Date says that “ University life is centered on seminar activities.” He entered Professor Toshiaki Hasegawa's international economics seminar. As part of an academic exchange, the seminar participates in the Japan-China International Forum, presenting reports in English alongside representatives from Chinese universities. Seminar representative Date received the Academic Support Award at the 2008 Shanghai Symposium.

In his second year, Date attended the forum in Beijing and gave a presentation on the East Asian Community. He was overwhelmed by the level of excellence among the Chinese students and decided “I don't want to lose. I will definitely catch up to their level.” So in his third year, as seminar representative, Date spent the best part of the year preparing his report for the next forum.

It was a trying process. In the latter half of his third year, he concentrated on writing the report and skipped most of his classes, resulting in almost zero credits. He also read close to 100 essays after summer camp. On top of that, he was told by Professor Hasegawa, “You can't submit this report as is. It's not enough.” So he spent the month prior to the forum at his friend's house, relentlessly working on the report.

He looks back at that period where he was driven to the brink with a chuckle, “I'm usually an optimistic person, but at that time I wanted to die.” And in November 2008, all his hard work paid off handsomely when he won the Academic Support Award.

What pleased him more than anything was when Professor Hasegawa, who is known for his tough demeanor, recognized his effort in saying, “ That was the best report I have seen and they were the best team I have had up until now.”

When commenting on what he accomplished from his year's activities, Date states, “I became mentally stronger. And I learnt how to rely on other people and cooperate with my peers. At first I thought I could prepare the report myself, but gradually I relied on other students and built up a relationship of trust.”

As well as activities for this seminar, Date started up an inter-university job-search support group in his fourth year and entered business contests on a personal level. At any rate, he was active in all respects.

Date says his motto is “Don't set yourself limits.” The reason behind this being, “You can mature as a person by exceeding those limits.” To make the most of his remaining time as a university student before graduating, Date took a solo trip around Japan during the spring vacation. Why? “Because I wanted to experience the extreme limits,” he replies with a laugh.

As advice to his juniors, “You should do something in the way you want to do it. If you don't do something you want to do, you will never catch up.” From this spring Date will work in an education-related company. He steps into the real world with a feeling in his heart of wanting to improve Japan's education system.

(Mochizuki)