A Heartwarming Exchange at -7°C | Miki Akiyama, Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies
2024.03.12
My first year as the director of the Athletic Association Soccer Club is coming to an end. Although I had no connection to the Athletic Association during my university days, preferring casual and recreational sports, I have now become a faculty member who wholeheartedly supports the Keio University Athletic Association. When it comes to cheering for our team, I tend to get carried away, and before I know it, I'm shouting "Go for it!" on the field, sometimes surprising those around me.
After becoming the director, I learned for the first time about the importance of inter-university exchanges through regular matches. The most famous of these is the Waseda-Keio rivalry, but each club also continues regular exchanges through sports with other traditional rival schools besides Waseda University.
The exchange between the Keio Soccer Club and the Yonsei University Soccer Club in South Korea celebrated its 60th anniversary in the 2023 academic year. This soccer exchange began even before the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and South Korea, making it a true symbol of how sports can connect people across borders.
The regular match, which the two teams have continued by traveling back and forth between Japan and South Korea in alternate years, was held this year in mid-December, in the dead of winter, at the main sports ground of Yonsei University's Sinchon Campus.
The temperature at the local field was -7 degrees Celsius. Although they had a stove running in a tent next to the pitch, it was exposed to the elements. It was even tougher for the student managers and record-keepers than for the players, as they risked hypothermia from staying still. Additionally, there were elderly alumni among the accompanying group.
Amidst these conditions, the mothers from the Yonsei University team's cheering squad gave us warm yuzu tea, and a Korean alumnus who had once studied abroad at Keio brought us yakiniku bento boxes; we received so much kindness that warmed both our hearts and bodies. At the post-match reception, students and alumni from both universities praised each other and deepened their exchange. I came to understand firsthand that the friendship and goodwill between Japan and South Korea have been deepened through such university sports and the personal interactions involved.
As for the results of the regular matches, Yonsei University won both the alumni and the current student matches. In addition to soccer, in many other aspects—such as global university rankings, the support system for university sports, and the quality of various campus facilities—it was an opportunity that made me feel we need to catch up with our rival.
This was a year that deepened the exchange between the leaders of both universities. In May, President Kohei Ito was awarded an honorary doctorate from Yonsei University, and in December (a few days before our regular match), Yonsei University President Seoung Hwan Suh was awarded an honorary doctorate from Keio University. The friendly relationship between Yonsei and Keio, which has been cultivated as private universities both founded in the late 19th century, will surely grow even stronger, supported by these connections between students.