早稲田大学　国際教養学部　AO入試　志望理由書　提出例(麻生享志　教授参考)

早稲田大学　国際教養学部　AO入試　志望理由書　提出例(麻生享志　教授参考)

Dear Admission Office, 

I am writing this letter with an intention to explain my purpose in applying for School of International Liberal Studies at Waseda University, hoping to pursue a major in transpacific and comparative cultural studies later. I would be more than grateful if you could kindly give it a read and grant me an opportunity to the next in-person interview.

In the wake of terrorist attacks and nationalism in the last decades, a number of scholars and critics started reconfiguring the discourse of globalism by introducing such ideas as Hemispheric Imagination, Transpacific Imagination and Deterritorialization. These concepts are to present evolving perspectives on traditional concepts of transnational and transregional cultural expression, and it gave me an idea that the world is changing, therefore we have to rethink boundaries and view cultural exchanges across continents  differently than before. 

Going back in time, being inspired by the Black Power Movement and the protests against the Vietnam War, many alliances and political groups were founded as a way to unite Japanese, Chinese and Filipino American students on and off campuses in the US. There, the field of Asian American studies emerged out of the civil rights movements of the 1960s, but it is currently being reconfigured by the shifting terrains shaped by transpacific connections.

Now we refer to ourselves as “Asian”, however this pan-Asian identity wasn’t necessarily an obvious one. In fact people of Asian ancestry identified with their ethnic group such as Korean Americans or Phillipino Americans and didn’t see much commonalities with each other. Over the last 50 years, as represented by the movements in the 1960s, people of Asian ancestry had to work together to fight, and the term has evolved as the community has grown in size and diversity.

I myself, as a fourth generation, we feel comfortable with the term “Asian American” and quite involved in the mainstream American society by now. However,  I am aware of the history and I hear stories of Japanese immigrants that suffered during anti-Asian exclusion that was persistent in the past. Back then, young second generation often moved back to Japan to receive education to stay culturally relevant and seize better career opportunities that were difficult to attain in America. Half a century later, where are we later generation Nikkeis better off? How are we supposed to think about notions of community and culture, engage and negotiate multiple social identities we have been brought up with? We associate ourselves as “Asian” but we are also Japanese specifically very different from the rest of Asia, then we have to claim we are American not Japanese depending on which identity works more convenient based on circumstances. Rethinking boundaries is much more complex than it seems. Thanks to the recent globalization and voices from successful descendants, there has been many published work by later generation Asian Americans that shed light on the reality and how we can embrace our heritage to play to our advantage.

In order to attain high-level education and equip myself with what is needed to survive the next decades of globalization and competition, it is extremely important for me to study various international studies among like-minded students at Waseda where liberal studies is offered. I am very much looking forward to hearing good news.

Sincerely Yours,