Reflecting on 2014 and My Goals for 2015

・Reflecting on 2014

When I look back at 2014, from January to March, I was very busy both mentally and physically because I had to travel abroad to attend different kinds of international conferences. In the middle of March, I got great news of being admitted to several American graduate schools, and this news made me happy despite the busyness. I talked with many people and contemplated for several weeks, and finally I decided to go to the Harvard Kennedy School. From then until the day that I departed from Japan, I completed my remaining work and taught my co-worker how to do business, as well as dealt with private issues such as family things. In August, I came to Cambridge and made my dream of studying abroad come true. After that, I felt that my time was progressing slowly as if I had gone back to my childhood, but when I look back now, it also seems that it has passed in a flash. I am now grateful for being able to study what I want to learn every day and have a break from my job. I am also grateful for my family, who supports me, for the people who wrote recommendation letters for me, and for my friends who gave me advice and encouragement.

・Leaders are natural

Among the books I read during the year-end and new year holidays, the book, "Leaders are natural", written by Yoshihiro Kanai, who is a famous leadership professor, and Yayoi Masuda, who served as a human resource head in the Asia Pacific region of Nike, was inspirational. It might be difficult to imagine from the title of the book, but this book has a lot of tips to think about how Japanese people can take leadership not only in Japan, but also in the world. I definitely recommend this book to the people who are now studying abroad.

One phrase was impressive for me, as I now struggle every day in the U.S. That was the phrase of Ms. Masuda, "The Japanese should contribute to the world with pride of being Japanese. They should be confident and 100% yourself."

I started my new life at the Kennedy School last August, and talked to many people from different countries. Through this experience, I have come to think that I, as a Japanese person who grew up in Japan, am different in my ways of thinking and communicating with people from other countries, especially Western people. For example, I think the good characteristics of Western people are that they are friendly and make friends quickly, as well as that they are able to assert their opinions clearly in front of many people. By contrast, I believe that Japanese people can be confident about their characteristics of being punctual and keeping their commitments once they promise to do something, as well as their compassion and humility. In fact, I was often given praise for doing tasks properly within the deadline when I and other classmates were doing group work.

I have a goal of being able to assert myself representing Japan in international conferences. At first, I felt that I had to change myself, discarding my Japanese characteristics and being more strongly assertive like Indian friends or greatly friendly like Western people. But after reading this book, I feel that I don't have to go out of my way to change myself or to tailor my personality to the styles of other countries, and there will be a way to contribute to the world by being confident in who I am and where I'm from.


・My goals for 2015

In 2015, I would like to spend my life at the Kennedy School, keeping in mind the phrase "The Japanese should contribute to the world with pride of being Japanese. They should be confident and 100% yourself." More concretely, I would like to create value in the diverse, international environment through group work, extracurricular activities, and internship. Last year, when I was unaccustomed to life in the U.S., I spent a lot of time talking with familiar Japanese people. In fact, I made a lot of Japanese friends, and it was a great experience for me to be invited to their house parties and be inspired by their activities, which are totally different from mine. This year, however, I would like to spend less time hanging out with Japanese people and dive into more international communities. One thing I want to do this year is working at an international workplace during my 3-month summer vacation from June to August. In particular, I would like to do a summer internship at international organizations, such as the IAEA, the OECD, or the IEA.

Difficulties of Group Work

Reflecting on my days in Japan, I was not necessarily good at taking a leadership role and facilitating discussions in group work. In college studying urban engineering, and as a graduate school student studying technology management, I encountered many students who wanted to take a leadership role and lead discussions. When I found people who wanted to run the show, I always stepped back and took the role of stating supplementary opinions or taking notes of the discussions. I did not dare push people out of taking a leadership role. The most uncomfortable group work I experienced was the group work which was assigned as one of the evaluation processes in job hunting. I didn't like those group works because every student strove to lead the discussions unnaturally in order to pass the selection under the scrutiny of graders.

In group work in the Kennedy School, I have a tough time contributing to discussions due to my inclination to stepp back and also my English barriers. In Japan, I could contribute to the group discussions by actively taking the role of taking notes. However, in the U.S.,  due to my deficiency in English skills, I often hesitate even to take the role of taking notes. Although I feel my English is getting better, I sometimes still do not understand the group members' English, especially that of Indian classmates. If I gain more confidence in my English listening skills, I feel I will be able to better contribute to group projects in the Kennedy School. 

In addition, students in the Kennedy School are highly confident and assertive. I feel that they tend not to change their opinions easily because they are proud to be Harvard students and seem to think that they are excellent. In particular, I feel that mid-career students, who have at least seven years of work experience and whose average ages are in the late 30s, are especially self-assertive. They are already politicians, military men, or entrepreneurs in their own countries. They have had a lot of successful experiences and are highly confident. I feel that this presence of mid-career students is the distinguishing characteristic of the Kennedy School compared to other professional schools. My classmate, who is a dual-degree student at Wharton Business School at Pennsylvania University, also agrees that self-assertive mid-career students contribute to the aggressive classroom style of the Kennedy School, where every student strongly asserts his/her personal opinion. In Japan, students receive education passively. Sometimes the popcorn nature of the classrooms, where everyone wants to share his or her opinion, can seem self-indulgent. Sometimes, I just want to hear the professor’s perspective and research. Unlike in Japan where I could manage to deal with tasks without difficulties, I sometimes feel frustrated in the U.S. because I have a lot of things I can't do easily here in  the U.S. However, I also feel that I am developing myself day by day, imagining for myself a future where I actively lead groups in which many diverse, self-assertive students share opinions and collaborate.

The Recent Events and Thoughts

I would like to write down several thoughts as follows.

1 Insurance System in Japan and the U.S.
Today, I learned about the U.S. health insurance system in the U.S. Business-Government Relationship class. In the U.S., 15% of the population is still not covered by any health insurance. The reform of the insurance system has been one of the biggest issues in presidential elections, from Clinton and Bush to Obama. In class, I learned that Clinton tried to make every company provide health insurance to its employees, that Bush tried to add prescription drug coverage to the Medicare program, and that Obama is trying to provide insurance to the remaining 15% of the U.S. population. These reform attempts have not been implemented successfully due to strong opposition from various stakeholders. Stakeholders of the insurance system consist of a wide variety of institutions and people, namely big businesses, small businesses, pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, doctors, nurses, and labor unions. Japan has a universal health care system, which I have always take it for granted Thus, it is difficult for me to participate in discussions of U.S. health care reform because the underlying assumptions are totally different between the U.S. and Japan. I felt that I had to study more in order to understand and discuss the issue from the general public's point of view.

2 Connecting the Dots
While studying at the Kennedy School, there are many moments where I feel many things I learn in each class and seminar connect with each other. I feel these moments are very exciting. For example, after I learned about whether or not it is rational for governments to implement industry policies in the U.S. Business-Government Relationship class, I examined a case study on how the U.S. subsidy program on solar power generation had failed in the Energy Policy class. After I learned about how the power of governments has been weakened and decentralized while businesses and NGOs have begun to have more influence in the Leadership System class, I learned that businesses, such as Pfizer and IBM, and NGOs like Oxfam have been exercising influence on the WTO negotiation process in the Trade class. In addition, I am applying various concepts such as Best Alternative to Negotiated Agreement (BATNA), which I learned in the Negotiation class, to the WTO negotiation simulation in the Trade class.

Looking back on my own experiences, I have studied various topics. I studied urban engineering as an undergraduate, and learned urban policy and architectural design. I majored in technology management, which is called the MBA for scientists, and learned the basics of management and innovation. I also learned economics by myself. Now, I am studying government policies from the macro viewpoint and soft skills like negotiation and leadership. Next semester and thereafter, I plan to learn about new areas of policy, such as democracy, international relations, and geopolitics. I may only have shallow knowledge on broad subjects, but I think this is ultimately a positive thing. Even though it might be difficult to become a specialist in some specific area, my knowledge is valuable because I can appropriately and flexibly utilize this knowledge. Making public policy requires comprehensive understanding of many areas, including economics, politics, international relations, management, psychology, and so on. I would like to cultivate the power of connection and integration of knowledge at the Kennedy School.

3 How to Treat Other Members in a Team
Since I started at the Kennedy School, there have been many opportunities to work in a group in classes or in extracurricular activities. There have been several opportunities where I play a role of a leader, but there are many more opportunities to play a role of a follower because many students at the Kennedy School want to take the lead in a group. I sometimes question the behavior of a leader when I play a role of a follower. Recently, I felt that a leader lacked sensitivity or thoughtfulness when dealing with other group members. For example, when I obeyed the instruction of the leader, completed the work, and reported the result, there was no appreciation for that work from the leader. If he had just said "thank you", he might have made a totally different impression. In addition, in email communication where misunderstandings often happen, some leaders come off as surly and rude just because his/her instructions are too rough. Learning from these experiences, I would like to keep in mind how to treat other members thoughtfully when I have to play a leader role.

Campus Visit from Japan

The past two weeks, Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) held an open house for potential applicants. There were several Japanese people who visited the campus, of whom I met four. I was often asked about advantages of HKS compared to other schools. I only spent one month here, but I would like to write down what I think are the characteristics of HKS. While there are many things I enjoy about the school, there are also ways in which it has not met my expectations.

1 Much Value on Social Activities
I feel that HKS students put much emphasis on social interactions between themselves, professors, and other professionals. There are not many students here who study desperately and strive to get good grades at any cost, or who wish to go into academia. In my program, the MPA2, half of the eighty students are pursuing joint MPA/MBA degrees. They seem to focus much of their energy on social activities rather than academic work because these activities directly affect their career development. In order to get good jobs at companies and international organizations, unofficial processes seem to exist. Thus, networking is important.

You can gain opportunities to work with professors if you are proactive. I know a graduate of HKS who did research with a professor in macroeconomics, eventually publishing a research paper during his stay. While this sort of research is possible here, it is difficult to pursue because it is not the norm. If you want to focus solely on academic work, it would be good to consider other graduate schools such as Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University or Goldman School at UC Berkeley.

But you can learn many things from these social networking activities. I am trying to attend as many social events as possible, though my main focus is academic work. I feel that I need to be a more extroverted person than I was in Japan in order to utilize the opportunities and maximize learning at HKS.

2 Courses
One of the advantages of HKS is that it has a wide range of courses, from practical one to philosophical and ideological ones. For example, HKS has a course named Politics and Ethics of the Use of Force, which examines in what cases nations should intervene militarily. HKS also has a course named Economic Justice, which examines what kind of economic policies are regarded as fair and equal. These courses might not be used immediately in your work, but through them you can develop important philosophical thinking.

On the other hand, a class called the Business- Government Relationship in the United States, which I am taking now, is taught by Roger Poter, who served as an economic adviser to President Reagan. From this course, I can learn practical things such as what I should know when I give advice to the President as an economic adviser, and how to manage the relationships between business, labor, and lobbyists. Similarly, in a negotiation course, I can learn practical negotiation techniques and know-how by dealing with real-world cases and doing one-on-one exercises every week. I feel that this wide variety of courses, from practical to philosophical, is an asset of HKS.

Office Hours for the First Time in My Life

Universities in the United States have a system called "office hours." This is the system where students go to meet professors in arranged time slots to talk one-on-one. Last week, I went to office hours for the first time in my life because Japanese universities don't have this kind of system.

The first professor I went to talk to was Professor Barbara Kellerman. I visited her because I had been stuck on the short paper which she had assigned. She was warm and interested in my new life in Boston and Harvard Kennedy School. At the same time, she pointed out the lack of my logic and evidence in my draft report. Thanks to her advice, I could figure out where I needed to further focus in my writing. It was only 15 minutes, but it was a highly concentrated, meaningful time.

After that, I also made use of office hours with Professors Henry Lee and Robert Lawrence. With Professor Lee, I talked about Japan's LNG (Liquefied natural gas) strategy and nuclear power policy. With Professor Lawrence, I talked about Japan's recent trade deficit, the influence and opportunity of China's rise for the Japanese economy, and the way to increase competitiveness of manufacturing industries in Japan. I also sought advice from both of them regarding what courses I should take at HKS in order to pursue my interests. Both of them were empathetic and gave me useful advice. These office hours were really meaningful opportunities for me. At the same time, I felt that I needed to prepare and study the subjects more beforehand in order to have deeper discussions with those professors. Next time, I want to prepare more before going to talk with them.

Since we have to talk with professors one-on-one, and it is easy to disclose our lack of knowledge during office hours, we tend to hesitate to go. But I think the advantages I can gain by using office hours are greater than the disadvantages, because I can talk with professors directly about my own interesting matters. I'd like to continue to make the most of this valuable opportunity.

Amazing Orientation Week

After finishing intensive, amazing orientation week, I went kayaking on the Charles River with my MPA2 friends! The weather was nice, and the view of Cambridge from the river was beautiful. It was a lot of fun. Next week, classes at HKS will start. I'd like to study hard, which is my primary business, as well as deepen the bond with with my excellent classmates.

My HKS Journey Has Started

My Harvard Kennedy School journey has started! I was excited to meet all the talented, experienced students from all around the world. I am the only Japanese in my MPA2 class, so I'd like to give my own perspective to the class. We had "15 Seconds of Fame", that was a 15 second creative introduction and a rite of passage for incoming HKS students. Some students danced, read poems, and sang a tango. It was a wonderful day. I'd like to talk and build friendships with as many students as possible during the orientation week.