When I started at Okayama University after leaving high school, the university was embarking on a transformation based on the key words of “global” and “practice.”
 For example, the Global Human Resource Development course was launched the year I started university. I made friends with other students in different faculties and departments, and remember how we honed our skills in friendly competition against each other in settings such as presentations, short-term language study overseas, and off-campus training. My experiences in the L-café, a meeting spot for international and Japanese students, included the Sakura Science Plan, which invited high school students from Papua New Guinea to visit and engage with students.
 Since starting graduate school, I have been engaged in academic studies that I will be able to put to use in research, including learning about healthcare and diverse ways of living from the perspectives of a range of different fields, taking “health systems” as my key word, as well as exposure to issues in contemporary society through practical courses such as an Advanced Hospital Practice.
 My greatest impression during my time at Okayama University has been the importance of the presence of fellow students, teachers, and administrative staff who are all working together to rise to new challenges. I feel that I have been able to grow and develop thanks to my fellow students who are the first to engage enthusiastically with cutting-edge ideas, whom I both respect and regard as friendly rivals, as well as to the lecturers and administrative staff whose daily teaching and administrative work help to create a better environment in which we can study.
 During my time as an undergraduate, I studied overseas at the University of Sydney. What I noticed there was that as members of society, universities are connected to society in every respect.
 The way in which the university provided a range of programs and opportunities for adult learners to restart their studies and venues for networking with local residents transformed my understanding of what a university should be, and made me aware of the issue of creating links between research and society as a whole. When I returned to Japan, I came to feel the importance not only of looking at global issues but also of focusing on local communities.
 Whenever we come in contact with society at large, the local community is always present. I am aware that resolving the issues that face Okayama, carrying out research that contributes to this process, and putting solutions into practice are among the responsibilities carried by those of us who spend our days in this city and prefecture.
 I think that the Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in Health Systems, with its aim of carrying out research and social projects that take social issues as their starting point, demonstrates a new idea of what it means to be a university.
 I am currently engaged in research to create connections between society as a whole and the university by linking social issues with research on the theme of SDGs including “health systems.” A strength of my department is that building on the foundation of healthcare, one of Okayama University’s strong points, it brings together the natural sciences with the humanities and social sciences and integrates their various discoveries in a manner unlike that of conventional research.
 In my research, I am collaborating with students in the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, but I still have much to learn in order to generate new knowledge by integrating these diverse viewpoints. What I can do is to create new world-leading research in Okayama University, which is in the process of embarking on a new course as a Super Global University, and to make daily efforts in order to benefit the local community.

As of March 2019