上智大学 国際教養学部 FLA AO入試　英語志望理由書 提出例 (井坂　直人 教授参考)

上智大学 国際教養学部 FLA AO入試　英語志望理由書 提出例 (井坂　直人 教授参考)

Dear Admission Office,

Please find below is my letter which I put together, in order to explain my interest and motivation in applying for the Faculty of Liberal Arts at Sophia University.

To common knowledge, Japanese management has received attention over the last few decades. In the 1980s, managers around the world eagerly studied Japanese companies, hoping to discover the secrets powering Japan’s postwar economic miracle. Unfortunately, after the burst of the asset bubble, Japanese management became a cautionary tale, and a number of Japanese companies in return tried to copy exactly what the Western companies did in terms of employee benefits, corporate loyalty, marketing etc. And the lesson was that “exact copy” doesn’t work due to differences in culture and corporate law. And I wonder, after Abenomics, have Japanese firms changed their management practices in response to the recession and increasing globalization?

Globalization brought positive changes to our lives, but at the same time, it is casting challenges in many aspects of life – labor, security, culture, environment and basically everything. From climate change, demographic crisis to technological disruption and economic inequality, the world faces myriad challenges that require multilateral solutions but there is no single formula that solves them all. All we know is, in the new world order in place, the rich benefit, the world becomes marginalised and people who couldn’t cope with the changes brought by the era of information and technology would be left behind. Therefore, it is extremely important to know the socioeconomic changes our society has undergone.

Fortunately or unfortunately, we are able to hide in our bubbles in a country economically established like Japan, hoping someone else would make it happen. Although I can choose to do the same, I choose to navigate through the waves so I get to be on the right side of the shift. Milestone – which starts with competitive entrance exams, education in English, exposure to diversity, study abroad and intensive research based seminar – all to become an opinionated individual with digital wisdom. That is my ultimate objective behind applying for a school like FLA, that promotes liberal arts. I feel that FLA is the pioneer in its adoption in Japan, and it has become my first choice after meeting alumnis at a recent open campus.

At the same time, I believe that academics can often be western-centric, and I wish to contribute to better recognition of Asian heritage experts and activists by participating and presenting in international student forums. For that reason, rather than joining a school in the West, I believe it is a better choice to do equivalent study in Japan where I can develop a sense of cultural objectivity, study my own heritage and participate in programs to represent Japan. I’m committed to taking classes about various cultures, paying attention to authors of each text book and cultural background behind research. I urge all fellow students to do the same, to start the process ourselves which is to open our eyes to art and cultures that we have yet to see.

To summarize, as the recent COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated, even though the world seems so small now, we still possess a strong sense of national identity and we cope with things very differently. There is a lot we can learn from each other, and we can only do that by investigating socioeconomic events including political, governance and cultural factors. I can’t express enough in words, but I am very thrilled to join the school and study among other like minded students. Thank you very much for reading.