"Global" and "Policy" | Tomoki Kamo, Dean of the Faculty of Policy Management
2023.09.12
It may be so self-evident that I have not clearly articulated it before. The study of policy management incorporates the perspectives of "global" and "policy."
There is a course offered at the Faculty of Policy Management and the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies called Introduction to Japanese Studies. This lecture, which I launched with my SFC colleagues in 2012, has aimed to "provide a foundation for policy-oriented thinking for the near future by understanding Japan's position up to the present and comprehending the current situation in which Japan finds itself."
During their time at SFC and after graduation, everyone, whether they like it or not, will have the opportunity to confront global issues, work with global peers, and be active on the global stage. Furthermore, in the midst of globalization, they will surely have to explain Japan to their international colleagues. This challenge, which everyone faces, may seem easy at first glance, but it is quite difficult. We are required to have the ability to explain Japan and to communicate about Japan to the world.
Japan experienced a period of high economic growth and has since maintained a stable society over a long period. Because of this experience, Japan is sometimes referred to as a mature society. Moreover, the challenges Japan is currently facing are also challenges that many countries and regions around the world will face in the future. Japan is also called a forerunner in tackling challenges.
These challenges facing Japan are also the research topics addressed by the cutting-edge research conducted at SFC. This shows just how broad the academic fields at SFC are. Therefore, we have positioned the Introduction to Japanese Studies course as "a place to learn the materials and methods for explaining and communicating about Japan through the cutting-edge research being conducted at SFC and elsewhere in Japan."
Through this course, we have conducted multifaceted examinations of the issues facing Japan and considered policy options and how to implement policies to solve these issues. We have been considering "policies for solving problems." It is an attempt to gain a perspective of "thinking from Japan" and to find clues for deepening the understanding of Japan, all while understanding "what is happening in Japan now" with "policy" as the keyword.
More than 10 years have passed since the launch of the Introduction to Japanese Studies course. This fall, we have decided to reconsider the framework of the course. In doing so, we need to return to the question of what policy management is. This is something that has been discussed many times in the "Okashira Nikki" (Dean's Diary) .
What is policy management? It is a discipline that seeks to accumulate knowledge through practical initiatives in the face of fluid and complex societal problems—that is, policy issues. Policy management is a "discipline of practical wisdom."
Its significance is now being re-recognized. The environment, both domestic and international, is in great flux, prompting changes in people's career designs. The mobility of people and knowledge is increasing, with more personnel moving between the public and private sectors and the emergence of policy and social entrepreneurs. In addition to the career path of delving deeply into one area and striving for a single peak, people are also choosing a way of life that enriches their careers by moving back and forth between different fields, like a revolving door. Whatever career path one takes, how to enrich one's "practical wisdom" is likely a crucial issue.
How can one acquire diverse "practical wisdom"? To do so, one must grasp where "practical wisdom" is accumulated in the real world. We believe that one such place is the "policy process." We see the "policy process" as embedding cutting-edge, specialized, and cross-disciplinary knowledge that moves people, organizations, and society to solve real-world problems.
The new Introduction to Japanese Studies course, starting this fall, will find the form of "practical wisdom" in the "policy process," providing students with the opportunity to learn "practical wisdom" by re-experiencing various "policy processes." Through this course, we aim to create a "policy casebook" that brings together knowledge on various policy cases and policy processes, and attempt to create a new academic commons at SFC.
In doing so, this semester's Introduction to Japanese Studies will return to the orthodox concept of "policy." As discussed in various forums, the concept of "policy" in SFC's policy management is very broad. It means "the choices and decisions people make to take some form of action," and this includes not only government policies but also decisions to be made by corporations and choices within the international community. The "policy" of policy management is broader than the "policy" dealt with in disciplines called public policy studies or policy science. The book series "Opening Up Policy Management," published this March, demonstrates this breadth.
However, this semester's Introduction to Japanese Studies aims to actively leverage the experience of personnel exchanges with government agencies, which is one of the attractions of education and research at the Faculty of Policy Management and the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies. SFC has welcomed full-time faculty members on fixed-term appointments from the National Police Agency , the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare , the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications , and the Ministry of the Environment . Each of these exchanges has a history of nearly 10 years. We also invite specially invited faculty and part-time lecturers from the Japan Coast Guard and the Ministry of Defense/Self-Defense Forces. Furthermore, there are many faculty members who have moved between government agencies and the private sector, or who have work experience in government agencies or related research institutions.
Taking advantage of these characteristics of SFC, this semester's Introduction to Japanese Studies will invite former practitioners who were actually in charge of policies related to police, foreign affairs, and the economy to re-experience the policy process. The course will also offer lectures to deepen a fundamental understanding of policy data collection and policy analysis methods.
To live globally, students will learn to think about the challenges Japan faces from a policy perspective and acquire the skills to communicate about Japan to the world. As an educational endeavor to deepen and develop the study of policy management, which forms one wing of SFC's academics, I want to evolve the Introduction to Japanese Studies course together with the co-instructors (Professor Yuichiro Shimizu, Professor Koichiro Tanaka, and Professor Motohiro Tsuchiya, who has collaborated on this course since its inception) and my colleagues at SFC.
*The Introduction to Japanese Studies course is conducted with the support of the Keio University Future-Leading Fund (FY2023) .