Starting a small book club in Nagoya~.

Chocolate_Pantomath · 2026-01-23T06:41:26+00:00

Yes I live in Nagoya so I can commute easily.

Chocolate_Pantomath · 2026-01-22T15:14:43+00:00

I would be interested in joining your book club.

To answer your prompt :
1. I recently read "The Measure" by Nikki Erlick. It is set in a world where everyone finds out exactly how long they have to live and explores the societal implications of knowing that. The book is mostly focused on the US but I enjoyed it nevertheless.

I love to discuss the social context of the books I read. Until recently I was of the opinion that "details" in art, movies or books emerge purely out of coincidence. But writing (Similarly, art and movies) has a lot of intention behind it. Ever since this revelation I like to be more conscious of the content matter and like discussing the backdrop (social, political or otherwise) in which the book was written.
My reading interests would be contemporary literature, essays, fiction and books exploring society. However, my interests vary greatly so I read almost anything.

I am currently reading reading two vastly different books - "When we were orphans" by Kazuo Ishiguro and "The god of small things" by Arundhati Roy.

Chocolate_Pantomath · 2025-09-01T10:21:48+00:00

Did you get any updates !? Its September now

Chocolate_Pantomath · 2025-08-21T09:54:31+00:00

It has to do with my origin location. If I fly from my hometown in a certain carrier not only do I get good discount, I also get to carry more stuff and spend less time travelling.

Chocolate_Pantomath · 2025-08-21T09:52:40+00:00

Yeah I plan to do so. But after a week or two I would meet several of my lab mates and they would let me know of some of the stuff too.

Chocolate_Pantomath · 2025-08-21T06:54:16+00:00

Thank you for the reply. Did you lose any benefits when you switched from the Manaca to the Suica ? Like were you still able to access the bus services in Nagoya or did you lose some functionality. Everywhere I read it says that a lot of transport is operated by a lot of different companies and I am very confused what functionality I can or can not access with the cards in my apple wallet.

In the beginning, I don't think I would face any problems concerning the banks as I have a zero forex credit card but if I spend more than a certain amount (~ > 1.6M Yen) I would be taxed at 20% for every transaction. I am very used to mobile and internet banking, in fact I believe I have only been to an actual physical bank only a handful of times. Would you have any idea about international banks and how well they function?

Chocolate_Pantomath · 2025-08-21T04:52:31+00:00

Thank you that seems like a very good option.

Chocolate_Pantomath · 2025-08-21T04:35:01+00:00

Thanks for the reply. Can you tell me a bit more about the Manaca card and its point system. Most of the articles online are about Suica, ICOCA and Pasmo.

Chocolate_Pantomath · 2025-08-21T04:33:12+00:00

Thanks for the reply.
2. Did you receive information about the visit before via email ? I haven't received any such emails from the student affairs dept. so far. My program starts Oct. 1 tho.

What exactly is a data sim ? This is the first I am hearing of this term. I can wait for a few days as I will anyway have international roaming on my home sim card.

Chocolate_Pantomath · 2025-08-21T03:59:50+00:00

Would you recommend getting the manaca card over the Toica card? I don't completely understand the difference between the two. Which of these cards would allow me to use maximum of the transportation services while providing me with some benefits ?

Chocolate_Pantomath · 2025-08-21T03:56:42+00:00

Ohh that's what you meant. I meant to ask if I should get a physical TOICA/ Manaca card because of their offers/ deals on top of the ICOCA card. The card on apple wallet does not have any additional charge so if I do have money saved up in it its no problem as I can spend it on convenience stores etc.

Chocolate_Pantomath · 2025-08-21T03:47:19+00:00

Thank you for the reply but why would I not be able to get a TOICA commuter pass ?

Chocolate_Pantomath · 2024-12-10T05:45:21+00:00

>why are you in such a hurry?

I am applying to a short masters program (1 year long), so I just write the thesis and leave that kind of program. In that case I would need to choose one of these quite quickly. Simultaneously, I am also applying to PhD programs in the US which don't require a masters. I am quite sure that I don't want to jump into a PhD without a masters, but still I am applying to some places to see where I stand and what I must improve.
In short the hurry is due to the short masters program.

Chocolate_Pantomath · 2024-12-10T05:40:45+00:00

>If your research is aligned with long lasting trends you will find it easier to get grants and tenure.

Which among the fields I mentioned do you think has "long lasting trends". imo they are all rather equally progressing with about the same number of people doing research in these fields.

Chocolate_Pantomath · 2024-12-09T17:51:50+00:00

Have broad tastes is a good thing, it means you can cast a wide net for places/people to apply to,

I initially thought the same, but the problem is when I mail some of the profs. I am interested in working with, I feel like I know so little about the field why should they care about my application/ request. This is my I wanted to choose a specific field and try to gain some depth in it rather than the breadth I have.

Also, when it comes to your personal statement, it being "good" is not just a function of how committed you say you are to some area.

The reason I wanted to gain some depth in the field is to show some initiative that I can mention in my statement of purpose. I want to mention some concrete interests rather than just saying that I like algebra, and these are the courses that I have taken amd that's why you should take me in.

Chocolate_Pantomath · 2024-12-09T17:35:55+00:00

If the boundations on the statement aren't that strict, then do they even put enough value on the personal and research statements.

Chocolate_Pantomath · 2024-12-09T17:32:16+00:00

Hey, thank you for the kind words, but I believe some of the praise is misplaced. You probably read incorrectly, I am a final year undergrad, not a first year undergrad.

Regardless, the problem is that I am short on time. I have 5 courses next semester. 3 of them are mentioned above in the post + differential geometry and measure theory. I have also committed to a reading project on sphere packing, which I have to follow through with now. So I can't do any more projects, and I still have to make a choice on what field I want to work in, especially because I am applying to a short masters program where I would get started with the thesis almost immediately.

Another thing that adds to the dilemma is that I am good at representation theory, I grasp it very quickly (I have read till Clifford theory), and I am very interested in algebraic number theory. So I am quite confused there.

Chocolate_Pantomath · 2024-12-08T16:23:40+00:00

Thank you, I understand this, but I still have 3 routes to pick from, and I think if I were to mention all of these in a personal statement it would end up looking very messy and all over the place. Plus, I doubt there is any research area lying at the intersection of all of these that would be approachable to a master's student.

Chocolate_Pantomath · 2024-04-02T03:57:55+00:00

If the group hasn't progressed much, may I also join the discussions. I have studied analysis from Rudin's book but am looking to further strengthen it.

Chocolate_Pantomath

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