Faculty Interview

I was appointed as a professor in the Faculty of Economics at Keio University in April 2003, but before that, I knew almost nothing about Keio or its faculty and students. It was a great adventure. In fact, a 20-year period of study began for me in April 2003. There were professors who only knew Keio, professors who had only received their undergraduate or graduate education at Keio, and of course, professors like me who had no connection to Keio's education or research at all. I soon realized that the extent to which one is conscious of hierarchical relationships and how one thinks about things differs somewhat depending on this background. When the words or stories of Yukichi Fukuzawa were introduced at faculty meetings and the like, I often found it difficult to respond.

One of the turning points at Keio was when I became the Deputy Director and then Director of the International Center. While carrying out the original work of the International Center, I was able to have various conversations with the staff of the International Center and came to know a part of another world: Keio's administrative organization. The staff also have various concerns (especially about child-rearing), are sometimes dissatisfied with how decisions are made, and have all sorts of interesting inside information. I was moved many times by how hard they worked for the sake of Keio.

The CEMS program is a consortium conceived by over thirty universities and business schools (including Keio) that offers a Master of International Management (MIM). At Keio, the Graduate School of Economics, the Graduate School of Business and Commerce, the Graduate School of Media Design (KMD), and Keio Business School collaborate to offer Keio's CEMS program. It is a groundbreaking collaboration. Although I knew nothing about business administration or international management, I have been involved with Keio's CEMS program since its establishment. It gave me the opportunity to discuss with professors from the Graduate School of Economics and other graduate schools, select students, and talk with administrative staff from the Graduate School of Economics, the CEMS office, and other graduate schools, as well as with faculty and staff from other universities. I came to encounter a variety of opinions and ways of thinking. The organizational management of CEMS, which is like a federal state with a weak "central government," is quite difficult, but my involvement with CEMS has been a great learning experience in many ways. At international conferences, various forms of English are spoken, there are diverse ways of thinking, some faculty and staff speak according to their university's policies, and national regulations can differ considerably, so when making decisions, one must imagine solutions as if solving a jigsaw puzzle. In my life as a scholar, my involvement with CEMS has been the best part.