I had the opportunity to visit National Taiwan University thanks to the introduction of my supervisor, Professor Yuko Araki. She has a good relationship with Professor Jeng-Min Chiou from National Taiwan University and has invited him to Tohoku University twice to give talks. Professor Chiou is well known in the field of functional data analysis. During his two visits, I had discussions with Professor Chiou about my research, and we agreed that I would visit National Taiwan University for a four-month research stay.

Applying for the entry permit for Taiwan took a long time, but I finally received it before the start date of my research visit. Since the university dormitory was under renovation, I rented an apartment near the university by myself. It was very convenient because I could walk to the university every day.

During my research stay at National Taiwan University, I had the opportunity to discuss my research with Professor Chiou about once a week. These discussions were very helpful for me. Researchers and staff in the institute were also very friendly and gave me a lot of help. Through my stay there, I was able to continue my research in a good academic environment.

Life there was also very comfortable. The campus of National Taiwan University is beautiful, and it was a pleasant place to study and work every day. Because Taiwan and mainland China share the same cultural background, I felt very familiar with daily life there. The food was also very familiar to me. In addition to local Taiwanese foods such as beef noodles and braised pork rice, there were also many restaurants offering different kinds of Chinese cuisine, such as Sichuan cuisine and Cantonese cuisine. There were also many night markets, where people could find a wide variety of local food and snacks. These places were lively and gave me the chance to experience everyday life in the city. Since Chinese was widely used in daily life, I did not have much difficulty in communication, both on and off campus. Many buildings also had a traditional Chinese architectural style, which made the city feel both familiar and culturally rich.

During my stay, I also experienced Chinese New Year in Taipei. I visited Dihua Street and experienced the festival atmosphere there. Many shops were selling New Year goods, New Year decorations, and traditional food for Chinese New Year. Many customs during Chinese New Year were also very similar to those in mainland China, including the use of spring couplets and lanterns, as well as festive activities such as lantern festivals and temple fairs. This experience helped me better understand local life and culture.

During this research stay, I further extended my previous research. Together with Professor Chiou, we wrote and submitted a paper that introduces a descriptive statistic. Through discussions with Professor Chiou, I also obtained an idea for developing a new statistical method, which will be part of my future research.

I am very grateful to the GP-DS program for giving me this valuable opportunity to study and live in Taipei. This experience was very important for my academic development and allowed me to broaden my research perspective. I sincerely appreciate the support that made this visit possible.