Noritaka Nakamura who is currently a part of Table 1: The refugee crisis in Japan context will share with us some of his thoughts on the topic as well as some interesting insights about his hometown!
"I had been living without knowing what exactly refugee issue is until I became university student. I was overwhelmed when I know a fact that Japan hardly accepts refugees. Although Japan has been contributing in terms of financial assistance, I often wonder is that all things that we can do?"
Q１. Please tell us what are the reasons/motivations that made you apply for ISC65?
Hello, my name is Noritaka Nakamura I’m from Japan. Please call me Nori. I am a junior at Reitaku University in Chiba prefecture. I am majoring English Liberal Arts. In my university, I am actively doing mainly two activities, one is National Model United Nations, another is Environmental activity at Micronesia.
I have two reasons for participating ISC 65. First reason is that I really want to get various perspectives by interacting a lot of students coming from different countries. Second reason is that I want to brush up my English fluency and deepen my knowledge about the global issues, and I aspire to be able to articulate my opinions about the issues in English. I have never lived abroad, and I have lived only in Japan so far, so I am fully aware of that I only affected by Japanese culture. Therefore, I am really excited to see a lot of people with different backgrounds. Although, my English is still under a developing, I have a strong willing to communicate with people in English. Through participating ISC65, I would like to cultivate my negative personality including English.
Q２.What do you think about your table’s topic?
I had been living without knowing what exactly refugee issue is until I became university student. I was overwhelmed when I know a fact that Japan hardly accepts refugees. Although Japan has been contributing in terms of financial assistance, I often wonder is that all things that we can do? Even such a country Japan, so-called typical homogenous nation, the number of foreign people who started to settle and visit are greatly increasing because of globalization. Therefore, I think we could accept refugees rather than just contributing from financial aspect. I think there are many pro and con arguments regarding accepting refugees though, I am really exciting to learn about how other participants coming from various countries are thinking about refugee issue from the perspective of Japan.
Q3. Can you tell us a little bit about your hometown?
My hometown is Urawa in Saitama prefecture. I used to live in Kumamoto, west part of Japan, since I was 8. I have been spending more than half of time in Urawa, so I would say my hometown is Urawa. Urawa is a capital of Saitama prefecture that bordering Tokyo, a capital of Japan. On the one hand we can see economical prosperity in Urawa, on the other hand we also can see historical landscape at Urawa.
I often kill time at Urawa, just going shopping, barber and drinking with my friends when I am free. Furthermore, since Urawa is located near Tokyo, it can access to Shinjyuku from Urawa just by 30minutes. Many people come up with a professional soccer team “Urawa Reads” when they hear Urawa. However, my favorite sports is not soccer but baseball. Plus, I tend to be said that your face look like someone who plays soccer. So, I am dreaming if I could make Urawa famous for baseball.