Academic Year 2016 President’s Address—Commencement Ceremony

27.03.2017 Update

Congratulations to all of you who have come here today to receive your advanced degrees from Ochanomizu University. On behalf of the entire faculty and staff of Ochanomizu University, I offer my warmest congratulations to you, your families and those who have supported and encouraged you both physically and psychologically as you reached this academic milestone. To all of our other guests who have taken time out of their busy schedules to join us here today, you have my sincere thanks for coming out to celebrate with us at today’s commencement ceremony.

Today we will award degrees to 252 individuals. Of that number, 224 will receive a master’s degree, 23 will receive a doctoral degree, and five will receive a doctoral degree by dissertation only. Of this class, forty-two are international students who came to study and conduct research at Ochanomizu University from China, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, Sweden, Malaysia and Afghanistan. We are flying the flags of the countries of our international students in this auditorium alongside the Japanese national flag. It is a great pleasure for our faculty and staff to welcome students to Ochanomizu University’s graduate school from countries all around the world each year. We likewise enjoy being able to send out into the world students who have had the experience of pursuing their own unique courses of study and conducting their own research here at Ochanomizu. I am certain that living in another country with a different environment and customs was difficult for you international students. On this day of commencement, it fills my heart with joy to see each of you complete this incredible achievement.

Even at a time when it was difficult for women to conduct academic research, our graduates were playing active roles as researchers and educators both domestically and abroad. Kono Yasui, for example, was the first Japanese woman to receive a doctoral degree in science. She pursued her studies both in Japan and abroad despite facing many challenges, and she eventually contributed to the education of the next generation as a professor of this university. Chika Kuroda—Japan’s second female recipient of a doctorate in science—was the first female student at an Imperial university, which previously had not accepted women. After overcoming many obstacles, she pursued further research and later contributed to the development of young women as a professor here. During the incredibly difficult period following World War II, Toshiko Yuasa went to France and had an international career as an atomic physicist working under Irène and Frédéric Joliot-Curie. She also would later become a professor at our university and dedicate herself to researcher exchanges as an intermediary between Japan and France. Michiyo Tsujimura continued her research as an unpaid assistant at an Imperial university that would not accept women before becoming the first Japanese woman to receive a doctoral degree in agricultural science. Tetsu Yasui dedicated herself to education for women in Siam—now Thailand—after her extensive experience studying abroad, and became the second president of Tokyo Woman’s Christian University. Ikuko Koizumi championed the issue of women’s rights through social activism, such as her authorship