International Exchange Through Negative Thinking | Motohiro Tsuchiya, Vice-President / Professor, Graduate School of Media and Governance
My fellow faculty members at SFC always think of me as someone with a grumpy face. I think so too. Fundamentally, I am a negative thinker. The other day, I was asked to give a greeting at a meeting, and a long-time staff member told me, "I thought it started with something negative again." You can't change your personality that easily.
However, for some reason, when I speak in English, something seems to be different, and people tell me, "You have a great sense of humor." Even when told this, I don't think so myself, so I feel perplexed. I suspect I'm just a foreigner who is bad at English and uses strange phrasing. There are "gaijin talents" like that who occasionally appear on Japanese TV. It's probably something like that.
At the end of January, a meeting related to a consortium called the U7+ Alliance of World Universities, in which Keio University plays a central role, was held at Tohoku University in Sendai. It was a preparatory meeting at the vice-president level held before the presidential summit. The venue was Sakan, a long-established ryokan in Akiu Onsen. I taught the overseas participants, who were confused by their first hot spring inn, how to enter the bath, but many were bewildered. When I said, "That's right, you get naked in front of others. You shouldn't wear a swimsuit. In the open-air bath, you go outside naked. It's freezing, but it feels great once you get in the bath," they looked shocked. However, when they came out of the bath, they said, "Ah, it's my first experience. It was very good!"
The participants became interested after seeing other Japanese guests walking around the building wearing yukata. At lunch, I took the plunge and called out, "Everyone, let's wear yukata to dinner tonight. I'll show those who don't know how to wear them. We even have 3L sizes for larger people!" and everyone smiled and said, "That sounds good!"
However, during the subsequent break, a staff member from Tohoku University asked me, "You're not serious about the yukata, are you?" When I replied, "Eh, I'm serious. I'm going to wear one," they were stunned. "I understand. I will contact all Tohoku University staff to tell them to wear them!" they said. Many of the people at Tohoku University are serious, and they thought I was joking and had no intention of wearing yukata. Apparently, the Tohoku University staff who received the message reacted with a surprised "What?"
As it turned out, everyone except two people came to the dinner party wearing yukata. One of them rushed back to their room to change. The other person just wore a haori on the spot and joined the commemorative photo. "It's nice to be able to relax. I like it," they said. Looking at the female staff of the inn who were serving us, someone asked, "Why are those people wearing backpacks?" I thought, "Backpacks?" but they were referring to the obi (sashes) of the women's kimono.
Thus, the dinner party ended harmoniously, and the next morning, President Ito, who had jumped on the Shinkansen to join us, took part in the discussions.
For two days, I was just doing my best to moderate with a serious face, but once again, many people left saying, "You are so funny," which leaves me bewildered. At any rate, the meeting went well, so let's call it a success. My thanks to Trustee and Vice-President Toshiya Ueki and the staff of Tohoku University, and the members of the Global Engagement Office at Keio, who worked hard on the preparations and management.