Kobe University Newsletter "Kaze"

Vol. 05
October 2018

SPOTLIGHT
Studies in sake
INTERNATIONAL VOICESA scholar of “transborderness” living abroad
ALUMNI FEATURE
Social media sensation

Kobe insights

The birthplace of Japanese jazzThanks to its historic role as a port city, Kobe is well-known in Japan for its

The band was followed by the opening of several

international influences. Even casual visitors will notice this from the colorful

dance halls, and in 1932 a jazz café in central Kobe. During

streets of Chinatown, the elegant architecture of the foreign settlements, and an

the war the dance halls closed, but after the Second World

impressive selection of European-style bakeries. As well as these more obvious

War an influx of American culture brought with it famous

trappings, Kobe is also proud to be the birthplace of the first Japanese jazz band,

jazz musicians and bands. The jazz boom began in earnest

formed 95 years ago in 1923.

in the 1960s, with Art Blakey’s visit to Japan. (Author
Haruki Murakami, who grew up in Kobe and ran a jazz cafe

In this issue...
SPOTLIGHT
3 Studies in sake: collaboration with local brewery to develop a new brand
RESEARCH AT KOBE
6 Filming the flow: video analysis to prevent river disasters

in Tokyo before he became a novelist, traces his own loveof jazz to seeing Blakey perform in Kobe in 1964.)

EDUCATION

Other musicians from overseas who performed in Kobe
include giants such as Great Duke Ellington, Louis
Armstrong and George Louis. Domestic jazz musiciansalso grew in number, together with specialized radio and

9 Training future generations to lead a data-driven society
10 International voices

television shows.
This era also saw the appearance of jazz cafes, auniquely Japanese way of appreciating jazz. At the time
records were expensive, so fans would go to cafés tolisten. The main beverage on offer was coffee, and talking

ALUMNI FEATURE
11 Social media sensation: connecting Japan with a global audience

was often prohibited – this was for serious fans only.
These cafes began to disappear in the seventies, to be

COMMUNITY IMPACT

replaced by jazz spots serving food and alcohol.
Kobe became the first city to form a high school jazzband, and in 1981 an international jazz festival was held
on Port Island. The Japan Student Jazz festival has been
held in Kobe since 1994 (of course, Kobe University has a
student jazz band and orchestra). Although jazz is not as
popular as it once was, today in Kobe there are still dozens
of venues where fans can go to hear live music. These arefocused around the Kitano district, which is also the

Jazz statue in Kitano-cho Square, Kobe
Photo by 663highland. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic
License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ or send a
letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA.

location of a two-day jazz festival “Kobe Jazz Street” held

13 Student-run internship program aims for a better world
INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION
15 Two New Overseas Liaison Offices
16 New Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence Project, Second Bilateral Kobe-Kiel
Workshop, The Third Beijing Foreign Studies University - Kobe University Joint
Symposium, Joint Short Course with University of Southern California

every year in October since 1982. If you’re in theneighborhood, why not drop into a café or bar andexperience Kobe’s jazz culture for yourself?

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 wind of change. Secondly, our

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

location 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.

Cover photo for “Kaze” Issue 5: Rice fields at the Food Resources Education and Research Center (Kobe University Graduate Schoolof Agricultural Science). See the Spotlight article “Studies in sake” for details.

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

SPOTLIGHT

Studies in sakeCollaboration with local brewery to develop a new brandLast year, a Kobe University local development project took theform of a joint initiative with one of Kobe’s long-establishedcompanies, Hakutsuru Sake Brewing Co., Ltd., to develop a newsake product. The resulting original sake was released in
October 2017. This autumn, the University opens its first course
to examine sake from an academic perspective. We introduce
the project that aims to draw attention to Nada district’s
traditional sake industry and promote Kobe in Japan andoverseas.

This is a group effort: a collaboration between the R&D sectionof Hakutsuru Sake Brewing Co., Ltd., the Food Resources
Education and Research Center at Kobe University’s Graduate
School of Agricultural Science, and student participation fromthe Faculty of Agriculture and Graduate School of Agricultural
Science. The team combines the craftsmanship of anestablished brewery with research and student-led marketingfrom Kobe University.

Links with a longestablished company

Kinumusume for the yeast.
stickier

than

they

had

“Nada district in Kobe is Japan’s number one

predicted.

“I

heard

from

However, Kinumusume was

location for sake. This initiative began when I Takahiro Akashi (Head of
looked at Nada and decided that I’d like to Research at Hakutsuru Sake
promote Kobe using sake, one of its traditional Brewing Co., Ltd.) that it wasindustries,” says Associate Professor Masanori tough – the rice was so sticky it
Yamasaki. His joint project with Hakutsuru was a burden on the brewery
Sake Brewing Co., Ltd. began three years ago. facilities” says Prof. Yamasaki.
“Hyogo Prefecture is the top sake producer in But with over 270 years ofJapan, but it’s not that well known. I want to brewing experience, Hakutsuru
change this by getting the younger generationinterested in sake. That’s the other reason I’m
involved.”

made it work.
The new junmai-shu (sakewithout

added

alcohol)

Prof. Yamasaki is researching plant genetics produced from these two riceand breeding at the Food Resources Education varieties has a dry and crispy
and Research Center. In his experimental rice palate with a deep, strong
fields he grows hybridizations of the most flavor.

Prof.

Yamasaki

Masanori Yamasaki
Associate Professor,
Food Resources Education and Research Center,
Graduate School of Agricultural Science

popular Japanese rice cultivar Koshihikari and comments: “It goes well withdiverse cultivars, encompassing 5000 lines in sweet dishes, like cheesecake”.

received positive reviews such as, “Crisp and

50,000 individual plants. His group manages

easy to drink”, and “Goes well with food”. The

this population using ICT. He creates new lines
and carries out genetic analysis, accumulating

A name and label inspiredby students

a massive amount of DNA data. He contributes

students involved in product development
joined as event staff, and promoted the eventson social media. They are reaching out to bars

this data to national and local agricultural The new sake is called “Kami no manimani”,

near Kobe University to add the new sake toexperimental stations, and shares the seeds. named by students at the Faculty of their menus.
He also provided the raw rice for this project: a Agriculture and Graduate School ofProf. Yamasaki has provided the rice cultivar
cultivar called Kinumusume grown at the Agricultural Science. They came up with Nikomaru for year two. This cultivar is also fornames and label designs based on the eating, and will be used with the yeast. “Thisresearch center.

Making sake with edible
rice? A new species of dry
sake is bornconcepts of “Nada sake”, “promoting Kobe”,

year we did a viscosity check before deciding

and “sake that appeals to young people”.

on this breed. Nikomaru has Kinumusume as
Of course, they all wanted to include the one of its parents, so the flavor andcharacter kami (神) for its links with Kobe components won’t be very different from year

University (神戸大学). The latter part of the one.”The Food Resources Education and Research name comes from an ancient poem by
In year two, the focus is on promoting sales.
Center is a large-scale experimental farm Japanese “god of learning” Sugawara no In year one “Kami no manimani” sold well, butcovering 40 hectares. The Center handles rice, Michizane, and it expresses their wish that there was a dip around the New Year period.
vegetables, fruit and livestock, and the Tajima everyone who drinks this sake will also receive “We plan to work with the Kobe University
beef cattle reared here are sold to department the students’ enthusiasm. The label design Co-op and encourage students to buy it as astores as “Kobe University Beef” (see Kaze Issue features the historic main building, a symbol of
2 page 2).
The Kinumusume rice grown at the Center isa high-yield cultivar, resilient to heat andstrong against the effects of global warming,

Kobe University.

Same collaboration,different rice

but it is meant for eating, not making sake.

souvenir when they go home at New Years. It
sells well among alumni, so we’ll promote it atHomecoming Day too,” says Prof. Yamasaki.
Hakutsuru is planning to continue with thecollaboration, but sales have to stay high. They

are hoping that the new “Introduction to Sake”“Still, I was sure that we could use it in sake The sake “Kami no manimani” was released on course will increase students’ interest.
making, so I gave it to Hakutsuru,” says Prof. October 1, 2017, in a limited run of 3000
Yamasaki.

bottles, available at Kobe University co-op

Making sake requires rice to produce the stores, Hakutsuru Sake Brewery Museum,rice malt, and a different batch of rice to “feed” Hakutsuru Mikage MUSE and the Hakutsuru
the yeast. In their first collaboration, the team online shop. The release was preceded by aused a sake-rice developed by Hakutsuru tasting session and an open brewery event at
called “Hakutsuru nishiki” for the rice malt, and Hakutsuru Sake Brewery Museum, where it

03

酒

04

Research at Kobe

Filming the flow
State Government inVideo analysis Queensland
Australia. We spoke to Professor Fujita
how he uses image analysis toto prevent river about
create accurate river plans and ensure
citizens’ safety.
disasters
How do you measure flow rate?

of detailed data on rainfall, but it is harder toaccurately grasp flow rate in the rivers – theamount of water that flows through a certain

Passing it on:sake classes for the younger generation

酒

area every second.

Discovering sake, discovering
Kobe
This course has been in the works since summer 2017. It beganwith a suggestion from Hakutsuru’s Executive Director Mr.
Norihiro Tanaka to Kobe University Executive Vice President
SeiichiFujita.

Akashicomments,

“I

told

University

representatives that we were based in the renowned sake
district of Nada, we had strong ties with Kobe University andwould very much like the University to offer a course on sake.
They agreed, and said that learning about the local sake industry
is a good chance for students to learn more about Kobe.”“Many young people think that the sake world is hard toenter. Through this course, I want to tell them that it’s an alcoholvery familiar to Japanese people, made with our staple food ofrice. I think if they know more, their impression of sake willchange a lot. I want them to know about sake by the time they
The course may include optional study tours of the breweries

reach 20 [Japan’s legal drinking age].” Akashi predicts growing

From 2018, Kobe University is collaborating with the Nada Gogo

tell exchange students about its appeal as part of Japanese

Brewers Association to offer a new course called “Introduction to

culture”. The course begins this October, and expectations

Sake”. It is offered as part of a program about the Kobe region andcouldn’t be higher.

demand for sake among young people, and adds, “I also want toDisasters caused by heavy rainfall are
increasing throughout Japan. To prevent
this, we need to ensure that rivers can besafe channels, even when water levels rise.
The key is knowing how much water ischanneled by rivers during peak rainfall,but measuring flow rate in the middle of aflood is difficult and dangerous.
Professor Ichiro Fujita of the Graduate
School of Engineering has established atechnique to measure flow rate fromvideo footage. The video analysis
software he developed is used in the River
Offices of Japan’s Ministry of Land,
Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. It
has also received internationalrecognition, and been adopted by the

How do you measure flowrate in a swollen river?

In Japan the float method has been used formany years. This involves dropping floats fromThe number of disasters caused a bridge into the river, and stationing people
along the banks to mark when the floats passby heavy rain is increasing.
them by. The method measures surface flow

Prof. Fujita: Yes – as a river engineer, I’ve speed, and calculates flow rate by combining
felt that large-scale disasters are increasing. this data with riverbed conditions and water
The legal landscape is changing in response: levels. It is generally reliable, but the floats canflood prevention laws are revised practically become trapped in vortices and diverge fromevery year, and last June, evacuation plans the current, preventing accurate calculations.
were made mandatory for medium-sized and To calculate the peak flow rate of a river, you
small regional rivers, as well as rivers overseen have to use floats in the middle of heavyby the central government.

rainfall. This is difficult, dangerous work andWhen making an action plan, it is important sometimes you cannot get the data. But
to measure the amount of water channeled without peak flow rate data you cannot create
through rivers when it rains. We can get hold valid river plans – this is the problem.
A flow rate observation workshop in Australia. Calculations used KU-STIV and drones.

culture, and open to students from any department. “They canstudy sake from multiple perspectives: sake brewing, the history of
sake, the geography of Nada as a sake-producing location, alcohol
tax and business, and overseas sales,” explains Takahiro Akashi,Manager of Research at Hakutsuru Sake Brewing Co., Ltd.
“To reach as many students as possible, we opened the course
to all departments. We want students to learn about sake fromdifferent angles, and become interested in sake via their specialist
field,” Akashi talks about his hopes for the classes. The course has

酒an omnibus format, and they plan to invite members of the Nada
Brewers Association and the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers
Association as guest lecturers.

05

Takahiro Akashi
Manager of Research,
Hakutsuru Sake Brewery Co., Ltd.

06

“This is difficult, dangerous
work and sometimes you
cannot get the data.”

data to the lab. 10-15 seconds of footage is continent, and they need to travel hundreds ofneeded for analysis. It takes about 1-2 minutes kilometers to observe water flow. The
to analyze the footage. This is repeated every technology

received

positive

feedback

10 minutes, so I think we can call it real time. because you can measure through cameras,
There was a very positive response when I and Tasmania State is also considering its

Footage from river observation cameraspresented it at the International Association adoption.
for Hydraulic Research in Malaysia last year.

So you had the idea to use video.

Going global

We have many enquiries from researchers
overseas, including Canada, the UK, Korea andGreece, so I send them each a one-year free

There are river observation cameras throughout Japan. I have beenacademic version. A UK-based software

proposing a method based on this footage for over 20 years. The

Have you supplied software to company has also offered to market theoverseas users?
software.

basic idea is simple: capture the ripple patterns on the river surface,track their movement to measure distance traveled and time taken,

I am employed by the World Meteorological The tech has drawn lots ofand use this to find the flow speed. It’s the same as the float method.
I developed two image analysis techniques: LSPIV and STIV. We
created and marketed the software based on STIV. It first drewattention in the 2012 rainstorms in northern Kyushu. I was contacted
by the Kyushu Regional Development Bureau, who said “We can’t get

Ichiro Fujita
Professor, Department of Civil Engineering,
Graduate School of Engineeringpeak flow data - can you calculate it from the camera footage?”attention from overseas. Whatwater flow observation, which takes me to about the other image analysis
various countries. When I held seminars in New method, LSPIV?
Organization to teach a lecture series about

Zealand and Australia in 2016, I met with Mark
Randall, an engineer at the Queensland State I developed LSPIV first, and STIV is the software

During talks with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport

official use. KU-STIV is already used by river consultants and River

Government, and introduced my software. He specialized for water flow observation. When I

and Tourism and the International Center for Water Hazard and Risk

Offices in the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

was impressed, and the following year was at the University of Iowa in 1995, I left

Management (ICHARM), they suggested that I make a software based

The next step is to refine our method to be more accurate than

Queensland introduced KU-STIV.

on STIV that anyone can use. This was released in 2014 under the

traditional techniques.

group of French researchers started offering it

Visualizing danger on the spot

Queensland was hit by huge floods
at the end of 2010, wasn’t it?

You use drones as well.

That was one factor, yes. They are trying to make it the global standard. I’m honored.

name of KU-STIV, and the English edition was offered from 2015.

It’s a big plus for local governments if they canuse data from existing cameras

as free software. As a result LSPIV spreadinternationally, and there is a movement led
by the United States Geological Survey tocarry out very accurate flow rate observation.

In fact, when Queensland State chose theYes, but when I tested this with Hyogo Prefecture representatives,

Observation cameras can only capture part of the river, but with

They use acoustic current meters (ADCPs) that image analysis software, LSPIV was the rival

there was a problem. The night footage was totally black, and thedrones you can set up various observation points, so you can film at

can measure velocity distribution within water,

option. In the end STIV was adopted, but as theriver surface didn’t show up on camera. Floods often reach their peak

dangerous areas and in times of crisis. As well as flow rate, it is also

but these are deployed from boats, and canparent of both I had some mixed feelings

at night, so we really want night footage. We looked for cameras, andimportant to locate where the river flow is faster, or where the waters

only measure to a depth of 60cm. They are [laughs].

found that far infrared ray cameras can capture night footage to thecollide at bends, so drone-based filming is effective. We create

experimenting with joint use of ADCPs

same quality as day footage. These cameras are rather expensive, but

simulation models as part of river planning, but these models cannot

alongside KU-STIV. Australia is a large

the national government is asking companies to create night

be fully verified without comparing them to actual observation data.

observation cameras at a competitive rate.

Survey data from drones can be used to improve these models.

Has Japan’s government recognizedeffectiveness of image analysis?

theCan you measure in real time?
We’re already doing it. We place cameras and micro-servers on theYes, finally. At first they only recognized the float method, but now

riverbanks, installed with the STIV system. The software activates at

use of video footage is authorized, and momentum is building for its

set times to take footage, automatically analyses it and sends the
STIV training at the state capital of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia

07

them the software to use as they wanted. A“Floods often
reach their peakat night, so wereally wantnight footage.”(Left) A screenshot of the KU-STIV
software. “Searching lines” aresuperimposed on the river footage(top left), and flow speed ismeasured from the time taken forwave patterns and floating matterto cross these lines. Footage takenfrom the riverbank (from the side)is geometrically corrected into
footage taken from above (topright), and velocity is calculated byanalyzing the space-time image
generated from the accumulationof individual wave patterns.

08

EDUCATION

Training future generations to lead a
data-driven society
The Center for Mathematical and Data Sciences

Government Scholarship for Japanese Studies Students. This brought me to

The world’s top five most valuable companies are global IT

Kobe University for the first time in 2013 to study for a year. Then I graduatedcorporations. Big data is the new oil of the 21st century, and it isfrom my bachelor’s degree at SOAS, and entered the master’s program at Kobe

essential to train people who can analyze this data and give it value.

University’s Graduate School of Humanities in 2016.

Q

Kobe University established the Center for Mathematical and Data
Sciences (CMDS) in December 2017 to promote data innovation in

Why did you choose Kobe University?

Japan and further afield. In April 2018, the Center began offering auniversity-wide curriculum, mainly aimed at first- and second-year

The first time I came to Kobe University was a happy coincidence. After

undergraduates. This course covers the four divisions of Mathematics,

graduating from SOAS, I decided that I wanted to continue my graduate studies

Statistics, Information, and Data Science. It teaches the basic skills

at Kobe University for two reasons. One, because there are people here who areneeded for data science, regardless of the student’s specialization:interested in my research topic of “transborderness”, the most modern issue inmathematical statistics, programming, and value creation.

literature. But I was also drawn to Kobe as a place. Kobe has lots of natural“As well as all the students in science and engineering fields who

Professor Masahiko Saito, Director of CMDS. To encourage this, theprogram includes a course on “Introduction to Data Science” which
illustrates how data science can be used in various fields. There arecountless examples: linguistics professors using big data; businessprofessors studying financial engineering, bitcoin and virtual

Masahiko Saito
Vice President in Charge of Liberal Educationand Mathematical and Data Sciences● Director of the Center for Mathematicaland Data Sciences● Professor, Department of Mathematics,
Graduate School of Science●currencies.
In addition to university-wide general programs, the curriculum

Q

What were you doing before you came to Kobe
University?
(SOAS), University of London. During my time there I applied for a Japanesecharacterized by explosive development and disruptive technologies.

enroll from the humanities, social sciences and medical fields” says

A scholar of “transborderness”
living abroad
I majored in Japanese Studies at the School of African and Oriental Studies

This era has been called the Fourth Industrial Revolution,

are interested in this area, I would also like to see many students

International
voicesThe Center also focuses on Problem Based Learning, where

includes classes aimed at specific faculties. To name a few: in thestudents work in teams to solve real-life problems. They recently held

Statistics division there is “Data Analysis” for Engineering, “Economic

a workshop in partnership with the Japan Research Institute in which

Statistics” for Economics, and “Food Information” for Agriculture, andstudents from Economics, Business Administration, Engineering andin the Information division there is “IT Communication Design” for

Science worked together to solve issues surrounding IT in finance.

Global Human Sciences.

“Kobe University is a comprehensive university with a strongemphasis on interdisciplinary education, so this program really fitswith the University’s values”, comments Professor Saito.
“Mathematical and data sciences are ideal fields for cross-disciplinary
cooperation.”In the future, the Center has plans to work with private companies

surroundings, such as Mt. Rokko. And in Kobe I can look at the remains ofbuildings where people from Germany and the UK lived over a hundred years
ago, and feel the weight of history.

Q

What is your current research?
I am researching the phenomenon known as “transborderness” in modern
literature. My focus is on Ian Hideo Levy, an American-born author who writes
novels in Japanese, although it is not his native language.

Thomas Brook
1st year doctoral student at the Graduate Schoolof Humanities.
Originally from West Yorkshire in the UK.
Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the
Promotion of Science, and member of thegraduate student-led association “Others in the
Humanities Research Group”. He is fond ofnature, and enjoys cooking and growing his own
vegetables.

This is the era of globalization, where people can move freely around theword. Authors such as Levy appear to embody this globalization, but they arevery sensitive to this. Globalization has advanced, but writing novels in alanguage other than your native tongue is not normalized. Where does the wish
to cross those cultural borders come from? How do authors like him face theunified forces of culture and literature? I think that we need to look at thesequestions a bit more carefully.
A British-born person doing research in Japan is also a sort of transborderness.
In May this year our research group invited a professor from SOAS and held aWest Yorkshire, United Kingdom

workshop. I presented my own research too, and it was a good opportunity to

A metropolitan county in Yorkshire, establishedin 1974 based on the 1972 Local Government Act.
Population approximately 2.1 million

think again about my research topic and my own circumstances.

and local government, using big data for open innovation. Kobe
University also has an academic agreement with Singapore’s
Nanyang Technological University, which is ranked 2nd in the world
for computer science. We are involved in close collaboration andresearch exchange, including joint workshops.
As well as fundamental education for undergraduates, the Center
will also provide advanced education to train expert data scientists,
so students who have studied our core courses can go on to acquire
high-level skills. We look forward to many students enrolling in thiscourse.

An example of research at the Center: measuring the ability toregulate center of gravity in order to evaluate exercise ability
for rehabilitation of the elderly09

For more information:
http://www.cmds.kobe-u.ac.jp/en/index.html

The countryside in Derbyshire, UK

Presenting at a workshop

Growing vegetables

Traditional British cuisine: roast beef

Approximately 1,200 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.

10

Alumni Feature

Social media sensation: connecting
Japan with a global audience
Her Facebook page “Japanese Language & Culture” has over 400,000 followers. Based on her experiences overseas, she has built
up a business that uses this Facebook page to tell people around the world about Japan. We interviewed Ms. Kazue Kaneko,
founder and CEO of Travel & Work. Inc.

Tell us about your current work

participating in extracurricular activities, my time at university was a

Ms. Kaneko: I manage a Facebook page called “Japanese Language

to see the world and broaden my horizons. So I took a year out to& Culture” and post information on sightseeing spots, culture tips,

study abroad in the USA. I visited Kansas, Mississippi, andlatest trends & news, etc. that are useful for overseas visitors. I post

Minnesota, studying English and my major.

almost every day, mainly photos and videos introducing Japanese
language and culture. I appear in my own videos too – I talk aboutsightseeing locations in the Kansai area, and explain kanji charactersoften seen in Japan with my series “Kanji on the Street”. The content
is very popular among people overseas, and the page has over
400,000 followers, many of them in their twenties and thirties.
Using this page, we can reach international audiences who areinterested in Japan and provide them with information about
visiting the country. My company also offers services for planningand creating PR videos. I’ve been interested in other countries since
I was a student, and I’ve lived abroad for over 10 years, so now I’m

lot of fun. When I finished my second year, I decided that I wanted

What did you do after graduation?
For a while I was a research student at the university, but I reallywanted to go to the USA again. I looked at various options, andapplied for a program where I could attend university in the USA
while teaching Japanese. After studying Japanese language
teaching methods at a university in Philadelphia, I taught Japanese
for two years at a university in Tennessee. Teaching Japanese wasreally interesting. I discovered that I enjoyed standing up in front ofpeople to teach them.

With her Japanese class students at Nanyang Technological University

A display booth at an inbound event in the Business Innovation Center Osaka

Next I went to graduate school in Sydney

I had permanent residency in Singapore, but I

these services to appeal to potential foreign

and learned Japanese and English language

began to get nostalgic for Japan. Also, I was

visitors.

teaching methods, before becoming ateaching Japanese and Japanese culture, but I

Japanese teacher again. I was surprised by

hadn’t been back to Japan for 10 years – not members-only service, a Japanese language

how many people wanted to learn Japanese. great [laughs]. So I went back to my native

program, and post about more niche

Many of them had different first languages,

country for a change of pace. For some

information. I have an endless amount ofand it was fun thinking up different ways ofreason I thought starting a business in Japan ideas, it’s just hard choosing which to try out

teaching to suit each person.

would be difficult, so to begin with I foundYou also lived in Singapore
for a long time.

work at a company.
The catalyst for my entrepreneurship inJapan was the page “Japanese Language &Culture” – my followers were growing

Yes, after graduating in Sydney I moved tousing these experiences in my business.

In the future I’d also like to make afirst. I want to do all of them.

Finally, do you have amessagefor
Kobe
University students?

steadily, and I was asked to start hostingSingapore. I went there by chance for a work advertisements. I made the page to promote
opportunity, but I ended up staying for 7 the company I started in Singapore, and I

I think that doing what you feel drawn to isyears.

carried on updating it after returning to

yourselves. And study abroad too - these days

Japan. I had the feeling that this could

the university has a lot of support, and I think

became an entrepreneur. To begin with I was become a business, so in June last year I
working at a company, but lots of people in s t a r t e d t h e c o m p a n y , a n d m a d e i tit’s got a lot easier. When I was a student itwith just the right balance between city and nature, and I thought“Wow!”. I studied at the Department of Biology, Faculty of Science,

Singapore have side-jobs, and it’s easy to start

incorporated this May. It was fun working at abelieve that there’s no harm in trying new

and at first I wanted to become a researcher. I also belonged to thea business there, so I thought I’d try it too. I

company, but I wanted to come back to mythings. You will definitely gain more than you

theatre group Hachinosuza, and between studying andcreated a company that provides Japanese

beloved Kobe. Finding company work in
education for businesses. At first I only taught Kobe was hard, but if I started a businessJapanese, but after a customer’s request I here, I could move back – so Kobe played alose, so if there’s something you want to do,Tell us about when you were a student.
I come from Saitama Prefecture, and the first time I visited Kobe wasSingapore was actually where I firstwhen I started university. Kobe is close to the sea and mountains,

started to hold Japanese business culture

very valuable, and I want you to challenge

wasn’t this organized, so I’m jealous [laughs]. I

go ahead and do it.

big part in my decision.

seminars too. It turned out there was a big
demand for these, so I held seminars at
companies, public lectures, and lifelong
learning courses at universities. At the sametime I was working as a part-time Japanese

Tell us about your futureplans.
I would like other organizations to use myteacher in Nanyang Technological University. page more to promote restaurants, events
I learned a lot during this time.

Ms. Kazue Kaneko
CEO of Travel & Work, Inc.
https://travelandwork.jp
11

How did you end up
starting a business inJapan?

and sightseeing spots. Lots of people
overseas who are interested in Japan follow
the “Japanese Language & Culture” page, andwe can focus on targeting specific audiences
for cost-effective PR. I want people to use

Interviewer: Ms. Asuka Shimomura
Student PR Team, 3rd year undergraduate,
School of Business Administration“If there’s something you want to do,go ahead and do it.”12

succeed abroad. So they can work with their

COMMUNITY IMPACT

international intern to gain information about
overseas marketing, and this will help themStudent-run internship program aims
for a better world
In the Kobe University AIESEC Committee, international student internships are planned and overseen by thestudents themselves. From this year, they are collaborating with the Kobe Global Challenge Program (GCP)
and overseas internships based on AIESEC training programs can now include university credits. The numberof students looking overseas through AIESEC is set to rise…

expand.

What is AIESEC?
AIESEC is an international non-profit organization based in the Netherlands. With
over 70,000 members in 126 countries and regions, it is the largest student

Yanagibayashi: For our Japan-basedorganization in the world.

program, hiring skilled individuals is also a

Their motto is “Contributing to the development and growth of people atplus for companies. Employing talented

home, sending people with ambition and leadership out into the world”, and theyinterns with IT and language skills can help

have developed overseas intern exchange programs on a global scale. Everything

Japanese companies solve many issues.

is managed by students, with student exchange between AIESEC organizations invarious countries. In Japan activities are overseen by the NPO AIESEC Japan.

Iseki: There are many companies looking for a
new perspective that can be provided by
students from overseas.

Yanagibayashi: The second program is“Nest”, which deals with immigration issues.

Have you encountered any We help train people who have emigrated
problems during your from Singapore and India to improve theiractivities?
employment opportunities, and arrange

gatherings for them. In December last year
Yanagibayashi: Yes – making AIESEC stand w e c o - h o s t e d a w o r k s h o p i n K o b e o n
out from other overseas internship programs, multicultural societies with P&G. It was
and increasing participants based on its attended by about 50 people and led toappeal.
participation in “Nest”.
An intern in India participates in the Hindu
AIESEC Kobe University Committee members
festival “Holi”, celebrating the arrival ofspring by throwing colored water and powder.

What areactivities?

your

main

An intern in Cambodia with local children

Iseki: We have been planning independent Iseki: The “Eduvation” program deals with
programs for about two years – for example, child education issues. Right now we need to

Iseki: Our activities are based on the AIESEC“Agrino”, a program for sustainableequip children with skills in English and IT.

v i s i o n o f “ P e a c e a n d f u l fi l m e n t o f

agriculture. Participants work with local

This program helps students who arehumankind’s potential”. Through overseas

people on environmentally-conscious

Iseki: We have two main programs: sending

internships, students experience working

Japanese students to other countries towith people from different cultures to achieve

considering a career in education toagriculture, such as organic methods. We experience education in Singapore, a leader
have been promoting the program on our in IT and global education. We collaborate

international students to intern at Japaneseleaders who can cooperate with people from

homepage and social media since December with elementary schools in Japan who arelast year, and received 25 applications for 10 investing in IT education, and after returningcompanies. We oversee the whole process:different countries to solve global issues.

available places.

intern at businesses and NPOs, and receiving common goals. Our aim is to foster ambitious

planning the training program, submitting

to Japan the students report what they havelearned to teachers at these schools,

proposals to companies, recruiting

Yanagibayashi: Setting goals is very

exchange opinions and deepen their

participants, visa procedures, and following

important in AIESEC. If people only achieveknowledge.

up with participants

what comes easily to them, they don’t grow.
As well as planning overseas internships, by

Yanagibayashi: We also offer programs such

Yanagibayashi: For overseas internships we

setting targets that cannot be completed

as “Sonae”, which provides education

collaborate with AIESEC branches in 126

alone we encourage our participants tooverseas on disaster reduction based on the

countries, and they send proposals to local

surpass their own boundaries, get otherJapanese experience of natural disasters. We

overseas companies on our behalf.

people involved, and challenge themselves.

are also developing a program to support

Sometimes it’s hard to communicate ourideas through an intermediary, so we visit
ourselves to negotiate. Recently I traveled toThailand to make a proposal. Overseas

female entrepreneurs.

What are the benefits forcompanies?

What are your goals for the
future?

internships mainly take place over six weeks

Iseki: These internships used to be part ofduring the spring or summer break.

corporate social responsibility activities,

Iseki: Until now there have been students

AIESEC Committee Representative

Japan-based internships last from one month improving the company image, but thatparticipating in overseas internships only

Ryota Iseki

to as long as half a year.

alone is a little weak, so these days webecause they want to travel abroad, andemphasize the chance to expand overseas.

we’ve felt a gap between the student’s goals

For example, companies don’t know if theand the intentions of our program. I want toservices and products they develop will

polish our independent programs and clarify

3rd year, undergraduate
Faculty of Economics

13

Do
you
follow
guidelines?

any

Human Resources Training

Kou Yanagibayashi
3rd year, undergraduate
Faculty of Human Development

their goals, so we can increase the number ofstudents who agree with our mission.
Yanagibayashi: Recently our collaboration
with Kobe University’s Global Challenge
Program was confirmed, and some of ourstudent internship programs are now
credit-bearing courses. Awareness about
AIESEC is growing, and this is a good chance
for many students to experience personal
growth through overseas travel, so I want tocreate even more appealing programs.

14

International Collaboration

2nd Bilateral Kobe-Kiel Workshop:
Session 3 Law and International Political Sociology

EuropeTwo New Overseas Liaison Offices

New Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence
Project launched
Kobe University has strengthened its expertise on EU mattersbased on active experience as a consortium leader of the EU Institutein Japan, Kansai (EUIJ-Kansai) funded by the European Union(2005-2016). The University has led the Jean Monnet Centre of
Excellence project titled ‘Strengthening the Academic Basis of EU
Studies in Japan, Kobe’ since 2016, and was granted another Jean
Monnet Centre of Excellence project beginning in September 2018.
The new project, named ‘Consolidation of the Kobe Academic Basefor EU Studies’, aims to enhance understanding of today’s EU in Japanby establishing new EU-related courses, multidisciplinary studies andresearch, and events to disseminate EU-related information. Throughthis and other initiatives, Kobe University will further strengthen its
role as an outstanding center for EU Studies in Asia.

Second Bilateral Kobe-Kiel Workshop
On September 26, the 2nd Bilateral Kobe-Kiel Workshop took placeat Kobe University in collaboration with our partner institution Kiel
University. Kobe University and Kiel University concluded aninter-university academic partnership on May 12, 2016, and we are
actively involved in research exchange in the natural and social
sciences. This workshop aimed to initiate and expand international
joint research between our universities in 1) business administration,2) international law and political sociology, and 3) materials scienceand physics.

The Third Beijing Foreign Studies University – Kobe University Joint Symposium

University. This office is a recognition of the long and excellent

offices, in Romania and China. We use our overseas offices to support

partnership that our institutions have and makes us work harder to take

The Third Beijing Foreign Studies University – Kobe

and expand international activities, including coordinating academic

this partnership to the next level. This office sets a new benchmark for

University Joint Symposium took place on July 7, hosted bysymposia and workshops. Liaison offices are also bases to strengtheninternationalization and will be a landmark for the activities that will be

Beijing Foreign Studies University (China) as a part of theties with strategic partner universities in each region.

carried out here. Kobe University and Babeș-Bolyai University are making

activities of the Kobe University and Beijing Foreign Studies

history together."

University International Collaborative Research Base. The

RomâniaThis year Kobe University has established two new overseas liaison

On May 17, in cooperation with Babeș-Bolyai University, we

On June 23, with the cooperation of Shanghai Jiao Tong

symposium was held on the theme of the Belt and Road

International Collaboration Centre (KU-UBB ICC) and held an opening

University, the Kobe University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Initiative, which has become a hot topic issue both for Japan

ceremony in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. This is our third overseas base inInterdisciplinary Research Base was established. In addition to theEurope, following the Brussels Office (Belgium, 2010) and the Kraków

location in Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the Research Base is also

Office (Poland, 2015). As well as the location within Babeș-Bolyai

physically located within Kobe University’s Institute for Promoting

University in Romania, the Centre is also physically located withinInternational Partnerships, providing a base in Japan for Shanghai

Kobe University’s Institute for Promoting International Partnerships,

Jiao Tong University in the same fashion as KU-UBB ICC. On the day it

providing a base in Japan for Babeș-Bolyai University.

opened, an opening ceremony was held in combination with anBabeș-Bolyai University has been one of Kobe University’s active

international symposium commemorating 40 years of Sino-Japaneseexchange partner universities in Europe since 1998, and an Erasmus+

friendship. This event was attended by governmental representatives

partner since 2016. This centre’s mission is to foster academic

including former Prime Minister of Japan Yasuo Fukuda, and former

exchange and collaboration between our universities.

Director of the Press Office of the State Council in China, former

programmes with Eastern Europe. In 2017, Kobe University received a

Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee and the 11th Standing
Committee of the CPPCC National Conference Zhao Qizheng.

Visegrad University Studies Grant and started a course titled ‘The

Founded in 1896, Shanghai Jiao Tong University is a prestigious

Place of V4 Countries in Europe and Japan’ at Kobe. This centre will

institution with a long history that has produced many successful

disseminate information about study and research programs at Kobe

alumni. Our universities concluded an inter-university academic

University in Romania and throughout Eastern Europe.

exchange agreement and a memorandum of understanding forProfessor Ioan A l in Nis t o r ( D ea n o f F a cu l t y o f B us i ne s s

student exchange in April 2009, and since then we have built a close

Administration at Babeș-Bolyai University), an alumni of Kobe

partnership through research exchange and mutual dispatch of

University engaged in long-term collaboration in economics,

students. The Centre’s aim is to promote cutting-edge andcomments: “We are very happy and honored to have Kobe University,interdisciplinary research projects with Shanghai Jiao Tongsuch a prestigious university, opening an office at Babeș-Bolyai

University.

中国上海

established the Kobe University and Babeș-Bolyai University

Kobe University is a participant and founder for multiple joint

15

Asia

Kobe University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Interdisciplinary Research Base

Kobe University and Babeș-Bolyai University
International Collaboration Centre

and China. Both universities also discussed the expansion of
joint education programs, including the renewal of a Double
Degree Program in Humanities.
Joint symposium with Beijing Foreign Studies University

Americas
Joint Short Course with University ofSouthern California
Kobe University and the University of Southern California (USC)
Joint Short Course is a two week program titled ‘Business Japanese
Course’. This year it took place from May 28 to June 11. The USC
students obtained practical knowledge of Japanese business andsociety, and learned about the differences in culture and businesscustoms between Japan and the U.S. through company visits. They
also participated in a cultural exchange meeting with Kobe University
Students. At the end of the course, students gave presentations in
USC students with members of the Kobe University Student PR Ambassadors

Japanese about their research results from the course participation.

16

KOBE UNIVERSITYFounded in 1902
4 campuses 10 faculties 15 graduate schools
16,256 students
including 1,303 international students
comprising over 85 nationalities
3,685 staff
Each=1,000 students= international students

including 1,590 teaching staff
1,981 administrative staff
114 faculty staff in attached schools

Regional distribution of international students
North America 1.1%
Africa 2.8%

South America 1.2%
Europe 11.4%

Middle East 1.1%

1,303International students
enrolled

Asia 82.1%

Alumni networks in 14 countries

Faculties and Graduate Schools
・Letters / Humanities
・Global Human Sciences
・Intercultural Studies
・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

Partner Universities
Kobe University currently has 351 partner institutions in 63 countries/regions.
EuropeNorth America
29

Asia

133
154
Middle East
5South America
7

Africa12
Oceania11

All data as of May 1, 2018