September 27, 2024
2024 Autumn Graduation Ceremony, President Address
We wish all the graduates the best of luck in their future endeavors.
Congratulations to all of you who are receiving your degrees and graduating from SOKENDAI today. I express my sincere admiration for the efforts that each of you has made to reach this point, as well as my deep appreciation to the faculty who have guided you along the way, not to mention your families for all of the support they too have given you.
I have no doubt that the journey to this point has been challenging for you. Research does not always proceed smoothly, and I am sure that the COVID-19 pandemic even further hampered your research activities. So, I once again express my great respect for the efforts that all of you made to overcome such circumstances and earn your degrees today.
In the doctoral course at SOKENDAI, you have attained specialized knowledge and skills to address and overcome difficult research challenges. Today, you set out from SOKENDAI to pursue your own paths, and I am confident that, no matter where you have your careers, your studies at SOKENDAI will empower you to push forward and shape the future.
There is an expression that I, as president of SOKENDAI, would very much like to introduce to all of you graduating today. The expression is…
You have all devoted yourselves to research on the frontlines of your academic field in pursuit of a doctoral degree. So, I am sure you are keenly aware that imitating the work of others leads to nowhere and that your originality will be called into question if you chose a path that anyone could have walked. Naturally, the expression “dare to be different” is also a call to take on challenges that others would never think of or even consider possible. The expression is also encouragement to sharply question the validity of ideas or concepts that are taken for granted, and to reassess them with a critical eye.
Beyond that, I have even further aspirations for you. I hope that you will put the expression “dare to be different” into practice by breaking out of your own shell, thinking about different things, and taking on different challenges. I encourage you to go down paths that diverge from those you have always been on in order to reinvent yourself.
The road ahead of you will by no means be linear with no branches. When you come to a fork in the road, choosing a direction that significantly diverges from your past may let you gain new experiences and perspectives that you had never even imagined before. I would like for you to embrace this spirit of adventure, have the courage to be different, and carve out your own future.
With this in mind, I hope you will fly away from SOKENDAI in high spirits.
My sincerest congratulations to you today. We look forward to your future endeavors.
September,27 2024
Takashi Nagata, President
The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI