Personal Statement PDF

(1) Study and career plans I was born and raised in Italy and, having a Japanese mother and an Italian father, I grew up with a strong interest in both countries and in their corresponding cultures. I could therefore slowly spot some social discrepancies in one, which the other could fulfill, and vi...

(1) Study and career plans I was born and raised in Italy and, having a Japanese mother and an Italian father, I grew up with a strong interest in both countries and in their corresponding cultures. I could therefore slowly spot some social discrepancies in one, which the other could fulfill, and vice versa. I then chose to study linguistic mediation once admitted at the university and, since I thought knowing only my two background cultures would not be enough, I began to study German. This allowed me to spend half a year in Germany as an exchange student, an experience thanks to which I noticed different solutions to environmental problems taken respectively by Germany, Italy and Japan. That is when I developed my main goal: to connect countries, so that they can mutually compensate for each other’s discrepancies and improve themselves from every point of view. By helping the countries to diplomatically communicate with each other, I nevertheless find crucial that the specific cultures and traditions, as well as the individual characteristics of their citizens, are respected. (2) Reason for transferring to ICU That’s the main reason why I chose to transfer to ICU. Although I have great academic teachers, I began finding my Italian university not world-connected enough, starting from the fact that it is attended by only a small number of international students. I spent half of my second academic year studying in Germany and the other half studying in Japan, at the Kyoto University of Foreign Studies; even though I focused on my studies, I’ve been unwittingly involved in an international community and environment in which I found myself more comfortable than in any other past environment. I then looked for a university whose objectives matched mine, hoping that the metropolis of Tokyo would offer one. ICU’s core, characterized by different languages, cultures, students from all over the world, promoting lasting peace and diplomatic dialogue, based on bilingualism, embodies my ideals. (3) How you will be able to integrate both Japanese and English in your studies As plurilingualism constitutes the basis of international relations and diplomacy, I’m planning not to use my native language at all, while only using Japanese and English in everyday life, on and off campus. Since the immersion in an international environment is still not enough to develop appropriate language skills, my aim is to gradually expand both my English and Japanese vocabularies by reading books of increasingly specific scope, so that I will also be able to express complex ideas fluently, and to stay true to myself even when communicating in other languages besides my native one. Being humble is one of my priorities; as there is no limit to knowledge, I’ll keep studying and researching with curiosity, in order to reach a language level which will help me serve international communities and improve them by building bridges between them. (4) Contributions you can make to realize ICU's ideals As the school song mentions, I wish to study and work prioritizing the service of mankind; that means my intentions are to keep studying and working with humility, asking myself regularly what knowledge I still have to interiorise, and listening to the recommendations and ideas of others. Since high school I’ve been fascinated by Socrates’ quote “I know that I know nothing”: individual knowledge is finite and, even though I will try to enrich mine as far as possible, I wish to collaborate and compare myself lifelong with other people, because I believe that debates, discussions and different perspectives allow the achievement of the best results. I strongly believe that building peace and bridges between countries while respecting their own costumes, traditions, languages, religions, is the result of humility, curiosity and cooperation between different ideas.