Disclaimer: machine translated by DeepL which may contain errors.

After completing my Department of Biological Sciences, I spent one year as a postdoctoral fellow at RIKEN before coming to the U.S. I am currently continuing my research as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley.
I am enjoying my life in the U.S., and fortunately I have never regretted my decision to come to the U.S. I am especially happy to be in the West Coast Bay Area, where I live. Especially in the Bay Area on the West Coast, where I am located, the climate is stable and it is very comfortable to live. The wide blue skies and the magnificent nature that can be found just a short distance away always make me feel refreshed.
I am often asked how research in the U.S. differs from that in Japan. I am often asked, "How is research in the U.S. different from that in Japan? As in Japanese laboratories, there are weekly lab meetings where lab members make presentations on their progress and introduce their papers. In addition, in my laboratory, we discuss more detailed experimental plans at project meetings and sometimes in casual conversations with PIs (Principal Investigators, or Professors), and proceed with experiments based on the discussions at these meetings. In the U.S., many laboratories are relatively small. Unlike the hierarchical structure of laboratories in Japanese universities, in many cases, post-doctoral fellows and graduate students are directly attached to a single PI. Thanks to this, the relationship among lab members is quite flat, and I personally feel comfortable in being able to help each other and point out things without worrying too much about seniority.

The author giving a presentation at a research meeting held at the university. It was very encouraging to receive questions from many people, including a Nobel Prize-winning Professor.
I think the best thing about Berkeley is that people from all over the world gather here. There are seminars almost every day, and I can listen to interesting talks by famous researchers without going to international conferences. There are many opportunities to interact with other laboratories, such as the Lunch Club, where senior postdocs share their career paths, and the Department-wide Happy Hour held on Fridays on the campus lawn.
I also noticed that not everyone can come to the U.S. easily. Some people come to the U.S. from countries where it is difficult to obtain visas, or when their home countries are involved in conflicts. Their passion to do research in the U.S. and their strategic attitude with concrete career plans after coming to the U.S. are very inspiring.
To be honest, I was not positive about leaving Japan from the beginning. I was not very good at English conversation and could not imagine myself working abroad, but my husband (a Department of Physics graduate) found a post-doctoral position at Berkeley, which encouraged me to give it a try. Although I had some difficulties at the interview, such as not being able to hear the questions, I was lucky enough to receive an offer from my current laboratory.
Perhaps there are some readers who are interested in studying abroad but are worried about their English. However, in addition to English, we have another "common language" called science. Even if you don't understand everyday conversation at first, you will be able to grasp the characteristics of a person's English and understand various conversations as you somehow follow the conversation about experiments. When I understand something through cooperation using the two common languages of science and English, I feel a sense of joy that I could not experience in Japan. I hope that my writing will be of some help to those who are thinking about studying abroad, and at the same time, I would like to make sure that I will be able to make a leap forward myself.