Kobe University Newsletter "Kaze"

Vol. 01
October 2016

SPOTLIGHT
Entrepreneurship teams up with
cutting-edge science
EDUCATION
Study Japan, in English
COMMUNITY IMPACTThe Tōhoku Volunteer Bath ProjectKobe insights

Mount Rokko andthe Five Villages of Nada
At the foot of Mount Rokkō, between Kobe’s
Nada district and Nishinomiya to the east,
there are many sake breweries. These
breweries are known collectively as the
Naga-Gogō – the “Five Villages of Nada”. The
sake made here is dry and robust, which led
it being labelled “male sake” (otokozake).
The foot of Mount Rokkō is also famous for
its water. Praised by sailors worldwide as“Kobe Water”, it comes from the rainwaterthat falls on the mountain range and is filtereddown as spring water. You can see several ofthese springs by just walking down the hillfrom the university. This famous water, a key
ingredient of the sake brewed in the Five
Villages of Nada, is known as Nishinomiya no
mizu or miyamizu for short.

In this issue...
SPOTLIGHT
3 Entrepreneurship teams up with cutting-edge science
RESEARCH AT KOBE
7 Interdisciplinary knowledge brings old manuscripts back into the light
EDUCATION
9 Study Japan, in English

In order to brew a flavorsome sake you needwater with as low an iron content as possible,
because the enzyme that converts rice starch
into glucose, which is then converted into
alcohol, doesn’t respond well to iron. With
barely any iron content, miyamizu is ideal for
brewing sake. The low iron content inmiyamizu is thanks to the Rokkō mountain
range – made of granite, which has a low ironcontent. We’d also like to note that thesemountains were formed one billion years ago
after a huge volcanic eruption. In other words,
the famous sake of Nada is a creation of our
volcanic archipelago.
Miyamizu is also a hard water, rare in
Japan. This hardness explains the dry qualityof the sake. The Five Villages of Nada arelocated in a sandy area with a lot of shells, andhard water is created when calcium from theseshells dissolves in the subsoil water from themountain rains.
Something to think about the next time
you’re enjoying a cup of sake. Cheers!

11 International voices
COMMUNITY IMPACT
13 Emotional care for disaster survivors: the Tōhoku Volunteer Bath Project
INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION
15 New overseas office in Honolulu
16 Kobe University strengthens ties with Beijing Foreign Studies University
16 Joint symposium with Jagiellonian University
16 Collaboration through Erasmus+
FACT SHEET
17 Fact Sheet

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

Contact us: intl-relations@office.kobe-u.ac.jp (International Affairs Planning Division)
Find out more:

www.kobe-u.ac.jp/en@KobeU_Global

Kobe University

The new Graduate School of
Science, Technology and Innovation
Does
interdisciplinary advise students on making business a fund. It’s a “seed accelerator”: aplans for their research field. During company which combines a small
education keep you fit?

SPOTLIGHT

Entrepreneurship teams up
with cutting-edge science
Interview 1: Professor KUTSUNA Keiji,
Deputy Dean of the Graduate School of Science, Technology and Innovation
A new Graduate School formed offour advanced science divisions, but
in pivotal position is the single
humanities division of entrepreneurship. We interviewed Professor
KUTSUNA Keiji, Deputy Dean of the
new Graduate School and an
authority on entrepreneurship inJapan.

call this a breakthrough, but thisalone will not start an enterprise. The
academic field of entrepreneurshipdeals with what can give thisinvention social and economic value –in other words, realizing innovation.
Why did you start to research thisfield?

How to use breakthroughs This will get a bit specialist. When I

entered graduate school and was
To start with, let me say a few words thinking about what to study, a fieldon the definition of entrepreneurship. had just emerged called “economics ofNarrowly speaking, entrepreneur- information”. I was studying finance,
ship is the actions and mindset that but until that point, the neoclassicalaccompany starting a business, but school’s approach was based on thethere’s actually a slightly broader premise that information instantly
meaning. It’s about looking at things spreads and makes decision-making
from a different perspective, efficient. But the reality is that inconsidering whether you can give general one side has information thatthem new social or economic value, the other side lacks. We call thisand then taking meaningful action. information asymmetry. In financial
Regardless of whether you found a terms, there is probably morecompany or not, this way of thinking information asymmetry when an
and acting is called entrepreneurship. entrepreneur is raising businessFor example, say a scientist has funds than when a large company
invented an amazing technology. We borrows money from a bank. At the03

time, hardly anyone was researching
the finances of unlisted companies,
and I thought it was an interesting
field of study.

interviewee
KUTSUNA Keiji

The new graduate school isinterdisciplinary, but your students
are all from science-based fields. Do
you have any concerns about this?
If you ask “Do you think society will
accept research that cannot be usedby anyone and pay you a salary?” I
thinksciencestudents
willunderstand straight away. It’s not justabout research; it’s whether you caninnovate. That is what will contributeto society and lead to a high salary.
Until April 2016, there was only one
entrepreneurship course in the Schoolof Business Administration. In the
new Graduate School there are now
eight courses a year. I believe this is
the most comprehensive graduate
school in Japan for studying
entrepreneurship, covering the threeareas essential for business: people,
things, and money. Every week on
Monday, students from the four
natural science fields head to the
Rokkodai social sciences campus andstudy entrepreneurship.
As for me, I’ve been at Kobe
University 15 years and hardly evervisited the natural sciences campus,
but recently I’ve been climbing up anddown the stairs between campuses alot, sometimes even three times a day[laughs]. Since April my main focus
has been the new graduate school.
Right now, I only share teaching for
one class in the School of Business
Administration.

amount of investment with start-up
mentoring and advice.
Our company president has asked
private venture capitalists to join. The
company is managed by threeprofessors from the new graduate
school: myself and two newcomers to
Kobe
University,
Professor
YAMAMOTO Kazuhiko (previously aventure capitalist) and Professor
SAKAI Takayuki (involved inbusiness-academia
technology
Why has the University transfer for many years). With theaddition of specialist copyrightstarted a company?
lawyers, we now have a team of nine
members to carry out screening for
We’ve heard that you founded a
research commercialization.
company linked to the new graduate
school.
the final half of the year they write
their graduation theses, but thesemust be more than natural sciences
research. If they don’t include a parton how to commercialize theirresearch, they do not fulfil therequirements of the course. In otherwords, the students in our new
graduate school always have to think
about
what
is
neededtocommercialize their research.

Training human resources
In January 2016 we founded “Science who won’t lose to AI
and Technology EntrepreneurshipCo., Ltd.” The company office is on
the natural sciences campus.
We decided to create this company
because when we were preparing toopen the new graduate school, several
natural sciences professors broughtup the topic. We got comments like “Itried to commercialize my results, but
I didn’t make much progress”.
Actually, for over 20 years, I havebeen preparing to start a company
with these members. I didn’t think of
it as being connected to Kobe
University, but we decided to create it
within the university and redesigned
its framework, including funding.

What sort of people can students
studying at this graduate school hope
to become?

Of course we expect that somegraduates will aim to start businesses,
but more importantly I want to train
individuals who can practice
innovation in any field. There is no
doubt that these sorts of humanresources will be in demand. In thesecutting-edge times, I think thatpeople’s jobs will be lost to artificial
intelligence and robots. But if we canconsider things from a different
perspective and create new values forthem, maybe humans will still have a
Can we think of it as venture capital chance [laughs]. If you want toto be invested in new projects?
become such a person, I will be glad to
How do you link cutting-edge
see you at Kobe University.
research fields to entrepreneurship? Venture capital is when a fund iscreated using contributions from
From the second half of the first year outside investors. Our company willto the first half of the second year, I provide capital, but we will not create04

The new mission and outlook for
Kobe University explained byProfessor KONDO Akihiko, Dean of
the Graduate School of Science,
Technology and Innovation.

interviewee
KONDO Akihiko

A tough curriculum

technology. It is the same difficultylevel as an average master’s degree,
but they will also learn about
entrepreneurship. In other words, we
aim to give people the skills
connected to innovation that will
enablethem
toachieveabreakthrough.

What is special about this graduate Do the classes for the four fields takethe same format as other graduate
school?
schools?
Professors carrying out world-classadvanced research in four different No, we are using an independent
fields, laboratories, and entrepreneur curriculum. Students concentrate on
specialists representing Japan such one of the four fields, but they study
as Professor KUTSUNA have all the other fields and we teach them togathered to train a new kind of widen their perspective in thescience-focused individual. I believe sciences. Practical experience withthis is the first experiment of its kind industrial technology is also a uniquefeature of our courses. There are notin Japan.
Students will carry out in-depth many graduate schools in Japan that
research into advanced science and offer practical training. Every student

Interview 2: Professor KONDO Akihiko,Dean of the Graduate School of Science, Technology and Innovation

experiences this training in all four
fields.
In other words, the new graduate
school is not just about interdisciplinary learning between social
and natural sciences, it is also aboutcross-disciplinary studies between
different fields. Innovation happens
when different fields combine. For
example, when the K supercomputeris used to simulate cells, combining
biotechnology and IT. Facilitating
this sort of interdisciplinary work is
one of the largest goals of our new
graduate school.

Encouraging a mindset
that celebrates difference
What is the significancecombining disciplines?

of

Science-focused researchers can do
the research, but they can’t put
together a business plan. Unfortunately, we haven’t taken classes inentrepreneurship. I’m even thinking
about dropping into the Monday
classes [laughs].
Japan does not have enough people
with the skill to start new businesses.
We are very strong in large
businesses in the same [sciencebased] research fields, but we are theweakest country in the world when it
comes to creating new start-ups.
I think this is related to the05

different mindsets – Japan does notforgive mistakes, whereas the US
views mistakes as steps towards
success. In the United States,
students act dynamically. For
example, students who studied
natural sciences as undergraduatesswitch to social sciences for graduate
school. This is a weak point forJapan: even after graduation, we justcarrying on moving up in a fixed path[laugh]. I think that Japan lacks the
dynamism for trying out new
challenges.
Have you noticed a cultural gap
between sciences and humanities?
They are quite different, yes. The
research is completely different. I
think if we start to criticize each otherthe list would be endless [laughs].
But this is because of our different
definitions of “science”. We have tostart with respect. Respecting andcomplementing each other in order tocreate something amazing.
On the other hand, understandingthat our cultures are completely
different can itself be verystimulating
andbecomeanopportunity
tobroadenourperspectives. Wherever they go, thestudents must create businesses withmany different kinds of people, andit’s very important for them to havethese collaborative mindsets.

The merits of starting abusiness at a university
What sort of hopes do you have forthe seed accelerator company?
Creating businesses near where
education is happening is very
important. Students are influenced
by their surroundings. For example,
Stanford University in the US is in the
middle of Silicon Valley, an area
where lots of ventures begin. There
are many examples of students there
who started businesses and becamebillionaires. In these situations, thebest and brightest students will startventures and become entrepreneurs.
I believe that a culture ofencouraging people to start new
business must also be nurtured inorder to change Japan. In Kobe,
projects are starting such as the
Biomedical Innovation Cluster andthe [RIKEN] Research Complex
Program. Various new businesses arebeing started, and maybe it will
become the silicon valley of Japan. In
that case, maybe Kobe University
would become Japan’s Stanford[laughs]. For this to happen, the mostimportant thing is training humanresources. I want to make the newgraduate school the core of thismovement.

The Kanebō Collection after
being digitalized and reboundResearch at Kobe

Interdisciplinary knowledge
brings old manuscripts backinto the lightinterviewee
TAKATSUKI Yasuo

From 2015-2016 the Japanese drama Asa ga kita ( “Here comesAsa” ) broadcast with record high viewer ratings. Heroine Shiraoka
Asa is based on real-life historical businesswoman Hiro-oka Asako,
and Associate Professor TAKATSUKI Yasuo from Kobe University’ s
Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration was incharge of background research for this series. A specialist in
economic history, he studied the Dōjima Rice Exchange in Osaka.
Now he’ s working on a new interdisciplinary initiative. What sort ofproject involves applying humanities and sciences to economic
history? With high expectations and some nerves, we visited his
office.

06

That’s how I was asked to do background research on
Asa ga kita. I heard that a descendant of the Hiro-oka
family had some related documents, and I foundmasses of old manuscripts, photos etc., all dating from
Tokugawa (1603-1868) to Meiji (1868-1912). We
decided to temporarily store some of them at Kobe
University.
What is the value of these documents for you?
The daimyō (local lords) of the Tokugawa period
obtained money using two methods. First, each domain
issued rice certificates that could be exchanged for therice stored in their Osaka warehouses. The rice brokers
could have submitted their rice certificates to thewarehouse and received real rice in exchange. However,in reality they mainly sold the certificates in thesecondary market: the Dōjima Rice Exchange. In thissense, rice certificates have characteristics similar tothe stocks in modern financial markets.
The other method of raising funds was borrowing
money from banks. Thanks to these documents I wasable to look more closely at banking, the other pillar of
daimyō finances.

Bankers who screened feudal lords
I heard that daimyō often defaulted on their loans.

A long-held acquaintance with theHiro-oka family?
What made you start researching the Tokugawa
period?
When I was an undergraduate I specialized in financial
engineering. Then I read somewhere that the world’s
first futures market was the Dōjima Rice Exchange inOsaka, and I thought, “how interesting, I’d like toresearch that”. So I started to study history and read oldmanuscripts when I began a master’s degree at Osaka
University. After that I continued to the doctorate
program at Tokyo University, and I heard that acompany connected to the Hiro-oka family had
documents dating from Tokugawa (1603-1868) to thepost-war era. Alongside my research on Tokugawa-era
rice markets, I analyzed the Hiro-oka family’s
documents.

That’s just one side of it. It’s true that at one point
daimyō couldn’t pay their debts and a lot of bankers
started going bust. But other families – like Kōnoikeand Hiro-oka – did very well for themselves during thattime. They carried out strict screenings, and lent money
at low interest rates to the domains that qualified.
The Tokugawa period is thought of as being aslow-tempo era for society, but in regards to financethey were creating a surprisingly sophisticated system.
After the Meiji era Japan achieved rapid
industrialization, but this was notably due to domestic
rather than foreign investors. This was possible because
they already had the skills to manage banks and stock
markets in addition to the capital accumulated in
Tokugawa. They say that Japan’s modernization started
with Commodore Perry’s ships [in 1853], but they werewarming up for it during Tokugawa.

The contents of the documents are
Institute. He just graduated thisMarch from the Graduate School of still not searchable, but the Kanebō
System Informatics as a specialist in Collection is already viewable online.
Until now, our mindset towards
image recognition.
valuable
documents
inthe
I see, it’s a job that goes beyond the humanities has been “Let’s store
humanities. How do you make them carefully until someone needs
handwritten documents searchable? them”. Of course, preservation is very
important, but it is a waste if they are
Using the digitalized documents, we not used. Kobe University started as amake the computer recognize the commercial high school, so businesscursive script patterns, for example research is a key part of our teachingthe “Asa” from Hiro-oka Asako. and identity. I want to be able to store
When you can search for these a one-of-its-kind document and turnpatterns using a computer, you can it into a digital image. Even if you
easily sift through a huge amount of can’t read cursive script, our researchdocuments to find the “Asa” institute will make it searchable using
character. Then you just have to read keywords. Using this project, mythat part, or hire someone to read it dream right now is to create a hub for
business history research .
for you.
We are currently analyzing the
Kanebō Collection held at the What about the educational side?
Integrated Center for Corporate
Archives. This includes lots of Japan chased after the giants, then at
handwritten documents dating back one point realized that it had becometo the Meiji era. Unlike the Tokugawa a giant too. I wonder how many
era there is no systematic style, which students are rolling up their sleeves
can be awkward. Still, we’re starting for one more dash after America andwith these less stylized characters China. Speaking just from my own
and then I’d like to expand to other teaching experience, they’re in thecharacters, or Tokugawa cursive minority.
style.
In which case, I think it’s worth
looking at Japan when it was pausing
before it started the chase. In terms of
Chasing the giantsGDP, Tokugawa-era Japan was so
Kanebō was a company that existed small it could not be compared toWestern powers, but now “Japan’s
until quite recently, wasn’t it?
specialsomething”
isvaluedYes, so it has many documents about worldwide. Many of Japan’s uniquethe diversification of a large strengths originated in Tokugawa.
company. The minutes of all the Why not look at the Tokugawa era,meetings are there, so you can even when Japanese people had more
read about what they discussed breathing space than Meiji? That’s
what I want to tell my students.
inside the company.

Even messy handwriting is OK?
It’s not your specialist field - what exactly is thisinterdisciplinary project you’re working on?
We analyze handwritten documents. Most people can’t
read documents written in cursive – including theHiro-oka family documents.
I was talking with two other professors, and we
decided that we should digitalize these handwritten
documents and make them searchable. I could more orless read the documents, so I didn’t get it at first, butthey both said “It’s not enough to just have thedocuments”. So Professor KAMIHIGASHI Takashi
visited the Graduate School of System Informatics tofind a partner for this project. That’s how CHEN Jinhuijoined me as Assistant Professor in the Research

07 Background image: A New Year’s greeting card handwritten by Hirōka
Asako. The single character on the lower left corner is her signature, “Asa”.

An extract from the Kanebō Collection:a report from Mutō Sanji, the man who managed Kanebō from 1868 to 1926.
The full Kanebō Collection is available on the RIEB homepage (Japanese
language only). http://www.rieb.kobe-u.ac.jp/

CHEN Jinhui

Assistant Professor, Research Institute for
Economics and Business Administration

During the PhD. candidate stage,
I focused on pattern recognition,
specifically facial expression
recognition. At first it may seemthat face-based and script-based
recognition tasks are completely
different, yet they both belong topattern recognition. They are thesame research field. In both tasks,
we try to extract image featuresand use these features based on
algorithms to recognize thecontents in images. However, in
handwritten
imagesevery
character is unique. Moreover,there are enormous numbers ofcharacters, so it is difficult todesign a universal classification
framework to recognize eachcharacter.
In RIEB, we try to implement
an image auto-retrieval systemthat can retrieve images
containing key information from
historical literature – the Kanebō
database. I think image retrieval
targeting ancient literature is achallenging but very constructive
research topic. Especially inJapan, which holds many
precious historical literatures,
this study is meaningful. While
we need to note that professional
knowledge differs between
humanities and sciences, I
believe we can bridge the gap
between disciplines. Because
here in the RIEB, we have acommon language—mathematics. Therefore, I
believe our humanities-sciences
cooperative project will achieve
success.

08

Study Japan, in English
Kobe University Educational Programon Current JapanThe Kobe University Educational Program on Current
Japan (KU-EPOCJ) is an English-taught program newly
established in April 2016, with the full program startingfrom October 2016. It is open to overseas exchange
students at both undergraduate and graduate levels(special auditing students whose institutions have a
student exchange agreement with Kobe University).
As global interest in Japan continues to grow, thisprogram aims to respond to the needs of those who wish
to carry out Japan-related research without in-depth
knowledge of the Japanese language. The course focuseson current issues in Japan covering a broad range of
disciplines, including social sciences, humanities, andpart of the natural sciences. Through this course we aim
to provide opportunities for a deeper understanding ofJapan from various perspectives.
The program can be combined with students’ chosen
research topics at each faculty or graduate school as wellas Japanese language classes at the Kobe University
Center for International Education.
Courselist

Undergraduate

Master09

Humanities

Intercultural Studies,
Law and Economy
Business Administration

・A Comparative Study ofJapanese Cultural
Industry I (a)(b)・A Comparative Study ofModern Japanese Society
and Culture I (a)(b)・Global Active Learning I
・Seminar in Comparative
Thought I (a)(b)・Seminar in Contemporary
Thought I (a)(b)・Seminar in Global
Communication I
・Studies in Global
Humanities (a)(b)・Basic Seminar(Japan and Immigration)
・Cultures and Societies
in Japan I-IV・EU-Japan Comparative
Seminar I-III
・Japanese Economy
・Japanese Legal
System I-II・Seminar inConstitutional Law

・An Advanced Comparative
Study of Japanese Cultural
Industry (a)(b)・An Advanced Comparative
Study of Modern JapaneseSociety and Culture (a)(b)・Global Active Learning II・Seminar in Comparative
Thought II (a)(b)・Seminar in Contemporary
Thought II (a)(b)・Seminar in Global
Communication II (a)(b)・Advanced Supply
Chain Management
・Comparative Economy
・EU-Japan Comparative
Seminar IV・Japanese Legal
System I-II

Kobe University has brought its strong connections
with outstanding overseas universities into play inorganizing this program. An innovative and outwardlooking city in the heart of the Kansai region, Kobe is an
ideal setting for students to immerse themselves in the
study of current Japan.

The three key features of the program:
1. Focused on current issues and phenomena in Japan
2. Taught entirely in English
3. Covers a wide range of disciplines: social sciences,humanities and part of the natural sciences

About the course
Certification will be provided based on credit acquisition.
Most of the program courses are part of the quarter system(one or two classes a week for eight weeks). Some courses
are offered as semester courses (one class a week for sixteen
weeks). Students earn one to two credits for eachsuccessfully completed course.

International Cooperative Studies
Natural and Medical Sciences

Fusion Course
Risk beyond Borders andGlobal Humanities (a)(b):
How does the Japanese
academic sphere andintellectual activities deal
with risks in current society?
Risks beyond national borders,
global risks, and the risks
beyond specific disciplines:
risks beyond borders manifest
in many ways.

・Asian Disaster Law
・Advanced lectures in lifestylerelated diseases I
・Demography I
・Infectious Diseases Special Lecture I
・International Health Cooperation
Special Lecture I
・International Practices Fieldwork
・Issues in Peace and Development
・Japanese ODA
・Law and Economic Development
・Local Government
・Public Finance・Medical Anthropology Special
Lecture I
・Special Lecture on Institution
Building
・Transcultural Family Health Care
Nursing

This Fusion Course at Kobe
University provides a comprehensive and integrativeeducational course that shows
various ways in which theJapanese academic sphere andintellectual activities are
dealing with global issues
such as Disaster and Community
Restoration, Law and (Dis)Order,
Conflict, Migration, Environment, Food, and Infectious
Diseases.

KU-EPOCJ classes in progress

KU-EPOCJ Kick off Symposium
On Sept 23, the KU-EPOCJ Kick off Symposium was heldat Kobe University in conjunction with the Fourth Annual
Conference: the Forum for Leaders of Japanese Studies.
The event was co-hosted by Kobe University Educational
Program on Current Japan (KU-EPOCJ), the Center for
Asian Academic Collaboration, and the European
Association for Japanese Studies (EAJS).
Professor INOUE Noriyuki (Executive Vice President
in Charge of International Exchange and Director of theInstitute for Promoting International Partnerships) gave
the opening speech, expressing his hopes that this event
would be an opportunity to deepen connections withoverseas universities, increase researcher collaborations,and contribute to the advancement of scholarship acrossdiverse fields.
This was followed by an introduction to the philosophy
and structure of KU-EPOCJ from Professor YUI Kiyomitsu(Executive Assistant to the President in Charge ofInternational
Collaboration),emphasizingtheinterdisciplinary aspects of the new program. He also spokeon the importance of expanding “Japanese studies” beyond
the traditional fields of language, classical culture andhistory to include more diverse choices and approaches.
The keynote speech was given by BEN-ARI Eyal from
Kinneret University on the subject “Japanese Studies in
Comparative Perspective: How are Area/Regional Studies
Constructed?” and the event continued with the Forumfor Leaders of Japanese Studies, moderated by Professor
OGATA Yasushi (Director of the Center for Asian Academic
Collaboration). The Forum featured six presentations fromleading Japanese studies professors at major Asianuniversities.
To finish, a roundtable discussion took place on thetheme of “Japanese Studies as Public Goods”. Membersof the KU-EPOCJ administrative committee, guest
researchers who presented in the Forum for Leaders ofJapanese Studies, and researchers from EAJS allparticipated in the roundtable. The discussion wasmoderated by Professor SEKINE Yuki (Graduate Schoolof Law). During the discussion, participants actively
debated the new definition of Japanese studies in themodern world, including the importance of Japan-focusedresearch from the perspective of first-world aging societies
and sustainable development.
KU-EPOCJ official site:
http://www.office.kobe-u.ac.jp/intl-prg/epocj/english/

Roundtable at the KU-EPOCJ Kick off Symposium

10International
voicesApproximately 1,200 international
students from countries around theworld are currently studying at Kobe
University. In this corner, ourinternational students introduce theirnative countries and give us theirperspectives on studying abroad inJapan.

The Botanical Garden in the district of Pamplemousses

The capital city Port Louis at twilight

What are your favorite
places on campus?

What challenges haveyou set yourself?

Kobe University is at the foot of Mt
Rokkō, so the views are amazing. I
like the views from Centennial Hall,
Academia Hall and Frontier Hall.
It’s surrounded by mountains, andif you look out from the buildings,
the undulating landscape down to
the sea is so beautiful it takes yourbreath away. You can see themountains, the greenery, the port,
and the islands.

I want to do something that only I,
as a Mauritian, can do. For
example, while I’m in Japan I canintroduce the good points of mynative country to Japanese people,
and talk about the similarities anddifferences between Japan and
Mauritius. I want to bring them
Mauritian tea, coffee, sweets, soap
and tell them “Mauritian food anddrink is tasty, and we have a lot of
nature”.

What surprised you after
arriving in Japan?

Building bridges between
Mauritius and JapanFor this issue we interviewed Graduate Schoolof Economics masters student Thierry PELLEGRIN.
He’s very enthusiastic about Japan– what’s his take on Kobe University?

Mauritian curry with chutney

View of Kobe Port from Centennial Hall

The combination of different foods.
For example, the custom of eating
rice with salad. In Mauritius, we
eat salad with bread. Also, the cold
winters and very hot summers here.
The temperature range in
Mauritius is relatively small. Last
year my hands and feet froze – itwas bad. This year I’ll be more
prepared.

What do you like about
Japan?
The decorated train that runs on
the Hankyu Kobe line, “Kaze”.
There are four versions, and myfavorite is the Mt. Rokkō one. WhenI see the “Kaze” train it makes mevery happy. Recently I walk touniversity, so sadly I don’t have
many chances to see it.

View of Mt Rokko from Academia Hall

Allo!
"Hello" in Mauritian Creole

What did you do before coming to Kobe University?

Thierry PELLEGRIN
Graduate School of Economics, Masters Student
Born in Mauritius, arrived at Kobe University in
October 2015. Favorite Japanese word: 道(way). JLPT 1.

I was an undergraduate at the University of Sydney in Australia, where
I studied the history of Franco-Japanese relations. My interest in Japan
started when I watched quiz shows on French TV as a child. A Japanese
man won – even though it was all in French, he passed every round –and I remember being very impressed. At the end of the show, after
saying something in Japanese, he added, “If you want to know what I
just said, please study Japanese”. That really stuck with me.
After graduating, I wanted to learn about relations between Mauritius
and Japan. I had studied Japanese for a long time, so I decided to do
my research in Japan. I applied for a Japanese government (MEXT)
scholarship for international research students.

Mauritius
Officially the Republic of Mauritius, a nationin Africa and part of the British Commonwealth.
It used to be a stopover for European merchantson their way to India after circumnavigating
the African continent, and over half the
population are of Indian origin. A former colony
of France and the UK. French, English andMauritian creole are the main languages.
Population is approximately 1.3 million.

11

What is your current
research topic?
I’m researching the economic
history of Mauritius. Until around2000, the biggest industry was
sugar exports. Mauritius was
originally an uninhabited island,
then during the subsequent Frenchthen British colonial eras, people
from the African
continent,
Madagascar, India, China, France
and the UK moved there, whether
voluntarily or not. So it's a very
multicultural country. Now ourbeaches are famous tourist spots.
This isn’t widely known, but the
textile industry is famous too.
When you next buy clothes, check
if it’s “Made in Mauritius”. Right
now I’m reading books on
Mauritian history, and writing
reports for my supervisor. My main
focus is research.

What are your hobbies?
Radio – listening to the latest
Japanese music while I’m cooking
and cleaning.
Karaoke – My mp3 player has
lots of Japanese rock and songs. I
like kayō-kyoku, but it’s difficult so
I don’t sing it often. On my birthday
this year I did all-night karaokewith friends [laughs]. I love it!

Have you made friends
with
other
Kobe
University students?
Just after I’d come to Kobe
University I was taking photos
outside Centennial Hall, and a
student turned to look at me. I
thought he might tell me off fortaking photos, but he said “I want
to be friends with international
students”. He wanted to practiceEnglish, we started meeting a lot,and he became my first Japanese
student friend. He’s part of thesoccer team, so through him I madefriends with other people in the
team.

Hankyu Railway Kobe line decorated train "Kaze"(c) Watase Seizō/APPLE FARM INC.

Tell us about yourdreams for the future
I want to strengthen ties between
Japan and Mauritius. That’s also
one of the reasons I applied to a
Japanese university. We havepolitical and economic partnerships, but cultural ties are weak.
Speaking from experience, I had nochances at all to engage withJapanese culture, history or
language in Mauritius. I want tomake a base for cultural and artistic
exchange in Mauritius, like theJapan Foundation. I want to teachJapanese and talk about Japaneseculture in my home country. Many
Mauritians like Japan. I want towork hard to create closer ties
between both countries.

12

COMMUNITY IMPACT

Emotional care for disaster survivors:
the Tōhoku Volunteer Bath Project“We can still do a lot for reconstruction.” Student volunteers talk about
the importance of remembering, and of providing close support throughsustainable action.

Visit to a children’ s center linked
to an elementary school

Tōhoku Volunteer Bath Project leader:

INABA Kosei(Faculty of Engineering,
Department of Architecture, 4th year)

Deepening bonds withthose affected by disaster
After the Great East Japan Earthquake,the “Tōhoku Volunteer Bath Project”
began when our first members headed
for Iwate prefecture from Kobe
carrying a bathtub. Since then we havebeen involved in activities that focus
on mental care for disaster survivors.
As of now, a cumulative total of 1000
students have participated in thisproject. On each trip, between 10 and
20 members visit Rikuzentakata andthe Kamaishi-Ōtsuchi areas and set up
foot baths, massage sessions and craft
workshops. Encouraged by comments
like “I feel very comfortable” and “I can

13

Better ways to provide
sustainable support
Our philosophies are “don’t forget” and“close support”. Five years on from thedisaster, in some areas you can see themove from temporary housing to morepermanent accommodation. This is awelcome development, but there arealso concerns that leaving familiar
places would cause disaster victims
mental stress, and in the worst cases
lead to depression or suicide.
As volunteer groups visiting the
Tōhoku region decrease in numbers,
we can offer support by continuing tovisit these areas. As well as those who
remain in temporary housing, we don’t
forget the people who have moved topermanent accommodation, and wework to create close ties with all. In
order to provide better support, it isessential that we look again at ouractivities and actively respond to
feedback from members and what
other groups are doing. I’m also
participating in the recovery efforts
after the Kumamoto earthquake in
April this year. For the first time I set
up foot baths and massages in
evacuation areas, and once again I
realized the significance of creating arelaxed atmosphere. I believe that
applying the knowledge and experience
gained from Iwate to Kumamoto andvice versa can positively influence ouractivities. We plan to continue
providing emotional support todisaster victims, holding meetings, andusing what each of our members haslearned.

Craft activities in a meeting hall

Rikuzentakata groupContinuing to visit is thefirst step

5 years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake. Although recovery efforts continue, many people remain
anxious about the future. The “Tōhoku Volunteer Bath Project”, set up by Kobe University students, began directly
after the disaster in April 2011. They are divided into two groups, covering Rikuzentakata and the Kamaishi-Ōtsuchi
areas in Iwate prefecture. Every two months, for a 5-7 day period, volunteers visit both areas to support residents
through activities such as foot baths, massages, and craft workshops. We asked members of the group about thecurrent conditions in the affected areas, their activities, and future plans.
forget the disaster while I’m doingthis”, we have continued these
initiatives for five years. Sometimes wecollaborate with local volunteer groups
in the Kamaishi-Ōtsuchi area, and in
Rikuzentakata – which already had alocal collaboration partnership with
Kobe University – there areopportunities to help out at festivals
and other local events. Some of ourmembers also exchange letters andemails with people affected by thedisaster, or go to meet them
individually. We can feel our ties witheveryone deepening from day to day.

Visiting people at home

YOSHIDA Akari(Faculty of Law,
Department of Law, 2nd year)

Kamaishi-Ōtsuchi group

MORI Taiki(Faculty of Intercultural Studies,
Department of Intercultural Studies, 2nd year)

This year in March, I visited thedisaster-hit areas for the first time.
When we held a tea party for people
living in temporary housing, I heard
people say “My house was washedaway by the tsunami”, and “Myrelatives died”, and my chest felt tight.
I participated in the city residents’meeting and learned that even areas
not directly hit by the tsunami had a
lot of issues, like destruction ofneighborhood facilities by theearthquake, or lack of public transport.
The disaster has left its mark on
everyone in the area. I still don’t know

the right way to go about recovery, or
what kind of support will make adifference for those affected. But there
have been many times when I could
feel that we are providing support. For
example, during this visit a person who
said she was lonely smiled at the tea
party. Next I am going to suggest somenew activities, like go and shogi
competitions that male participants
can enjoy – they are still in theminority. I’d like to continue with our
initiatives in the affected areas, andlearn what kind of support is truly
needed.

Even just listening helps
We often set up foot baths andmassages in temporary housing, but
not everyone joins these events. So I
startedvisiting
each
house
individually. When I ask, there aresome people who hesitate to joinbecause of reasons like “my health isn’tgood” or “I have bad hearing”. There
are also people who were happy to bevisited, telling me, “I want to join, but
it’s hard to get involved. It’s good to beable to talk to someone for the firsttime in a while”. It’s a small thing, but
I realized that even just by listening tothem I was helping.
When I first participated, I
wondered if there was anything I could

really do, but now I’ve realized there
are lots of ways I can make a difference.
Recently I’m in the middle of making
learning support systems forelementary and middle school
children. Some children are pessimistic
about the future because of thedisaster. As well as supporting theirstudies, I want to use the specialist
knowledge I’ve gained at university
and inspire them to have hope forthe future.

After each visit, students publish
a magazine-style report14International Collaboration

Joint symposium commemorating the establishment ofKobe University Liaison Office in Kraków

Visit to the Marine Simulator(Erasmus+ staff mobility program)

Erasmus+ staff mobility program

Kick-off symposium for the Honolulu Office of Kobe University

Americas
New overseas office in Honolulu
On June 30, 2016 Kobe University established the
Honolulu Office of Kobe University (HOKU) within theJapan-America Institute of Management Science(Fujitsu-JAIMS). The new office is a base for academic
collaboration with the Americas. It is Kobe University’ssixth overseas office and our first in the United States,
following the China Office (2008), the Brussels European
Centre (2010), the Hanoi Liaison Base (April 2015), theLiaison Office in Kraków (December 2015) and the Kobe
University and Beijing Foreign Studies University
International Collaborative Research Base (April 2016).
The United States is the most popular destination forour researchers to conduct research or study abroad. We
are convinced that this office will promote further
collaboration in international research and education. In
addition, we hope this liaison office can become a corecenter for international activities not only in the Americas
but also in the pan-Pacific region.
A kick-off symposium for the new office was held inconjunction with the unveiling ceremony. At the openingof the symposium, President of Kobe University Professor
TAKEDA Hiroshi expressed his hopes that our new officewould play a stellar role in US-Kobe collaboration (theEuropeabbreviation of the Honolulu Office of Kobe University,
HOKU, means “star” in the Hawaiian language). The
symposium was divided into two sessions: applied
econometrics and particle physics. Both research fields
are the focus of joint projects between Kobe University
and the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa (one of our partner
institutions). Each presentation kept attendees focusedon every word and was followed by active discussions
expressing their hopes to further enhance international
cooperation and increase research collaboration between
Japan and the United States.
Kobe University recognizes the importance of academic
collaboration with the Americas, a key region for
cutting-edge research activities. We are strengthening
our institution’s global competitiveness using the core
body established in 2013: the Office of the Americas. The
Office held the US-Japan Collaboration Fair in March,2014 in Kobe with researchers from 9 universities in the
United States, aiming to generate international
industry-academia-government collaboration. As an
outcome of this event, we concluded bilateral agreementswith two universities. Kobe University will use the newbase to further strengthen ties between our University
and the Americas.

Asia
Kobe University strengthens ties with
Beijing Foreign Studies University
On April 1, Kobe University, in cooperation with Beijing
Foreign Studies University (BFSU), opened the Kobe
University and Beijing Foreign Studies Univer- sity
International Collaborative Research Base. In
accordance with the Agreement of Academic Cooperation between the two universities concluded on
November 3, 2008, this Base was opened with theobjective of further fostering academic exchange andcooperation between the two institutions.
Kobe University and BFSU have been expanding theirexchange activities in research and education. In May
2010, BFSU’ s Beijing Center for Japanese Studies
concluded an Agreement on the implementation of joint
master’ s programs with Kobe University’ s Graduate
School of Economics and in September 2014 it also

15

concluded an Agreement on the implementation of
double degree master’s programs with Kobe University’ s Graduate School of Humanities.
This research base aims to expand and strengthen
research collaboration between both universities. One ofits specific goals is to promote the discovery andcultivation of outstanding young researchers. Following
this aim, during the First Beijing Foreign Studies
University – Kobe University Joint Symposium (held on
June 18-19 and organized by BFSU in Beijing) PhD
candidates from both universities gave presentations on
their research in the social sciences and humanities.
Both universities agreed to host annual symposia forstrengthening collaboration. Next year’s symposium will
be hosted by Kobe University in Kobe.

Joint symposium with Jagiellonian
University

Collaboration through Erasmus+

On May 17, Kobe University held a joint symposiumcommemorating the establishment of the Kobe University
Liaison Office in Kraków under the theme of “NewResearch Perspectives from Japan and Poland”. This event
was co-organized with Jagiellonian University and held
within their Centre for Comparative Studies ofCivilisations.
The new office was established to strengthen
collaboration and partnership with Central and Eastern
Europe countries by offering research and study exchange
opportunities to universities and disseminating
information about Kobe University.
The Jagiellonian University is one of Kobe University’s
active exchange partner universities in Europe. Since 2013,both universities have expanded collaborations into thesocial sciences and joined the EU-Japan Advanced
Multidisciplinary Master Studies project (EU-JAMM)
consortium. This network offers double degree masterprograms and student and faculty mobility among selected
partner universities in the EU and Japan, supported by
MEXT in Japan and the European Commission.
EU-Japan Relations, one of the themes of thesymposium, is one of the key concepts behind
expanding our collaboration in social science. To
explore our collaborations in natural science, weorganized a session on Biology with the cooperationof researchers from both universities who havealready conducted joint research.
In conjunction with this event, Professor OGAWA
also visited Professor dr hab. Stanisław Kistryn(Vice-Rector for Research and Structural Funds).
They exchanged opinions on joint research, researcher
exchanges, and business-academia cooperation.

Kobe University is actively participating in the
Erasmus+ program with several partner universities.
As a part of an Erasmus+ staff mobility exchange
program with Vilnius Gediminas Technical University(VGTU), Dr. Arvydas Rimkus (Department of Bridges
and Special Structures, VGTU) visited Kobe
University for six days from May 23. During his stayin Kobe, Dr. Rimkus gave lectures to freshman
students at the Department of Architecture (Facultyof Engineering) and graduate students at the
Department of Architecture (Graduate School ofEngineering) and the Graduate School of Human
Development and Environment.
In September, we welcomed Ms. Marta Ganobis Bendnarska (Head of International Student Office),and Ms. Katarzyna Wojczuk (Independent
Administrative Referent, International Student
Mobility Office) from Jagiellonian University; andDr. Kai Schwedtmann (Chair of Inorganic Molecular
Chemistry) from the Technical University of Dresdenon the staff mobility program. During the one-weekprogram, our guests participated in seminars related
to international affairs, visited university researchfacilities such as the Marine Simulator, and traveledto Kobe and Kyoto for cultural experiences. This
program aimed to deepen our visitors’ understandingof Kobe University and Japanese culture for futurecollaborations.
A student exchange agreement through Erasmus+
has also been concluded, starting from the autumn
semester.

The First Beijing Foreign Studies University– Kobe University Joint Symposium

Unveiling ceremony for the Kobe University and BFSUInternational Collaborative Research Base

16

KOBE UNIVERSITYFounded in 1902
4 campuses 11 faculties 15 graduate schools
16,356 students
including 1,196 international students
comprising over 85 nationalities
2,583 staff
Each=1,000 students= international students

including 1,319 teaching staff
1,145 administrative staff
119 faculty staff in attached schools

Regional distribution of international students
1.1% South America 13
2.9% Africa 34

11.5% Europe 138

Faculties and Graduate Schools
・Letters / Humanities
・Intercultural Studies
・Human Development /Human Development and Environment
・Law・Economics
・Business Administration
・Science
・Medicine・Health Sciences
・Engineering
・System Informatics
・Agriculture / Agricultural Science
・Maritime Sciences
・International Cooperation Studies
・Science, Technology and Innovation

1.1% North America 13
0.4% Oceania 5

83% Asia 993

1,196International student
enrolled

Alumni networks in 14 countries
Partner Universities

Kobe University currently has 302 partner institutions in 54 countries/regions.

North America
25

Europe

Asia

108

139
Middle East
5South America
8

Africa10
Oceania7
All data as of May 1, 2016