Student Interview 2026 #001 Faculty of Letters

When I was an applicant, I was interested in enhancing my literacy in interdisciplinary studies. Therefore, I applied to the Keio University Faculty of Letters because it allows for four years of General Education courses and cross-faculty enrollment, while also enabling students to acquire expertise through research seminars.

Once I actually enrolled, I found the degree of freedom in learning to be even greater than I had imagined. Currently, while researching my major in philosophy, I continue to study foreign languages that have interested me since my first year, as well as academic fields I am encountering for the first time.

I would like to introduce the freedom of learning through two characteristics. The first is that you can deepen your scholarship across fields while building on the academic skills you cultivated through high school. Despite being named the "Faculty of Letters," the fields covered are broadly open, including information processing, social structure research, and the history of medical sciences. Furthermore, in compulsory language courses, grammar, pronunciation, and practical learning with native instructors proceed simultaneously, making it possible to acquire not only English but also a second foreign language at a high level.

The second is the ability to acquire expertise tailored to the individual. Specifically, you can select multiple research seminars in fields of interest and refine your expertise while engaging in discussions with professors and peers. An environment where you can simultaneously enhance your liberal arts and specialization according to your interests is extremely attractive.

A General Education course that I found particularly interesting was "Logic." To explain it simply, it is a discipline that clarifies the path of reasoning by translating Japanese into mathematical formulas using unique symbols. By learning the structure of logic, I acquired the methods and habits to quickly construct strategies for moving things forward.

Additionally, the research seminar is a special space where each person sets a research theme and can talk actively. I discuss time and perception in the philosophy research seminar. Personally, toward my graduation thesis, I am proceeding with my research while being interested in making philosophy a more open and universal tool for thinking.

In addition, through activities in a community discussing International Political Economy and studying abroad in Singapore, I have come to feel a deepening of my education through "jinkan kosai (society)." Through a synergistic effect with classroom learning, I also passed the National Civil Service Examination (Comprehensive Service). Outside of school, I have been blessed with opportunities to practice the knowledge I have learned, such as working as a paralegal at a law firm and being involved in marketing for a cosmetics company.

Last year, I participated in a Ministry of Foreign Affairs promotion project to inspect Chinese universities and companies as a representative of Japanese university students. Interacting with Chinese government officials and Japanese students with similar aspirations led me to see myself from a broad and different perspective, and I was able to become conscious of my own passion for moving forward with all my might without setting boundaries. At university, a new world awaits that expands the more active you are. Please look forward to it. I am rooting for you from the bottom of my heart.