Graduation 2026 Spring
Apr 01, 2026
We are pleased to announce that two students from TUFS have successfully completed their doctoral programs this spring, and Doctoral degrees were granted. Below are photos from the graduation ceremonies and their comments.
We wish you all the best in your future endeavors！
Brandon Mark Bodenstein (TUFS, Professor.Takeuchi Lab)
Reflecting on my Ph.D journey
Writing, like migration, is often reimagined as a solitary act, a lonely figure crossing a border or a blank page. But neither exists in isolation. My work in Koga and Toride taught me that ideas are not "found"—they are grown in the "spaces between." They emerge from the friction of conversation, sharpening in the heat of dialogue, and taking shape in the messy, unmapped overlaps of people, memory, and time.
My thesis, Migration, Bounded Precarity, and Local Governance, is a ledger of these encounters. It is a map of four decades of "bounded precarity"—the subtle, profound ways that policy carves its marks onto the bodies and spirits of those who build lives in Japan’s peri-urban edges. This work belongs as much to the voices that entrusted me with their stories as it does to future generations who venture to start lives in distant lands, despite uncertainty.
A message for prospective student
To those beginning a PhD: Do not look for a straight path. Look for the "ruins"—the places where systems fail, where the official story cracks, and where people are quietly building something new in the gaps.
Research is an act of deep, radical listening. It is the slow, sometimes painful refinement of thought into text. Do not fear the struggle for clarity; it is the sound of your ideas finding their feet. Your work is not just a requirement for a degree—it is a testimony. Let it be as stubborn and as resilient as the lives you choose to write about.
Xiyu Wang (TUFS, Professor.Takeuchi Lab)
My JDPSR Experience
For those who are going to pursue a PhD
Nowadays, the global society is full of uncertainties and challenges. JDPSR can equip you with the skills to leverage multidisciplinary knowledge and create a bright future for all.
