice.
I think I appreciate that a lot more now that I'm in a situation
where there's very little Japanese people out here.
Because in New York, there are a ton of Japanese people.
I mean, not in my school, necessarily, but in the city, there are a lot of them, right?
So like it's very different story for when I was in New York to while I'm here.
So, yeah.
こういうコミュニティ。
But it's going to be interesting when I move on to the next place after my graduation.
I don't know if I'll find that kind of people.
Do you know if there are any Japanese colleagues?
I have no clue.
Like in any of the places that I'll be going for my postdoc,
whether it's in the United States and the other places,
like different parts of my project, I'll be traveling.
And yeah, no clue.
But it's going to be relatively small team, no matter where I go.
So the chances are pretty slim.
But yeah, so I have no idea.
I mean, this is kind of one of the reasons why I sort of wanted to start this podcast with you.
Because you do miss it, you know?
Being able to talk in Japanese.
Even though I talk to my parents in Japanese, obviously.
And some more regularly, like every week, every other week, something like that.
09:03
But it's different.
And yeah, it just was fun.
And it felt like for a moment, we were all enjoying being Japanese.
Yeah.
Well, the places you go soon are kind of large cities.
So I think you'll find another Yasu-san, like several of them.
We need someone who is very, very outgoing and assertive about making friends.
Because I don't mind making friends, of course.
I love to get to know people, but I don't try hard enough, usually.
I just hope...
Yeah, I kind of let things happen naturally type of person.
I would never go talk to people on the street.
Like, yo, you Japanese?
Want to hang out?
I would never do that.
But maybe that's what you need.
Or just have a friend who's like that, and then let them do the work.
This is probably for another day's topic.
But we should talk about how difficult and weird it is to make friends as an adult.
Oh, yeah, that's a good topic.
Because I'm about to go becoming postdoc.
This is officially one of the first times I'll be outside of the school system,
where similar aged people are forced to be in the same proximity.
So, yeah, I have no idea.
How does one make friends?
That's just such a weird topic.
But yeah, we should talk about this sometime.
That's it for the show today.
Thanks for listening and find us at EigoDeScience on Twitter.
That is E-I-G-O-D-E-S-C-I-E-N-C-E.
See you next time.
