Congratulations to the new students of the Faculty of Policy Studies on your entrance to university.

From now on, you will probably be asked dozens of times, “What is policy studies?” I have been asked over 100 times.

Put simply, the faculty is about learning a wide range of studies from various fields. Think of it as acquiring a culture. In our languages program, courses include 10 languages. We have an extensive number of Asian language courses. And we are not a university focusing on foreign languages.

Let’s think about what you will do once you have acquired the education and language skills.

The Faculty of Policy Studies is based on aiming to solve social issues both domestically and globally, exchanging knowledge and ideas through group work, including on-site investigations and interviews, that provides training for making policy proposals for final solutions.

The faculty is said to have been founded after reflection that the university had not been contributing enough to society.

Let me introduce some examples of projects undertaken by your seniors.

International themes include: (1) Orphans in a Cambodian orphanage were child workers. (2) Waste problem and new social businesses in the Philippines. (3) Actual facts of Japanese soldiers depicted in the popular Thai film, “Sunset at Chaophraya”. (4) Support and issues for Cambodian landmine victims. (5) Taiwanese 228 Incident and Chuo University alumni. (6) Fieldwork related to the Northern Territories issue.

Policy related themes include, (1) What should the post 3/11 energy policy be? (2) Should we lift a total ban on internet sales of medicinal supplies? (3) Policy for moving from non-regular employment to regular employment. (4) Deterioration of underground shopping complexes and the significance of their existence. (5) Forgettable rights – Legislative system for internet society. (6) Factor analysis research of “silly posts”.

In this way, based on social issue, phenomenon and mystery, students take the initiative to work together to give ideas and solve many problems.

To achieve this, the Faculty of Policy Studies focuses on the actual field. Students are required to study a wide range of academic fields, go into the field and listen to the people, conduct research and set about solving and elucidating problems. By repeating this kind of training, we will have students develop the overall skills, which in turn will build their self confidence.

Let’s begin by taking initiative and learn to solve issues, in a speedy and timely manner.