Takeyama Seminar
Speciality: Economic Geography and Service Design"Creating services that meet the needs during this changing time"
Please tell us what you specialize in.
My research focuses on the creation of new services. The Japanese economy up until now has
been manufacturing-oriented, but as the economy is becoming more and more service-oriented,
services are necessary to meet the needs during this rapidly changing time. At times, I am
researching ways to create services that transcend national borders and expand overseas as aglobal business. Originally, my specialty was economic geography, and my research focused on
how mobile phones and smartphones would change people’s lives in urban areas. However, inorder to make service business flourish in Japanese society in the future, I have been involved inpractical research projects where I actually create services together with 3-4 companies and we
think “what kind of services we should create and how we should create it”. As these projects areheld in university, it would be meaningless to do the same thing as an internship or a business
contest. We do not want to simply come up with good ideas and call it a day. We want to think
about what is required in today’s Japanese society and create services that actually meet theneeds during this time.
"Learners create the value"
Please tell us about your educational philosophy.
It is important to teach, but it is more important for learners to create value and produce
knowledge. Although I provide students the opportunity to do so or support them by thinking
about themes together, it is essential that students apply what they have learned proactively. In
the case of lectures, we are dealing with so many students, so there is a limit to how interactive
we can be during class time. However, in small-group lectures such as seminars, we can be moreinteractive, so we keep this in mind.
"As a student, I was in a somewhat unique seminar"
Please tell us about your student days.
When I was a student, I was in a somewhat unique seminar. It was a seminar that specialized inquantitative geography. Of course, I studied quantitative geography, but I had a professor who
was always pursuing “what learning is” and “what knowledge is”. We experimented withdifferent learning styles and did fieldwork as well as computer-based learning. There, I realizedthat humans have various modes of knowledge and that learning is diverse and fun. I then went
to the University of California in the US where I earned my degree and started my teachingcareer at Keio SFC. The geography department (at UC) was not orthodox at that time, andthrough my student life, I experienced the difficulty and joy of encountering problems that could
not be solved by existing academic studies. I do not pursue a single field of study, but I connect
various fields and disciplines.
"Enthusiasm is important!!"
What are you looking for in a sophomore who is interested in joining Takeyama Seminar?
First, take a look at the activities of Takeyama Seminar. Since it is important to be enthusiastic
about something, I want students with enthusiasm to come. You do not have to have some kindof special knowledge. I am looking for students who are instinctively passionate about what theywant to do and get hooked on it.
"Let's face history"
Final comments
I want you to be interested in what is currently happening in the world, regardless of politics andthe economy. Furthermore, it is good if you can link them to events that happen around you.
There is no right answer, so please think about how you can contribute to Japanese society andthe world in the future. I hope that the number of people who think on a larger scale with abroader perspective would increase. I feel that existing things may collapse in the future. That is
why I want you to do interesting things with the awareness that you have the chance to change
the world. When you are a student, you tend to adapt yourself to the world, but because we are inan era where the world continues to drastically change, what you think may be correct. Japan
today is an information society, and it is important to have one’s own theme (issues andperspectives) in order to survive in a world that is overflowing with such information.
Sidenote:
The theme of Takeyama Seminar, one of the most popular seminars in the Faculty of Economics,
is “Creating New Value”. This is exactly what Professor Takeyama has had in mind since he wasa student, and it is an extremely important idea for us as well. This interview was not only anintroduction to the seminar for second-year students, but also a valuable experience for us. Thankyou so much for taking your time.