As an undergraduate studying development economics, it was my dream to go on to graduate school and work on research studies overseas. So I entered the Graduate School of Environmental and Life Science of Okayama University, specializing in Southeast Asian area studies. Happily, while enrolled in both the Master’s Program and the Doctoral Program, I have been chosen to receive scholarships from a private foundation, and have had the opportunity to conduct research in Vietnam for a total of three years.
 In Vietnam, with the cooperation of Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City, I have been engaged in researching the transformation of governance in remote regions, working in coastal communities in the south of the country. The study region is an isolated area around 380 km from the city, and takes a day to reach by bus and bike taxi. At the end of this long journey, when I first saw the mangroves spreading out to the horizon, I was overwhelmed by the thrilling sight of this landscape. The region is a center of prawn farming, and the prawns raised here grace our dinner tables back home. I carried out interviews with local residents, trading companies, government agencies, and international NGOs, and investigated the ways in which the mechanisms of local resource use had been formed from the time of north-south reunification until today’s era of increasing globalization. My great pleasure during my stays was to talk and laugh with people living in the mangrove belt, where time passes slowly, over meals cooked with freshly caught prawns, crabs, and fish.
 Beyond a doubt, it was the opportunity to study at Okayama University that made my dream a reality. Okayama University provides an environment that enables students to rise to international challenges in the following three respects.
 The first is the enthusiastic supervision offered by the faculty. As an area studies researcher, my supervisor counseled me of the importance of inquiring into the nature of sustainable development on the ground. As I prepared to study in Vietnam, faculty members belonging to the Institute of Global Human Resource Development shared with me about their own overseas experiences, and helped me practice for scholarship interviews. It is thanks to their help that I have been able to engage in international research activities.
 The second is the highly international educational environment. My research group includes students from a range of different countries, and seminars are held in a hybrid form of English and Japanese. The Special Course on Environmental Rehabilitation in Asia in my graduate school also offers the experience of short-term overseas fieldwork. The educational environment thus fosters an international sensibility at first hand. Students can also make active use of information on scholarships for study abroad and international programs published by the International Affairs Department, and proactively attend classes to prepare for English-language tests.
 The third point is the presence of other students who have previously studied overseas or are intending to do so in future, as well as of colleagues within the research group. Being surrounded by inspiring colleagues means that every day is stimulating.
 So Okayama University is a place that responds to the passion of students who want to be active internationally, and supports them in rising to the challenge of living out their dreams.
 My goal for the future is first to finish my Ph.D. Then I want to do postdoctoral work overseas, and become a researcher capable of success on the global stage.

As of January 2022