I can finally say with pride, 'I wrote a thesis analyzing the lyrics of "Ai wa Katsu"'

About two and a half years ago, I uploaded the following article on note.

About a year after that, in December 2021, I managed to finish writing my thesis, and in March of the following year, 2022, I received my master's degree.
However, I still felt a lingering sense of unease.
To be honest, I wasn't satisfied with the quality of the thesis. I even thought about staying in graduate school for another year to continue my research. But even if I had extended it by a year, I didn't know if I could produce better results. Also, due to personal circumstances, I chose to complete the master's program in the shortest possible time of two years rather than focusing on the quality of the thesis, and I managed to finish it through sheer force of will.

About half a year later, in the summer, I received an email from the professor who supervised me during my graduate school days. It was an announcement calling for submissions to an online journal published by the university.
I felt that a chance had come for me, as I had been thinking, 'I want to redo my master's thesis.'
The online journal allows you to publish a summary of the master's thesis you have written. There were two categories to choose from for submission: 'Master's Research Report' (an article equivalent to 8 A4 pages) and 'Master's Research Brief' (an article equivalent to 4 A4 pages). I chose the 'Master's Research Report,' which allowed me to write using 8 A4 pages, without hesitation, and put myself forward as a contributor. I was then given the opportunity and began writing.

My master's thesis was about 70 A4 pages long, so I had to condense it into 8 pages. Although there is a difference in font size—the thesis was 12 points and the journal article was 9 points—I still had to significantly cut down the text and extract the essence of the argument.
I restructured the composition and incorporated citations and references that I hadn't used in the thesis. I included new insights I had gained and boldly deleted parts that I had talked about at length in the thesis. Thanks to the professor who supervised me checking it several times, I finally reached a result that I was satisfied with.
Now I can proudly present this to the public. With that confidence, I was able to send the manuscript to the editor in charge.

Then, the other day, I received a notification from the editor that the online journal I contributed to had been uploaded to the website.

Seeing my own writing published there, I felt that it had finally come to a conclusion.
I can finally say with pride and confidence that I 'wrote' this thesis. After being able to argue it in a way I was satisfied with, I was able to have it published in a place where people outside the university could read it.
I finally felt like I had 'done it all.'

When I uploaded the aforementioned note article two and a half years ago, I contacted SEI, whose tweet I had quoted in the article, to let them know, and not only did they kindly agree, but they also introduced my article in their own tweet.

Moreover, many people 'liked' it, and there were also people who retweeted it. And many people also 'liked' my note article.
I wanted to repay everyone, including SEI, by somehow finishing a respectable thesis and proudly reporting that to them.

But in reality, I was proceeding with my research without confidence. I had a lot of hesitation and anxiety.
The research I was doing was different from general research, such as analyzing numbers shown in data or summarizing the content of interviews. It is natural for people to have different interpretations of the lyrics of a single song.
Therefore, what was required was to explain 'why I interpreted it this way' in a way that anyone could understand objectively and logically. If there was even a single cloud in that explanation, the persuasiveness would drop drastically.
Looking back, I was always proceeding with my research in fear. When the deadline was getting closer and closer, I wrote it while panicking, thinking, 'I have to finish it by the deadline or I won't be able to graduate this year.' I think it's hard to say that the finished content was perfect as a thesis.

That's why I always felt guilty. Even when it was decided that I would complete the master's program, I felt sorry that I couldn't proudly report it to SEI and the fans of KAN who supported me.

But now, I have been able to release my thesis to the world in this form.
I am truly grateful, and at the same time, I felt that I could finally express my gratitude proudly here on note to those who supported my research through social media.

To SEI, those who 'liked' SEI's tweet, those who retweeted it, and those who 'liked' my note article or gave me happy feedback, thank you very much.
Thanks to you, I was able to compile the research I wanted to do and reach a conclusion that I am satisfied with.

By the way, the title of my thesis is 'The Polysemy of the Lyrics of "Ai wa Katsu" Examined Using Rhetorical Criticism: Through a Comparison with the Lyrics of "Donna Toki mo."'.
You can go directly to my article in the online journal from the link below (people outside the university can also view it freely). I would be happy if you could read it if you are interested.

https://oujjas.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/OUJJAS_2022_02_120-128.pdf