The Primary Teacher System and the Short-term Network Card
"Welcome to Japan!"
When I arrived at the reception hall, I saw a Japanese man waving at me with a cardboard with my name written on it, Honda san, and a foreign student named David san standing next to him. I'm going to introduce you to the two characters who appeared in the movie.
- Mr. Honda (a pseudonym): A Chinese-Japanese hybrid who speaks a little Chinese, Mr. Honda was my junior teacher at TUT and a doctoral student during my study abroad.
- David (a pseudonym): A Filipino, he was the only foreign student in the lab before I came here, and he was planning to continue his doctoral studies after his master's degree at TUT.
Small Teacher System
Usually, a student from the Graduate School is assigned to be the new foreign student's tutor (or TA), which is known as the "Tutor System". This student usually accompanies the new foreign student through the necessary procedures (such as residence registration and bank account opening) to ensure that he or she is able to complete the pre-college preparations and officially live in Japan.
Mr. Honda is my junior teacher, who takes care of my life, and Mr. David, although he is not my junior teacher, he volunteered to pick me up from the plane because it is rare for a second foreigner to join the Sato Laboratory, hoping to minimize my nervousness about the unfamiliar environment. In this way, two PhD students came to pick me up and helped me carry my heavy luggage, which made me feel grateful and look forward to integrating into the Sato Lab quickly.
Purchase of short-term cards
Another important thing to do before leaving the airport is to purchase a short-term SIM/network card. If you don't have an international SIM card in Taiwan, it is recommended that you purchase a short-term SIM/network card at the airport first to keep in touch with the outside world before applying for a long-term contracted card. Comparisons of various SIM/network cards have been well organized in many travel blogs, so I won't go into details in this post, but I personally recommend purchasing a 7 to 14 day internet plan to be on the safe side.
At that time, even though I had been selected for a dormitory at Tohoku University of Technology, I had to stay at a business hotel because my move-in date had been moved up to Japan. I am very grateful to Mr. Honda for booking this hotel, "Toyoko Inn", which is located at "Unabe Station South Exit" station, and for printing the map for me. I would also like to recommend this business hotel to students who are going to study at Tohoku University Suzukakkeidai Campus in the near future. (You can book the hotel directly by clicking the image or button below.)
The day I arrived in Japan was actually the orientation meeting of Sato's laboratory, and after settling in the hotel, we rushed to Sato's laboratory. Although I was not able to attend the meeting, Prof. Sato welcomed me warmly and asked Mr. Honda to show me how to get to know the other members of the lab while handing out Taiwanese souvenirs, such as "pineapple cookies". After my introduction, I was given a brand new computer and officially started my research life at TUT.
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