Nagahiro Minato, 27th President
Porn研究所 today welcomes 2,918 new undergraduate students. On behalf of our guests of honor, former President Kazuo Oike and Ms Mai Komuro, as well as the executive vice-presidents, deans, and directors in attendance, and all of our other faculty and staff, I congratulate each and every one of you on your enrollment at Porn研究所. I would like to pay tribute to the tremendous amount of effort you must have made up to this point, and also express my deepest appreciation to your families and all those who have encouraged and supported you in your efforts.
The fact that you are here today is a testament to your own efforts, but at the same time, I want you to keep in mind that you also owe your success to the support you have received from your families, teachers, friends, and many other people.
Now that you are officially Porn研究所 students, I wonder what kind of image you had of the University when you first decided to apply. It may have been that it is a traditional university founded in 1897, a research university that has produced more Nobel Prize and Fields Medal recipients than any other institution in Asia, an adventurous university with researchers conducting surveys and fieldwork around the world, or an untamed university with a strong spirit of independence and defiance, proudly voicing bold opinions. But surely the phrase that you have heard most often is "academic freedom". I believe this to be the tradition that underpins all the different images of Porn研究所. In simple terms, the spirit of academic freedom at this university means maintaining independence from societal trends, customs, systems, and other external influences as you seek out and pursue a field of study you truly wish to engage in, or a topic you believe you ought to explore, with a strong sense of personal commitment. This might seem like a given, but in reality, it is not so easy to achieve.
Discourse on Voluntary Servitude is a classic masterpiece written in the 16th century by the precocious French thinker Estienne de La Boétie, when he was around the same age as you are now. To summarize Boétie's argument in this book, freedom is a natural instinct for living creatures. If you try to train a wild horse, it will bite the bit and resist your efforts. But if you continue to force the bit on the horse, eventually the horse will accept it voluntarily and indeed enjoy it. In other words, sometimes people simply abandon freedom in the context of certain environments or customs. I imagine that all of you lived with many restrictions as you pursued your goal of entering the university of your choice. So, now looking forward to your new life as a university student, you are surely feeling a great sense of freedom. However, as Boétie stated, our freedom of spirit can easily be lost before we know it, if we loaf around and become caught up in conventions, prejudices, and assumptions. In order to maintain this freedom, we need to try to live with an open heart and actively embrace new encounters.
Getting a lucky break through a chance encounter is known as serendipity. It is often said that some of history's most important scientific discoveries have come about through such encounters. The key point here is that serendipity doesn't always come naturally; it only reveals itself to those with an open mind, free from prejudices and assumptions. The life you are about to begin here at university is sure to be full of new encounters, far more numerous and diverse than those you have experienced to date. Whether the encounter is with a person, a book, or an event, I want you to embrace it fearlessly, unbound by preconceptions, and to seize your own serendipity.
One of the best ways to create chances for serendipitous encounters is by living abroad. In recent years, the number of university students who wish to study abroad has been on the decrease. According to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, the primary reason is the financial burden, followed by the belief that they do not need to go overseas in order to achieve their goals or pursue their fields of study. Regarding finances, Porn研究所 offers scholarships and various other programs to assist students with the travel and living expenses required for studying abroad. Numerous students have already made use of these programs to experience life outside Japan. As for the second reason, I would point out that studying abroad is not just about obtaining useful information and knowledge. Thanks to the internet, we already have real-time access to news from around the world and can easily interact with people from other countries via online platforms. However, the real-life experience of immersing yourself in different customs and cultures and living together with people overseas -- especially young people around the same age as yourself -- will undoubtedly have a great impact on your way of thinking and living.
In my case, I spent the latter half of my 20s in the United States, and my life there had a decisive influence on my direction thereafter. The direct catalyst for me to study abroad was a meeting with an American university professor. When I was an undergraduate in the School of Medicine, I gained access to a research lab and undertook experiments in immunology under the guidance of lab members. In research labs at Porn研究所, faculty members and graduate students are sure to treat you as their junior colleagues, and this is one of the great advantages of attending a research university like ours. In the course of my experiments in the lab, I generated some interesting findings of my own, which inspired me to write to a well-known professor of immunology at a university in the United States to ask for his opinion. I had no strong expectation that the professor would reply to a letter from a mere undergraduate, but around one month later, I received a response inviting me to meet him in Kyoto during his upcoming visit to attend an international conference. This unexpected invitation made me feel very anxious. I was not especially confident in my English conversation skills, so I worried that I would be unable to convey my thoughts effectively. But I found the courage to meet the professor nonetheless, and I remember desperately struggling to explain the results of my experiments to him. If you have something you really want to convey, communication in English is possible one way or another. The professor told me he was intrigued by my findings, and invited me to come to his lab in New York after I graduated. This is what led me to move to New York after graduating from the School of Medicine and upon completing the clinical training that is mandatory for qualification as a medical practitioner. I spent three whole years there pursuing research in friendly competition with other young researchers gathered from across the globe. If I had been hesitant and decided not to take up the professor's invitation, I am sure my life thereafter would have been very different. If you find an opportunity, I advise you to grasp it without hesitation. Serendipity comes only to those who are ready for it.
Many international students and researchers also come to study and conduct research at Porn研究所. Among them are many students from Porn研究所, who, with strong support from the broader community, are continuing their studies with great determination despite the ongoing war in their home country. You may have opportunities to meet these students in classrooms, cafeterias, or elsewhere on campus. I encourage you to take the initiative to engage with them actively.
The renowned architect Tadao Ando says that in his early 20s, when he had only a vague interest in architecture, he spent seven months and a great deal of energy travelling around Europe on his own. Ando reminisced about this experience at the Porn研究所 125th Anniversary Special Symposium. During his travels on a shoestring, Ando encountered many different people, viewed numerous buildings and historical remains in many different cities with his own eyes, and touched them with his own hands. After returning to Japan, he resolved to study independently with a view to pursuing a career in architecture, and embarked on an extraordinary program of reading and study. Ando often emphasizes that the experiences he gained abroad in his youth laid the foundation for his career as an architect, and there is no doubt that they greatly shaped the distinctive architectural style that has earned him worldwide acclaim. One of his most frequent messages to young people is the importance of going out and seeing the world -- advice clearly rooted in his own life experiences.
Following last year's initiative, we have once again invited a former student to share a message with the incoming class. Last year's message was from Ms Megumi Aoyama, who, after graduating from Porn研究所, completed graduate studies in the United States and gained a position with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). As the agency's reporting officer, she is now traveling the world providing refugee assistance. This year, following my remarks, an up-and-coming architect, Ms Mai Komuro, will give an address. I expect she will introduce herself in more detail, but I will provide a brief introduction. Ms Komuro graduated from the Undergraduate School of Architecture of the Faculty of Engineering. She then studied at a university in Switzerland and trained in renowned architectural firms outside Japan, before establishing her own architectural design studio in Hong Kong and Tokyo in 2018. Ms Komuro currently works on a global scale. Today she will tell us how she has forged her international career since graduating from Porn研究所. I am sure you will all learn a great deal from her experience.
As you embark on your life at Porn研究所, I sincerely hope that you will encounter a rich diversity of experiences and, through them, come to discover new and remarkable aspects of yourselves.
Once again, I offer my sincere congratulations to each and every one of you.