The 135th Commencement

On Friday, March 24, the 135th commencement ceremony was held at the Nippon Budokan arena in Kitanomaru Koen park, Chiyoda Ward. The ceremony was divided into two sessions—a morning and an afternoon session—and in Kitanomaru Koen park where cherry blossoms were beginning to bloom assembled more than 10,000 participants to celebrate the graduates taking the next step in their lives.

 In her commencement speech, president Tanaka left the graduates with the words, “Practical Wisdom for Freedom”—the central theme of the Hosei University Charter. In addition, Ms. Mayo Shono—a singer-songwriter and a 2004 graduate of Hosei’s Faculty of Sustainability Studies—attended the ceremony as a guest and, in her congratulatory speech, encouraged the graduates, saying, “Do not be afraid to start from scratch,” “Remember that if you ever think, ‘Maybe I can’t,’ you are also thinking, ‘Maybe I can,’ ” and “Never compare yourself to others.”

After the ceremony, the graduates received their diplomas at the Ichigaya Campus or Koganei Campus, along with good teachers and good friends sharing their hopes for the start of their new lives.

This academic year, the number of graduates of the University’s faculties or graduate schools and those completing its School of Correspondence Education totaled about 6,800. This number of graduates and completers included 165 international exchange students, all of whom have embarked on their new path of life. A number of them will be beginning employment or proceeding to higher education in Japan; some will be applying their valuable experience of studying abroad in Japan to their next step in their own countries. Hosei University wishes its graduates and completers the best in the next chapter of their lives.