Summer Program
GSAPS MA 1
Aki Takahashi
1First, I want to show my appreciation toward all of professors, my friends
and office members in this summer school. I really enjoyed this precious
experience and could learn a lot of things from lectures, communication withpeoples coming from other countries and my real experience in China and Korea.
Through three weeks, I could find both various common points and different
points.
To be honest, I am surprised that I could find lots of common points morethan I expect. In other words, although I didn’t notice it, my prejudice against
China and Korea which was created by Japanese image might be different fromreal China and Korea somewhat. According to Professor Sonoda’s saying, Imight follow the tendency, such as that Japanese people tend to treat
themselves not as a member of Asian communities. When I was asked thequestion, “Do you think Japan is a member of Asian countries?” from Professor
Sonoda, I answered “Yes” without hesitation. However, that answer might beinfluenced by my experience of studying abroad in the U.S. In the area I stayed,
there are not so many Asian people and whenever I walked around in the city, Ifelt strongly I am a foreigner. One of the reasons is my appearance is totallydifferent from other American clearly, but other reason is that most of time, theySummer Program
GSAPS MA 1
Aki Takahashi
2treated me as a foreigner. Every time I felt I am a foreigner in the U.S, I could
recognize that I belong to other group, in other words, Asian group. Thus,
compared with other Japanese people who live in Japan for whole life, I can feelJapan belongs to Asian countries strongly. However, before studying abroad orsome years later of coming back to Japan, my comment could be different fromwhat I said. And now, in my mind, my experience in the U.S is mixed with thesituation I am getting used to Japanese idea again. Thus, I can find contradiction
between my answer to forward question and what I feel toward other two Asiancountries. This is really interesting experience for me, because I can find two
different arguments about the position of Japan in the world in my mind.
Then, one of the most impressive lectures for me in this summer schoolis the lecture given in Waseda University, which gave students a chance to makeschool program to precede Asian regional integration. All of group showed idea
to make use of cooperation among three different countries, Japan, China andKorea, such as that main language should be English in the university, but toknow the local culture and situation more deeply, students can learn eachlanguage through programs. Rich studying abroad programs is also popular idea,
but I am surprised to hear some group suggest all of students can go to eachSummer Program
GSAPS MA 1Aki Takahashi
3area in different term in one year. It sounds really cool and it is clear that forstudents, it can be really good chance to know about each area and think about
regional integration, but this idea may be suit on the under graduate program
because grad school students have only two years. To consume such precious
experience more effectively, students need more time, I guess.
On the other hand, in this school program, the lectures about history andculture are essential, I feel through this summer program. Moreover, considering
the fact that one historical person is regarded as a hero in one country, but at thesame time, he is symbolized as evil person in other country, such as Toyotomi
Hideyoshi, we need to know the difference about historical recognition in eachother. To go forward Asian integration, one of the obstacles can be historicalproblem. We can not miss this point and should try to understand each other andmove to next step. Thus, such historical lecture has large role for students.
Moreover, we tend to focus on the relationship between Asian side and Westernand American side, but one group noticed the position of the North Korea in Asiaand in their suggestion, students should take the lecture about North Korea. Ourgroup missed this point and I agree with this opinion indeed. It is clear that themovement of North Korea influence other Asian countries and the integration.

Summer Program
GSAPS MA 1
Aki Takahashi
4

After listening all of the lectures, I want to add some idea about thisschool program. As for the principle, I am going to suggest that this school
should try to grow up students who are “picky” in their major area. The reason
why people can be picky is that they are sophisticated about something andknow much about it, like Italian women take a long time to choose one shoes forthem. In other words, such picky tendency can be said to lead to look for higher
quality. In addition, to grow up such picky students who know what high quality isand seek it, the school would be asked rich programs to satisfy such students’demands. With rich school system and students who aim to get high quality, thisschool can be much better.
As for lecture, I also want to suggest that the lecture which teach good
point or characteristic about Asian countries. For example, one of the professors
mentioned that compared with Western companies, Asian companies tend to
pay attention to localization when they begin new business in other countries.
On the other hand, so far, a lot of Western and American companies move toother area including Asia and establish their branch factory, and although they
have skillful technique, many companies fail to succeed in other area, because
they overlook how important localization is, he said. This point can be reallySummer Program
GSAPS MA 1
Aki Takahashi
5strong support Asian integration because Asian people already know how
essential having communication with local people to succeed. In case of Japan
companies in other Asian countries, this lesson can be true. Now, Japanesecompanies do not tend to force local people to follow Japanese way of company,
they try to mix good traditional Japanese way, such as morning meeting, andconventional local way. This is one of the good examples of Asian integration.
We can share the good point and also preserve traditional points. If student canstudy such Asian good way through the lectures, they can get more concreteidea about Asian integration.
In addition to localization, I want to propose some seminar about public
diplomacy. Recently, many government pay attention to the role of public
diplomacy and we can not miss the power it has. If the school accept lots ofstudents from many other Asian areas and have rich studying abroad programs,
the seminar or activity of thinking about public diplomacy in the school had
important meaning, because in the classroom, students can share inner view
and viewpoint from outside. That is to say, we can check whether the intention ofthe government reconcile with the idea people in other country have. In addition,
we can collect reliable opinion about both good point and bad point from foreign

Summer Program
GSAPS MA 1
Aki Takahashi
6students’ view points. If we can arrange our opinion and submit our idea to theeach government, it also can help procession of Asian integration, I think.
What I can experience only in three weeks is numerous and preciousfor me. Recently, the number of students who go to studying abroad isincreasing, but going to other countries for studying is still not common. There
are some reasons which make students hesitate to decide studying abroad,such as time and money. However, to understand culture of other countries orview points based on other countries idea about our own country, reading books
or documents is not enough. Going to that area and communicate with local
people, understanding their way of thinking, culture and life style can help
students to understand about it deeply. I hope school would give students morechance to go to studying abroad and support them like this program.