Exchange Student Program Soka University is presently engaged in academic exchange agreement with
96 universities throughout the world. In the Philippines, U.P . had entered
into such an agreement with Soka University in 1988, and De La Salle in
1996. Every year, two exchange students from each university are being
dispatched for the said program.
Aside from that, because this is the only English speaking country in Asia,
many Soka University students come here to study at their own expense.
Furthermore, short term language training program is also launched in Kalayaan
College where Dr. Abueva, a close friend of SGI President Ikeda, serves
as its principal.
File 048: April 2011
Yoshiaki Kaga (University of the Philippines)
Hello! I am Yoshiaki Kaga, was an exchange student from Soka University
to the University of the Philippines, Diliman, (UP) in 2010.
I am a sophomore majoring in Economics. Before coming here, I planned just
to study in the Philippines. However I have found a lot of other important
things during the precious time that I spent in the Philippines. I have
been here for seven months, and I am supposed to go back to Japan in four
months’ time. Though I still have more time to stay here, I am already
missing my life in the Philippines.
The Reason Why I Came to the Philippines
with my friends during a vacation trip
When As soon as I entered Soka University in Japan, in 2009, I joined one
of the academic clubs called the Soka Economic Theory Club where students
who seriously want to learn about Economics get together. There is a competition
held every two seasons among various universities in Japan in which the
students take an Economics examination individually and compute their total
scores as a team. Incidentally, Soka University has won the best prize
for the last seven times. Though I was not one of the members of those
winning teams, I am nevertheless really proud to be one of the members
of that club. In this club, I earnestly study Economics to become a top
Economics student in Japan someday.
I wholeheartedly wish that Soka University will be one of the best universities around the world. To make this wish come true, I believe, every Soka University student should be developed into an outstanding student, in terms of not only personality, but also in terms of academic achievement. This is because other universities evaluate our university, mostly based on that aspect. As such, I am deeply impressed by what my seniors in my club have done thus far, because it added a fine reputation to Soka University as “the best university in Japan, in terms of Economics education,” thereby opening the gateway of becoming “the best university around the world.” As a student majoring in Economics, I would also like to contribute to my university in the field of Economics as my seniors in my club have done. Thus, I am studying Economics hard and deepening my understanding and knowledge about it as best as I could.
I applied to the exchange student program of UP based on such wish as well. Since UP is the best university in the Philippines, I believe that I could prove that Soka University is one of the best universities in the world if I show high academic performance here.
My Life in the Philippines
with my classmates
Playing Basketball with my friends
When I was fortunate enough to be able to become an exchange student, and
came here on March 12, 2010. However, I faced the biggest obstacle in getting
superior academic scores – because of my poor English skill. Even in Japanese,
reading and understanding the theory of Economics takes a long time, so
there is no wonder how much more so this will become in English. Not only
in terms of reading, but it also took me such a long time to write papers,
even just short sentences.
The more challenging time for me, however, was during class discussions wherein I was really hesitant to say my opinion in the classroom. I felt I had nothing better to say than the other UP students who were speaking English fluently and intelligently.
One time, I got a very low score which I had never received in my whole academic life at our first exam. This was the case despite of the fact that I studied so hard for it. It was indeed an unforgettable personal experience.
Though it was a bitter experience to me, I pushed myself forward nonetheless. While striving to do my hardest, I realized that the most important thing was not the result in itself, but the process and efforts I made along the way. At that time, I remembered one of Dr. Ikeda’s guidance: “Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.” Since then, I challenged myself further and kept studying hard even if there seemed to be no hope. To my surprise, my efforts bore fruits: I finally got the third highest score on the second examination in the statistics class, which was regarded as the most difficult exam, and the third highest score in one of my Economics class at the end of the semester.
It was then that I became painfully aware for the first time of the feeling of those who keep on trying to achieve things but get nothing. In retrospect, I was kind of an arrogant person until then, and felt rather superior to others. But through this experience, I realized that everyone is striving to do their best and thus nobody has the right to look down upon or feel superior to others. We cannot say for certain whether a person can achieve his goal or not by merely assessing a part of his whole efforts. For in the long run, the efforts one make will never be wasted. Thanks to my bitter yet humbling experience, I was able to gain a very important insight; through which I have learned how to respect others.
Aside from my study, what changed my way of thinking was the change in my environment. As I have mentioned above, I was kind of an arrogant person before, which made people hesitate to become close friends with me. Now, I am happy to say that I have a lot of friends from various countries, and I am still learning a lot of important lessons such as differences in ways of thinking and ways in “lubricating” international communication.
My Determination
I have learned a lot of important lessons in life within such a short time
of my stay here in the Philippines. I believe that I could experience those
significant lessons precisely because of my parents, friends, SGI members,
and Dr. Ikeda.
To express my gratitude for those who have helped me come to the Philippines
and experience such significant lessons, I would like to pledge to accomplish
the following goals in the future: (1) to get high academic score in UP
in order to prove Soka University is one of the best universities around
the world; (2) to be a person capable of making bridges of peace across
the world as a global citizen in order to solve conflicts and frictions
among countries; and (3) to actively contribute in making the world a better
place. During my stay, I was able to witness the fact that there are a
lot of wretched situations in which people are suffering from starvation
and poverty in the Philippines. I want to become a person who can contribute
in ridding such tragedy and misery away from the world in the future.
