NEWS
2023 Autumn Matriculation Ceremony
Update: September 1, 2023
On Friday, September 1, ICU welcomed over 310 new undergraduate and graduate students including those graduating from high schools abroad, international schools in Japan, and exchange students from partnership schools, at the Matriculation Ceremony held in the University Chapel.
The Ceremony started with a hymn and prayer by ALBERG, Jeremiah L., Acting Director of the Religious Center. Next, Assistant Professor Adam Randall Smith read Luke 10:38-42.
As per the tradition that has been followed for over 70 years since the founding of the University in 1953, the students' names were announced individually and all new students signed the written pledge to uphold the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in their student lives.
President Shoichiro Iwakiri gave words of encouragement to the newly gathered new students.
2023 Autumn Matriculation Address by Shoichiro Iwakiri, President
A warm welcome to all of you who are entering our College of Liberal Arts and our MA and PhD programs. At the same time, I extend my warmest regards to all your family members and friends who are joining us on screen.
According to the traditional Japanese calendar, Autumn began on 8 August this year. even though we have passed that date, the heat has continued and it is hard to think of this as Autumn.
How did you spend this past summer? According to the Washington Post, July 4 this year was the hottest day for the whole earth, certainly since 1979. We are told that it may have been the hottest day on earth in about 125,000 years.
At the end of July, the Secretary-general of the UN, Antonio Guterres, said that the era of global warming had ended and that "the era of global boiling had arrived".
It is said that "the era of global boiling" has been caused by the emission of greenhouse gasses on an enormous scale, brought on by human industrial activities. Especially since the industrial revolution, human society has placed incredible burdens on the natural world systems thereby damaging the global ecology whilst at the same time seeing remarkable materialistic developments. These developments have led to greater human satisfaction, bringing increasing comfort and pleasure for the time being. And yet the advances pursued so that those privileged enough to receive them can enjoy even greater pleasures and comfort have inflicted greater poverty and various health issues on others who share life on this planet with us. History offers so many examples of this. And now we are coming to realize that this pursuit of pleasure and comfort is inextricably linked to the creation of a threatening environment for future generations.
ICU was founded some 70 years ago and, at that time, it defined itself as "the university of tomorrow". This meant that the university would continue to challenge itself towards constant renewal, while remaining determined not to be satisfied with the status quo, and to project itself into the unknown future. There has been no change to this ambition: we are here to use our education platform to nurture peace builders who honor freedom, human rights and democracy.
But I feel as though an additional element needs to be added to our vision of the "university of tomorrow", namely our mission to be the "university that takes responsibility for tomorrow seriously".
The learning and human relationships that you will experience at ICU will enrich each of your lives in so many ways. This will be an important experience for you, providing you with an invaluable foundation for the rest of your lives. At the same time, it is an experience that will sharpen your intellect and sensitivity, thereby enabling you to deepen, broaden, and explore knowledge about the actions you should take, not only for your own life, but for the future of humanity as a whole and for the natural world.
It is my hope that, availing yourself of the dialogue, diversity and critical thinking that lie at the heart of ICU's liberal arts education, each of you will become a well-rounded peace-builder in your everyday life and in your global political and economic relationships.
The learning and research you begin today at the university require evidence-based and logical thinking. However, that is not all. In the search for logic and rationality, it may seem, at first glance, that personal and subjective elements such as your personal impressions, sensations and feelings are being excluded. However, from the perspective of humanity, the personal and subjective have great value. Generative AI tools such as Chat GPT, which have been a hot topic in society for some time now, cannot speak of impressions, experiences, or memories as their own. Each human being needs to speak of what he or she feels, as this then leads to a deepening awareness of the universal.
Through your campus life at ICU, I hope that you will find just such a generous and liberating spirit to facilitate your understanding of the world as you pursue your logical thinking.
The world is always full of unexpected and unforeseen events. And university education is sometimes called upon to nurture individuals who can respond to such unexpected events and changes. Such requests are premised on an assumption that unexpected events that we are required to deal with will come from somewhere outside.
Yet, we can think of such so-called unexpected or unanticipated episodes in a different way. The university is a place that nurtures people who create the unexpected and unanticipated in a positive sense. We can say that learning and research shine brightest when they awaken and surprise a world that has become sleepily content with old habits.
Your intellectual curiosity is full of creative energy. It is my hope that you will learn the academic art of transforming your inner energy into a new form.
From today, you are all members of the ICU community. I am sure that, until yesterday, you were harnessing various dreams and images that arise from the name of ICU.
But from today, various realistic and concrete elements will be added.
On some occasions, what you have dreamed of under the name of ICU may become more colorful and real. At other times, the elements of your dream may be replaced by a different reality than that which you had expected.
I hope that, through these experiences, you will listen out to what is being said to you. Even if part-time jobs may take up some of your time as a student, your time at university still represents a privileged time when you are free from having to work for a living. As we heard in the Bible reading from "Luke 10, verses 38-42" earlier, sometimes doing nothing but focusing on the Word of Truth is also an important action to take when others keep themselves busy working for the daily interest. It is my prayer that in your endeavors to pursue the question of what is most important in your life, each one of you will be able to listen out to the voice that speaks to your own wisdom and will be richly blessed in your interpersonal relationships, thereby helping you to become someone committed to the building of a better tomorrow.