TMUtimes
Newsletter2020 Vol.5

Contents

Five-Continent Student Symposium
Global Cities in a Flux: Unity in Diversity/Connecting to Tomorrow

Excerpts from Group Presentations
Voices of Participants

On November 7, 2019, Tokyo Metropolitan University (TMU) commenced a
3-day long “Five-Continent Student Symposium.” As the title represents,
the Symposium was organized in celebration of Tokyo’s hosting the Olympics and Paralympic Games, or the Tokyo 2020 Games, scheduled to beheld this summer. As Tokyo witnesses growing excitement and expectations toward the Games, Tokyo Metropolitan University—the only public
university founded by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government—joins themomentum of the world’s greatest sporting event. In the spirit of Olympism in which sports, culture, and education converge, we bring together
students from across Europe, North and South America, Africa, Asia, andOceania to exchange and share ideas, experiences, and best practices.
– Excerpt from President Ueno’s Welcoming Remarks –TMUtimes Vol.5

Five-Continent Student Symposium
Global Cities in a Flux: Unity in Diversity/Connecting to Tomorrow

The theme of this symposium, “Global Cities in a Flux:
Unity in Diversity/Connecting to Tomorrow,” represents
both the challenges and opportunities that Tokyo, as many
global cities, faces today. Global cities represent countries’
greatest concentrations of population, and continuously
must tackle socioeconomic and environmental problems
including discrimination, poverty, energy consumption, andplastic waste. However, global cities also possess Earth’s
greatest concentration of human energy, creativity, andinnovation. How then can global cities accept and respectdifferences in race, gender, sexual orientation, language,religion, political ideologies, and national or social origin?
What kind of changes or legacies should be passed down
to future generations?
Students from various academic disciplines gathered at theSymposium to discuss and work together to solve, or atleast better understand, these challenges.

Day

ProgramAM

Orientation

PMCampus Tour, Welcome Reception

8thAM&PM

Visit to Olympic Facilities

9thAM

Welcoming Remarks by Dr. Jun Ueno,
TMU President

7thKeynote Speech by Ms. Yuriko Koike,
Governor of Tokyo
Student Panel Discussion by representatives
selected from the five continents
Summary Remarks by Dr. Haruo Shimada,Chairperson, TMU Board of Trustees

Day 1

PM

On Day 1, Invited students and faculty participated in anorientation which included a walking tour of the Minami-Osawa Campus to learn about TMU. The following
welcome reception was a good opportunity for students
from diverse national and cultural backgrounds to enjoy
friendly conversation and exchange views and opinions.

Parallel session, Plenary session
Closing Remarks by Dr. Masao Ayabe,
TMU Vice President for International Affairs
Farewell Reception

Day 2
On Day 2, Invited participants visited the Japan Olympic
Museum, the Athletes’ Village construction site, triathlonsites, and other Tokyo 2020 facilities.

Day 3
On Day 3, President Ueno opened the Symposium by welcoming participants from different countries, as well as ourfaculty, staff, and students, with a congratulatory speech.
He expressed his high expectations on the discussions inquest of solutions to issues and problems of global cities—s u c h a s d i s c r i m i n a t i o n , p o v e r t y, a n d e n e r g y
consumption—that relate to the Symposium’s theme:“Global Cities in a Flux: Unity in Diversity/Connecting toTomorrow.”
The President’s Welcoming Remarks were followed by
Tokyo Governor Koike’s Keynote Speech. She spoke of thecapital city’s visions and policies, looking ahead for Tokyo
2020, and the years to come. She actively exchanged views
and opinions with students while at the podium about
Tokyo’s climate change control efforts and economic policies. Following that, at the Student Panel discussion, each
invited student presented his or her research and interestsand discussed the four subthemes: “Diversify,” “Optimize,”“Connect,” and “Imagine.”
At the afternoon parallel discussion, students were divided
into groups based on the subthemes that they had been
assigned to in advance. Each group took up issues, sought
solutions, presented them to all participants, and were evaluated at the end.

Day 1

Day 3

Day 2

TMUVol.5

SPRING / SUMMER 2018 Vol.1
Excerpts from Group Presentations
GroupDiversify A

We came up with the topic, “Lack of Representation Due to Social Isolation in Japan,” which refers to the lack of representation of other countries to Japanese society and Japanese people’s lack of understandingof people from other countries. We discussed matters of diversity
through the perspectives of language, gender, emotion, interest, andtechnology—all of which led to the issue of lack of representation.
GroupDiversify B

We selected three proposals that extensively illustrate the principles thatwere motivated by Diversity as the discussion topic. The first proposal
involved the urban environment. The second proposal was about how
we can reduce the amount of human trafficking. Finally, the last proposal was about how we can create a more diverse world to promote moreconnection among people, directly corresponding to the motto of theTokyo Olympics: “Unity in Diversity.”Group

Diversify C

We considered that we must find solutions to curb the environmental impact that will be caused by the Olympics, because statistics
reveal that CO2 emission increases by around 35% during the Olympics—mostly deriving from the extensive transportation that occurs.

Group

Optimize A

Cooperation between local governments and the community will
optimize natural areas in cities across the world. Cooperation isneeded to create an optimal solution to challenges created by multiculturalism.

GroupOptimize B

We discussed the issues of big cities: natural disasters, earthquakes,flooding, waste management, water pollution, and infrastructure deterioration. We concluded that promoting further improvement of technology was needed to solve these issues, and that government funding
should be provided to the private and business sector to do so.
GroupConnect

We were able to come up with a common theme: “choju,” or longevity.
Looking at the health, environmental, and social aspects of issues, we canimprove our present and consequently our future by really connecting
these ideas and disciplines. All of this ties around the theme of “choju.”GroupImagine

Our vision of the future is creative, sustainable, and ethical. We would
like to channel the spirit of the Olympics in that there are no boundaries
and no power struggles; however, we would also keep in mind that theOlympics is not perfect, because there are still minority interests thatare ignored, and we have to fight against that problem.

TMU

Vol.5

Voices of Participants
Voice

1

Mrs. Iuliia Gasheva
Head of International Division, Tomsk State University (Russia)

It was a great pleasure to take part in the Five-Continent Student Symposium on November 7-9, 2019 in celebration of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. All attendees had an excellent opportunity tocommunicate with representatives of diverse academic fields from all over the world and discuss commonissues. It should be noted that the composition of a joint-panel presentation at panel sessions was a novel
form of group activity. It provoked reflection on the topics even after the event. Beyond that, the cultural partof the Symposium program provided a unique experience of the Olympic spirit. Therefore, the Five-Continent
Student Symposium became one of the prominent events of 2020.
Voice2

Lamyaa Elmahy
Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology (Egypt)

I enjoyed the exposure to the various perspectives we had during both the plenary sessions and the parallelsession discussions. They cultivated my understanding of the different human attitudes I daily encounter. I
also gained enormous energy and felt so good when I was up at the stage, opened up my mind, and spoke
to the people about some of my ideas to take advantage of the inevitably inherited diversity among us, for abetter and more peaceful future. In fact, this experience helped me discover new areas and abilities deep
within myself, especially that it was my first time overseas. I had thought the large audience and the stage
would make me nervous. However, surprisingly, it was so inspirational and enjoyable that it charged mewith the potential to work and do my best to have such a memorable experience again. Thank you so much,TMU family.
Voice3Ellis Tsekouras
University of Technology Sydney (Australia)

I’d like to thank the Tokyo Metropolitan University for kindly hosting the Five-Continent Student Symposium!
I was very pleased to present my research abstract alongside inspiring students from all around the world. It
was exciting to hear a keynote speech from the Governor of Tokyo, Ms. Yuriko Koike, as her city preparesfor the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games!
Voice4Sujon Kumar Mitro
University of Rajshahi (Bangladesh)

Our time in Japan was very short: a small story but a memory of a lifetime! Since the beginning of myuniversity life, I had the dream to visit Japan to experience their well-known hospitality, cleanliness, andfriendship with nature.
I am lucky as I got the opportunity to see all of these with my own eyes and to represent my country at thisinternational event! Most importantly, it was a great platform to form friendships with people from all over
the world and share our thoughts. Truly, I am honored to have been part of this Symposium. Thank you
Japan and thank you TMU!

A Look at Numerical Facts (Data)

Academic Composition (7 faculties and 7 graduate schools)• Ranked 7th among Japanese universities (Times Higher Education
World University Rankings 2019)• Over 9,000 students(about 7,000 undergraduate and about 2,300 graduate)• About 700 faculty staff and 500 administrative staff• Over 600 international students from about 40 countries• Over 200 Student Associations

International Affairs Office

Faculty • Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences • Faculty of Science• Faculty of Law• Faculty of Urban Environmental• Faculty of Economics andSciences
Business Administration• Faculty of Systems Design• Faculty of Health Sciences
Graduate School • Graduate School of Humanities• Graduate School of Law and Politics• Graduate School of Management• Graduate School of ScienceEmail: info-kokusai@jmj.tmu.ac.jp Web: http://www.ic.tmu.ac.jp/english• Graduate School of Urban
Environmental Sciences• Graduate School of Systems Design• Graduate School of Human
Health sciences