Guest Speech

Good morning, everyone.

I would like to express my warmest, sincerest, and heart-felt congratulations to you and your family.

Like today, in 2013, 2014, and 2015, I was standing here to express my congratulations to you. I like this atmosphere with family here. It is very special to be celebrated together with your family though there was only one challenge for me then – reading the names of the graduates correctly particularly the names of those from Thailand and Sri Lanka.

Most of you came here 2 years ago. Therefore, you must have been wondering whether you could go to study abroad and which country you are going to study in the time of pandemic. And you chose Japan and IUJ. I would like to thank you on this choice and would like to say that you made the right decision. I would like to explain why.

I stayed at IUJ as the President only for 3 years. But my relationship with IUJ continued much longer. When I was here, I leaned that you were mostly satisfied with the study in IUJ, but some students wanted to know more about Japan itself. Certainly, though you could learn about your academic subjects and specialization, the chance to study about Japan, its economy, politics and culture was limited.  It was a very natural request that you should be given a chance to study about Japan more. Then what should we teach and how? The question remained without any clear answer for a while.

However, as the president of JICA, I came to think that we should teach the process of modernization in Japan, because Japan was the first and probably only country that had modernized from non-western background without losing its cultural identity. Though people think that the center of development study is in England or in the US, they were already advanced counties in the 19^th century. Japan, however, was an underdeveloped country and had to struggle with the discrimination from the advanced western country. After the victory over China and Russia and in World War I, Japan became to be regarded as one of the five great powers. Still, when Japan wanted to insert a principle of “Racial Equality” among the principles of the League Nations, it was rejected by the US President Woodrow Wilson.

Japan made a lot of errors in the 1930s and caused a lot of damage to the people of neighboring countries and Japanese people suffered a lot. However, Japan recovered from the scorch of defeat and established a prosperous, free, democratic nation based on the rule of law. Japan should be the center of the development studies in the world.

Based on this idea, I established “JICA development study program”, including the TV program and courses in English in many universities. I believe you had the chance to join it at IUJ. This is now exported to many developing countries as “JICA chair for Japanese studies” to provide opportunity for the students to learn about Japan. I am in charge of those programs at JICA and go to many universities in Japan and in the world by myself. Last year, as a lectures of JICA chair, I visited South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Nigeria, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka.

Those students from developing countries, you may find a JICA chair in your country. Please join it and meet with the professors from Japan. Some professors of IUJ, professor Hiroshi Kato and Tomohito Shinoda may be among them.

Today, the world is in a terrible situation. International disputes should not be solved by power.  They should be solved by negotiations, arbitrations, international court, or diplomacy, but  never by power. This is the most important milestone that human beings established after two great wars. But this principle is now in danger by Russian invasion into Ukraine.

A resolution to criticize Russia was adopted in March 2022 at the UN general assembly by a overwhelming majority of 140 out of 193. But the situation has not changed much. When it comes to the issue of sanction against Russia, the support from the developing countries is not very strong. It is first because of the memory of the colonial rule by the west, and second they are suspicious about the “universal values” that the advanced countries adovocate. Particularly, they do not accept such concept of democracy, human rights, and others from the advanced countries as they are.

Western countries tend to criticize the discrimination against women in, say, Pakistan. Women are regarded weak, therefore have to be protected, therefore, they should not go afar. As the result, there are many girls who can not go to school. As the result literacy rate remains very low.

Japan’s approach, JICA’s approach is deferent. We do not take an approach of name and shame. We quietly build a small school near their village so that they can go to school. Which is better?

Universal values should be applied to various countries with cautious attention to the time, place, culture flexibly.

This is Japan’s approach. JICA’s approach. It is more respected and evaluated by the developing countries. This is why Japan can bridge the gap between the advanced countries and developing countries. It is, I would like to say, the historical obligation of Japan.

I have been talking to the students from developing countries. Of course there are students from rich countries. Your presense is most welcome. I would like to celebrate you for your precious experience of studying together with the students from other civilization. It is like a small United Nations. Without knowing the developing countries, you cannot lead the world.

There are of course Japanese students. You had really precious opportunity to learn with the students from different and diverse civilizations. In Japan, we usually use the word, “Eating from the same pot,” as the way to be close each other. IUJ is it.

Now we are living in a difficult time. Most of you are ready to work for your country or for the world. But in some countries, you may have to wait for a while because of the environment. When there was a fighting taking place in Edo, today’s Tokyo in 1868, the students of Master Fukuzawa Yukichi were excited and wanted to go to see the fighting. Fukuzawa sensei told them “Calm down, it is the time to study for the future.”

This is the message I would like to send to those people.

Congratulations again.

Thank you.

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