Tetsu’s Road to Multilingualism (Part VI: 29-present)

Why Japan?

Two reasons. First, being half Taiwanese and half Japanese, I wanted to revisit my roots. But really, that’s not half as important as the second reason. I’ve always felt a disconnect between what I learned at university, i.e., biology, and my strongest assets, i.e., languages. The language of science is English and it was not about to change anytime soon. So I figured I could probably find some clues as to how to use my languages, well, at least Japanese, if I came to Japan, the scientific hub of Asia, and started my career here. The plan was to do a post-doc for about 2-3 years in Japan, and then do another one for 2-3 years in California, where a lot of biotechs are found, before going back to Canada to open my own lab. As usual, things don’t go quite as planned.

Tetsu’s Road to Multilingualism (Part III: 13-18 years-old)

I had a choice between Australia and Canada. Each had its pros and cons. In Australia, I would live with my father’s friend/business acquaintance, apparently a very rich man living on a ranch with his own helicopter. In Canada, I would live with my aunt (my father’s little sister). Oh, minor detail, I would have to learn French as this would be in Quebec.
I chose Quebec.