Spring Commencement 2019 – GIGA KEIO UNIVERSITY SFC

On Monday, March 25, the 2019 Keio Undergraduate Commencement Ceremony was held at the Exhibition Halls of Pacifico Yokohama, with 6,324 students graduating from the ten undergraduate faculties.

The diploma conferment began with Mr. Ryutaro Matsuda, a representative of the SFC Mita-kai (Alumni Association), making the congratulatory address. Mr. Matsuda graduated in 2003 and worked at NHK (Japan’s national public broadcasting organization) until coming to own his own business. He has long held a deep gratitude toward his ties to Keio University and SFC, and expressed his appreciation for the Mita-kai community’s support and his hope that the graduates would someday feel the same. He kindly asked the graduates to one day help and give advice to SFC students, Mita-kai members, and Keio alumni.

Next, the dean of the Faculty of Policy Management, Prof. Kawazoe, and the dean of the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Prof. Hamada, gave speeches in a more formal tone. Referencing a quote from Nietzsche, “One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star,” Prof. Kawazoe urged students to hold on to their own “chaos” as they move forward. Prof. Hamada followed, “After participating in the SFC Final Presentation 2019, I was pleased to see that you have realized SFC’s founding value, that is, speaking with people around you with completely different interests to gain new interests and ideas. I hope that you make use of your network at SFC in your future endeavors.” She then spoke about mental health as a medical doctor and specialist in psychology, emphasizing the importance of having a large “transitional space,” where one’s sense of fantasy and reality intertwine.

Throwing in jokes as he spoke, Prof. Jun Murai, dean of the Graduate School of Media and Governance, described how SFC began and asserted passionately that it had come to be the ideal vision of Keio. He told the graduates that we must cooperate with our network of diverse friends to tackle the complex new problems in our society, and exclaimed to the graduates, “To us who created SFC, you are our pride.”

Lastly, three GIGA students were announced and received applause for achieving the GIGA certificate requirements.

Graduates with families and friends standing under the cherry blossoms in full bloom with the Port of Yokohama in the background. Their smiling faces brimmed with hope toward the journey they are about to embark on.