Speech Text

To all of you, the new students at Keio University's graduate schools here today, welcome. I would also like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to the family members and others gathered for this special occasion.

As we begin, I would first like to read "The Mission of Keio University" as articulated by our founder, Yukichi Fukuzawa. "Keio Gijuku is not merely a place for academic pursuit. Its mission is to be a constant source of honorable character and a paragon of intellect and morals for the entire nation and for each member to apply this spirit to elucidate the essence of family, society, and nation. They will not only articulate this essence in words, but also demonstrate it in their actions, and by so doing make Keio a leader of society."

While I imagine there are a variety of reasons you each decided to join Keio from among the many other options, I believe that this mission I introduced just now is a goal we should all share as members of this community. To be a "constant source of honorable character" and aim for the heights of becoming a "paragon of intellect and morals" to lead our society and the world forward, you must all devote yourselves wholeheartedly to your studies as graduate students. Along the way, you will make lifelong friends and research colleagues to accompany you on your journeys. I can assure you the researchers you encounter here at Keio University are all first class, and hope that you will enjoy the days to come.

Now then, have any of you ever heard of the three viewpoints known as "worm's eye," "bird's eye," and "fisheye"? I first came across these ideas when reading The Three Eyes of Economics by Motoshige Itoh. For my speech today, I want to give my own spin on these concepts and how they relate to your research and specializations as you begin your studies at Keio's graduate schools.

The first viewpoint is a "worm's eye." This perspective is focused on digging deeply into your main area of interest. It requires a deep dive into your specific area of study by exploring its history and state-of-the-art accomplishments. You will refine your own research and learn from papers and presentations put together by other experts in your field throughout Japan and the globe. This is your "worm's eye view." Your research may involve trial and error. It may not progress as planned. Research topics that you had thought were original ideas or unique discoveries may turn out to overlap with your peers, and you may be disconcerted to find out at academic conferences or other forums that these other scholars threaten to outdo you in your own area of expertise. But you are here beginning a graduate program because you love learning. Immerse yourselves completely in research that you enjoy so much that you go "bug-eyed," almost forgetting to eat or sleep, not caring about how others view you, devoted to your pursuit of knowledge. A "worm's eye" view means to focus on developing your skills, expertise, and competencies as a specialist.

The second viewpoint is that of a "bird's eye." This perspective allows you to achieve an overarching panorama to systematically situate yourself and your research within the broad spectrum of academia. Two years ago, Keio University was chosen for JST's project, "Support for Pioneering Research Initiated by the Next Generation." Our initiative under this project is titled "Nurturing doctoral students who will map the grand designs for future society." It aims to train doctoral students who can think independently about how their actions and ideas can bring about a better future over the next fifty years. Extending across all fourteen of Keio's graduate schools, this project works to create new approaches to comprehensive learning by instilling values, inventing breakthrough technologies, and imagining novel societies. By implementing cross-disciplinary classes, seminars, and symposiums, Keio pursues its commitment to providing an integrative learning environment where students can engage with world-class opportunities. This program also provides stipends and research funds to doctoral students, the backbone of the initiative, so that they can stretch themselves, expanding their horizons. While funding may be limited to doctoral students, master's students also benefit from the connections between our 14 graduate schools. This is because these connections have led to the creation of courses that intersect multiple graduate schools, providing increased opportunities for students to gain proficiency in other academic fields and meet people outside of their major area of study. Whether it is the social sciences, the humanities, science, engineering, or medicine, Keio university gives students unique access to diverse pools of knowledge and is an ideal place to build a platform that oversees wide-ranging academic spheres. I hope you all take flight, gaining a bird's eye view on your own research and how, in a larger sense, this perspective can further the cause of academia itself. Likewise, I hope that you use this eagle-eyed precision to propose meaningful and creative research studies.

The final viewpoint is that of a "fisheye." This perspective allows one to gauge currents and trends. Unlike the static images, or snapshots, captured by a worm's or bird's eye, a fisheye allows you to perceive and ascertain evolving trends and the dynamic stream of events. This includes encounters and interactions with faculty and friends during seminars, classes, or at conferences, as well as knowledge of new approaches and trends encountered while travelling for leisure or for work. In other words, a fisheye perspective allows you to trace the changes humans and societies are making in their communities and the earth's environment. Because society's foundations are built on connections between people, and the dynamic interplay of these connections are what ultimately shape society, it is essential to be able to skillfully navigate this complex ecosystem of interactions to perceive where the current is taking us. It is a viewpoint that is necessary for us to be able to tell narratives that resonate with other people: the perspective of storytellers. This is the essence of what Fukuzawa described when he discussed "Jinkan Kosai" (society) and a crucial outlook in the path to becoming a leader.

As you will be aware from looking at the Ukraine Crisis, our world, right now, is at an immense turning point. While I am a physicist, my experiences have led me to be invited to Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine to participate in truly "borderless" discussions about physics with experts from all three of these countries. However, right now, due to political reasons, my dear colleagues are having their human rights violated and their freedoms stolen as the world becomes increasingly fractured. I know, as someone who has first-hand experience of their kindness and incredible academic contributions, that this continuing discord must be causing them immense pain and suffering. I implore all of you here today to get involved with opportunities that allow you to make such deep and personal connections with scholars around the globe so that you can build a better world.

I sincerely hope that you will all, at Keio, equip yourselves with specialized knowledge (through a worm's eye perspective), gain a rich cultural overview of your discipline (harnessed by a bird's eye view), and refine your abilities to read the currents of global society (by applying a fisheye lens). My message to you today is to make use of learning’s universality to overcome ideological barriers and national borders and to connect with others around the world. I hope that you will join together with your colleagues and with communities around the world to advance our global society over the next fifty years and beyond.

My sincere congratulations to you all today.