東京大学公共政策大学院 | GraSPP / Graduate School of Public Policy | The university of Tokyo

THE LIFE-CHANGING EXPERIENCE One Singaporean delegate asked me two questions on the very last day; ‘What are the two biggest takeaways from this program?’ and ‘Who are the two most interesting people you’ve met through this program?’ These questions made me think about what this program meant for me and how this experience was going to affect my life. I am going to consider these questions and review this life-changing program.  ‘What are the two biggest takeaways from this program?’ One takeaway for me is the idea of careers. ‘What do you want to achieve over the next 20-30 years and what do you want to be?’ I don’t think I’m the only person who finds this question difficult. I assume this is because we don’t have a concrete image of what we can possibly achieve in our life and ‘how’. Meeting political leaders, CEOs from all over the world and young delegates from 14 economies certainly helped me to develop an answer to this question. The experience of meeting people like Mark Zuckerberg, Ian Bremmer of Eurasia Group, Xi Jinping, PM John Key, PM Malcolm Turnbull, and Christine Lagarde of IMF and sharing a moment thinking about issues across regions was powerful enough to make me think I could be someone who works for these people or I could even become someone like these people in next few decades. Another takeaway from this program is how to build relationships with others. Building relationships played an important role in terms of how deeply you could engage in the program and how much you could maximize such an opportunity. If you succeed in building a good relationship, people will value your opinions, they will help you and they may give you souvenirs during the cultural night. If you can establish a strong bond, you can create a relationship in which you can work together even after APEC. The opportunities to realize this fact were especially found in the following three activities: making a proposal for APEC VOF within and without Japanese delegates, approaching officials and CEOs to set up meetings with Japanese delegates, and making good friends with those people in attendance.  ‘Who are the two most interesting people you’ve met through this program?’ I find this question incredibly difficult because every single person I met through this program, including other Japanese delegates and professors, was interesting and inspiring. If I give just one name from the CEO summit, it would be Ian Bremmer of Eurasia Group for three reasons: what he does, how he presents, and how he attracts people. He is a founder of Eurasia Group, which gives political risk analysis and consulting to investors and business decision-makers. At the CEO summit, he gave a keynote speech and he mentioned Trump’s presidency during his speech while everyone on the stage had been avoiding this topic. He even mentioned why US-Japan relations are going to work even under a Trump presidency. The speech stood out not just because of what he presented but also because of his humor and the way he talked to the audience.    In conclusion, APEC VOF was not only a chance to deepen my knowledge of the region but also a chance to broaden my horizon and gain an explicit vision of my future. I believe this experience is going to influence my life when it comes to making a decision about my career.

Excited and nervous, I took the 26-hour flight to Lima, Peru, traveling literally three quarters of the world from Tokyo. I had heard many positive reflections of this program, “APEC Voices of the Future (VOF)” but honestly I was slightly skeptical. How different would it be from other international student conferences, and what drivers force participants into thinking that it is so life-changing? Although APEC VOF is mainly comprised of student delegates, I soon realized that it was not a usual “student conference” with the main focus and emphasis on cultural exchange or collaborative work. Such things were merely the tip of the iceberg. As a VOF delegate, we were provided with an extensive list of amazing opportunities, including participation in the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) and the APEC CEO Summit that presidents, prime ministers, and business leaders from more than 20 economies attended. One of the highlights for me was the keynote address on women’s empowerment presented by Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Growing global attention has been paid on women’s empowerment, with notable figures leading campaigns such as Emma Watson’s “He for She” movement or Michelle Obama’s “Let Girls Learn” initiative. However, Lagarde’s speech truly convinced me of the potential of women- how much has been ignored in the past years and what we, as the current generation can do to expedite measures to achieve gender equality. I was happy to hear her positive comment on Prime Minister Abe’s Womenomics movement, claiming that Japan’s GDP has the potential to grow by 0.4% if more women continually enter the workforce. Her insights and global examples regarding current fiscal policies, such as the taxation policies on the family’s secondary earner or family support policies, allowed me to see the advantages as well as the disadvantages that each country is facing. For instance, she provided an example of how in Chile student’s school hours were extended in order to support mothers with extended work time. As a Japanese female citizen, such an encouraging example provides an optimistic view of how further progress can be made for working women. Particularly because Japan currently faces a huge issue regarding the lack of childcare facilities, her speech allowed me to realize that I have to be a part of this active change. It depends on each individual of the current generation to provide change for the future: it is up to us to create a so-called “sustainable” environment that so much attention has been put on especially in the past few years. Having the opportunity to gather with active and bright delegates from all around the world was truly rewarding. As I was also part of the declaration drafting committee, I had the chance to debate with each country’s representative to discuss their views on quality growth, human development, and regional integration. Although our core underlying aims and goals towards sustainable development for the future generation were the same, priorities, perspectives, and approaches differed drastically. From the Japanese perspective, as we are a developed country, the focus tends to be put on third-generational human rights, including female empowerment and promoting diversity. However, delegates from developing countries tended to stress second-generational rights such as equal education and health care. This discussion allowed me to recognize that communication is pivotal. Of course, communication is the driving factor in getting to know people on a personal level, but even on an academic level, misunderstandings rise without thorough communication and in-depth explanation. This exercise certainly helped to realize that underlying values and social environments frame the way concepts are understood and internalized. There is no one right answer to an issue, and that is what makes it even more interesting. I am blessed and thankful to have been able to attend this amazing event this year, and I will cherish the memories, lessons, and new friends I made through the one week I spent as an APEC VOF 2016 Japanese delegate.

First and foremost, I would like to seize this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to Graduate School of Public Policy of the University of Tokyo for considering me an eligible candidate for the internship. I should also like most especially to thank, Nishizawa-sensei and Sato-san, who helped me and organized this wonderful program. Two weeks of internship, vanishing away. I really felt like I got back to work. Every day I had to get up at 7:00 a.m. and reach office by 9:00 a.m. Thank you for Tokyo metropolitan system that allowed me to commute easily from suburb area to the heart of Tokyo’s downtown, where located head office of Marubeni Corporation and, above all, made it on time. From the very beginning I was surrounded by friendly and hospitable environment. I was hosted by CIS & Europe Division of Regional Coordination and Administration Department. My feeling was as I am a Japanese graduate who just started career in one of the Japanese general trading companies. At the first day morning I was really surprised when I found business cards with my name on the desktop. Further during the first week company provided orientation course for me similar to that is delivered to new recruits. As is fit for Japanese, everything in my schedule was thoroughly planned and clearly defined, even who supposed to have lunch with me. Many thanks to Kikuchi-san. Internship in Marubeni gave me a chance to look into sōgō shōsha from inside. Each business division presented their activities and projects (completed and existing) that provided a complete picture of company’s operations. Until recently, I did not even know that Marubeni constructed capital airport of my country. Through communication and excursion I was able to understand how they conduct business and where they have a presence as well as better understanding specificity of Japanese business culture and ethical standards. With a twist of luck, I was privileged to meet with Vice-Chairman of Marubeni Corporation, who is also Chairperson of Japanese-Kazakh Committee on Economic Cooperation. We discussed with him the current economic situation of Kazakhstan and how Japan can contribute to its development via bilateral collaboration. Noting the forthcoming exhibition “Astana EXPO-2017”, which is not only effective platform to promote country’s image, but also to facilitate tourism, we had a talk about that issue and he shared his thoughts and vision. In total I met with 39 people (excluding off-site meetings) with different backgrounds and at different levels of the hierarchy. With some of them we started our conversation with my limited Japanese and ended up with Russian or even my mother tongue. I think that is Marubeni’s advantage of being able to send its personnel to overseas offices to gain international experience as a part of employee development plan. Most importantly, over this time period I forged new ties, got a substantial and an invaluable experience. And I believe that such experience in organisations overseas adds significant kudos to any type of career that should stand you in extremely good stead.

Sorry, this entry is only available in Japanese. For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language.

Brown Bag Talk Session - Campus Asia Program 日時：11月8日（火） 12:15-13:30 会場: 東京大学　本郷キャンパス　第二本部棟 623   北京大学、ソウル大学との交換留学、ダブルディグリープログラムにご興味ある方、事前登録の上、ぜひご参加ください。 Brown Bag Talk Session - Campus Asia Program 登録フォーム  

[Invitation for AY2017 Exchange and Double Degree Programs Information Session] Date & Time:  Friday October 21st, 12:15-14:00 Venue: School of Law Bldg. Room 102 If you wish to attend, please register from the below link. https://goo.gl/forms/F3iBPVIh2AT7I7Cl2   The most up-to-date application guidelines are NOW available! AY2017 DD Application Guidelines AY2017 Ex Application Guidelines *Hard copies will be provided at the information session. (For your reference, the Double Degree/Exchange Program page is here.）   For inquiries: exchange@pp.u-tokyo.ac.jp Office: Rm629 at the Administration Bureau Bldg2

I am a foreign student in GraSPP from China, in my last semester of graduate school I got a precious opportunity to exchange study to the HEC Paris. It is a great honor to be the first GraSPPer to study at HEC Paris since this is the first time GraSPP and HEC Paris have made a deal of exchange program. HEC Paris is considered as the most prominent business in France, the greater part of business leaders in France are HEC Paris alumni. HEC Paris has a deep relationship with leading companies in France, such as LVMH, DANONE, MICHELIN, RENAULT, TOTAL, BNP Paribas, Airbus and so on. I strongly recommend HEC Paris to all GraSPPers. HEC Paris offers a wide range of curriculum for exchange students which covers Economics, Finance, Accounting, Law, Strategy and French culture. Looking ahead to my future career, I chose many financial courses during my exchange study, e.g. ”Financial Economics”, “Financial Markets”, “Financial Accounting”. Ways of education are different between Todai and HEC Paris. Todai focuses on theoretical study, on the other hand HEC Paris put more energy on empirical research. The knowledge taught in HEC Paris is easier to be applied in real business. Also, during my exchange study, I chose several unique courses like “Wine Marketing” and “Paris Rive Droite & Rive Gauche”. The “Wine Marketing” is taught by a HEC alumna who is a famous wine merchant and writer. I have leant a lot of knowledge of wine and did wine tasting from that course. “Paris Rive Droite & Rive Gauche” is a lecture for  introducing the culture and history of Paris by showing us sightseeing spots in Paris. In this course, I have visited Louvre Museum, Arc de Triomphe, Les Champ-Elysees, Notre Dame de Paris and so on. Because Europe is a continent that comprises different countries and cultures, my classmates all have different background. Students from different countries like UK, Germany, Netherland, Italy, Spain, Austria, Greece are studying and communicating together everyday, different minds and cultures expanded my horizon a lot and gave me more confidence to communicate with people from different cultures. During my exchange study period, terrorist attacks occurred Paris, 130 victims died in that attack. HEC Paris is located in the southern suburbs of Paris, so the school is very safe in that time. Also during that period, my home university- Todai gave me a lot of support to overcome the fear from terrorism. Studying in HEC Paris is one of the most memorable part of my whole life. I profited highly from my stay at HEC Paris, I highly recommend this exchange program. I am most grateful for the chance of studying in HEC Paris, thanks to all the people helped me in the exchange program.

I have studied at Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKY SPP) from August to December 2015 through the exchange program between GraSPP and LKY SPP. According to the Dean Kishore Mahbubani, the school itself is relatively small but “the strong, diverse and research-active faculty is a major asset.” 80% of the total consist of international students all over the world and this diverse environment provides unique networking possibilities. Their goal is to educate and inspire current and future generations of leaders to raise the standards of governance in Asia, bringing together the best of the East and the best of the West. I spent one semester there and took three modules: Comparative Case Studies, Soft Power in the Asia-Pacific and Principles of Economics. Two former modules are three-hour sessions and we struggled with readings (about 200 pages) every week. One session is composed of (1) lecture by the professor, (2) presentation by classmates, and (3) group discussions. The latter economic module consists of the three-hour lecture and the one-hour tutorial session for problem solving. Furthermore, pre- and post- lecture quizzes are to be done every week. One of the major challenge was “discussions,” in other words, how to show them my understandings and opinions of reading materials. Although it took some time to get used to the lecture style but by the end of the semester, I came to be able to stand up and make statements dignifiedly in front of the class. Professors and classmates were all enthusiastic and supportive, it inspired me a lot. I felt that each class was more organized and perfectly managed than those at universities in Japan. I met wonderful people from all over the world, especially, my housemates from India, the United States and Switzerland. Studying together, travelling together and having a birthday party, we shared joys and sorrows with each other. Although we sometimes faced hard things through a new life in a different environment, we learned a lot and got matured through experience. Finally, I truly appreciate every experience at LKY SPP and all the support from University of Tokyo, my family and friends. This valuable experience will definitely be beneficial and helpful to my future career.     

Entering GraSPP opened the door for me to pursue a double degree with SIPA, granting me the opportunity to partake in two very unique programs. The GraSPP-SIPA double degree program allowed me to spend a challenging yet fulfilling two years of graduate school life.

The MPP/IP at GraSPP offers a community of diverse and experienced practitioners from various fields of public policy as well as a tight-knit community of fellow students with impressive professional backgrounds. The relatively small number of students in the MPP/IP helps to create strong networks within the student body and between the faculty and students – building a community conducive to teambuilding and cooperative learning.

In my experience, being in Tokyo and New York, two of the most exciting cities in the world, provided a sea of opportunities. Whilst at GraSPP, I interned at the US Embassy in Tokyo, and at SIPA, I took part in a research project in Cambodia and had countless opportunities to work with professionals at the United Nations Headquarters.  

The two years at my graduate schools went by in a flash – there were always new challenges, new topics of interest, and inspiring people to meet and learn from. I am immensely grateful for the knowledge gained, friendships built, and the networks developed throughout these two years, and will certainly treasure them throughout my professional life.

               

― I understand you were sent here by the National Personnel Authority. I came here under a national scholarship program run by the National Personnel Authority. This program is offered to interested staff from government ministries and enables them to engage research activities at graduate schools in Japan. I worked at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in the area of telecommunications. I was engaged in formulating competition policies in a mobile phone market. This fostered my desire to study at graduate school so that I could learn more about the laws related to the field of policy formulation, and gain knowledge of economics that can be used to analyze the effectiveness of existing policies. The National Personnel Authority program lets you take the entrance exam for any graduate school you want, so long as it is a public university. A dozen or so people are chosen each year from across the different ministries and agencies. When I talked to an older colleague who had been sent to GraSPP in its early years, I was advised that GraSPP was ideal for what I wanted to study, with a flexible curriculum that doesn't just focus narrowly on law, economics, or politics. ― Having completed your first year, how are things going? There are a lot of classes I would like to take, but with GraSPP having a limit of 38 on the number of credits you can obtain, I have attended some courses both inside and outside the faculty as a non-regular student. The courses "Regulation Policy" and "Law and Economics" given by Professor Toshihiro Matsumura are directly relevant to my work and have a lerted me to aspects I hadn't considered in the past. I was also interested by the three case studies on “Public Administration and Society in the Digital Age” by Professor Hirokazu Okumura. While the case studies raise a wide variety of issues, including the transition to a participatory society enabled by ICT, greater transparency in government through the publishing of data, and improving administrative efficiency through measures such as e-government and the social security and tax number system called "My Number System" in Japan, they are all predicated on the expectation that the nature of government and the relationship between administrative government and its people will change in the future. Almost all approvals at my own office are now done electronically, with nobody using a seal any more. The “Basic Knowledge and its Application in the Field of Legislation - Policy-Making by Constitutional Government” of Professor Hideyuki Toyama has also proved beneficial, providing an opportunity to learn systematically on essential knowledge for legislation. Living the life of a student once more, although I feel a little self-conscious about the difference in age between myself and the other students, because many of them are interested in getting a job in government, I believe it might be helpful that I tell them my own job experience in that environment. Currently, I have moved on somewhat from my initial interests to pick up on the “nudge” idea and attend the Nudge Unit of the Graduate Program for Social ICT Global Creative Leaders (GCL). “Nudge” is the idea of taking advantage of human nature to encourage people to adopt better behaviors while still preserving freedom of choice. In place of the past top-down approach of telling people how to behave, it stands for gently guiding (“nudging”) them in the right direction. I believe this will be useful in the formulation of future policy that does not involve legal coercion. I suspect I would have remained ignorant of this interesting idea had I not come to GraSPP.

In conjunction with Case Study (Finance and Development in Emerging Asia II) Date & time: Monday, June 20, 2016, 10:25-12:00 Venue: Seminar Room 3 (Room No. 710), 7th floor, Administration Bureau Building 2 Language: English Facilitator: Prof. Toshiro Nishizawa Open to all current students Overview: Internal auditing is an important and pragmatic process which can be of significant value to all legal entities, both in the private and public sectors. This lecture introduces students to the basic idea of internal audit profession, purpose, and international frameworks as well as internal audit process. In addition, internal auditing in international organizations would be brought into focus in order to provide a comprehensive picture of the role of internal auditing and contribution to banking sector soundness. Speaker's Profile: Ms. Ami Fujimoto is a professional staff member at KPMG AZSA, LLC with a main focus on internal auditing for financial institutions. Prior to that, she served as a research associate at the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), assigned to the financial inclusion project in ASEAN countries. Her areas of interests are in mega and local banks’ internal auditing, financial regulations and policies, and financial integration in Asia. Ms. Fujimoto holds a BS in Economics and Statistics from University of California, Berkeley, and MPP from the University of Tokyo.