Spring has finally arrived in all its glory now that the long cold spells of this year’s harsh winter are behind us. I extend my sincerest congratulations to all the new students who have joyously gathered here for this matriculation ceremony on a pleasant and wonderful day. We have just now made the Declaration of Matriculation for 1,985 undergraduate students, 851 graduate students, and 35 students of the Undergraduate Training Course for School Nurses. To our 2,871 new members I say, welcome to Kanazawa University! I am very delighted to greet you amid the gorgeous cherry blossoms of this season. On behalf of the entire faculty and staff, I warmly welcome all of you to our community.????????
Many of you spent your junior and senior high school years under the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic. Everyday life eventually returned to normal routines, but then came the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake on the first day of last year. Then, in the following September, the region was hit by heavy rains while still in the process of recovering and rebuilding from the earthquake. I imagine that some of you were among those who repeatedly underwent the immense ordeals brought on by those disasters. You have successfully surmounted many challenges and obstacles to be here today, a day when you embark on a new journey in your lives. I deeply admire you for your constant effort and dedication to the aspirations that led you here. To your families who supported those aspirations, I offer my heartfelt congratulations.??
The university that you have joined is a comprehensive research university that boasts 163 years of history and tradition. Kanazawa University traces its origins back to the late Edo period, when the Kaga Domain-authorized Smallpox Vaccination Center was founded in 1862 as a facility for promoting vaccination against smallpox. This was followed by the establishment of various predecessors of our institution under the old school system, such as the Fourth High School. While inheriting the traditions of those forerunners and preserving their intrinsic value, we have also eagerly incorporated innovation into our culture. Our defining ideals and aims are enshrined in the Charter of Kanazawa University. The charter sets forth the core principle that our university will strive to be “a research university dedicated to education, while opening up its doors to both local and global society.” We have developed an environment designed to satisfy your intellectual curiosity and enable you to pursue your own learning goals so that you can go out into the world and shine. While enhancing opportunities for self-led study, we are also strengthening our transdisciplinary liberal arts program. In addition to providing education, our university is also home to world-class research centers, including the Nano Life Science Institute. These hubs of exceptional research provide a foundation that will enable you to gain broad insights not only within your major but also across diverse disciplines. In this time of sweeping changes in the structure of society and people’s values, the knowledge that you will gain at Kanazawa University is certain to become an irreplaceable asset for you in the future. Our entire faculty and staff will provide you with their fullest support so that you will become able to serve as Kanazawa University Brand talent in Japan and abroad, playing central leadership roles in the international community.??????
Many different challenges have emerged in today’s society. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused immense destruction and loss since it began more than three years, and has also heightened the importance of economic security. Meanwhile, the survival of our bountiful global environment, the foundation of human existence, is threatened by a serious crisis. As members of the international community, you must strive to help bring forth a sustainable future by constantly asking yourself how you can make a difference, and by continuing to implement the solutions you conceive. To succeed in this endeavor, you need to develop an understanding of other cultures and embrace tolerance and coexistence. Our university cherishes its core principle of being a research university dedicated to education, while opening up its doors to both local and global society. It is important to not only cultivate a broad perspective that encompasses both the local and the global, but also have an environment where the international is an everyday presence and where everyday life is internationally oriented. I fervently hope that all of you, as members of the international community, will learn and grow tremendously here and then go forth to help shape future society into one filled with hope.
For the Noto Peninsula, last year was a year marked by catastrophic disasters. Vigorous efforts are still underway to help the survivors return to their normal lives and to rebuild and recover their communities. The enormous loss of life is a painful reminder of the preciousness of our existence. I would like to once again express our condolences to the victims and our heartfelt sympathy to all survivors. Kanazawa University is a national university corporation and comprehensive research university located in the disaster region. We continue to think of ways that we can reach out to and assist the affected people and communities in our capacity as a center of academia and a provider of public goods. In May 2022, we laid out the Future Vision of Kanazawa University, “Kokorozashi” (aspirations). This vision declares our aspiration to contribute to society through “future-oriented intelligence” driven by an all-Kanazawa University approach. Future-oriented intelligence is the wisdom needed to explore and overcome the challenges of today and tomorrow. We are a university that creates new value through the power of future-oriented intelligence. I would like for us to think about how we can create new value for post-disaster Noto while preserving the region’s intrinsic value. This is indeed a case of “fueki ryuko,” the ideal of building up both tradition and innovation through a commitment to taking on new challenges while cherishing one’s immutable essence. This is an endeavor that requires future-oriented intelligence. Going forward, we as a comprehensive research university will continue contributing to the reconstruction and recovery of the disaster-affected areas and to the growth of local and global communities. As part of this undertaking, we launched this academic year a new educational program called the Disaster Prevention and Revitalization Program. I call on all of you to think and act together as both Kanazawa University students and international community members. The future is yours to create. You will design the future.??????
Our greenery-filled campuses are located in Kanazawa, an academic city that has a rich heritage of tradition and culture. You can look forward to enjoying a rewarding student life in this enriching environment. I want you to spend your days here with excitement, vibrant intellectual curiosity, and a passion for boldly taking on challenges. Allow me to share three pieces of advice for getting the most out of your journey of learning at Kanazawa University.??
The first is to cherish your encounters with new people.
As a university that broadly embraces knowledge from all around the world, Kanazawa University provides ample opportunity to meet people who are passionate about what they do. It is likely that some of your chance encounters here will blossom into lifelong friendships. We all can learn much from interacting with others. Those interactions can also help build human skills that are driven by a strong desire to overcome obstacles. When I enrolled in Kanazawa University as a student years ago, I did so with the same hopes that you have now. The friendships I have maintained with classmates and other Kanazawa University members for over 40 years have been an irreplaceable treasure to me. I invite you to sincerely and eagerly interact with vibrant people within and outside the university community. A good example of this is the G7 Education Minister’s Meeting Excursion in Toyama and Kanazawa that we hosted on Kakuma campus on May 15, 2023. Ministers from the G7 countries and representatives of international organizations visited our university and talked directly with students and faculty about education. Also, the participating students issued the Kanazawa University Youth Declaration. Rare encounters and experiences like this are a huge source of inspiration. I hope that during your years here you will have encounters that at first seem by chance but you will later regard as destined experiences.????????????
My second piece of advice is to think for yourself.
This can be summed up by the saying “masen tekken,” which expresses the importance of having strong aspirations, thinking for yourself, and constantly pursuing new knowledge. The way that you will learn at university will be vastly different from how you have learned until now. I am counting on you to proactively learn, cultivate yourself, and gain the skills that you will need when you go out into the world. Keep in mind that there will be no ready-made answers waiting for you when you start playing your roles in society. In fact, sometimes there aren’t any answers at all in the rapidly changing real world. You will also encounter situations where there is more than one right answer. A world without a model answer for everything means that you yourselves will need to carve out a path to the future. To do that, you need to explore the challenges of today and tomorrow, ask yourself the questions they pose, and work out solutions to them. This is exactly what we mean by our cherished ideal of future-oriented intelligence. It is a constant process of thinking for yourself; you form a hypothesis, test it against the evidence, and determine its validity. This is the essence of university learning and the cornerstone of our educational program. If you maintain this ideal, it will be a pillar of support for you throughout your life. You may also find support in the form of AI and other rapidly evolving innovative technologies. I encourage you to make use of such tools, but remember that ultimately you are the ones who need to do the thinking and make the decisions. Both you and the future can be changed. And, you can create the future.??
The third thing I advise you to do is interact with people outside your comfort zone.
I would like for you to try immersing yourselves in unfamiliar cultures and environments. In particular, I recommend that you go abroad for study or training before you graduate. Don’t let the fear of failure hold you back from taking the first step into a new world. Your horizons will change. I guarantee that the fresh perspectives gained will provide you with a diverse set of values and many new insights. Interacting with people outside your comfort zone is also one approach for blazing the path to your future. New discoveries await you if you step out of the boundaries of your field of study, especially if you interact with people whose worldview, culture, and values differ from your own. Be sure to use this approach to build your human skills and deepen your knowledge. I look forward to seeing you grow tremendously into talent who will create value for the future.
I hope that you will always keep in your heart the excitement you feel today, and will enjoy a fulfilling student life here powered by your lofty aspirations and strong can-do attitude. I firmly believe that people are truly assets and treasures for our world. You are the ones who will boldly lead in a new era. I am counting on you to grow by leaps and bounds into shining leaders across the world who will open doors to the future and champion their communities.
In closing, I again offer my heartiest congratulations on your matriculation.
April 4, 2025??????
Takashi Wada, President of Kanazawa University
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