Congratulations on entering Chuo University. In addition to commending you for the hard work and effort to enter our university, I would like to celebrate your entrance into Chuo University and extend a heartfelt welcome on behalf of all university officials. I hope that you will actively participate in studies and other activities at Chuo University. I look forward to you realizing your dreams and achieving significant personal growth, and I hope to support you in your quest.

Today, as globalization and the internationalization of society are rapidly advancing, along with the shift to an information-based society and the increased ratio of students advancing into university, the Japanese university system you are entering is changing. The proposal for changing the entrance period for Japanese universities to autumn is one example of such trends. Furthermore, amidst various problems such as the hardships caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake, universities must instill students with the ability to survive in society and must cultivate professionals who will realize great future achievements. In such times, I hope that you will take full advantage of the learning environment at Chuo University, an institution that enables you to refine your qualities and skills based on our unshakeable founding principles.

Chuo University was founded in 1885 as the English Law School. We have grown as a comprehensive university over the 127 years of our history and the tradition, which are represented as the Hakumon (the White Gate). Our mission is to promote Chuo's founding spirit of "fostering the ability to apply knowledge to practice" in modern Japanese society. This spirit is also expressed by our university motto of cultivating "Knowledge into Action" as represented in the various academic research activities and wide range of practical education undertaken at Chuo University.

All of you have passed many different examinations including the entrance examinations for university. However, if the knowledge and skills which you have worked so hard to attain are measured only through examinations, then your growth stops. Indeed, that knowledge and skill becomes intelligence only when it has been systemized and universalized, and when you understand when it can be put to use. A university possesses various mechanisms for changing knowledge into intelligence.

Since long ago, it has been said that good instructors, good friends and good literature can be found at universities. Today, your study and lifestyle habits will be affected by faculty members of various nationalities, ages and fields of expertise, by friends from both throughout Japan and the world who come from various backgrounds, and by the intellectual assets of academic research spanning specialized technical knowledge to the liberal arts. Through encounters with new people, you will learn that you are unique from others and will become vividly aware of what defines you. Through this voyage of self-discovery, knowledge changes into intelligence. You will realize that the intelligence gained at university is not your personal asset, but instead is something that is shared for the benefit of the benefit of others and society as a whole and society. Once you realize that intelligence is for the public good, you will develop the aspiration of applying your intelligence in order to benefit society. There is a saying that a person's potential should be measured by their aspirations. Once aspirations are developed, intelligence changes from dormant knowledge into active intelligence.

While studying at university, please value the human relationships that you develop and other opportunities which are presented. I hope that you will have a meaningful and vibrant student life. Once again, congratulations on entering Chuo University and best wishes for a healthy and successful future.