International PBL (Problem/Project-based Learning) Seminar kicked off in 2015 as a part of “Global PLB for Innovative mind and Intelligence” in Re-inventing Japan Project. Students of various backgrounds filled the classroom; Ritsumeikan students (mostly Japanese) coming back from one-semester exchange program in Thailand and Indonesia in the last Fall semester in 2014, Ritsumeikan students who will be going to Thailand and Indonesia for one semester during the Fall semester in 2015, and also international students coming from Indonesia and Thailand for one semester at Ritsumeikan, totally 19 students. Their field of study also varies; economics, architecture, accountancy and policy science.

PBL seminar was divided into two sessions; the first was led by Assistant Prof. Piyada Chonlaworn under three main themes; Japanese history and culture, socio-economic problems and environmental issues. Students discussed these issues from their experience and data-gathering and compared with one another's country. At the end of the first session, we took a trip to Ibaraki City Environment and Garbage Incineration Center where students learned how a large amount of garbage are separated and incinerated. The second session was led by Assistant Prof. Otieno Francis. The topic was mainly about marketing and economics with a field trip to a beer-brewing factory in Osaka. Given different backgrounds of students, this course was considered a fruitful subject where Japanese and international students got to know one another through group work and discussions.

In the second session, students were introduced to the business strategy and decision making through a case based approach. Subsequently, by focusing on the ASEAN countries, students had to select a country and develop a viable business proposal that could be hypothetically setup in the particular country based on the socio-economic cultural and political environment for the selected country. In order to reinforce concepts of creativity, team building and innovation, interesting but pedagogical games were used, this made students realize the importance of strategically working together even though they were in groups consisting of members from different countries. Some of the games included the famous marshmallow and spaghetti tower games as illustrated in the pictures below. Moreover, the field trip was made to Asahi breweries, here the students had the opportunity to witness the intriguing and detailed process of beer processing, in addition the students were introduced to the business model and marketing activities that Asahi uses in order to be the market leader in terms of units and sales. The students also had the chance to engage in discussions with the company representative on the international expansion strategies of Asahi especially in the ASEAN countries.

Through group work among students with different backgrounds, site-visit, discussion, presentations and reports assignments, students cultivated the understanding of problem and ability to propose creative solutions to the problems based on cross-cultural understanding.