Kobe University Newsletter "Kaze"SPOTLIGHT
Fostering Global Leaders to propel the
Maritime Nation of Japan

Vol. 09
October 2020

RESEARCH AT KOBE
Making Social Trends visible with Network Science
STUDENT FEATURE
Building a Formula-style racing car from scratch

KOBE INSIGHTS
Fukae-maru and the ten-year plan to survey
the Kikai caldera

Kobe University Magazine “Kaze”
In this issue...
SPOTLIGHT

The training ship Fukae-maru, part of Kobe University’s
Graduate School of Maritime Sciences, has been utilized in3

the education of marine specialists and to conduct various

Fostering Global Leaders to propel the Maritime Nation of Japan

research activities. The current ship is the third training

RESEARCH AT KOBE

vessel.
It is not only used for student’s practical training and various

7

experiments but is also used for other universities’ crew
training, lectures open to the general public, elementary and

Making Social Trends visible with Network Science

EDUCATION

junior high schools’ field trips, and industry training sessions,among other applications. Survey voyages to Kikai Caldera

11 Kobe University’s V. School: Aiming to be a Global Hub for Value Creation
14 International Voices(located in Kagoshima) have been conducted by the Kobe
Ocean-Bottom Exploration Center (KOBEC).
The initial 15-day survey voyage took place in October 2016.

STUDENT FEATURE

It involved monitoring the magma chamber in the caldera
and conducting underwater strata probing using an airgun,

Fukae-maru facts

in addition to measuring the depth using a multi narrow
beam echo sounder.
Six of these survey voyages have been conducted so far aspart of a 5 to 10 year plan to carry out continuous research inOverall length: 49.95m
Beam: 10m

the vicinity of the caldera. Becoming the first in the world toGross Tonnage: 449 tons

confirm the giant lava dome’s existence is just one of theMaximum capacity: 64 persons

numerous achievements of this research so far. As of October
2020, KOBEC is currently conducting another survey voyage.

15 Always aiming higher: Building a Formula-style racing car from scratch
SPECIAL REPORT: KOBE AGAINST COVID-19
17 Kobe University ‘With COVID-19’ symposium held
Kobe University receives 10m. yen research grant from Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank
to develop coronavirus vaccine
INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION
18 Chinese students and graduates donate masks to Kobe University
International Academic Exchange Meeting held with Tianjin Medical University
ABOUT KOBE
19 2020 Facts & Figures
Cover photo for Kobe University Magazine “Kaze” Issue 9:
Autumn leaves on Rokkodai 2nd Campus.

Why “Kaze”?

Stay connected - search for “Kobe University” on the following platforms:

There are two main concepts behind the title “Kaze”, meaning “wind”. Firstly,
Kobe University’s goal to innovate, creating a wind of change. Secondly, ourlocation at the foot of Mt Rokkō, an area known for the invigorating wind of
Rokkō-oroshi that blows down from the mountain range.
The calligraphy on the cover of “Kaze” was created by Professor Emeritus
UOZUMI Kazuaki, a researcher of calligraphy at Kobe University.

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Contact us:

intl-relations@office.kobe-u.ac.jp(International Affairs Planning Division)
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SPOTLIGHT

Fostering global leaders to propel the maritime nationof Japan

Establishing a new faculty, a new vessel &a new research organization
Utilizing Kobe University’s strengths as a comprehensive university to advance extensive maritime
research and education
The Kaijin Project is one of the initiatives to strengthen Kobe University’s functionality in line with the University’s 2015 Vision of becoming an
outstanding research university that excels in advanced and interdisciplinary research, based on the ideal of creating ‘harmony between theory
and reality’. At the center of the Kaijin Project is the new Faculty of Oceanology, which will be established in April 2021.

The Three Pillars of ‘Umi no Kobe Daigaku’Fukae-maru on a survey voyage toinvestigate the Kikai Caldera.

Kobe University has been promoting maritime-based education and research since merging with the Kobe University of Mercantile

Why is Kobe University promoting maritime-based
research and education?

How will this be different to the current Faculty of
Maritime Sciences?

Professor Tatsumi: It is vital to make good use of the university’s

In order for Japan to take the lead as a maritime nation, it is necessary

strengths in order to turn Kobe University’s 2015 Vision into reality.

to emphasize research and development in addition to the cultivation

With regard to the ocean, we are a university that has a training shipof necessary human resources. We will establish two types of entrance

and this is rare even within Japan. The Graduate School of Maritime

examination in order to achieve this; a humanities/social

Sciences’ training vessel ‘Fukae-maru’ is equipped with the latest

sciences-centric exam and a sciences-centric exam. The current Faculty

investigative equipment to conduct deep-sea investigations. Thisof Maritime Sciences tends to be focused on science and technology.

training vessel serves as the basis for our development plans to directly

However, the new faculty will also be open to students withenhance Kobe University’s performance.

backgrounds in the social sciences, and will aim to foster humanresources with an integrated knowledge of both the sciences andIn addition, Kobe University is located in the international port city ofsocial sciences. Dealing with ocean-related issues from an integrated

Kobe. A unique culture of maritime industries and related businesses

social and scientific approach will be another distinctive feature of thecentered on the international movement of goods was born in Kobe,

new faculty.

therefore it is Kobe University’s mission to carry out research andMarine in 2003. Subsequently the Kobe Ocean-Bottom Exploration Center (KOBEC) was established in 2015 in order to foster highly

development in this area, and cultivate human resources that can

specialized human resources who are experts in deep-sea resource development and surveying technology. The Graduate School ofpropel the maritime nation of Japan. I would like to contribute towards

Maritime Sciences’ training ship ‘Fukae-maru’ has carried out investigations into the Kikai Caldera, a large-scale submarine depression

increasing Japan’s presence in the international maritime community

formed by supereruption of a volcano off the coast of Kagoshima. Fukae-maru’s survey voyages have resulted in many accomplishments,

through our activities.

including the confirmation of the existence of a giant lava dome inside the Kikai Caldera.

What will the new faculty’s curriculum be like?
First of all, students will take the ‘Ocean Literacy Education’ course after

How will this be achieved?

entering Kobe University. From the fundamental concepts of the joint

Kobe University has started the ‘Kaijin Project’ in order to directly utilize these strengths to enhance the functionality of the university.

Education, Operation and Research are the three pillars of this project.

evolution of the ocean and life, and the relationship between humans

We spoke to Professor TATSUMI Yoshiyuki, who is the director of the Research Alliance for Human and Ocean Coevolution (RAHOC) andFor ‘Education’ we will establish a new faculty, for ‘Operation’ we will

and the ocean, they will learn about how people utilize and develop

a Special Advisor to Kobe University’s President, regarding the university’s successive large-scale plans to establish a new faculty andset up a new center to work towards efficient ship operation as well as

the ocean and what kind of pressing issues need to be tackled next.

research organization under the slogan ‘Umi no Kobe Daigaku’ (Oceanic Kobe University).

constructing a new ship. As for the third pillar, we will establish a newPart of this ‘Ocean Literacy Education’ course is not only for those in the

research organization.

new faculty but can also be taken by students from other faculties.

First of all we will set up the new Faculty of Oceanology, which will

Furthermore, we will offer ‘Ocean Active Learning’ which utilizes the(Special Advisor to the President/ Director of the
Research Alliance for Human and Ocean Coevolution)

replace the current Faculty of Maritime Sciences. The new faculty will

Fukae-maru to deliver practical learning experiences of on-board teamprovide students with specialized and fundamental knowledge of thework and cooperation. This allows students to experience activities

Professor Tatsumi was born in Osaka in 1954. He graduated from Kyoto
University’s Faculty of Science and obtained his PhD from the Universityof Tokyo’s Graduate School of Science. Since then he has held a variety ofpositions, including academic researcher at The University of Manchester(UK), professor of Kyoto University’s Graduate School of Science, professorof the University of Tokyo’s Ocean Research Institute, program director of
JAMSTEC’s Institute for Research on Earth Evolution, professor of Kobe
University’s Graduate School of Science, and director of the Kobe
Ocean-Bottom Exploration Center. In April 2020, he was appointed as aSpecial Advisor to Kobe University’s President and became the director of
RAHOC. His specialization is Magmatology.

coevolution of life on ocean planets and Earth, sustainable

that they cannot do on land while getting a feel for maritime rules anddevelopment and utilization of ocean resources, and coexistence

the actual equipment on the ship, which will inform their specific areas

between the ocean and humans (for example, marine policy). With thisof specialization.

Interviewee Profile

TATSUMI Yoshiyuki

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An education system to cultivate ability andwide-ranging perspectives beyond specialization

knowledge as a base, the faculty will cultivate global leaders in
Oceanology who can lead the international maritime community,

With regard to specialized education, we will establish a Maritime

ocean experts that can propel deep-sea investigations, developments

Officer License Course for students aiming to obtain a seafarer license

and utilization, as well as Shindai (Kobe University) seafarers who cancertification, in addition to Maritime Policy Studies, Basic Marine

not only serve as ship captains or chief engineers but can also engage

Science, and Marine Technologies & Marine Science courses. Students

in the business world.

will be able to acquire well-balanced, maritime expertise by choosing

04

SPOTLIGHT
Faculty of Oceanology

to take a major course, which will deepen their
specialization in a specific area, as well as minor

Furthermore, it will be a high performance training ship newly equippedwith various investigative apparatus, which will outperform Fukae-maru.

Driving the maritime nation

courses, which will broaden their range of expertise.

Global Leadersin Oceanology

Ocean Experts

As a vessel belonging to a national university, Fukae-maru can be adapted

In addition, we will also offer the Ocean BDL (Beyond

to meet a variety of public needs. For example, it is hoped that it could

Disciplinary Learning) workshop, which aims to break
down the borders between different fields of study.

Ocean BDL
Beyond - Disciplinary Learning
Workshop［Students with different majors will work together ingroups, giving them the ability to look at issues from

Ocean InternshipGroups consisting of students with
diﬀerent majors identify issues andconsider their solutions.

］

Training, practical and/or work
experience in a company, govt.
organization or institution in Japanor overseas.

a bird’s-eye view and resolve them throughdiscussion and team work.
One of the main cornerstones of the new faculty’s

2nd〜4thyear

curriculum is the ‘Ocean Internship’, which will
enable students to increase both their specialization
and adaptability through work experience in related

Maritime Oﬃcer
MarineBasic Techno Maritime License Course
Marine -logies Policy
navigation
Science&
Studiesstudies/Marineengineeringstudies
Scienceperspective, are high level specialists with good

Could you tell us about the third pillar: the new researchorganization?
In October 2019, Kobe University established the Institute for Advanced

Those who wish to obtain a 3rdgrade license take the Maritime
Oﬃcer License Course.

Research Alliance for Human and Ocean Coevolution (RAHOC) is part of

Research, which is directly administered by the university president. The
this. Under the guiding principle of ocean and human coexistence, thisresearch organization’s mission is to advance cutting-edge research while

1st
year

Ocean Active Learning

Experience learning through on-board
group work and collaboration.

Ocean Literacy Education

Students learn the minimum required
ocean-related fundamental knowledge.

natural sciences and social sciences alongside theability to resolve social issues from a global

operations with a next generation high performance training vessel.

raising our international presence through policy proposals.

By implementing this education system, we are
wide-ranging knowledge of both maritime-related

construction is being expedited so that we will soon be able to conduct

Major/minor courses

industries or research institutions.

aiming to produce human resources who possess

contribute to relief efforts in the event of a disaster. The new ship’s

RAHOC is not a vertical organization, rather it is a horizontal organizationthat promotes collaborative research involving a wide range of members
from industry, government and academic backgrounds. Japan
experiences earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, so I would also like theentrance
exam

Humanities/social
sciences-centric
exam

Sciences-centric
exam

Choice of 2 types of entrance exam,emphasizing humanities or sciences.

research organization to function as a think-and-do tank forreconstructing Japanese people’s perspectives on disaster.

business sense, and can bring the next generation ofocean-related policies to the world.

We will begin our activities with an inaugural symposium. The

Building a new ship and establishing a
new research organization

organization’s distinguishing feature is that it provides a platform for faculty and researchers from humanities and sciences fields to exchange

What activities will Fukae-maru be
used for?

opinions. I would like to regularly hold such study meetings to develop an inclusive approach towards identifying issues to focus on.

Research Alliance for Human and Ocean Coevolution
Advanced Marine-related Research

Up until now, the Fukae-maru has been the

Reconstuction of Japanese Peopleʼs Perspectives on Disaster

Graduate School of Maritime Sciences’ affiliated

Policy Proposals that raise International Presence

training vessel. However we are planning toaffiliate the vessel with the entire university and its

Aims/Results

stable and efficient operation will be managed by
the Center for Maritime Education and Research.

Promotion of Advanced Marine-related Research

The Fukae-maru will not only be used for students’practical work as part of the new faculty’s Maritime

JAMSTEC

Ocean-Bottom
Dynamics
Research Unit

Thinktanks propelling the Maritime Nation

Ocean Development
Research Unit

JOGMEC

Officer License Course, but will also be utilized byCentral govt.

KOBEC to advance inter-institutional collaborations
on pioneering ocean research.

What will the new ship be like?
Fukae-maru was built 32 years ago andconsequently its performance and function havedeteriorated noticeably, therefore it is necessary toconstruct a new ship. The new ship will boost highsafety levels and will be appropriate for long
voyages with its improved living quarters.

05

Overseas
Research
Organizations

Large-scale Disaster
Risks Research Unit

Insurance Industry

Marine Policy
Research Unit

Marine Geology
Research Unit

Overseas
Thinktanks

Regional govt.

Marine Transport
Research Unit
Transport Industry

University-wide cultivation of
Maritime Human Resources

Heavy Industry

Seeds Unit

Construction Industry

Fostering human resources who can be immediate
assets to cooperation between business and authories

Tezuka Osamu’s Triton character chosen as
the Kaijin Project’s navigator‘Triton of the Sea’ is a comic book series created by Japan’s influential father of manga TEZUKA Osamu.
Raised by humans, the main character Triton is the last of the Triton clan. Triton must overcome various
trials and battles in the story’s ocean setting. The original 1969 manga contains criticisms ofhumankind’s
actionsandopinions on environmental
issues, remaining very relevant
today.
Triton has been chosen as thepromotional navigator for Kobe
University’s aim of becoming acomprehensive university whichis ‘open to the sea and opens up
the sea’. Like Triton, Kobe
University will advance while
overcoming various issues facing
society.

06

RESEARCH AT KOBE

Making Social Trends visible with Network Science:
Developing New Analytical Methods for Networks Changing over Time

Networks as a means of understanding the world

the mechanisms of the phenomena occurring on the network.
Consequently, I began to think that treating financial markets

What is network science?

as networks could enable detailed analysis of the contagious

Professor Kobayashi: Have you ever heard the expression “six degrees

effects of the Lehman crash.

of separation?” It’s a famous theory stating that everyone in the worldis connected by no more than six links of acquaintance, in the sense of

In a financial market, nodes are banks, and money lendingknowing someone who knows someone and so on. It may seemand borrowing take place among banks on a daily basis. The

impossible at first glance, but it is actually possible. Isn’t that

lenders are connected to the borrowers by links, forming

mysterious? If you think of these connections among people as a

networks every day. Analysis of these interbank networks

network of points (nodes) connected by lines (links), it can be

gradually revealed their commonalities with the

explained with an extremely simple model. A paper on this wascommunication networks among people. Comparing the

published in 1998, raising awareness of the importance of networks as

behavior of groups of people, namely banks, with individual

a way of understanding the world around us.

behavioral patterns gave us many similarities between them.
To study human contact networks, we can have people put

At around the same time, the World Wide Web became visible as aon wearable sensors and create a contact log (see figure

whole by expressing websites as nodes and their URLs as links. The

below).

distribution of the number of links (degrees) attached to eachindividual website showed a clear statistical distribution. Everyone wascreating links without considering the overall network structure, andyet when viewed overall there’s this clear distribution, and it was the

New methods of analyzing dynamic
networks

same as the power law distribution often seen in statistical physics.

How do you compare them?

The network of airlines shows the same characteristics, andConversation requires decision-making as in “who to talkphenomena that entail the same distribution are common inwith,” “how long to talk for,” and “when to speak to the next

economics as well.

person.” If there are many conversational pairs, thedistributions of the duration of each conversation and the

In short, it was once thought that social, economic and natural systems

time interval between adjacent conversation events can bework through different mechanisms, but we’ve learned that on theobtained. We found that the duration of “how long to talk for”

macro level they have many characteristics in common. Network

has exactly the same pattern as that of how many days banks

science has developed from there, bringing in researchers from various

continue transactions with the same partner. In addition, thefields.

How did you first encounter network science?
About ten years ago, I was doing research on monetary policy, inparticular theoretical models in macroeconomics. However, whenconventional models failed to explain the global chain-reaction offinancial disruptions resulting from the Lehman crash in 2008, I
focused on network science as an alternate approach. In network
science, we consider things as a network and mathematically model

Professor Kobayashi, an associate professor at the Graduate School of Economics, is engaged in researchon identifying intimate personal relationships from contact data, or in simpler terms, extracting who isfriends with whom and how close they are from the network of human contacts.
In addition to the analysis of monetary policy using mathematical macroeconomic models, Professor
Kobayashi intensively studies network science. Network science is a field of study which grasps therelational structures behind real-world phenomena in order to understand the underlying mechanisms.
His recent research on identifying close relationships based on human contact data has drawn attention
due to its development of a method enabling a new approach to the analysis of dynamic networks. We
spoke with Professor Kobayashi about the connection between the research on identifying humanproximity and the analysis of financial markets.

Asics

Top right: A wearable sensor (© Socio Patterns)
Right: Image of a contact data log. Cases when two people are far apart (figure on left) or not facing one another (figure in center) are
not recorded; the device logs only the instances when they are facing each other within a distance of 1 meter or so (figure on right).

07

08

RESEARCH AT KOBE
Clarifying the Dynamical Properties of Networks
interval distribution of “when to speak to the next person” is the same

relationship where they trade 100 times at ten thousand yen

as the distribution of the time between two adjacent trades. That is, weapiece, while a larger one trades 100 times at one million yen

learned for the first time that both individual conversations and bankapiece; the amounts may be smaller, but the former might actuallytransactions possess exactly the same pattern in decision-making.

have a stronger relationship. That’s why, when determining

Objectively identifying stable dyadic (two-person) relationships
within dynamic networks

Threshold method

Disparity filter

ST filter (new method)friends or favored clients, you have to take into account the

While individual conversations have various motivations,the purpose of bank transactions is simply the pursuit ofprofit. How do they end up tracing similar patterns whileaiming at different targets?

potential activity level of each individual or corporation. Large

That’s the mysterious part. The Italian bank market data I analyzed

Regarding the face-to-face networks at a primary school, a highly

included 300 different banks, but in many cases, they continued

social child may talk with 50 other people in a day, while a very

trading with the same bank continuously for 100 days or more. If theytaciturn child might talk for three minutes a day with one

were choosing trading partners at random, it’s out of the question thatparticular student, enabling us to see a special relationship there.

transactions with 1 out of 300 possible partners would go on for 100

By controlling the actual activity level of each individual, we candays. That means that the bank sees value of some kind in a continuingdetect relationships that are not dependent on absolute

relationship with that partner. To understand this, decision-making inconversation time (see figure on page 10).

corporations naturally have high potential activity levels, so you
have to discount that.

personal relations serves as a hint.

Your research has been very well received, hasn’t it?
So, to study human social networks, I began modeling the conversation

Research up until now has extracted the important links in various

networks of students at a primary school in France. Based on the

networks, but has always focused on static networks at a given

model, we developed a method to identify the strength of proximity

point in time. The novelty of our research is our development of abetween students. The important point here was to take into accountmethod for extracting (filtering) friendly relationships in networks

the differences in potential activity levels between individuals.

that change over time, and I think the response to that has been
positive. Clarifying dynamic characteristics is a major challenge in

Potential activity levels?

network science.

First, there’s the issue of how to scientifically define “proximity,” as in“friends” in the case of interpersonal relations and “favored clients” in

Is it applicable to other fields as well?

inter-company relations. Conventionally, it was thought that a higher

It can be applied as long as you have data on dynamically

number of contacts meant being friends and a higher number ofchanging networks. For example, there are potential applicationstransactions or higher monetary amounts meant being favored clients,

with regard to objectively grasping friend networks within schools,

but there are problems with these simple assumptions. I mean, with

detecting bullying as it happens or observing the signs of bullying

larger corporations, naturally there are more transactions and larger

before they develop. It should also be applicable to monitoring

amounts of money changing hands. Say a small company has a

trading relations in financial markets or managing livestock.

Interviewee Profile

KOBAYASHI Teruyoshi(Associate Professor, Graduate School of Economics)

KOBAYASHI Teruyoshi graduated from Nagoya University School of
Economics in 1999, and received his Ph.D. from Nagoya University’s
Graduate School of Economics in 2004. He took up his present position
after serving as a tenured lecturer and associate professor at Chukyo
University School of Economics. A specialist in macroeconomics andnetwork science, Professor Kobayashi’s main research fields include
studies on optimal monetary policy using macroeconomic models, aswell as the application of network science models and analytical methods
to the study of economic phenomena. In 2020 he received the Murao
Educational Foundation Academic Award, which recognizes outstanding
academic research accomplished by a researcher located in Hyogo.

09

Professor Kobayashi’s research group estimated the potential activity levels of each individual and calculated
the number of contacts when they would select partners at random. They then compared the number with theactual number of contacts for each pair and judged that, if the number was high enough to have been
impossible via random selection, the relationship was significant.
The figure above shows the results of applying this filtering method to the conversation network in a primaryschool in France. Each point represents a student, color-coded by class (the black points are teachers), withblack lines showing significant ties. With the conventional threshold method (figure on left), judging simply by
the number of contacts, it would appear that there are multiple intimate pairs outside each class as well;
however, according to the proposed filtering method (figure on right), which takes the potential activity levelsof each pair into consideration, most significant ties were found within the same class. It was thus shown thatfriendly relationships appeared within each class.

Potential to avoid lockdowns in the age of thecoronavirus
What are the possible network science approaches to thepost-coronavirus world economy?
In fact, a lot of network scientists are currently working on simulations

Even while the coronavirus is spreading, are there
situations in which a state of emergency would be
uncalled for?

predicting the spread of the novel coronavirus. They are using

I think it would be possible. During Japan’s state of emergency inmathematical models to predict how people are connected and how

April and May, the government called on people to reduce their

they behave in order to make judgments on “how much restrictions on

contact with others by 80%, but if the data shows us that people

activity would prevent how much infection from spreading.”
However, while network science at present may be able to predict

will spontaneously restrict their activity to this extent, there should

Asics
be no reason to make the request, making it possible to avoid
bringing economic activity to a halt all at once.

through mathematical models how far infection will spread based on
the observation of people’s behavior, we don’t know how people’sWill you be researching this issue from here on?

behavior will change in the event of a shock. For instance, in response

I would like to, but the ethical issues make experimentation

to the shock of the coronavirus outbreak, people spontaneously stay at

difficult. It is out of question to introduce an infected person into ahome, refraining from going out. As a result, the shape of the networkgroup of people and see how everyone reacts. Some researchersof human connections changes significantly, but we don’t know how it

have done this kind of experiment with ants, which are socialchanges spontaneously, that is, how much reaction there is to shocks. If

insects, and there are some possibilities in this direction, but wewe could predict or counter infection through an understanding of thereally do need an understanding on the social level of humanmechanism of these possible changes in human behavior, we would bebeings. Experimentation is extremely difficult, but I hope to work

able to judge more precisely the government’s need to impose aout some way to proceed with the research.

lockdown.

10

EDUCATION

Kobe University’s V. School

and Value Design). In addition there are related courses taught by

Value
Creationfaculty and lecturers from both inside and outside Kobe
V. School is split into two divisions; the Value Emergence Groupand the Value Design Group. The respective heads of thesedivisions are Professor TAMAKI Hisashi of the Graduate School of
System Informatics and Professor KUTSUNA Kenji of the Graduate
School of Business Administration/Graduate School of Science,
Technology and Innovation.

How have students responded to V. School?
We asked Professor KOKUBU Katsuhiko, V. School’s director and university vice president, about its aims anddistinguishing characteristics.

At the moment (as of June 1, 2020), there are a total of 59
matriculating students in V. School; 46 undergraduates and 13
graduate students. They come from 9 faculties and 7 graduate

Professor Kokubu: In order to revitalize society, the pressing need for talents who can

originally predicted, indicating that V. School’s efforts are wellcreate new values and trigger innovation is widely recognized. However, it has been said

suited to the needs of students.

Issuesand with the participation of students, we have been able to achieve an even higher level of discussion. As V. School does not adopt the

V. School was established with the aim of stimulating knowledge creation by

credit system, students are completely free to learn what they want and plan their own projects. In this sense, I think it could be said that

demolishing the boundaries between the different faculties and graduate schools and

we are returning to the origins of education.

intersecting various academic fields from a value creation perspective.

“With its catchphrase ‘Wonderland for Thoughts and Creation’, V. School is designed toallow both faculty and students to freely devise and carry out various education andresearch projects. “What are V. School’s distinguishing characteristics?
With its catchphrase ‘Wonderland for Thoughts and Creation’, V. School is designed toallow both faculty and students to freely devise and carry out various education anddesign things without being restricted by academic constraints. All students join V.

Professor KOKUBU Katsuhiko

School of their own free will and most of the faculty members are also taking part

(University Vice President andDirector of V. School)

industry and government bodies in order to create social value. Through these kinds ofactivities, we hope that our students will acquire the ability to create value as fundamental knowledge that supports their high level

What kind of students would you like to come to V. School?
I would like students who are not satisfied with the existing framework to come to V. School. Recently, there are many students who feelpressure to conform, which is useless for value creation. Rather, I would like students who have the ambition to try coming up with ideasthat up until now no one has thought of, and to make these ideas into reality. I think that it will bring great value to society if this kind of
ambition can be realized even slightly through V. School’s PBL and projects. It is even more necessary right now with the corona crisis forthese ideas to break the status quo. V. School has also opened its doors to industry in the form of an institution membership system, andspecialization.

we would like to see these practitioners become actively involved.

What kind of classes does V. School offer? What is value creation?

Tell us about V. School’s future plans.

At V. School, we organize educational programs on value creation using the following formula: “Value Creation = Value Emergence × Value
Design” (This is represented as a loop diagram consisting of 6 elements).
‘Value Emergence’ is the discovery of value that was not thought of at the outset and ‘Value Design’ is the thought process up until therealization of such a value in society. 'Value Design' is the process of figuring out how to implement such values in society.
V. School educational programs are mainly composed of the ‘Value Creation Salon’ (a talk between three faculty members), lecture courses
on ‘Value Creation and Emergence’ and ‘Value Creation and Design’, and Problem Based Learning (PBL, which is related to Value Emergence

11

Functiondiscuss value creation even before and after the lectures. On Slack, there have been some heated discussions between faculty members,

education has become increasingly focussed on specialization.

We are also planning to set up various value creation projects in cooperation with

Value
Creation

We have created a discussion platform for students using the team communication tool ‘Slack’, which enables them to continuouslythat universities are not meeting this expectation. One reason for this is that higher

voluntarily.

CreatedProduct

Expectations

schools. This is nearly double the amount of students that we

What led to the establishment of V. School?

research projects. The credit system is not applied to the classes so students are free to

Background

Value

Value Emergence

Established in April 2020, Kobe University’s ‘Value School’ (V. School) aims to cultivate talents who can create value
by discovering, realizing and elaborating upon underlying ‘hopes and expectations’ beyond existing seeds/needs.
It is not an independent body or department, rather it is a university-wide cross-departmental organization thatstudents can freely join. V. School exists beyond the boundaries of faculties and graduate schools, reflecting andmaking the most of Kobe University's tradition of integrating the arts and sciences.

Value
Planning

University.

Value Planning

Aiming to be a Global Hub for Value Creation

Value
Emergence

We would like to strengthen our presence in society and the world. I think that society has great expectations for V. School and we would
like to live up to these expectations through our projects.
We would also like to collaborate with the Creating Value Alliance, which carries out operations on a worldwide scale, and grow Kobe
University into a global hub for value creation. In addition, with a generous donation from Mr. MIYAKE Suguru (president of the Nihon
M&A Center) we are planning to construct a new building by 2022, which will be the 120th anniversary of Kobe University. We look forward
to the active participation of all of our faculty, staff and students.

12

EDUCATIONInterviews with students at V. School
KUBO Yuichiro
1st year doctoral student studying at the Graduate School of Business Administration
I was studying the socioeconomic effect of sports as a tool forregional revitalization, focussing on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
For a year and a half, I planned and finished editing a handbook
containing practical information on the physical support foroverseas athletes at training camps, the industries of the hostcities and the characteristics of the Tokyo Olympics. However, I
am currently unable to move on to the next stage of the project
because the Olympics have been postponed due to the spreadof the novel coronavirus. I experienced failure at the startdespite having fully made plans and preparations. I heard
about V. School when I was trying to find a way to put myproject into practice.

The joys of learning ‘on location’Q

What were you doing before you came to Kobe University?
After graduating high school, I entered Shanghai International Studies University
and studied Japanese for a year. Then I came to Japan and visited many places
around the country while studying at a Japanese language school for 6 months. I likethe atmosphere of the Kansai region of Japan and old buildings so I went to Osaka,
Kyoto, Nara, and of course, Kobe. I also visited Tokyo once. During my trip to Kobe, I
thought that the streets were very beautiful and I started to like this city. I also visitedQ

Kobe’s Chinatown, however it is a bit different from China.

What kind of research are you currently doing?
I haven’t started my graduate research yet. I am working on the planningassignments that are given to 4th year students. The current assignment is on
improving the streets in the Sannomiya area. This involves identifying aspects thatare not good or have become problems, and then coming up with ideas for
improvement from an architectural perspective. For example, I think that Kobe is

V. School’s goal is ‘Value Creation’; this begins with ‘Value Emergence’- an exchange platform where students can plan and design. I was

popular as a tourist destination for Japanese people. However, in reality, Kobe is notable to learn many things from the rich knowledge of the professors who are specialists in their respective fields. For ‘Value Design’, whichas popular as Osaka and Kyoto from the viewpoint of travelers from overseas, suchcovers societal realization, students can take a systematic program that aims to cultivate human resources (entrepreneurs) who can realize

as those from China and South Korea. With this in mind, I am conducting research to

Value Creation.

Q

consider how Kobe’s townscape can be improved to attract foreign tourists.

When I reviewed my research through the perspective of ‘Value Creation’, I realized that examinations and analyses were insufficient toquickly and flexibly respond to the current changing society, and that it is necessary to approach it from the viewpoint of searching for
new needs and adapting to various situations by anticipating their developments.

International
voices

Kobe from an architectural point of view

Are there any areas of Kobe that you are personallyinterested in?
I like Harborland, Motomachi, and Kitano Ijinkan (historical foreign settlement
quarter). From an architectural point of view, the townscape in those areas is

SUGIURA Ami

considerably beautiful. Personally, I like the sea so I love to walk along Harborland’s

3rd year student on the Mechatronics course of the Maritime Engineering Department, Faculty of
Maritime Sciences

the coronavirus but before I used to go for a walk there with friends about once a

Xue Jiajie
4th year student, studying Architecture at theFaculty of Engineering
From Jiangsu Province, China. In high school, he
was on the basketball team and took part in theschool’s games. He is interested in the film andmusic and plays bass guitar. Although busy withclasses and assignments, he is leading a fulfillinglife.

promenade and feel the sea breeze. Recently, I haven’t been due to the impact ofI think that the key to success at V. School is ‘how much can we(students) take away the different professors’ ways of thinking
and make them our own?’ In regular university classes, students
can actively take part but have few opportunities to see how
professors discuss a specific topic. V. School provides a platform
for realizing both aspects.
As well as acquiring knowledge of a specialized field in regularclasses, I think that it is also necessary to understand it fromseemingly unrelated points of view. This was one of myQweek and also go to cafes in the area.

What are your future goals?
I would like to study abroad in either Europe or America after I graduate from Kobe

University. Japanese style and European style architecture are totally different, so inorder to learn about both styles, I would like to study at a graduate school in theWest. I am currently working on my portfolio for applying to graduate school.
I find architecture fascinating as it enables me to exercise my imagination by making
blueprints and models for buildings with my own hands. I am aiming to study in
different countries so that I can study the unique architecture of each place in evenPeople’s Republic of China
Jiangsu Province borders eastern China’s Yellow
Sea, and its prefectural capital is Nanjing. Xue Jiajie
is from Wuxi, which is a friendship city of Akashi in
Hyogo Prefecture. Japanese enka singer Ogata
Daisaku’s 1986 song ‘Mushaku Ryojo’ (Wuxi
Travels) was a big hit and in the late 80s the numberof Japanese tourists visiting the area increased.

more depth.

motivations for joining V. School.
It was as if they had read my mind because at V. School;
professors from various specialized fields explained topics from the perspective of their specific academic areas, which also requires meto think from a variety of perspectives. Therefore, it is impossible to truly understand a lecture unless I put my brain into full gear bothduring the lecture and afterwards.
‘Questioning is the piety of thought.’ V. School’s Director, Professor Kokubu introduced us to this quote from Heidegger during a lecture.
Professor Kokubu then added his own observation; ‘Why is questioning the piety of thought? Because by questioning, we can open thedoor to a new world.’ Questioning is the action of reiterating rigorous thoughts. So what produces these rigorous thoughts? That would
be another thought.
I would like to enhance the value of V. School by becoming a person who can contribute to resolving problems with a multifacetedunderstanding, informed by different professors’ ways of thinking.

13

On a trip to Bath in England.

An architectural model by Xue Jiajie.

His hometown (Photo of Nanchang Street in Wuxi)

Approximately 1,400 international students from countries around the world are currently studying at Kobe University.
In this corner, our international students introduce their native countries and offer some insights on studying abroad in Japan.

14

Always aiming higher:
Building a Formula-style racing car from scratch

Have you experienced any difficulties making a car fromscratch?
Yes, many. The most difficult experience of all was when the simulation did notwork. We conduct simulations to make sure that parts won’t break or deform too
much when we run the machine in real life. However, a part that we hadn’t
foreseen breaking broke while we were repeating the simulation. Even though we
could find the cause of this failure at the initial stage, other issues began to appear
and even after looking into all these problems, it still failed. It is exhausting to keep
looking when the cause of the problem is unclear.

In the midst of all these difficulties, what makes you feel that it
is worth doing?
I get the biggest sense of fulfilment when we drive a machine that we built fromscratch. We design the car, run simulations hundreds of times and experience
many failures, which can be disheartening. Although this is disheartening, I feeltrue satisfaction and joy when we complete the car and successfully drive it.

What is your message for those who aspire to make something?
University is the most freedom I have had so far, and students can freely take partin activities in their extracurricular club. With regard to making things, although I
had only made pre-prepared things up until high school, at university I got the

FORTEK is Kobe University’s Formula team. Every September they take part in theStudent Formula SAE (Society of Automobile Engineers) competition of Japan.
In 2019, they came 5th place nationwide and won a special prize.

opportunity to create something from scratch. Of course, this includes theactivities of the Formula Team.
I think that only university students have the chance to make something from scratch this freely. If you start working for a company, you can
only make things in a restricted way because you are bound by their policies and various other aspects. Therefore, I think that university

The process of designing a small Formula-style racing car from scratch that will
actually work requires repeated trial and error. We asked team leader KUROTANIKazuma for his thoughts on designing and building cars.

provides a valuable space where you can spend a meaningful time immersing yourself in freely creating something with your friends. I would
like those who are interested in making something and who want to feel a sense of fulfilment from doing that to join our team.

What are your future aims?

What is Student Formula?

I would like for us to become number one in Japan. When I talked to my teammates during the period when we couldn’t do practical work

Students design and develop a compact racing car which is entered into a competition held every

due to corona-related extracurricular activity restrictions, they said that they definitely wanted to take 1st place in the competition. Before

September. The point of the competition is for students to organize their own team and spend
one year making a formula-style racing car. Through the design and development process,students can experience the joys, difficulties and excitement of creating something.

What kind of contest takes place at the Student Formula SAE competition?
At the competition, the cars are judged through two types of event, Dynamic Events and Staticthat, we had been working hard to achieve above 6th place and last year we came in 5th place. 1st place is now within our sights, so our aim

FORTEK’s KUROTANI Kazuma,
3rd year student studying MechanicalEngineering at the Faculty ofEngineering.

is to achieve it.

Events. In Dynamic Events, the car’s performance is assessed in four categories; Acceleration,
Skidpad, Autocross, and Endurance. This involves actually driving the vehicle and the time,
durability performance and fuel consumption are then evaluated. We drive the car down astraight course and also take figure-of-eight turns, just like on TV.
The three competition categories for the Static Events are Cost, Presentation and Design. The costfor creating the machine, our market sales pitch and the design of the vehicle are all evaluated.
The points obtained in each of these 7 categories are calculated into the total competition score.

What kind of activities does the team usually do?
Our team’s activities are divided into three stages; machine design, construction and driving.
After the competition has finished, we work on the design of the next vehicle from September
until the end of the year. Then we move onto construction and finally test driving. For theplanning, we initially discuss and decide what kind of machine we will make. Next, we build the
car that we designed in a workspace that has the required equipment. We then test the vehicle
in an open space and practice driving it before the competition. This entire process takes about
one year.

15

Interviewer OHGAKI Moeof the Student PR Team
(1st year studying Humanities at
the Faculty of Letters).

16

SPECIAL REPORT: Kobe against COVID-19
Kobe University ‘With COVID-19’ symposium held to consider how societies and the virus can co-exist
and individual levels by presenting a results analysis based onquestionnaire answers from businesses and individuals. Lastly,

President Takeda (left) and Executive Vice President Sugimura.

Chinese students and graduates donate masks to Kobe University

Executive Vice President OGAWA Matsuto (in Charge of Research,

Science and Technology) appealed to other alumni for donations ofEnvironment and Information Management) spoke about how wemasks for Kobe University. They managed to raise a total of 25,000

can build a society where people can co-exist with the novelmasks.

coronavirus and introduced the fifty or so research themes that the

Juneyao Airlines Co., Ltd employee Ms. ZHOU Li (2015 alumni of theuniversity is tackling based on this topic.

Graduate School of Law) arranged the transportation with the airline’s

The panel discussion was moderated by Vice President SAITO

cooperation; the donated masks arriving at Kansai International Airport

Masahiko (in Charge of Mathematical and Data Sciences and Researchon the same day. The president of the West Japan branch of Kobe

Promotion). The ensuing discussion focused on how society can

University’s International Alumni Association, Mr. CHEN Lin (2005 alumni

co-exist with the virus from multiple angles, including medical,of the Graduate School of Natural Sciences), drove the masks from theeconomical, technological, cultural and administrative aspects.

airport to Kobe University’s Centre for International Education. Executive

Director TANIGUCHI Masumi, of Kobe City’s Planning and

On Thursday July 2nd, the ‘Kobe University ‘With COVID-19’

Vice President YOSHII Masahiko (in Charge of International Exchange

Coordination Bureau spoke about Kobe City’s current circumstances

symposium: Considering how society can coexist with noveland Evaluation), Director KAWAI Naruo and Professor PARK Jong Woo

in relation to the city’s strategic measures against the virus. He also

coronavirus’ was held online. The event consisted of three lectures and(both of the Center for International Education) received the masks on

introduced city planning visions for the future, and the most importanta panel discussion and over 260 people joined the event via Zoom.

aims and crucial ideas regarding the virus. Dean OKUMURA Hiroshi

The opening speech was given by President TAKEDA Hiroshi, in which(Graduate School of Humanities) presented historical and cultural

he wished those who have contracted novel coronavirus well andfactors as to why the virus hasn’t spread as widely in Japan. Panelists

expressed his gratitude towards all those working in hospitals. He alsobrought up issues such as the need for people to stay connectedstated that this symposium was held as part of the University’s aim toboth online and offline.

keep pace with and contribute to society.

The event finished with a closing address from Executive ViceOn April 21, Kobe University received a donation of 25,000 masks
from Chinese exchange students and alumni. Upon hearing about
Japan’s State of Emergency that was declared as a response to thewidening spread of novel coronavirus, former student and Shanghai
resident Ms. SONG Xiaohua (2002 alumni of the Graduate School ofbehalf of the university’s staff.
The donated masks have been used resourcefully by university staff,
beginning with those working at the University Hospital and theDepartment of Medicine. On behalf of all staff of Kobe University, we
would like to express our heartfelt gratitude for this warm support whenmasks were in such short supply.

The lectures began with Executive Vice President SUGIMURA Kazuro

President MIZUTANI Fumitoshi (in Charge of Planning and General(in Charge of Hospital, Student Affairs and Risk Management) explaining

Affairs), in which he thanked those who joined the symposium. He

aspects of the novel coronavirus, including the prevalence of infection,

also expressed his aspirations for Kobe University to continue to

An international academic exchange meeting was held online between

Kobe University is currently collaborating with Kobe City on thesymptoms, diagnosis, treatment and antibody testing. Next, AssociateInternational Academic Exchange Meeting held with Tianjin Medical University

accumulate multifaceted knowledge and contribute towards shaping

Kobe University’s Graduate School of Medicine/School of Medicine and‘Kobe Vision for the Healthcare of Tomorrow’, a publicly funded

Professor HATTORI Yasuhiro of the Graduate School of Businessthe next era. With these closing words, the symposium was brought

Tianjin Medical University on August 7.

project to revitalize local industry and universities, which aims toAdministration talked about the impact of the virus on both industrial

to a successful conclusion.

Kobe and Tianjin established the first friendship city relationship between

develop KBIC. The University is also conducting advanced research

Japan and China in 1973. Their cooperation has grown since then; forand development in the field of medical devices, focusing on robotics

example the 45th anniversary in 2018 was marked by events such as anthat can assist surgery. China is also aiming to further develop its

international medical exchange symposium held in Tianjin. Furthering

medical industry and has large-scale advancement plans, such as

this history between the two cities, Tianjin Medical University and Kobe

creating extensive medical industry clusters.

University Graduate School of Medicine/School of Medicine entered into

The development of international medicine is currently facing

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank Ltd. has presented Kobe University withan academic exchange agreement in May 2019 with the aim of promoting

extremely difficult circumstances due to COVID-19, however new

a 10 million yen grant to support research into a vaccine for the novel

exchange across medical fields.

methods that have been implemented as a response to this, such as

coronavirus. This donation comes from the financial institution’s

The international academic exchange meeting was held with theonline consultations, have great potential.

‘Account for Donations to Develop Vaccine and Medicine to Treat

participation of 9 faculty members from various medical departments ofTianjin City/Tianjin Medical University and Kobe City/Kobe University

COVID-19’, which aims to support universities that are developing a

Kobe University, and 17 faculty members from various medical departments

are expected to achieve substantial synergy through working together

vaccine or treatments to tackle the virus. In Kobe University’s case, thisof Tianjin Medical University.

as they are striving towards the same goals. It is hoped that the spread

Kobe University receives 10m. yen research grantfrom Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank to develop
coronavirus vaccine

funding will support the vaccine development research conducted by

17

INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIONOn the day, Kobe City’s Director in charge of Medical Policy HANATANI

of COVID-19 will be halted quickly, allowing both cities and bothProfessor MORI Yasuko et al. at the Graduate School of Medicine’s

10m. yen donation. In return, President Takeda presented the bank

Tadaaki gave a special lecture introducing KOBE Biomedical Innovation

universities to further increase their cooperation.

Center for Infectious Diseases.

representatives with a letter of appreciation and expressed his heartfelt

Cluster (KBIC) and its aims to contribute internationally by providing new

The presentation of the donation took place on July 8 on thegratitude for the grant. Afterwards, Professor Mori gave an outline of

medical services and advanced medical technology beginning with other

University’s Rokko-dai campus. From Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank Ltd.,the research into developing a novel coronavirus vaccine.

Asian countries. After the lecture, Kobe University and Tianjin Medical

Senior Managing Executive Officer TANAKA Naohiro and TAKAHASHI

Kobe University is aiming to develop an immunization vaccine for novel

University exchanged information on three medical fields; gastrointestinal

Hideya, the Head of General Affairs at the Osaka main branch, were

coronavirus from existing chicken pox and shingles vaccines, and is

medicine, breast surgery and urology, resulting in a lively discussion. In

present. In attendance from Kobe University were President TAKEDA

conducting joint research with The Research Foundation for Microbial

recent years there has been considerable ongoing progress in China’s

Hiroshi, Executive Vice President ODA Keiji, the Graduate School of

Diseases of Osaka University. Professor Mori commented, ‘We are aiming

medical fields and many impressive aspects regarding the scale of thisMedicine’s Dean FUJISAWA Masato and Professor MORI Yasuko (of theto develop a vaccine for novel coronavirus. To achieve this, I would like

progress. Participants from Kobe University were greatly inspired by thisCenter for Infectious Diseases).

to use the grant to set up a P3 laboratory for handling the novel

and have big aspirations for future exchange.

Mr. Tanaka presented President Takeda with a representation of thecoronavirus and conducting virological analyses.’18

ABOUT KOBE UNIVERSITYFounded in 1902
4 campuses 10 faculties 15 graduate schools

16,080 students
including 1,227 international students
3,734 staff

including 1,673 teaching staff
2,061 administrative staff
Each=1,000 students= international students

Regional distribution of international students

1,227
1,227
1,227
International
International
International
Students
Students Students

Alumni networks in 15 countries

Faculties and Graduate Schools

・Letters / Humanities
・Global Human Sciences
・Intercultural Studies
Asia: 1063
・Human Development and Environment
Asia: 1063
・Law
Europe: 96
Europe: 96 ・Economics
Africa: 52
・Business Administration
Africa: 52
・Science
Latin America:
9 ・9Medicine
Latin America:・Health Sciences
North America:
6
North America:
6・Engineering
1 ・System Informatics
Oceania: Oceania:
1・Agriculture / Agricultural Science
・Maritime Sciences
・International Cooperation Studies
・Science, Technology and Innovation

Partner Universities
Kobe University currently has 372 partner institutions in 63 countries/regions.
North America
30

Europe

Asia

145

163
Middle East
6South America
8

Africa9
Oceania11
All data as of May 1, 2020