A Gift from the Students | Masaru Tomita (Dean, Faculty of Environment and Information Studies)
2006.01.19
When I was a child, I secretly resented the fact that my birthday was on December 28.
Because of the timing, I never had a birthday party where I could invite my friends. Even when I did, it was always held jointly with a Christmas party, and my birthday presents were often skipped under the pretext of being combined with my Christmas presents.
However, after growing up and reaching an age where you no longer have birthday parties with acquaintances, I realized that having it "jointly with a Christmas party" was actually quite a treat. This is because as the Christmas party livens up, someone might say, "By the way, it's almost Tomita-san's XXth birthday!" leading to a new toast, or I'd get to perform the "candle-blowing-out ceremony" with the cake. While it might just be an afterthought for everyone else, it makes the person in question quite happy.
At last month's lab Christmas party, I also received birthday presents from my students: a bathrobe covered in messages from dozens of people and a pillow for a good night's sleep. The students probably intended it as a half-hearted joke, but I was truly happy. It makes me genuinely feel that I was so lucky to be born in December.
Although I make it a rule to end faculty meetings as quickly as possible, when it comes to parties with students, I find myself letting them go on endlessly. On that day, too, I ended up talking with the students until morning. We never run out of topics, from discussing our dreams for research projects and debating Japanese political issues to talking about everything from UFOs and psychic powers to popular singers, fashion, and theories on love.
Being able to have such deep conversations with young people is a privilege of being a university faculty member. Many research ideas are born from these interactions; I learn a great deal from the students, and above all, I receive youth and energy from them. That, for me, is the irreplaceable "gift from the students."
(Posted on: 2006/01/19)