The 19th Japan-Korea Millennium Forum was held from October 24 to 25, 2023.
The Forum was launched in 2002 as an opportunity for the presidents and other members of four of the leading private universities from Japan and Korea—Keio University, Waseda University, Korea University, and Yonsei University—to strengthen their mutual relationships and meet up on a yearly basis. The venue rotates between the schools each time it is held.
The presidents' session, moderated by Keio Vice-President Motohiro Tsuchiya, was based on the theme of this year's forum, "Roles of Higher Education for the Globalized World under Geopolitical Risks," and featured presentations by each university's president, followed by an exchange of opinions. President Kohei Itoh introduced Keio's initiatives to date aimed at addressing the various challenges in higher education, and expressed his views on how Keio should proceed in the future under the current evolving global situation.
During the students' session, student representatives from the four universities delivered presentations and made recommendations on how to respond to geopolitical risks from a student's perspective, covering various themes such as "The Issue of Overconcentration in Tokyo and Seoul," "Climate Crisis—Geopolitical Risk in a Globalized World," "Geopolitical Matters: How It Affects Our Student Lives," and "Geopolitical Risk Management." They were then evaluated by the presidents of the four universities.
For the researchers' session, two researchers from Keio University participated - Professor Hisayo Ogushi of the Faculty of Letters, and Professor Ken Jimbo of the Faculty of Policy Management. Sharing their viewpoints as experts, Professor Ogushi spoke on how writers and artists have sought forms of expression through literature and manga, and how they have responded in times of social crises, while Professor Jimbo presented on geopolitical risks in the context of increasingly complex international relations, leading to an enthusiastic exchange of opinions with the audience.