Testimonial Essay _  Terutoshi Noritsugu from Tokyo Institute of Technology

I participated in this program to develop my research that I have been doing at Tokyo Tech. My major is Science and Technology Studies (STS), and I am doing research about scientific advice. Both KAIST and Tokyo Tech consist of students who have science- or technology- related background, but I am not major in those fields. However, both institutes have amazing department that stimulates my research interests, and I thought this would be an amazing opportunity to be a member of KAIST STP and do research with prominent professors and students. This is the reason why I decided to join this program.

This program is “research-oriented program” and the participants are required to conduct research here at KAIST. I joined KAIST STP, did my research, and discussed with the members of STP. This experience was very fruitful for me to develop my research. I hardly had the knowledge and information about the situation surrounding scientific advice in South Korea, and the way of utilizing it to deal with COVID-19. Above all, I didn’t even know how to get the relevant information about scientific advice in this country, but I was able to get a lot of materials which help me to enrich my research. Thanks to the people I met at KAIST STP, I now understand the whole structure of handling COVID-19 in South Korea, and gradually getting the picture of how scientific advice has been utilized at the time of crisis. Even though we are supposed to do research in this program, I feel we are encouraged to go traveling, hang out with friends, and enjoy life in this country as much as possible, because it lasts only one and a half months, and it is very difficult to complete research in that period of time.  Therefore, I tried to talked to the students at STP and asked them to eat out together several times and went other cities except for Daejon with friends both from KAIST and Tokyo Tech. Even though the time was very short, I feel this experience would be unforgettable memory for my life.

What I like the most about this program is the tremendous support I got from everyone I encountered. The coordinator Ms. Hyelim Bae who was so supportive. Especially the one-day trip to Jeonju with her is one of the highlights of this program.  Whenever we asked questions or for help, she always replied quickly, which was so helpful. And she gave us snacks, fruits, and things like that several times. That is also the reason why I like her. 😂 We really appreciate her dedication very much!! Not only her, but also our great buddy, Edward, helped us so much. He is in the Ph.D. course and doing start-up job so he must be very busy, but he always cares about us and asks us to go out and show us around Daejon. Our stay in South Korea would be boring without him for sure. We really hope his success in Ph.D. and his company!! Additionally, the professors and students I met at STP were amazing. I didn’t expect I could get this warm welcome, but they welcomed me very nicely. They tried to help me all the time whenever I have problems with my research. We discussed the research and have meal together, which is unforgettable memory for me. I really hope all of them will have successful life at KAIST and even after graduating. The Korean Language course was also one of the most exciting experiences for me. The teacher was so kind and we had so much fun learning with her. I will keep studying Korean even after I go back to Japan.  

I am fully convinced that the experience I got through this program will have huge impact on my research and my personal life. My master thesis is comparative research between South Korea and Japan, but I would not be able to gather this amount of critical information without joining this program. My research continues even though my stay at Korea ends soon. I will keep in touch with people I met during this program both for my research and my personal life.

          I have come to South Korea two times before this program, and EVERY time I feel so happy to visit this country. I have been to several countries, but South Korea is always one of the best for me. South Korea and Japan sometimes have issues especially in terms of politics, but I believe we can get along and we ARE getting alone with each other.