Interview Articles about Undergraduate Seminar Courses
Vol. 1-2

INTERVIEW WITH
PROFESSOR YAMAGATA’ S STUDENTTABA Taiki

We Q Team members have observed that after the shift fromin-person to online classes during the COVID-19 pandemic, it has
been very difficult for 2nd-year and 3rd-year students who areplanning to take seminars to choose their seminar professor and for
professors to connect with their students. This project focuses onboth the seminar professor and student point of view to relay theelements and dynamics of seminars. Our interview articles onseminars introduce two professors at APU (one APS professor andone APM professor) and their seminars, alongside a spotlight on oneof their seminar students. Through the student point-of-view focus,
we hope that in addition to conveying successful seminar methods
to other APU professors that they can incorporate into their own
seminars, we can have them discover successful teaching methods
through the student perspective as well.

I. Introduction
ABA Taiki was born in Okinawa. He is a fourthyear, seventh semester APS student majoring inEnvironment and Development. As a student inProfessor Yamagata’ s seminar, his mainre s e a rc h t o p i c f o c u s e s o n p e o p l e w i t hdisabilities. His hobby is listening to music. The
most recent memorable movie he watched is“CODA (The song of love)”.

II. Q&A about Professor
Yamagata’s seminar

Taba-san has been a member of Professor
Yamagata’ s seminar for around a year and ahalf. He entered the seminar in his fifth
semester, third year. First, we asked him toanswer [Q]uestions about the seminar.

1. Please tell us about the characteristicsof Professor Yamagata’s seminar.
What is interesting about the seminar is that
there is a wide variety of research topics fromseminar students. We conduct our own
re s e a rc h i n d i v e r s e c a t e g o r i e s s u c h a s
education in developing countries, poverty
reduction, or gender studies. Also, I think
Professor Yamagata is an “Original Idea Man” .
Instead of giving instructions, he draws out
ideas with “Perhaps it is good to have this kindof problem awareness” or “Maybe it is good tohave this kind of different take” . It is for thisvery interesting point that I joined Professor
Yamagata’s seminar.
2. What surprised you when you firstentered Professor Yamagata’s seminar?
What surprised me was that the percentage ofinternational students was quite high.
Therefore, the seminar is basically conducted in
English. There are many situations in which it isdifficult and intimidating for Japanese-basis
students, but since we use time outside theseminar to give feedback in Japanese andconsult with the professor individually, I feelthat it is easy to work within the seminar’ s
atmosphere without being nervous.
3. Please tell us about Professor
Yamagata’ s seminar format and theamount of assignments in the seminar.
The main format of the seminar is individual
work. I do not have the experience of doinggroup work. Regarding the workload of theseminar, I do not think it is much compared toother seminars. Currently, I wish that there canbe a place to do a presentation on our researchonce per semester. The specific submissions
we do are only the research plan in our fifth
semester, third year, and the graduation thesis
for the eighth semester, fourth year. Additionally,each semester each student has to do apresentation once. Although the workload is nota lot compared to other seminars, I personallyfeel that I cannot catch up to the work if I do notkeep progressing precisely because I have thismuch freedom. I ask myself whether I shouldhave my own planning and time management
system and what kind of commitments I should
m a k e p re c i s e l y b e c a u s e o f t h e l a c k o f
assignments. In that sense, I think that
Professor Yamagata’ s seminar is a place where
you can test your self-management abilities.

Q4. What do you think are themisunderstandings about seminars?
It is difficult to say for sure what themisunderstandings about seminars are, but
after all, “the difficulty in writing a thesis” is apart of those misunderstandings. I think it’ sdifficult to write and submit a graduation thesis,
but it’ s not good to look at only that part andthink negatively that “seminars are hard” and“seminars are demanding” and avoid them. The
feeling of trying to “adapt oneself to theenvironment (seminars)” is very important, and I
think of a seminar as a place where you can tryanything. “What do I want to do?” “What kind ofspecialty will I go on to study after the two yearsof study before entering the seminar?” “Whatdo I want to graduate from APU with?” There
are many difficult parts in terms ofself-management, but I think that theexperiences and skills cultivated in the seminar
will come to benefit me in the future.
5. Please describe Professor Yamagata’ sseminar in five words.
For me, I think of “self-management” , “theability to raise questions (the ability to haveproblem awareness)” , “the ability to question

III. Q&A about Taba-san’ sresearchTaba-san puts himself in a “place where he cantest himself” which is Professor Yamagata’ s
Seminar and pursues research with a positiveattitude. He answered [Q]uestions which focus
on his personal research.

6. Why did you choose Professor
Yamagata’s seminar?
The reason I chose the seminar was: I wanted
to study under the teacher because the teacher
brought out the research topic that I wanted todo. The first topic that I researched was “theideal way of supporting independence amongpeople with disabilities” , and it was Professor
Yamagata who drew my interest to “disabilitystudies” associated with this topic. However,when I met with Professor Yamagata, he did nothave a seminar at that time. Therefore, I
personally proposed to Professor Yamagata
that I wanted him to open his own seminar. That
opportunity to discuss this idea with Professor
Yamagata also deepened my own research
theme. “Disability studies” or “research on thetopic of people with disabilities” is different fromthe fields of international development anddevelopment economics that Professor
Yamagata specializes in [laughs].
7. Please tell us about the lessons learnedin the seminar.
I think the biggest lesson from Professor
Yamagata is the importance of having anawareness of problems, such as what youshould use as clues to live your life in the future(whether you will tackle problems). And throughthe multinational and multicultural learningspace of Professor Yamagata’ s seminar, I feelthat it is very important to speak to the parties
relevant in the research and to respond to theother party. Whatever your research is, it isimportant to know what the good and not sogood aspects are, and it is necessary to beaware that the more you research, the more you

Taba-san and field study students had a wheelchair basketball
experience at Japan Sun Industries.
Taba-san, second from the left.

close the sense of distance with the people
relevant to the research.

8. Please tell us about the research you
are currently working on.
The research I’m working on right now is about“unmanned railway stations in Japan” which
involves a case of a person with a disability
filing a lawsuit. I was able to connect withgroups of people with disabilities such as thosein Beppu that I met during a Field Study I
participated in last year. In this way, I feel thatby entering the seminar and having my own
topic, “connections with people” haveincreased. In seminars, it is very important to
not only read literature and collect data, but toalso directly come into contact with theproblems in the community and society.
“Connections with people” will always beimportant to me.
9. What kind of research topics are you
interested in for the future?
Up to now there has been a lot of research on
the topic of people with disabilities, or“disability studies”, including “disabled people’sparticipation in society” and “the ideal social
welfare system for people with disabilities”. I amvery interested in the “Disabled Persons’Movement” which was the catalyst for people
with disabilities to appear in society every day,so I hope to study such topics in the future.

Taba-san with Professor Yamagata and field study classmates pictured with former Paralympics
weightlifter, Jo-san, who currently works for Omron.Taba-san, front row, second from the left.

IV. Q&A on advice for futureseminar students
Lastly, Taba-san answered [Q]uestions on
advice for seminar students who will study inProfessor Yamagata’s seminar in the future.

10. Through your experience in theseminar, do you recommend entering aseminar in third or fourth year?
I recommend entering a seminar in third year.
This is because it takes time to ponder theresearch topic, such as whether it is really agood topic, and to carefully think about theresearch topic.
11. What should students prepare for theseminar interview?
Be specific about what you are interested in andwhat you want to research. The specific method
I actually used was to draw a circle in the centerof a piece of paper and write my interests
around it as a visualizing method. I think this will
help you clarify what you want to lear n
independently, rather than what you want tostudy.

Taba-san and other field study students listen to a lecture fromNGO United Circle, an after-school center for children withdisabilities.Taba-san, front.

12. Please tell us what you usually keep inmind and what resources you use for yourseminar research.
R e s e a r c h i s a b o u t a c t i v e l y o rg a n i z i n gopportunities to talk with people, with theawareness that you are one researcher. Whether
you are Professor Yamagata, a professor atanother university, or a book writer, it isimportant for you to take action on your own. I
also read books on a regular basis. When I read,I try to mark parts that can be used for researchwith a sticky note or jot them down in anotebook. It is also important to refer to movies
and dramas (documentaries).
Lastly…
13.What is a seminar to you?
A seminar is a place to consider by asking andanswering what you have experienced so far
and what you want to experience in the future.
In other words, for me, a seminar is “a place todiscover what I want to do”.

Tama-san’s mindmap

AUTHOR’S IMPRESSION
What surprised me most was that Taba-san himself went to ask Professor Yamagata to open
a seminar. I strongly felt Taba-san’ s enthusiasm to study under Professor Yamagata. Always
keeping in mind strong feelings for research and an awareness of them while valuing“connection with people” and having an attitude of striving for research daily are what reallystuck in my mind, and I am considering studying in a seminar in the future. I myself want to bea person who can “discover what I want to do” and continue to pursue it.

INTERVIEWER and AUTHOR
Name：SHIBATA Ayaha
College：APS
Country : Japan
Message : Hello everyone! I am SHIBATA Ayaha, aQ-Team member with ALRCS since Fall 2021. My
hobbies are listening to music and looking atdesign. Through participating in Project Q, I havebeen able to get to know professors’ and senior
students’ views on learning at APU and strengthen
my desire to further deepen my own learning. I
would like to convey the appeal of seminars that I
learned and felt in the interview to all students!

INTERVIEWER and TRANSLATOR
Name：LORENNIJ Kelly
College：APS (ED)Country : Marshall Islands
Message : Iakwe (hello)！ I am Kelly, a 3rd year
Environment and Development major. I enjoy
traveling and taking my ukulele to play wherever Ivisit. As a member of the Project Q team under theAcademic Office’ s ALCRS, I have been able toget an inside look on the goals and expectations ofAPU’ s faculty teachers. Through these articles
detailing the methods and motivations of each
respective professor, I sincerely wish each reader
takes away a nugget of wisdom.

What is [Q]?

At APU there are many professors who put together wonderful classes, and if we could get toknow how these classes are planned, it would contribute to the improvement of otherprofessors’ classes. For that purpose, we have begun doing interviews in order to learn aboutclass planning. These articles have been entitled [Q], comprising a variety of meanings such as:increasing the [Q]uality of classes, answering [Q]uestions to increase quality, and forming a[Q]ueue, or line, of class improvements. We would be very happy if these articles could
contribute to the [Q]uest of APU professors’ class quality improvement.