Yes, "Japan will change" all right

After being here in the UK for more than four months, I must confess I do not feel like I am in the different country. This should be partly due to the existence of internet and other methods of communication; not only that, but the fact that working with the university in the UK is not something million miles away from working with Japanese universities should be another reason. Especially, in my case, the field of research is the same as what I have been familiar with when I worked with the University of Tokyo; furthermore, one of the supervisors is the Visiting Professor who visited Tokyo and spent a couple of months with me... Therefore this feeling must be quite natural.

And what I was most excited and surprised was the variety of Japanese students and staffs around the University. Quite strangely, the variety itself surprised me. I have not met a group of Japanese with as much "diversity" as the Japanese here.

Especially, the eagerness of students who are willing to take on their courses, despite the extraordinarily expensive cost and time required to complete and get the degree, is really something that makes me think. Surprisingly, they are not necessarily from especially rich families (although some really are); they are more or less among the "common" Japanese.

In my short stay with the University as a staff member, I have encountered no student who laid as much as what they have done here to get the degree. This eagerness proves that they are, at least the candidate of, the persons with talent that make Japan better.

Although it is a pity these people are abroad, this variety of people made me quite optimistic about the future of "Japan" ... Yes, it will change: it is inevitable in the age in which the earth is becoming a "global village"; However, whatever the change is, the new Japan will be there, and with even greater hope.

And, yes, it was this very hope that came under attack on 11 September...