My CIP is working at a neuroscience lab at Kyoto University. I learned about the lab from my research mentor at Washington University in St. Louis. The lab is in the same field, circadian rhythms, that I do research in back in America, so I was quite familiar with the techniques and experimental goals of the lab, making the transition from that perspective quite easy.
The research questions that the Okamura lab is interested in asking is: “What are the mechanisms behind 24-hour rhythms in our daily life that determine when we get up in the morning and when we go to bed at night?” By more thoroughly understanding these mechanisms, they hope to develop therapies that could alleviate the effects of shift work and jet lag, as well as some types of depression.
The project I worked on tried to parse out the relationship between two genes involved in the sleep-wake cycle. I also learned quite a few new experimental techniques.
The science and the experimental procedures are basically the same as in America, but the lab culture is quite different. In America, graduate students usually have input on their projects can help shape them. This helps give the graduate students experience of being intellectually engaged and shaping a project, a skill that can help them later in life. In the Okamura lab, projects are usually handed down in a dictatorial manner, and most of the graduate students had little say in their projects.
There was also a stark difference in the number of women working in the lab. In America, women outnumber the men. In the Okamura lab, however, they represent only 20 percent of the lab, and there were no female postdocs. In the room I worked in with 8 people, there were no women. I hadn’t realized that this would be the case so it surprised me.
I was also surprised to learn that there were no Japanese scientific journals. Japanese scientists consume new science and publish exclusively in English. I hadn’t quite realized the prominence of English in the scientific community before this.
There was also a feeling of less collaboration between labs compared to what is common in America. For instance, in America it is common for entire floors or departments to get together for a happy hour or other social event on Fridays. I never heard or saw anything like that at Kyoto University. There was still socialization, but it was more often within the same lab. The lab in Japan is a bit of a closer unit compared to what exists in America so it makes sense to me that they would do more of their socializing within their close-knit group.
The working hours were also much longer. Typically, in America, people would work from 10 until 6. When I would stay later to finish an experiment, typically until 9pm, I found that almost half of the people in the Okamura lab were still working. My boss, Doi-sensei, would leave to eat dinner with his family, but then come back into lab to continue working until 2am. When I came back after a lab outing at midnight to collect my experimental results, he was still sitting at his desk with the lights out alone, staring at his computer screen. Also, since they had lab meeting every Saturday at 10am, it was practically expected that you work a six-day week. There are of course people who work hard in America, but its not quite as expected.
Also, the graduate student system is different. At Kyoto University, for your entire senior year, you work in a lab instead of taking classes. This basically forces everyone to work in a lab for a year, something you don’t see in America. Over 90% of Kyoto University’s graduate students come from their undergraduate program. Unlike in America, though, where you’re give a stipend to attend graduate school, in Japan you have to pay the school.
Also, I heard almost no keigo in the lab. When they were talking to their superiors, they would use desu/masu form but not keigo. For instance, when a university student would talk to a graduate student, they would use desu/masu, but not keigo. And then, when they were outside of the lab getting lunch or dinner, they would always use informal Japanese, even if there was different in their rankings. However, when they were outside of the lab with one of the sensei’s, they would still use desu/masu. When I asked them about not using keigo they said that it was difficult to use so they typically didn’t use it.
Overall, though, the people have been very nice and welcoming and I have learned a lot from this experience.
It’s really cool that you were able to work in a lab for your CIP project and the comparisons you made were really interesting. I think mandatory work in a lab is pretty helpful, especially for people who have yet to help out in a lab before senior year. Also, the fact that they publish in English was especially surprising. Have you ever talked with the people in your lab in English, and if so would you say their English was significantly better than an average Japanese person?
I have talked to some people in the lab in English, but they’re pretty bad at it. It’s not that much better than anyone else I know. There is someone in the lab from Belgium who did his PhD in the UK so he can speak fluent English. There’s also a woman who seems to be able to speak in pretty well, but I haven’t worked with her on anything.
They can read articles pertaining to their field decently, but that’s mainly just looking at pictures and translating a few words. Science is really about looking at graphs and being able to interpret them.
It seems like your CIP was a really valuable and interesting experience. I really enjoyed reading about it, and the research seems very cool. It’s awesome that you were able to continue researching what you were researching back in America. A really interesting point you made was how there are no Scientific Journals in Japanese. I also find that really surprising. It seems like you worked really hard for your CIP which is really admirable, good job!
Thanks!
This seems to have been a very interesting experience. The actual experiments seem way to difficult to me but I have a number of other questions concerning your time researching. How were your hours? Did you stay as late as most of the scientists. I found it interesting that there was no keigo being used in the lab. Do you think this is the case for your lab or can you say this in general for most labs. Finally are there any aspects of your time in a Japanese lab that you wish were in American labs?
There is some keigo. But since many of the conversations aren’t about people but about experiments, it’s rarely used. Like there’s no reason to use an honorific when talking about a cell.
I spent about 15 hours a week there. I stayed late a couple of times. That was a neat experience because you really feel like you’re part of the team as a lot of other people stayed late. I felt a closer bond with people sooner than I had working in labs back in America for that very reason.
They obviously work harder than people in America so that would be good to take back. But overall, no. I think that the way they have it set up, they’re very good at producing a certain kind of science that follows very logically from previous results. Which is what science is about 90% of the time. But that line of thinking isn’t going to produce the next CRISPR or optogenetics, which is the kind of research that’s drawn me into science. Of course, if you’re at the top of the food chain in Japan, you can have that freedom, but if you’re not it doesn’t sound like a lot of fun, and there’s a certain feeling of drudgery futility that you don’t get in American labs.