早稲田大学　国際教養学部　AO入試　志望理由書　提出例(リー マージ クリスティン 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(リー マージ クリスティン 教授参考)

Dear Admission Office, 

To begin with, I would like to thank for the opportunity and in this letter I will do my best to explain my interest in applying for School of International Liberal Studies at Waseda University, hoping to pursue a major in International Culture and Law Studies later in my academic years. I would be more than grateful if you could kindly give it a read and grant me an admission. During the in-person interview, I would also be delighted to expand more on my area of studies and what I wish to achieve with liberal studies curriculum including study abroad program.

Japan and South Korea relationship has seen a turn in 2019, but how many of us are really aware of the history and looking at media with a perspective? In October 1998, the then president of South Korea visited Japan to hear an apology. Kim Dae-jung had grown up under Japanese colonial rule, obliged to adopt a Japanese name, and serve a Japanese company, so he knew the bitterness of foreign domination. In a statement negotiated between the two sides, then Japanese prime minister Keizo Obuchi spoke of his country’s “deep remorse and heartfelt apology” for the harm caused during its brutal occupation from 1910 to 1945. Kim, one of South Korea’s first truly democratic presidents, accepted the apology and said “It is infantile to regard 1,500 years of exchanges and co-operation as insignificant because of unfortunate periods that totalled fewer than 50 years”. Kim later won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work of reconciliation with North Korea and other neighbours.

Under Shinzo Abe and Moon Jaein, there have been export controls implemented and exchange has seen a sharp decline. 50% of the population is said to support the president’s anti-Japan policies and seemingly excessive media reports. The question is how it came to this. The second world war ended 74 years ago and is passing from living memory. Japan and South Korea, now among the richest democracies in the world, are unrecognisably different to what they were then. Yet their relationship remains unusually fraught.

A small design company in South Korea, makes fashion accessories emblazoned with flowers to represent the “comfort women” who were forced into sexual servitude for Japanese soldiers during the second world war, donating a portion of its profits to advocate groups. The company’s sales jumped more than fivefold from 2015 to 2018 after a photo went viral of a Korean pop star, holding one of the company’s phone cases amid public uproar over the latest attempt to settle historical accounts: a 2015 deal, involving another apology and compensation, which both Tokyo and Seoul declared was a “final and irreversible resolution” of the issue. Now the products are regularly shown off by the biggest K-pop idols, including boy band BTS. “Customers thank us, saying they had wanted to do something for the grandmothers,” says the chief executive of the company. 

The deeper question is why a new generation of South Koreans are so determined to hold young Japanese responsible for things their great-grandparents did to each other. This is mostly because the treaty in 1965 didn’t have popular support and the younger generation which is in a much better position in global society, must be re-thinking the treaty as it was agreed when the 2 countries were not equal.

Many may be completely indifferent to this matter and facts are blurred by K-pop and K-beauty trends, but I feel the strong need to truly understand the history and get to the bottom of it. I plan to study international culture and war history studies to unlock different pockets of education that would help us find an area in which we can locate a job opportunity. And in order for me 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 take part in the study abroad program that would allow me to transfer to a school progressive in the field. Very excited to learn and study among like-minded students at Waseda where liberal studies is offered. Thank you very much for reading and I am very much looking forward to hearing good news.

Kind Regards,