Miscellaneous

I was a contestant of algorithmic competitive programming, and won a silver medal in National Olympiad in Informatics (NOI) in high school. I always feel a sweet and melancholy nostalgia for NOI. It has paved my way to university, yet it also utterly transformed my heart and life. Nevertheless, those (never-coming-back) days spent discussing algorithmic problems with high school friends remain my most treasured memories, regardless of everything else.

I am a humble reader of modern literature and literary theory. A long (but not exhaustive) list of authors that I like: Roberto Bolaño, William Faulkner, Franz Kafka, Julio Cortázar, James Joyce, Anton Chekhov, Mishima Yukio, Walter Benjamin, and Roland Barthes. Bolaño is my personal favorite (though this does not mean he is the best). When I first read his short story collection, I realized (a bit sadly) that he is an author I will never be able to live without.

I am also interested in anime. I like Ikuhara Kunihiko (esp. Utena, the best anime ever), Tsurumaki Kazuya (esp. FLCL), Shinkai Makoto (except Suzume, the worst ever), Mizushima Tsutomu (Girls und Panzer, Shirobako, and Shuumatsu Torein Doko e Iku), Anno Hideaki (Evangelion and GunBuster), Kyoto Anime (esp. Hyouka and Hibike Euphonium), and almost all Sekai-kei / Nichijou-kei genres.