Masato Yabe East Asian studies graduate student

Graduate student reflects on similarities between Japan and Wisconsin, cheese, hair loss

YABE: Wait a minute, you're going to take a picture of me?

WILDCAT: Just your head while we're talking. So, where are you off to right now?

YABE: I'm going home.

WILDCAT: Have you had a long day?

YABE: Yeah. Very long.

WILDCAT: Do they work you hard in the graduate program?

YABE: I don't know.

WILDCAT: Is the graduate program like its own little realm where you sit on big, fluffy couches and people feed you grapes?

YABE: What?

WILDCAT: OK, how about this: Do you like it more than undergrad?

YABE: Well, if you like the graduate program and you think what you're doing is interesting, then you'll, how do you say, enjoy it?

WILDCAT: Where are you from?

YABE: Japan.

WILDCAT: Wow! Do you like Arizona?

YABE: It's different.

WILDCAT: You can just say you don't like it. You won't offend anyone.

YABE: Well, I'm from the northern part of Japan. It's like Wisconsin.

WILDCAT: Do you have a lot of cheese in Northern Japan?

YABE: Cheese? Yes. And dairy product.

WILDCAT: Really? What's your favorite kind of cheese?

YABE: Anything is fine.

WILDCAT: Do you prefer it melted and gooey, like on pizza?

YABE: That's a weird question.

WILDCAT: This is a weird column.

YABE: Cheese? I like melted.

WILDCAT: Good man. So, back to the graduate program. How many hours a day are you at school?

YABE: Well, I get up at 7 a.m and go home at 4, and then I come back to the library and study until 1 a.m.

WILDCAT: Holy mackerel! Do you ever pull your hair out while you are studying?

YABE: Well, yeah. That's the reason I've been losing hair.