I joined the GRM Program in April, 2016. First as a candidate, then I passed the Preliminary Examination, and eventually the Qualifying Examination. GRM Program provided a lot of opportunities for students to work in multicultural, multilingual environments. For me, I had multiple chances to work with people from different disciplines, different universities and different nationalities. This gave the opportunity to hone different skills like teamwork, communication and leadership, all of which I deeply appreciate.
　Moreover, I have learned a lot from various courses and fieldwork I took in the GRM Program. I went to Miyakojima in Okinawa Prefecture to learn about their experience in water resources management. I went to Beppu City in Kyushu Prefecture to study their geothermal energy development. I went to Kamiyama Town in Tokushima prefecture to join their discussion about the revitalization of this rural town. These onsite fieldwork programs helped me understand the importance of managing different resources. Each place we visited had their own unique problems, such as how to contain water resources when the island is small, surrounded by sea and has no lakes; or how to develop geothermal energy when local citizens are worried about overdevelop; or how to modernize a rural town and make it appealing to the younger population, but at the same time preserve its cultures and history. I realized that to become a suitable leader, it is very important to properly utilize local resources, to understand “what we have”. 
　In the case of Miyakojima, the local government realized that the island has porous ground, so they built an underground dam to hold the rain water to provide water to the locality. In the case of Beppu City, local businesses thrive from hot springs, which come from geothermal energy. Local people worry that if the energy was used to generate electric power, the hot spring would disappear. So the Beppu government utilizes universities, private businesses and local communities to develop geothermal energy together, making their plans transparent and helping people have a better understanding of the situation. Lastly, the Kamiyama town office was aware of their beautiful sceneries and attractive real estate, so they started inviting artists, even improving their internet infrastructures, and promoted remote work to attract younger people to move to Kamiyama.
　I often think about these fieldworks, which make me think back to my trip to a rural village in northern China before I came to Japan. In February 2016, I went to my grandfather’s birthplace. I was shocked that the big village has only a few houses of families left, almost all were elders. There were not any toilets, and people were still using outhouses. I still remember this trip even 6 years later so I asked myself if there is anything that can be done to improve and revitalize the village. But, back then, I did not have the knowledge, nor the vocabulary, to describe what I saw until I enrolled in Doshisha University and joined the GRM Program. 　I now have these various experiences in several similar situations about resource management, and now I wonder what they have in that village that can be utilized and further improve the quality of life for the locals.
 　I have had the experience of working in a multi-billion international company through the GRM Program’s Global Career Design and Internship Courses. I met Dr. Liu, a Doshisha University graduate, from the Global Career Design course and later, in 2019, I had the opportunity to do an internship in his current company: Country Garden Groups. 
　Country Garden is a property development company based in Guangdong, China and in 2020, it was ranked 147th in the Fortune Global 500 List and features a market capitalization of over US$29.84 billion as of 2018. The company has plans to expand their business, and they want to hire as many doctorate degree holders as possible. I spent weeks in the company working on their newest project: an AI restaurant. It was an idea to have a fully-automated restaurant that can provide high quality food. In 2020, this idea has been realized. In addition, I also had the opportunities to talk to many doctor degree holders, many of whom graduated from universities in Japan. They put what they learned in Japan into practice, and initiated projects such as promotion of specialty products from one city. They are all passionate about their jobs and the company pays them well in turn. I have learned a lot from this internship and from these employees.
　With regard to my study, my research focuses on regulating the spontaneous motions of microparticles in a silicone oil/ionic surfactant mixture under an electric field, which we call the “micromotor system”. I focused on the quantification of energy conversion efficiency of the system, and published 3 papers in academic journals, as well as attended 6 international conferences in both my years as a Masters student and PhD candidate.
　 When I first joined my research group, I only had a rough idea how this system can be used for future application. But because the GRM Program always asks us to think about how we can utilize our knowledge back in society, I decided to design an actual prototype of the micromotor system. Thanks to the onsite research that was sponsored by the GRM program, I had a chance to visit Tokyo Institute of Technology, and fabricated a micro-electrodes system using the photolithography technology in Takinoue’s Lab, Tokyo Tech. These allowed me to observe stable and periodic motions in my micro-electrodes system which are desired for actual application of the system. I wanted to have another onsite research to improve my initial prototype designs, but unfortunately, it was not possible due to COVID19.
 　Compared to five and a half years ago, I think I have become more mature, gained a wider worldview, and became more sympathetic, and I would like to thank the GRM Program for the different opportunities and continuous support that have contributed to this growth