午夜剧场

When I was past 30, I wanted to study again. I asked myself what I truly loved and decided to focus on Spanish literature, particularly post-Franco novels (after the end of the Franco regime in 1975). This was largely because I had spent several years of my elementary school days living in Spain. It was a time when the Franco dictatorship had ended and the country was beginning its journey toward democratization. The transition to a democratic state was a major event for the Spanish people, as it meant gaining freedom. At the same time, however, Spanish society began to face the same kinds of social problems that plague modern Western societies. I witnessed firsthand how the collapse of a single political system brought about truly significant changes in society. Subsequently, democratization in Spain led to major shifts in social values and historical perspectives, and the country achieved economic development and prosperity. And Spain, once a supplier of labor, has now become a country that accepts labor from Latin America, Eastern Europe, and other regions after joining the EU. Post-Franco novels have continued to depict these changes in Spanish society from the micro-perspective of people's daily lives. Why did the authors choose these themes? What did they want to convey? By clarifying these questions, I believe I can understand and learn what happened in Spanish society, what the grand experiment of the EU has brought about, and ultimately, where the world is heading. My specialty is to decipher these social transformations after the Franco regime through novels and films.

I have also lived in the United States, both as a student and due to a family member's work. From that experience, I realized that the Hispanic presence in the US is growing year by year. Hispanic people are now forming a major force not only in the American West and South but also in the large cities of the Midwest and East, often as a source of manual labor replacing African Americans. In fact, even in Japanese companies operating in the US, it is common for Spanish speakers and their descendants to be subordinates or clients of Japanese managers. There have been many occasions when meeting such people that my ability to speak Spanish helped create a sense of familiarity. This is a clear example of how communication through Spanish can be a great help.

Students from the Faculty of Economics will likely have many opportunities to work globally after graduation. I believe that their experience learning Spanish and about the Spanish-speaking world will definitely be useful, especially in business settings involving the US or American companies. Therefore, in the Spanish classes I teach, I try to encourage students to look not only at the Spanish language but also at the culture behind it by introducing them to countries in Latin America as well as Spain, and by showing them videos. The trigger can be anything, whether it's soccer or food culture. First, I want them to become interested in Spanish-speaking countries and cultures, and then to deepen their understanding by connecting it to their own specialized fields of interest. With this in mind, I hope to be of service to the future of as many students as possible.

I don't want students to think of academics simply in terms of separate subjects. They tend to think that they study liberal arts at Hiyoshi and specialized subjects at Mita, and that the learning for each subject is self-contained. However, I want them to learn by flexibly linking their specialized field with other academic disciplines. For example, students in the Faculty of Economics can use their major, economics, as a pillar and think about it in conjunction with disciplines such as politics, philosophy, art, and environmental studies. You may find that fields that seem unrelated at first glance actually have surprising connections. I believe that by repeating this process, students can cultivate their own unique perspectives and the ability to grasp things comprehensively. It should also make learning more enjoyable.

At the same time, I would like them to set goals in their daily lives, no matter how small. It's about continuing the process of asking what needs to be done to achieve a goal and finding the answer. Instead of just drifting through student life, I think it's important to always keep the 5W1H (Who, What, When, Where, Why, How) in the back of your mind. By accumulating questions in pursuit of your goals, you may also find the answer to the question of who you are.

From my own experience as a student, 午夜剧场 brings together students from various backgrounds. There are students from its unique affiliated schools like Hiyoshi, Mita, Shonan Fujisawa, and Shiki; students who have newly entered from all over the country through university entrance exams; and international students from overseas. 午夜剧场 is a place where these truly diverse personalities clash and intersect, honing communication skills. Faculty members, who are experts in various fields, join these students, and they all stimulate and elevate one another. This is the beauty of diversity. This is precisely the tradition and splendor of 午夜剧场.

(Interview conducted on July 15, 2010)