Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, parents, students and everyone participating in today’s ceremony which finally marks the opening of our Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University.
　First of all, representing the Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to you, our very first entering students.
　We are also grateful to have the privilege of greeting many of the parents of the students attending today and for the honor of expressing our appreciation to the many extraordinary people who made this university a reality.

　Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University was established under the cooperation of the Ritsumeikan Trust, Oita Prefecture, Beppu City and with support from various organizations and persons both within and outside of Japan. It is a truly international university that has no precedent.
　As an institution for creating a new academic discipline and nurturing new human resources for the global society of the 21st century, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University has established the following three philosophies:
1. To contribute to the “Liberty, Peace and Humanism” of the world.
2. To promote “International Mutual Understanding”. And
3. To create the “Future of the Asia Pacific”.
Today, as we advance into the 21st century, we observe that the peaceful sustainable development of society, the coexistence of nature and human beings and promotion of the coexistence among the people are the most significant challenges. For our contribution to the challenges of the 21st century, keeping in line with the three philosophies mentioned earlier, it is our desire and duty to work towards the creation of a new academic discipline “Asia Pacific Studies”, and cultivate human resources.
The most outstanding feature of this new university is that half of the student body, which means out of the total 800 first-year students, 400 of them come from the many countries and regions around the world and will study together with their 400 Japanese counterparts.
APU campus is located here in Beppu City, Oita, Japan. However, students and faculty members come from approximately 50 different countries and regions around the world. With different cultural backgrounds, they will be interacting everyday thus making the campus truly intercultural and international. It is a common location for exchange and study for all the young people of the world, who wish to live confidently in this challenging global society of the 21st century.

On the APU campus, the students will make friends with other students with varied cultural backgrounds. This is a campus that you will not find the likes of in any other university in Japan. In addition, this is an unprecedented international educational environment that you may not find anywhere else in the whole world. To the young student, we believe that this will definitely be an exciting experience.
However, the exchanges with friends possessing different cultural backgrounds will not always go smoothly. We naturally expect that there will be stress accumulated from clashes of these differences in cultures and customs. But, we should say that this will be the normal situation for our university.
With the shared understanding and trust as students of APU, you will overcome each and every one of the stresses and conflicts arising from the differences in cultures and customs. I trust and believe that this in itself is very important and meaningful for the university. Knowing that you are all representatives of your respective countries and regions at APU, and as talented students, you will certainly overcome with flexibility, tolerance, thought and actions, any trouble or conflict that may arise due to differences in cultures and customs. I strongly believe that this will be an opportunity to enhance and deepen the mutual trust needed here.

Another important thing is to deepen such mutual understanding and enhance the cooperation that becomes the source of energy that is needed for the creation of the cosmopolitan society required in the 21st century. It is my strong desire that APU campus become the most advanced educational institution for developing that required energy.
Diverse cultural exchange has been fundamental in creating new cultures, new civilization and creative human resources that have contributed to the progress and advancement of human beings through the many experiences in its long history.
From the campus of Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, where diverse cultural exchange will be literally taking place, we firmly believe that new cultures and creative human resources will be stimulated to enhance the 21st century. This is also the expectation of the many people in the world who have supported us in the founding and establishment of this university.

The success of this new university greatly depends on the activities and undertakings of the students. From this viewpoint, the role you will play as the very first students, is a special and great one. Your activities and engagements will establish the traditions of this university.
I as the President of the university, expect the students will be the pioneers of APU in academic advancement, cultural development and university and local community exchanges.
To the entering students, I would like offer you my favorite quotation by Professor Peter Drucker, “The best way to predict the future is to create it yourself ”.
To those of us who comprise APU, university officials, faculty members, staff members and students alike, let us not tackle the future passively, but take it as a challenge in creating the future. Why don’t we all combine our efforts in meeting the expectations that the whole world has for this novel international university, Rutsumeikan Asia Pacific University.


※　President Speech delivered at Entrance Ceremony for Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, April 3, 2000