Category: General

This post was written in Vietnamese, sorry~
I will probably translate it in the near future, hopefully.

This post was written in Vietnamese, sorry~
I will probably translate it in the near future, hopefully.

This post was written in Vietnamese, sorry~
I will probably translate it in the near future, hopefully.

This post was written in Vietnamese, sorry~

This post was written in Vietnamese, sorry~

[2021.12.21]: This piece was my final submission to the Okazaki Kaheita Foundation – the scholarship foundation that granted me a once-in-a-life-time opportunity to pursue my Master’s degree in Japan. The report was submitted to the Foundation around February 2021 as a personal recapitulation of my 3-year journey in Japan. Yet, around the end of 2021 (today), I reread it after a sleepless night, and still agonise over the uncertainties for the future. Well…

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2021.02.15, it was the night before my Master’s degree thesis defense. I was sitting on the bank of a nameless stream next to Motosumiyoshi station, having a quick McDonald’s take out set. It was this exact place that I first enjoyed Sakura blossoms – the epitome of the Japanese spring – soon after settling my new life here in Japan. This time, however, I was in a rush to finish the meal to go back to my preparation for the final defense the morning after. Yet, upon opening the meal box, there was a sentence under the lid that made me bereft of speech and filled with agony: 迷うって青春だ (being young is getting lost (excuse my bad translation)). Because, this phrase, had precisely summed up my 3-year journey in Japan.

3 years ago, I came to Japan under the support of The Okazaki Kaheita Scholarship Foundation to pursue my higher education. Out of naïveté, I thought that I would have been able to follow my scientific passion to establish a novel technology that may radically change the research field. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, not only that I had lost track the passion for my research, but also the motivation to pursue it. More than once, I had asked myself why did I come to Japan, for what reasons that I stayed, and where do I truly want to head to during my lifetime? Most of the questions were left unanswered, thus, more than once, I thought about quitting.

Nevertheless, the most important reason for that I was able to persevere, has been the foundation’s support. These support has not just been limited to the financial aid, but more importantly, it was the mental encouragement and the feeling of belonging. Coming to a foreign country without speaking the language and later, struggling to find his ego and raison d’être, the Okazaki Kaheita Foundation was the place full of camaraderie, a place that I can always rely on and come back to; in other words, my second family in Japan. The foundation has always been the “caring parents” that are always behind me, providing the unconditional support. They neither demanded me much, nor directly instructed me to do anything. Yet, it was that feeling of always having a “home” to return to, that had given me the confidence to slowly untangle my uncertainty.

If my 3-year journey so far in Japan were a novel, the ideal ending at this point should have been “under the foundation’s encouragement, I have become certain of myself and achieved greatness”. My life, however, has not been a novel (yet), thus, I am still here, full of uncertainties. Nonetheless, there is one thing that I am now certain of: one’s youth should be full of self-doubts, and by resolving such unsureness that one may grow up. And for that matter, I may have grown up a little compare to the naïve-me 3 years ago. For those reasons, from the bottom of my heart, I want to express my deepest gratitude toward the foundation for giving me this precious 3-year journey, for having always been beside me, and unconditionally supported me through all the ups and downs. Lastly, for my future after graduating from the Okazaki Kaheita Foundation, I would also like to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Suzuki Tsutomu. During these years, although I have not always been an ideal student, he has never stopped supporting me. Under his scientific advocate, I was able to find another fully-funded fellowship to continue to another 3-year doctoral journey at The University of Tokyo. 3 years later, I hope that I would be able to come back to the foundation, and to my professor, proudly telling them that somewhere along the way, 迷うって青春だが, I have found my way.