President’s Address at the 2022 Saitama University Entrance Ceremony
Spring has come around once more in the Okubo area, the location of the Saitama Universitycampus. There is no greater joy for us than to welcome new friends to our campus, where thetrees are budding, and the cherry blossoms are in full bloom.
Today, I would like to congratulate 1605 Bachelor’s students, 590 Master’s students and 31
Doctoral students on their admission to Saitama University. All of our faculty and staff
members would like to extend you a sincere welcome. In addition, to all of the parents andother related parties, who raised our new students with deep love and affection and supported
them up to this point, you have our heartfelt congratulations.
Over the past two years or so, the spread of COVID-19 has resulted in the declaration of astate of emergency on several occasions. Society and your lives have been restricted in manyways. I would like to commend the efforts of our new students, who have overcome manydifficulties in your studies and research, and who, today, have been admitted to theundergraduate faculties and graduate schools.
73 years ago, Saitama University opened as a university with the Faculty of Education and theFaculty of Arts and Sciences, taking over for the Saitama Normal School, Saitama YouthNormal School, and Urawa High School. Initially, the campus was located on the land of
Urawa High School, which is now Kitaurawa Park. As the university developed, arranging for
more robust facilities became necessary, and 56 years ago, the university moved to a place inOkubo, its present-day campus location.
Urawa High School under the old system of education, one of Saitama University’s
predecessors, was a three-year school that provided preparatory education to the former
imperial universities. Urawa High School was known as a particularly prestigious school, andproduced many graduates who played active roles in various fields. The writer Kazutoshi
Hando, who passed away last year, was among the school’s graduates. Mr. Hando wrote many
excellent books on Showa history. Among them, his book “Japan's Longest Day”—whichcovers the process of Japan’s decision to surrender in the Pacific War and announce its
acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration at the Imperial Conference, and is based on in-depth
interviews and testimonies—is an excellent nonfiction book that has been read for a long time,
and was even made into a movie.
Although Mr. Hando studied at Urawa High School for only one year due to postwar schoolsystem reforms, he described it as a very good school, where he was able to encounter many
books and gain experience in broadening his horizons. At the time, the question was raised at
the rowing club, where Mr. Hando was a member, as to whether or not the club should
participate in the national tournament held during summer vacation. After the club members
expressed various opinions, such as "What's the meaning of rowing a boat?" and "What's themeaning of forcing ourselves to compete when we barely have food to eat after the war?" avote was taken. Mr. Hando felt that the club should participate in the competition, but theatmosphere in the room made him raise his hand to vote in favor of not participating. However,another one of the members of the club, who had thought the team should compete, stood up,
opened the window, and yelled, "Here, the Urawa High School Rowing Club has collapsed!”
He felt ashamed of himself for being influenced by other opinions. Mr. Hando said that thisexperience gave him an outlook on life of faithfully doing the things he had decided to do, andseeing them through to the end.
Just as Mr. Hando accumulated knowledge and experiences at Urawa High School that would
form the foundation for the rest of his life, I hope that you will also aim to establish yourselves
through a variety of experiences while learning and thinking at Saitama University. At thesame time, we, humanity, now stand at a crossroads in terms of whether or not we can build
a sustainable society. Carving out the complex and difficult path of coexistence with natureand other people, and building a sustainable society, are precisely the tasks entrusted to all of
you for the future. For those of you who bear that responsibility, I would like to talk about twothings that I hope you will learn at this university.
First, I want you to refine your ability to think. The first step in this process is to master thebasics of academics through classes. Knowing about the truths that our predecessors grasped
over the course of their long history, and about the paths of contemplation and research which
led them to those truths, is to stand at the gateway to learning. Learning is to discoverproblems on your own, to think about them until you are satisfied, to pursue further truths
using various methods, and to create new knowledge, based on the knowledge you havelearned. By continuing to build on this sort of learning, your ability to think will be refined.
To pursue truths, you also need to constantly doubt existing things and what is common sense,and even look critically at your own ideas. Having this sort of attitude is important; not justfor your future academic career, but also for working in an increasingly complex society, andfor developing as a person with an established identity.
Second, for undergraduate students, I would like you to consciously accumulate a wide rangeof experiences. Experiencing the unknown—like taking a part-time job, doing circle activities,

traveling, doing volunteer work, and taking an internship—and meeting various people
through those experiences, then engaging in dialogue, will lead you to expanding yourhorizons and thinking about things in more depth. In addition, to the graduate students,
continue to develop your expertise even further, based on what you have learned up to thispoint. That path will not necessarily be a smooth one, and you may suffer. However, you will
gain experience by overcoming those difficulties, and your confidence will grow. I encourageboth undergraduate and graduate students to think about studying abroad. By experiencing
everyday life in a different culture and interacting with the people who live in that culture,
your own common sense will sometimes be overturned, and this will enhance your perspective.
At the same time, through the experience of listening to and discussing opinions that differ
from your own, then making decisions based on what you think you should do, your ability tothink will grow stronger.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as various restrictions have been imposed over these past
two years, we have once again been made aware that we all have different learning styles. At
the same time, the significance of studying at university is being debated once more. Goingforward, we will continue to hold discussions and seek out a new form for Saitama University.
However, irrespective of the era, it is an unchanging truth that studying on campus with adiverse group of people, and interacting with your peers and university faculty, will deepen
your knowledge even further and help you grow as a person. All of Saitama University’sfaculties and graduate schools are located on one campus. This means that students andfaculty members with diverse backgrounds are near at hand. Please utilize this environment
to the fullest.
No matter the circumstances, we faculty and staff members will do our utmost to support you
in your days of learning and research, and we will also move forward each day for better
learning.
Once again, congratulations on your admission to our school.

April 6, 2022
Takafumi Sakai
President, Saitama University