2025 Spring Commencement Ceremony
Today, when the mimosa flower, which symbolizes gratitude and friendship, announces the arrival of spring, 1,645 students, including 1,198 undergraduate students and 447 graduate students, are embarking from the University of Hyogo.
On behalf of the university, I offer my heartfelt congratulations and respect to all of you who have graduated or completed your courses despite facing various challenges and hardships amid the lingering restrictions caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
You were not alone during your university years, as you worked hard to seek the truth and to create hope for the future. Please share your joy at graduating and moving on to the next stage of your life, your feelings of relief and gratitude, with your family and those around you who have been waiting with anticipation of your growth.
Today, many distinguished guests, including Mr. Motohiko Saito, the governor of Hyogo Prefecture, and Mr. Isao Tanii, the vice-chairperson of the Hyogo Prefectural Assembly, have taken time out of their busy schedules to attend the degree conferral ceremony.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our distinguished guests and the local community for supporting our students.
Let me take this opportunity to mention some of the trends in modern society. You are living in an age where it is difficult to predict the future, with the rapid development of information science and technology typified by AI (artificial intelligence), the intensifying conflicts in the context of globalization, and a global biodiversity crisis.
DX (Digital Transformation) has profoundly transformed the social environment in which we live. AI is advancing into all areas, challenging human superiority. In the 17th century, the English poet John Milton wrote in his epic poem "Paradise Lost" that "good and evil grow together in this world." While DX has expanded new possibilities of citizen-participatory democracy, it has also given rise to deepfakes, which are difficult to distinguish from the real thing, and hate speech filled with hatred for others different from oneself, exacerbating disparities and divisions.
The future that awaits us must not be a world where our fate is decided by the AI "Skynet" from the movie "The Terminator" or the AI "MAGI" from the sci-fi anime "Neon Genesis Evangelion". To that end, please continue to train your ability to think and judge for yourself, the critical thinking, and your ability to present counter-proposals based on multifaceted thinking, the creative thinking.
Please do not be swayed by easy words that are difficult to verify and lack objectivity. Do not spare any effort to move beyond the relativism of values and get closer to the truth. Thoughtless and self-righteous words can hurt people's hearts. Please bear in mind that you are responsible for your words and words come with responsibility.
Not to mention the names of places like Ukraine, Gaza and Darfur, the recurring wars and acts of terrorism around the world due to belligerent authoritarian regimes are creating vast numbers of victims and refugees, undermining the human spirit and accelerating poverty.
Climate change and tectonic shifts also pose a major threat to our way of life and biodiversity. Efforts are underway to achieve GX (Green Transformation) based on carbon neutrality. However, we are still far from reaching the 1.5°C target for limiting temperature rises, and the Earth is beginning to boil.
These crises and global risks, which are putting the achievement of the SDGs, the shared goals of the international community, in the red, are caused by humans. We, the citizens of the Earth, must come together in wisdom and act while trusting and supporting each other, aiming for a free and fair society where people can live without fear.
At the San Francisco Peace Conference in 1951, which had a significant impact on the fate of post-war Japan, former Sri Lankan President J.R. Jayawardena, quoting the teachings of Buddha, said, "Hatred ceases not by hatred, but by love." If evil is destroyed by evil, evil will continue to run rampant.
The freedom, peace and prosperity we enjoy are not given to us. In his diary on New Year's Day in 1925, the leading modern Chinese writer Lu Xun wrote, "Even if hope is a delusion, despair is also a delusion. Never give up, never stop loving, and never sound the final bell.
Now, the University of Hyogo has established itself as a leading public university thanks to the support of many predecessors and related parties and vitality of our lively students. Last year, we celebrated our 20th anniversary. We will continue to accelerate our sharpened reforms to become a space of academic knowledge trusted by the local community and recognized worldwide and a university that you can be proud of.
The bond between you and the university does not end when you graduate or complete your course of study. The university is a place you can return to, and we will continue to support you as you continue to learn throughout your life in this era of 100-year lifespans, providing opportunities for you to relearn and reskill.
It is said that the friends you make at university will become lifelong friends. Cherish the friends you made as students, and continue to progress together as you work hard and support each other. When you are in pain and distress, have the courage to ask for help.
There are dates and times that we will never forget: 4:10 p.m. on New Year's Day last year, 2:46 p.m. on March 11, 2011, and 5:46 a.m. on January 17, 1995. This year marks 30 years since the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, and we have learned the importance of preparing for disasters and the unexpected. We have been encouraged by the many warm hands that have reached out to us from Japan and overseas, and we have worked towards creative reconstruction (Build back better). Disasters do not choose their victims. We must not leave the people of the disaster areas behind. Even those of you who did not experience the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake must remember that you have a role to play in protecting the lives and hearts of those who will live in the future.
As young people responsible for the future of our richly diverse planet, within a global civil society encompassing local communities, please believe in your abilities, stand by others, share their pain, and work to create a society that "leaves no one behind".
I believe that every one of you will weave a beautiful life story that shines with brilliance, and I am grateful to have been able to share this rich time with you here in Hyogo.
I'm sure you'll do great.
25 March, 2025
President, University of Hyogo
Makoto KOSAKA