An Unexpected Life as a Teacher | Tomoyuki Kojima (Dean of the Faculty of Policy Management)
2006.07.06
You never know what life has in store for you. One of my childhood dreams was to become a newspaper reporter. Influenced by TV dramas, I specifically wanted to be a crime reporter. I held onto this dream from my elementary school days and intended to take the entrance exams for newspaper companies until the spring of my fourth year at the Faculty of Law at Keio University. However, after taking and passing the graduate school entrance examination held within Keio in June, I gave up on the entrance exams for major newspaper companies, which were all held on July 1. This was the result of my casual thought to just study a little longer for the time being.
After completing my master's degree, I immediately went to study in the Doctoral Programs at the University of California, Berkeley. After returning to Japan, I stayed in Hong Kong as a special researcher at the Consulate-General of Japan. There, I was well-liked by the Hong Kong Bureau Officer of the Yomiuri Shimbun, who jokingly invited me, saying, "It would be a waste to keep you as a researcher. Why don't you become a reporter specializing in China for the foreign news department?" Immediately after my return to Japan, my superior at the Consulate-General in Hong Kong, who later became the ambassador to Austria, told me, "You are better suited to be a diplomat than a researcher," and recommended that I join the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This was probably because my own research on China, even back then, focused on contemporary Chinese politics and leaned more toward tracking and predicting ever-changing events rather than the academic study of poring over static documents. In that sense, perhaps I would have been fine as either a reporter or a diplomat.
More than anything, it was probably because I was not considered suited to be a teacher. Most of my high school friends, knowing I was completely devoted to judo, were surprised and found it unbelievable that I am now a university professor. Since I can hardly believe it myself, their reaction is only natural.
However, I became a university professor in 1975 and have already spent more than 30 years in the teaching profession. Even so, I still strongly feel that rather than educating people, I am being educated by the students I interact with. The principle of "learning while teaching, teaching while learning" is the very essence of my life as a teacher. My time at SFC will not be long, but I expect this spirit of "learning while teaching, teaching while learning" will continue.
(Published: 2006/07/06)