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2021 SHIBA Ryotaro Memorial Academic Lecture and New Minoh Campus Opening Symposium held online
*A video of this lecture and symposium can be viewed on the official YouTube channel of Osaka University until Tuesday, December 7. For details, see the bottom of this page.
On Sunday, November 14, the SHIBA Ryotaro Memorial Academic Lecture and the New Minoh Campus Opening Symposium were held online.
The SHIBA Ryotaro Memorial Lecture is held every year and retraces the accomplishments of SHIBA Ryotaro, an author and graduate of the Osaka University of Foreign Studies (now Osaka University). The topic for this 24th year's lecture was "The Path Connecting Japan to the World."
Following a greeting from MC OGAWA Mayu (Announcer), President NISHIO Shojiro delivered a message via video on behalf of the organizers of this event.
President NISHIO Shojiro greets participants
After that, a Bibliobattle was held, in which OU students competed against each other in reviewing SHIBA Ryotaro's novels related to this year's theme of "The Path Connecting Japan to the World," as well as selections from his serial titled "Kaido wo yuku."
The following 5 students who made it through the preliminary rounds of this Bibliobattle introduced their selected works and held a Q&A session:
- FUJITANI Yasuaki (2nd year, master's program, Graduate School of Science)
- MASUDA Hiro (1st year, master's program, Graduate School of Language and Culture)
- IMASAKA Tomohiko (1st year, master's program, Graduate School of Letters)
- UEGAKI Kohtaro (2nd year, School of Letters)
- HARA Ayano (2nd year, School of Foreign Studies)
The Bibliobattle live streamed
An online public voting was held to choose which book piqued their interest the most. Commemorative plaques and supplementary prizes were awarded to the champion UEGAKI Kohtaro (2nd year, School of Letters), who introduced "Nara Sampo (A Walk Through Nara)" of the Kaido wo yuku series, and the runner-up MASUDA Hiro (1st year, master's program, Graduate School of Language and Culture), who introduced “Perusha no Genjutsushi (Magician of Persia)."
Ms. Ogawa and the 5 Bibliobattle finalists | From left: Ms. Ogawa, Mr. Fujitani, Mr. Masuda, Mr. Uegaki, Mr. Imasaka, and Ms. Hara
Champion UEGAKI Kohtaro
Runner-up MASUDA Hiro
Following the Bibliobattle, TAWADA Yoko gave a lecture entitled "Boundaries, Gaps, and Leaps between Words." The lecture was given in a form of interview with announcer OGAWA Mayu, featuring passages from Ms. Tawada’s “Yuki no renshūsei (Memoirs of a Polar Bear),” “Exophony,” and “Kentōshi (The Emissary)” with reading of these passages by Ms. Ogawa in an interval between conversations.
Ms. Tawada gives a lecture
After the lecture, the New Minoh Campus Opening Symposium was held to celebrate the opening of the new campus in April 2021.
At the beginning of the symposium, Dean TAKEMURA Keiko (School of Foreign Studies, Osaka University) expressed her determination, saying that the Minoh Campus would continue to carry out its mission as an education hub to nurture global citizens through pursuing foreign languages and cultures for the next 100 years.
Dean Takemura introduces the new Minoh Campus and the School of Foreign Studies
Next, a panel discussion was held on the topic of “Literature Crossing Linguistic Borders."
Novelist TAWADA Yoko (from Germany) and California-born novelist Hideo Levy (from Tokyo) participated in the online panel discussion remotely, and Iran-born model/actress Sahel Rosa joined the venue in Minoh.
Facilitated by Dean Takemura, the panel discussed the appeal of Japanese experienced by multilingual individuals, the significance of putting words into writing, and literature in a multilingual, multicultural era.
At the end of the discussion, the participants offered encouragement to the School of Foreign Studies and foreign language education.
Ms. Tawada: "People verbalize using words, be it in Japanese or any other language, so I’d like you to be exposed to multiple languages without building a language wall."
Mr. Levi: "I’d like you to think deeply about your personal motivation for learning the language you choose."
Ms. Rosa: "You can expand your world by learning a new language, so I’d like you to sample all kinds of languages."
A scene from the panel discussion | Clockwise from top left: Ms. Tawada, Mr. Levi, Ms. Rosa, and Dean Takemura
Executive Vice President MITSUNARI Kenji gave a closing greeting, affirming that Osaka University will further vitalize its community-university collaboration efforts at the new Minoh Campus.
A video of this lecture and symposium can be viewed on the official YouTube channel of Osaka University until Tuesday, December 7.
