HISF 20th Anniversary International Symposium Objective
The Honjo International Scholarship Foundation (HISF) was established on December 25th, 1996. To mark the 20th anniversary since the establishment of the Foundation, we are very happy to announce that the HISF 20th Anniversary International Symposium – “The Future of a Peaceful International Society” will be held in Tokyo on Saturday August 19th and Sunday August 20th, 2017.
In the last 20 years, scholarships have been awarded to over 600 scholars from more than 70 countries around the world. This international symposium to recognize our historical 20th Anniversary will gather the Foundation’s alumni that are scattered around the world in one location, where they will be exchanging social and culture information, as well as making scholastic presentations related to the theme of the symposium.
The main purpose of the symposium is to recall the social role played by the HISF during the last 20 years in a global society that has severely changed, through research and activity presentations by those HISF alumni who have researched and experienced different lifestyles in both Japan as well as overseas. When it was established, the original purpose of the Honjo International Scholarship Foundation Organization was to help students learn advanced technologies and improve their own good intentions that would serve as a bridge connecting Japan and the rest of the world in culture and mutual friendships. At the symposium, we will take a look back on the past 20 years, focusing on how each member of our alumni was engaged in their respective studies. We will consider the dreams of the future they possessed at the time, and look at the types of social environment and activities they have been surrounded by and achieved since graduation in order to contribute to a better society. We will also evaluate the current social environment, and take a glimpse into the future and look at where we will be in 20 years from now. We hope to discuss and debate the types of society that our alumni find ideal, and how the research work they are currently involved in will be developed, applied, and manifested in the real world in the next 20 years.
The alumni that have passed through the Honjo International Scholarship Foundation within the last 20 years are diverse from the viewpoint of research faculty, nationality, and age, etc. The members of our alumni have truly become an extended transnational family. The members of the HISF family are continuously involved in research work in a global environment, and have been nurtured to cooperate with each other, accept diversity with a generous heart, help and care for each other. We hope that the HISF 20th Anniversary Symposium will be a meaningful arena for our alumni to present an insight into their own research field, as well as be exposed to material from other fields, to receive feedback from interdisciplinary professionals, and to create new ideas by incorporating each other’s opinions. In this milestone－20th Anniversary, we hope that all Honjo Family members can stop for a moment to examine the past, present and future, then to draw a picture of their own self, their own research field, their vision of society itself, and to think about an achievable method of building a peaceful international society, and then share this image with each other.
The belief of Honjo International Scholarship Foundation founders, Mr. Honjo Masanori and Mr. Honjo Hachiro, can be summed up by the phrase, "Hoping that the scholars will like Japan forever”, and this concept has been continuously handed down by the chairman of the HISF for 20 years. “Did the scholars like Japan?” “Did they clearly describe the beauty of Japan to their friends and family in their mother countries?” “Did they make more fans of Japan around the world?” The HISF wants to contribute to promoting the concept of “Study in Japan” and “Study Abroad”, by debating in consideration of the present situation, education circumstance and current issues, as well as describe the ideal situation of education, among the alumni who have become leaders, working in different arenas, with presenting detailed examples that confirm the belief that “Foreign alumni think it was great to study in Japan”, and “Japanese alumni think it was great to study abroad”.
In the last 20 years, scholarships have been awarded to over 600 scholars from more than 70 countries around the world. This international symposium to recognize our historical 20th Anniversary will gather the Foundation’s alumni that are scattered around the world in one location, where they will be exchanging social and culture information, as well as making scholastic presentations related to the theme of the symposium.
The main purpose of the symposium is to recall the social role played by the HISF during the last 20 years in a global society that has severely changed, through research and activity presentations by those HISF alumni who have researched and experienced different lifestyles in both Japan as well as overseas. When it was established, the original purpose of the Honjo International Scholarship Foundation Organization was to help students learn advanced technologies and improve their own good intentions that would serve as a bridge connecting Japan and the rest of the world in culture and mutual friendships. At the symposium, we will take a look back on the past 20 years, focusing on how each member of our alumni was engaged in their respective studies. We will consider the dreams of the future they possessed at the time, and look at the types of social environment and activities they have been surrounded by and achieved since graduation in order to contribute to a better society. We will also evaluate the current social environment, and take a glimpse into the future and look at where we will be in 20 years from now. We hope to discuss and debate the types of society that our alumni find ideal, and how the research work they are currently involved in will be developed, applied, and manifested in the real world in the next 20 years.
The alumni that have passed through the Honjo International Scholarship Foundation within the last 20 years are diverse from the viewpoint of research faculty, nationality, and age, etc. The members of our alumni have truly become an extended transnational family. The members of the HISF family are continuously involved in research work in a global environment, and have been nurtured to cooperate with each other, accept diversity with a generous heart, help and care for each other. We hope that the HISF 20th Anniversary Symposium will be a meaningful arena for our alumni to present an insight into their own research field, as well as be exposed to material from other fields, to receive feedback from interdisciplinary professionals, and to create new ideas by incorporating each other’s opinions. In this milestone－20th Anniversary, we hope that all Honjo Family members can stop for a moment to examine the past, present and future, then to draw a picture of their own self, their own research field, their vision of society itself, and to think about an achievable method of building a peaceful international society, and then share this image with each other.
The belief of Honjo International Scholarship Foundation founders, Mr. Honjo Masanori and Mr. Honjo Hachiro, can be summed up by the phrase, "Hoping that the scholars will like Japan forever”, and this concept has been continuously handed down by the chairman of the HISF for 20 years. “Did the scholars like Japan?” “Did they clearly describe the beauty of Japan to their friends and family in their mother countries?” “Did they make more fans of Japan around the world?” The HISF wants to contribute to promoting the concept of “Study in Japan” and “Study Abroad”, by debating in consideration of the present situation, education circumstance and current issues, as well as describe the ideal situation of education, among the alumni who have become leaders, working in different arenas, with presenting detailed examples that confirm the belief that “Foreign alumni think it was great to study in Japan”, and “Japanese alumni think it was great to study abroad”.
