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On January 28th, ten of five Israeli and five Palestinian young professional leaders includinge journalists, government officials, scholars and business entrepreneurs visited Ritsumeikan, as part of invitation program organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of, Japan.

Both undergraduate and graduate students from Ritsumeikan University and high school students at Ritsumeikan-Uji High School, which is famous for international education participated in the meeting.

The conflicts in the area have continued for a long time. Japanese government invites the delegation to support the Middle East Peace process by promoting personal exchange and friendship between Israel and Palestine on its belief’s briefs that “the problem should be resolved only through negotiations, based on relevant UN Security Council Resolutions, the Madrid Principles, the Roadmap, the agreements previously reached by the parties and the Arab Peace Initiative, and that any violent acts must be firmly rejected.”*

Understand each truth and reality
Under the lead of Professor Mitoji Yabunaka, a former vice foreign minister of Japan who is engaged in various international cooperation projects and negotiations, the participants talked the reality of the Israel-Palestine region like Israel’s settlements, Palestine refugees and security checkpoints as well as high-tech innovation in the area. Nevertheless the difficult situation, all attendants were trying to understand their counterpart’s reality, which they described “enlarge the common ground” among them. 

What Japan can do for the region?
In the end of the conversation, a Ritsumeikan-Uji High School students asked their expectation to Japan. Participants explained how Japan is an important country for the region’s future and asked them to visit their beautiful sites like Jericho, Ramallah and Jerusalem to understand the region.  The participants explained how Japan is important to the future of the Israeli and Palestine region. It was also hoped that there will be opportunities for young Japanese to visit the region and learn more about its rich culture and history.

As a well experienced former vice ministerdiplomat, Professor Yabunaka facilitated the discussion constructively and concluded it with gratitude for participants’ sincere contributions to it. 

Ritsumeikan hosted the visit and conversation for 4 times. Past events’ reports are available as follows:

2019 February visit
2017 November visit

Reference
MOFA Japan’s Position on the Peace in the Middle East

On Nov 28^th, the College of International Relations and Career Center at Ritsumeikan University hosted the “OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) Career Fair” on Kinugasa campus.

 

Executive Director Josée Touchette and Sam Holland, Talent Management Analyst at the OECD traveled from Paris, the hometown of their organization and gave a special career guidance session for Ritsumeikan students. 

 

Over 30 students from the Graduate School and College of International Relations, including Japanese and international students from various countries, joined the seminar. Students learned about the history and structure of the OECD, as well as the various opportunities for getting a position in the organization, like the Young Professional Programme, Young Associate Programme, and internship. After the lecture, students lined up to ask many questions and to request advice on their future career. 

 

Many graduates from Ritsumeikan University are now working in international organizations, and Kinugasa campus has hosted various sessions on organizations like the World Bank and the United Nations. 

The Open Seminar has 20 years of history. For the first time this year, it took place without the qualifying round, so that all participating groups gave presentations for visitors by using their unique posters on the competition day. The presentation area became very vibrant with the start of the competition, and the new Open Seminar ended on a high note.

 

This year 32 groups from 22 zemi in the College of IR joined in the competition. As the College of IR values on the international and various learning, a broad range of presentation topics were explained and discussed in both Japanese and English. Guests such as personnel of companies and organizations, alumni, and faculty members and students in Ritsumeikan University enjoyed listening to their presentation, left different kinds of feedback, and voted for the best group(please see below for the result). The feedback has been used for revising and enhancing their learning toward their graduation research and career development. Thank you for your participation!

First Prize
18.　Shimada zemi　“The Second life of Kyoto city bus in Laos”

Second Prize

1.　 Shirato zemi　“The truth of cycling rules around KIC (Kinugasa Campus)”
10.　Nakagawa zemi　“Japanese and Korean firms production from China”
13.　Hoshino zemi　“Donperi!! ～The savior of recycling plastic～”
14.　Ataka zemi　“Meme-mingful Political Discourse: The Influence of Internet Memes on Populism”
15.　Hoshino zemi　“Promotion of ‘Sake’ to the world”
20.　Itaki zemi　“Is fair trade really fair?”

Students Prize

11.　Tokumaru zemi　“Why invest in stocks? ~Examining financial behavior in Japan~”

<Event Overview>

Date & Time: 15:30-18:30 on Friday, November 8
Place: Koushinkan 1F at Ritsumeikan University Kinugasa Campus
Number of participants: Approximately 250 people

* For more detail, please see the Open Seminar webpage.