The world has become smaller

Toshiki Yoshida

(Senior year / Faculty of Economics)

Toshiki Yoshida participated in the first joint program (SIGLOC) in 2018 with Andrews University students in the United States. He also assisted as a supporter for the second SIGLOC (with Andrews University and De La Salle University students) in 2019 that was conducted in Japan. We asked him what made him decide to join these programs.

I sympathized with the idea of focusing on understanding the foundations of society. While there are many overseas programs that aimed at improving language skills and experiencing different cultures, I felt that this project was different. It sought to deepen the understanding of one’s own society through other countries, and I thought it was an “advanced overseas program” suitable for university students.

When we asked Mr. Yoshida what he felt after participating in the programs, he said,  “my student life is fun” with a smile.

I feel that the world has become smaller after this COIL program was completed.  One of the main reasons is that I was able to imagine overseas students’ daily lives since I had small and difficult discussions on society with them and talked about familiar things like school life and personal relationships.  As a part of the overseas program, I visited the Elderly Care Center as an intern. It was a good learning experience for me to realize that they have similar problems to ours in Japan. I feel a small revolution within me that “a story about a distant country”  became “imaginable” within just two weeks.

I think that having a global perspective isn’t just about looking at the differences between Japan and other countries, but understanding that every single person has their own life and thinks that the world is not that big. I was very glad to participate in the COIL program which enabled me to broaden my global perspective in a unique and effective way.