Students from a variety of cultural backgrounds are learning together at the School of International Relations.

Since 2013, the cafeterias at Kinugasa Campus started to offer a Haral food menu.

In respect for our student body, the Administrative Office of College and Graduate School of International Relations has established a meditation space on the 4^th floor of the Koshinkan building since this summer. We believe that this space will help make campus life more comfortable for students.

In the future, we will continue working at building a better environment for students with students and faculty members.

 

 September 2014

Administrative Office of College and Graduate School of International Relations

 On Tuesday, September 23, the Ritsumeikan University Undergraduate and Graduate School Spring Graduation Ceremony 2014 was held at Suzaku Campus. There, 22 students from the College of International Relations and 17 students from the Graduate School of International Relations were awarded Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees.
At the University-wide graduation ceremony, Ms. Kaori Kimura gave a speech as the student representative. Mr. PARK WONKWANG and Mr. SPROUL Spenser R. gave a speech as graduate/undergraduate student representative at the departmental ceremony. Many family members and friends of graduates, faculty and staff members were there to celebrate.

 Graduates will soon start their new careers here in Japan and around the world.

Dean’s Message

 On August 25, 2014, 15 graduate students dispatched by APSIA (Association of Professional School of International Affairs) and 5 Graduate School and College of International Relations Ritsumeikan University　(GS Major) students exchanged opinions on the present state of international relations over lunch in a convivial atmosphere at the restaurant, Kyoto Nagomikan. Professor Keiji Nakatsuji, Dean of Graduate School of International Relations, also joined and gave a welcome address.

  The visiting students, selected by leading American universities that are members of APSIA, were able to come to Japan thanks to assistance from The Japan Foundation. They underwent 10 days of training in Japan with the primary aim of studying East Asian international relations and security issues. During that time, the students visited a disaster area in Miyagi Prefecture, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, and also Kyoto.

  Although only 5 students from Ritsumeikan participated due to the summer recess, as confirmable from the photo, the visiting students and College/Graduate School of IR students were not easy to differentiate as both groups included a variety of nationalities. At APSIA member universities, including Ritsumeikan, internationalization is progressing, and discussions, including ones on international relations, have advanced beyond being based on simple nationalism into ones predicated on diversity. It was precisely an event that foretells the start of a new generation.

 *APSIA (Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs: an association of universities and graduate schools around the world leading in international relations education and research. Members include top-level schools such as Harvard University and Yale University. The Graduate School of International Relations, Ritsumeikan University, the only official member of APSIA in Japan, is a globally-recognized school leading Japan in international relations education and research.

 *The Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership (CGP)

The Center for Global Partnership (CGP) was established within the Japan Foundation to promote collaboration between the people of Japan, the United States, and beyond in order to address issues of global concern. “Japan Expert Development in the US” is a program running since 2009 that, as part of efforts to address topics necessary for expansion and development, invites to Japan exceptional students studying international relations at American graduate schools.

The Graduate School of International Relations, Ritsumeikan University is now being featured in “Foreign Affairs”*, a magazine published by the Council on Foreign Relations.

You can visit our page at the online magazine here.

http://www.foreignaffairs.com/about-us/sponsors/gradschoolforum/2014/ritsumeikan

 

* Foreign Affairs is an American magazine and website on international relations and U.S. foreign policy published since 1922 by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) six times annually. The CFR is a private-sector group established in New York City in 1921, with the mission of promoting understanding of foreign policy and America’s role in the world.

The College of International Relations and the Graduate School of International Relations will participate in the Japan Education Fair 2014 on Fri, August 29 in Chiang Mai and Sun, August 31 in Bangkok, Thailand. Please come and visit our booth.

For more details, visit the following link at: 

http://www.jasso.go.jp/study_j/info_fair_thailand_2014_e.html

 

Chiang Mai: Booth No.27　The Imperial Mae Ping Hotel

Bangkok: Booth No.47　Bangkok Convention Centre at CentralWorld

 

From this April to June, the Graduate School of International Relations held information sessions five times at Kinugasa Campus, Ritsumeikan University. During the main session, “Consultation Session with Professors,” on June 17, students attending consulted with professors about their research themes and learning at the Graduate School in a relaxed atmosphere. After discussion with seven professors of various specializations, many participants expressed their satisfaction with the session, saying it helped focus their research theme.

Similar sessions are planned to be held this October and November.

The Japan –Taiwan Graduates Students’ Academic Exchange Conference 2014 was held in Kinugasa Campus, on Friday, May 30, 2014,  hosted by Interchange Association, Japan (IAJ), the Graduate School of International Relations (GSIR), and the Ritsumeikan Global Innovation Research Organization (R-GIRO) research program namely "Research Core for Peace with Ritsumeikan Interdisciplinary Studies." This conference was designed to enhance mutual cooperation and understanding and exchange knowledge between students of Japan and Taiwan.

This conference was divided into three main sessions and themes included 11 presenters from Japan and Taiwan.

1.　Session 1: Political Change in Post-Cold War Japan?

2.　Session 2: Social Change of Japan in the 2000s.

3.　Session 3: Common Challenge in East Asia.

Approximately 60 participants from Japan and Taiwan attended and enjoyed all presentations and comments. Ambassador TADASHI IKEDA, Former Japanese Representative to Taiwan, delivered the closing remarks followed by a dinner reception for all the participants.

On May 23, Assistant Director Kathleen R.Harrington and students from Georgetown University visited Ritsumeikan Kinugasa Campus where they were welcomed by the Graduate School of International Relations.
This visit was organized as a part of the“KAKEHASHI Project”, a Youth Exchange Program with North America promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (MOFA).
Students from Georgetown University as well as Graduate students from Ritsumeikan University gave presentations on their research topics followed by lively discussion.
Visiting students who participated in this event were glad to be able to deepen their understanding of Japan by exchanging their thoughts and insights with Ritsumeikan students.

KAKEHASHI Project “The Bridge for Tomorrow”
http://www.jpf.go.jp/e/intel/youth/

A special lecture and discussion event was held on May 19 with Chinese University of Hong Kong at Ritsumeikan University's Kinugasa Campus CUHK's faculty members and students visited Ritsumeikan and Professor Ryohei Nakagawa offered a special lecture titled "Japanese Economy and Japan-China economic relations." Graduate and undergraduate students participated from both CUHK and Ritsumeikan universities. Students actively discussed issues learned from the lecture as well as their own research topics. It was a great opportunity for students to exchange opinions not only about Japan-China relations but also about East Asian geopolitical and economic affairs. Some participants promised to meet again in the near future in Hong Kong.

This International Symposium identifying the future of International Relations (IR) invited two prominent speakers Professor Amitav Acharya (American University), the President of the International Studies Association (ISA), and Professor Hiroshi Nakanishi (Kyoto University), Vice President of Japan Association of International Relations (JAIR). This symposium held in the Kinugasa Campus – Soshikan Hall, on Sunday, May 18, 2014, co-hosted by the Graduate School of International Relations (GSIR) and the Ritsumeikan Global Innovation Research Organization (R-GIRO) research program namely "Research Core for Peace with Ritsumeikan Interdisciplinary Studies."

Professor Amitav Acharya’s presentation, titled: “Global IR and Regional Worlds Beyond Sahibs and Munshis: A New Agenda for International Studies," proposed an agenda of the future IR called the Global IR, which transcend the debates between so-called Western and Non-Western IR. Subsequently, Professor Acharya identified six dimensions and six possible research agendas as the basis of the Global IR. In principle, Global IR is either mutual learning between Non-Western and Western IR or an inclusive, an equal, and a constructive dialog between them symbolized by the relations between Sahibs and Munshis in the past.

Professor Hiroshi Nakanishi provided a very systematic presentation regarding the development of IR in Japan as well as the prospect of constructing the so-called Japan IR (J-IR). In his presentation, titled: “Discipline of IR in Japan: past, present, and future agenda," professor Nakanishi elaborated the progress of IR in Japan and offered models and researches agendas for the making the J-IR. Although the J-IR has not established yet, considering the development of IR in Japan so far, there is an expectation that the J-IR might be the center of “Asian IR dialogue” in the future.

Approximately 75 participants came from various universities in Japan attended and enjoyed both presentations that were intellectually inspiring and stimulating.

This event held in the Kinugasa Campus, on Friday, May 16, 2014, hosted by the Ritsumeikan Global Innovation Research Organization (R-GIRO) under research program namely "Research Core for Peace with Ritsumeikan Interdisciplinary Studies." The co-hosts are Ritsumeikan University's College of International Relations, the Global Civil Society Research Group at the Institute of Humanities, Human and Social Sciences. The workshop invited two speakers Dr. Juha Saunavaara (the University of Oulu, Finland) and Dr. Thomas French (Ritsumeikan University, Japan). The discussant was Professor Sugita Yoneyuki (Osaka University, Japan) and the moderator was Professor Adachi Kenki (Ritsumeikan University, Japan).

Dr. Juha Saunavaara’s paper, titled: "The Making of Postwar Hokkaido - Legacy of the Allied Occupation in Periphery," spotlights the process of recreating area in the allied occupation of Japan and figures out the extent the postwar era legacy has remained in the peripheral region namely Hokkaido. In particular, Dr. Saunavaara investigates the dynamics and the interconnectedness between the administration, the economy and the party politics in the making of postwar Hokkaido.

On the other hand, Dr. Thomas French highlights issues in the first years of postwar period in Japanese sea. Dr. French’s work, titled: “Dangerous Waters: The Mass Seizures of Japanese Fishing Vessels in Early Postwar Period," looks at the series of seizures of Japanese fishing boats by other states or governments during the allied occupation of Japan (1945-1952). As an ongoing research, his presentation provides historical significance, new interpretations, and further questions to the facts surrounding the seizures of fishing boats in the postwar years.

Both speakers and discussant shed lights on the other sides of the occupation time in the Japanese history by actualizing aspects that so far have been neglected. Undoubtedly, these two analysis have, to some extent, represented new frontiers in the studies of the allied occupation of Japan.

Approximately 20 participants attended and listened attentively to the resourceful insight and detail material of both speakers that are inspiring and intellectually stimulating. Participants asked questions one after another and enjoyed the lively discussions.