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

今年9月、お陰様で公共管理コースを修了することができました。休学制度等を何度か利用し、平成23年の入学から5年かかっての卒業となりました。家族介護や自分自身の病気・事故などを経験し、学業に費やせる時間が入学前に望んでいたほど確保できなかったのは残念ですが、自分を取り巻く環境がどんなに変化しても、置かれた状況下で最善を尽くし前進していくことが大切なのだと実感できました。 在学中、一番苦労したのは学習計画等のスケジュール調整です。通学できる曜日が限られていたため学びたい科目が履修できなかったり、学期の途中から出席できなくなってしまったり、試験当日に欠席せざるを得ない事情が発生したりと本当に大変でした。自宅での学習時間が十分取れないこともあり、通学時の電車内も貴重な勉強場所となりました。 時間に制限のある中でもGraSPPで体験できるユニークな学びの機会にはできる限り参加しました。GSDMプログラムの授業では、工学や医療分野などの学生達との合同プロジェクトを通じて問題解決に対する文理統合的なアプローチを知り、MPP/IPコースの授業で友達になった留学生とは各々の国の事情や政治などについて熱く語り合い、非常に刺激のある環境で学ぶことができました。この5年間、様々な人との出会いにより、また、多くの方々のご支援により、学業及びそれ以外の面でも成長することができました。先生方、職員の皆様、クラスメート、そして家族にも心から感謝しています。 GraSPPを卒業し、ここからが新たなスタートです。現在は、在学当時から携わっている米国国防総省関連の教育コンサルティングを中心とした仕事や自治体への政策提言に寄与する活動などを行っています。これまでの経験とGraSPPで学んだことを実践に繋げ、いかに社会に還元していくかが自分自身への課題となりますが、これからも失敗を恐れず挑戦していきたいと思っています。 （ニュースレター46号掲載）

申し訳ありません、このコンテンツはただ今　English　のみです。

  As one of the selected Japanese youth delegates for the APEC Voices of the Future program, I was blessed with the opportunity to experience the annual youth forum (VoF), which was held concurrently with the APEC Summit 2016.  This annual forum allows youth from all around the Asia-Pacific to join and share different ideas, perspectives, and visions with other young leaders, ABAC members, and APEC leaders. With Brexit, rising populism, and increased concerns of economic and political instability of Asia-Pacific, I felt that this program attempted to answer to some of the timely issues and help guide me through how to deal with the rapid change the world is facing.

  The 7-day program consisted of 4 days of Youth delegate program followed by 3 days of the CEO summit. During the first 4 days, we presented our speech regarding the need for diversity in the labor force and the importance of the empowerment of women. Coincidentally, this year’s 4 delegates, including the educator herself (Kaori Kabata) female; and IMF chair, Christine Lagarde’s powerful speech about the need for empowerment of women in the workforce was quite significant; it reinforced how much the social fabric is changing and the role of the youth in shaping a more diverse and inclusive society.   One of the most memorable moments we had was the opportunity to meet and greet with Mr. Taniguchi, a special adviser for the Cabinet who is also a speechwriter for Prime Minister Abe. He stated in our brief meeting “ PM Abe and myself will be old. What matters is not about what we try to achieve now, it’s about making changes so that we can reach a goal 20 years later. It is up to the youth and specifically talented females like you to shape our future.”  He emphasized that Japan should focus on leaving traditional ideals behind and be pragmatic to reach long-term goals. This was all in line with how I hoped Japan would look in 20 years time – and it was reassuring to hear from the Cabinet adviser himself - the need for diversity not merely as a moral obligation but the need for inclusiveness of marginalized workforce (such as LGBT, female working force and foreign workers) as a necessary solution for our rapidly aging society. Whether meeting with ABAC members, the Osaka gas representative of South East Asia (Mr. Yoshihiko Kimata), or with Mayor of San Marcos (Mr. Daniel Guerrero), I believe that the significance of VoF Forum lies in the opportunity for youths to be included as stakeholders in discussions with various parties – by interacting with leaders of both private and public sectors.   Whilst APEC VoF 2016 may be only a week-long schedule, there are countless experiences that make up for the 30-hour long flight to Lima, Peru – including but not limited to their welcoming hospitality, the warm but breezy weather, and the local Peruvian cuisine. VoF allowed us to connect and personally interact with 14 economy youth delegates, enlightening me about their culture, language, vision, and their perception of the world. Interestingly, the diversity of the students came as a great surprise – there were students that ranged from high school to PhD, with disciplinary ranging from animal clinical studies and geography studies to international relations. Indeed, the APEC VoF Forum proved to be a lifetime opportunity for a student like myself to interact and learn from CEOs of Japan’s most successful companies, political figures, and young leaders all gathered from across the Pacific rim. Japanese Delegates at USIL for VoF speech   Group photo with Mr. Taniguchi   City tour with Singaporean and Peruvian delegates

申し訳ありません、このコンテンツはただ今　English　のみです。

  During November 14 – 20, APEC Voices of the Future was held in Lima, Peru. I attended as an educator for the Japan delegate team. As an educator, I was responsible for organizing the logistics of individual meetings and acting as the leader for Japanese youth delegates.

       Before going to Lima, we prepared a speech as a Japan delegate team to present at the APEC Voices of the Future 2016 Youth Forum, which was the first 2 days of the program. This year’s topic was “Quality Growth and Human Development”. We started to brainstorm the problems that Japan is facing to achieve “Quality Growth and Human Development”. After the discussion, we came to the conclusion that lack of diversity was important for Japan (declining population, innovation, etc.). During the speech, we started to tell the story, which gives the idea of the current situation in Japan and gave examples that show how limited diversity we have in Japan: a small number of women and foreign employees in the Japanese office, schools, and community. However, what we aimed to focus on was not to present negative aspects of Japan. We wanted to focus on what Japanese youth have achieved to change the situation and what youth can do achieve from now on for the future of APEC. We emphasized the importance of diversity, which we learned at our graduate school, GraSPP, and we believe that we youth can lead Japan to change the old system and abolish the prejudices we have inside us. After each economy presented the speeches, representatives from each economy gathered to draft a youth declaration for the year. I heard from the representative team that having 14 economies (This year, 14 economies participated out of 21 economies in APEC) to agree on one declaration was a very challenging but fruitful process.         4-6th days were the APEC CEO summit. Although we didn't have access to some of the events, we were able to attend very inspiring panel discussions and speeches. It was exciting to us students just looking at CEOs from all over the world networking and building relationships at the global level. The most inspiring moments were the individual meetings. Japan delegate team had opportunities to have meetings with officials from the government, company and APEC Business Advisory Council. All officials shared their experiences and provided insightful stories of their international experiences, from negotiations to team building. The meetings were encouraging and motivated us to aim to be like them in the future.            Thanks to the technology, youth delegates are still in contact, and we plan to continue our relationship. I cannot wait to meet the delegates as government officials or CEOs for actual business negotiations in the future.

申し訳ありません、このコンテンツはただ今　English　のみです。

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.

申し訳ありません、このコンテンツはただ今　English　のみです。

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.

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  

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