The second doctoral examination marked the final stage of my long doctoral journey. Upon completing this examination, I was officially declared to have passed the doctoral program and earned the title of Doctor, which was later formally conferred at the graduation ceremony on March 25, 2025. This examination also marked the end of my time at NIMS, where I spent a total of five years—two years as a master’s student and three years as a doctoral student.

Compared to the first examination, the second doctoral examination felt significantly lighter. The main focus was to present new data that had not yet been discussed during the first examination and to demonstrate clear improvements in the sections that had previously received substantial feedback from the examiners. As a result, the phrase I heard most often at the beginning of the Q&A session was, “I can see improvement compared to the first examination.”

For me, this sentence was incredibly reassuring. It implicitly confirmed that as long as the feedback from the first examination had been taken seriously and properly addressed, the second examination was likely to proceed smoothly.

Another notable difference was that the second examination was open to the public. Anyone was allowed to attend and ask questions. However, because the examiners had already addressed most of the fundamental issues during the first examination, the questions in the second session tended to focus on more advanced aspects. The discussion centered mainly on the newly presented data, the potential future applications of the research, and possible directions for further development of the dissertation.

After completing the second doctoral examination, the dominant feeling was relief. At that point, I was completely confident that I would graduate. Although one of my papers was still under review, I was no longer required to conduct additional experiments. Substantively, my research was finished—or at least had reached a sufficiently complete stage.

Interestingly, the paper I had submitted before the examination was initially rejected by the journal. However, we promptly resubmitted it to a different journal in early March, and it was eventually accepted and published in May 2025, shortly after I officially graduated. This experience once again reinforced my understanding of the graduation requirements. While doctoral students at NIMS are unofficially expected to publish three international journal papers as first author, in practice I was allowed to graduate with two published papers and one paper under submission—provided that the submitted paper was eventually accepted after graduation.

From this, I came to realize that the so-called “three-paper requirement” is not always applied rigidly. Instead, it may function more as a form of psychological pressure—encouraging doctoral students to maintain high productivity and continue working diligently until the very end of their studies.

Looking back on my five years at NIMS, I can honestly say that this period was one of the most valuable and unforgettable chapters of my life. Not only because I ultimately earned a doctoral degree, but also because of the long process that shaped the way I think, work, and cope with pressure—both in academic life and in life more broadly.