 Thank you, Ben. Welcome everybody to the last lecture. It's a great honor for me to be able to introduce Ikeda sensei for this. I was once a student of his many many many many years ago And he left a great impression on me as a student. I remembered him for how great a teacher He was I would send him a new year's card every year and he would send it back with corrections So he left a great impression on me as a student more so than any of the other lecturers I had and I had lots of brilliant lecturers as a student and I came back to the ANU and became a colleague of Ikeda sensei and Realized his brilliance from a different perspective. I taught some courses together with him and understood In a more intellectual way how great a teacher he was I could see what he was doing when I was young and Naive and wearing shorts and bare feet. I just appreciated learning But I could see what he was doing as a lecturer and sometimes I wish to wanted to shake the students say you guys don't understand How good he is you really don't Because he's an excellent excellent teacher and it's my great pleasure to introduce him So here we are Ikeda sensei for the last lecture of 2016 Your Excellency ambassador of Japan, Mr. Asumi Osaka and distinguished guests Prova sensei Baker and ladies and gentlemen It is my great pleasure to be here. I was humbled Scared with lots of trepidation and concern and anxiety and apprehension and insomnia and everything else When I Had to come up with the lecture theme or topic I was debating whether I should give a real sort of lecture in my own Field of research, which is comparative education, which I was trained in the States or should I Teach Elementary Japanese to everyone who's coming Or should I Give some lectures on Methodology and how to teach Japanese to those non-Japanese teachers But in the end I thought no, that's not my cup of tea Well cup of green tea I suppose so I decided I should come up with this The get up and the phone a Personal account of Australia-Japan relations from these 70s Why 70s because that's the time that I started my undergraduate studies at the ANU before all of you are not born But today's talk is as I said before It's not so much as a lecture but it's kind of a Personal account of what I have been doing in Australia for Such a long time since the beginning of the 70s 70s meaning 1970s not 1870s So I'll just very briefly talk about past and then present and then future the past I'll talk about how lucky I was as a person In this lucky country as some of you may recall that Donald Horn wrote a book called Lucky Country and in that he said that Australia is very lucky sitting on lots of mineral resources and agricultural products and Australians do not need to work, but they can live comfortably and Then I think he was using this lucky country as a kind of cynical way, but this Coinage of lucky country was taken as describing Australia as very lucky country in the world in many senses and I came to this university in back in 1970 As one of the luckiest perhaps students from Japan because I was told after was after I came here and then perhaps into Second or third months of my study at the ANU that I was the first degree seeking Japanese national student here at the ANU and I was a bit surprised because there were quite a few Postgraduate students at that time, but none who is doing a degree program at the ANU So I'd like to just dwell on a little bit about my personal life in the 70s reflecting the Australia-Japan relations at that time and then gradually coming on to the closer time and then my personal thoughts on the future of Australian and Japanese relations and also young people in both countries and this is purely my personal account and do not quote in your Term paper or semester paper and so on now as some of you may recognize the Vietnam war as one of the very controversial topic In the 70s it started in the 60s of course, but in the 60s and lots of student movements were at its height and I was at a university in Japan in Tokyo in Japan for two years in the late 60s But my university which was KO Gijuku was no exception students had a general assembly or some meeting and They decided to go on strike so one month or two months after the First semester started the university went on strike and no class is nothing so There were two ways to spend your free time One is to get involved with those student movements and in lots of they're called teach-ins so private so privately organized seminar type of things and Also, there's another way that they call it in Japanese non-poly Coming from English word non-political meaning not committing anything to any political movement and so on so they are the ones who did lots of volunteering and other Sort of precursor of NPO's and NGO's these days, but in those days there were none of those and I chose the latter and I joined the Japanese junior red cross and then I also chose to choose Japan youth host those association to organize lots of interesting projects with Hostelers from all over the world and so on But after two years, I was sick of doing Something other than what I was supposed to do studying at the university And I was lucky it so happened that my father Who was working for a private company in Japan was posted to Sydney, Australia So he asked me if I was interested in coming to Australia and Naturally, I said yes, if you pay for me And in 1969 I decided to move from Japan to Australia, but of course and I had to Overcome the first hurdle English. I wasn't an English student or anything close to English because I must confess that my high school Academic record English grade was three out of five So five is the highest and one is the lowest and I was always three three three three three and so So my English wasn't that hot so I had to take the English test at the Australian Embassy in Tokyo you can't believe it now because there's so much so many other testing Facilities available now I yields Toic total and something else But I was astonished that I had to take an English test at the embassy of Australian Embassy in Tokyo and There I was again pretty lucky to meet a young aspiring Australian diplomat called Trevor Wilson Who sent his absence regards to everyone but I owe a lot to him because he was the one who with my lack of English and everything else who thought hmm Here's an interesting Japanese guy who is interested in Australia. He may do something about Australia in the future So this is the talk that I had with Tuva after I came to Australia and I asked him Why did I pass the English exam because my speaking and listening comprehension were zilch almost no And he said well your speaking and listening comprehension were Non-existent to quit mildly but your competition and grammar and reading comprehension were quite solid and There were other students who took the same examination with me who had been to either in the States or in England somewhere so Studying abroad when they were high school and then they took the test and then they were speaking and listening comprehension were excellent I couldn't keep up with them. They were talking in English at lunchtime and so on. I was sort of distanced from them But Trevor told me that all of them were sent to English school before they were admitted to universities So I said again that no, that's ridiculous because the English seemed to be very good But he said no, they are speaking and listening was okay, but they Were not able to write meaningful sentences their comprehension was awful and their grammar was non-existent so I Was admitted to both ANU and Sydney But if I went to Sydney University, I would have commuted from my parents place Which wouldn't be good for my English. So I decided to come to the ANU without knowing What kind of city was camera was and how Big or how small or whatever. There's no Information about camera at that time, but I decided to come to the ANU Which of course, I think I made a right decision and in the 70s It was still at the time that the Vietnam War was going on and quite a few of my friends were worried about being conscripted and Lots of demonstrations against Vietnam War and so on but not as violent as students in other countries so we were able to Carry on our day-to-day studies and seminars and what not and I was also lucky that through my supervisor at KO University Professor Tadao Kuribayashi who did his PhD in Australian Space law in law faculty He did his PhD with such distinguished Distinguished scholars as emeritus professor Arthur Stockwin of ANU and Oxford and emeritus Professor Peter Driesdale at the ANU and Dr. John Keija who is here with us and I I Call him onshi in Japanese meaning someone whom I indebted To the bone So without his assistance, I wouldn't have been standing here this year and between 1970 to 1975 I had a tremendous University life and Here's one shot that Dr. Peter Hendricks Supplied to me. This was the tutorial class on the lawn in this sort of law faculty quadrangle and You can perhaps the people in the back can't see it clearly but One on the left is Dr. Peter Hendricks with long hair You can't tell much but he's wearing shorts. He was wearing shorts all year round Summer spring autumn winter doesn't matter. He was wearing shorts with no thongs so bare feet and so on and And maybe you can't you can't recognize me I'm Seeding here. This is me with the black hair and everything And strangely enough that I don't particularly remember those students in the last say three five years and if I see them then I recognize faces and then maybe Last name but not first name and so on but I remember all these students both first names and surnames We can just tell them So it's amazing Okay, so Under Gulf Whitlam's labor government came in at the end of 72 so from 1973 as you recall Free education started at the university level in Australia. So I was one of those Students who benefited from the free education in the 70s and I was in one of these student residencies Garen Hall and I Enjoyed immensely Mainly because when I was in Japan as you may imagine that everyone is doing more is the same thing Small things like in Japan at school. They change their uniforms According to the calendar, it doesn't matter what the temperature is It doesn't matter what the weather is but from the first day of June everyone has to wear summer school uniform and then when Winter comes then even if it's too warm or weather is good But everyone has to wear winter school uniforms and so on But when I came here, it's so free so diversified in Attiring any kinds of clothes. So some of them wearing shorts and T-shirts, but some are wearing long sleeves with jumper and then long trousers and so on So it's up to each individual and I found it very interesting and also from coming from a kind of Single ethnic group society the Australian society even in the 70s was amazing that mixture of Caucasians and Asians and African people and some South Americans and a few from Middle East and so on and so so many different people different backgrounds different languages different cultural backgrounds and so on were Got together and then studying in their own way But we did a lot of things together and that was amazing to me and Amongst these friends, then I made lifelong friends like in the Ross Westwood and Edie Young who are here with me and I'm grateful that they came here to See me and listen to what I am saying here and as Anti-Vietnam War demonstrations while getting fierce and so on then I got Quite a few advice from senior students or postgraduate students that I should not be involved as an international student because If I just make some trouble then my visa will be Terminated and then I have to go back home and so on so there are quite a few who are Not against this Anti-Vietnam War demonstrations and so on but the way they approach these issues There are so many different ways to appeal to politicians and other policy makers and so on and I learned quite a lot from a senior students and postgraduate students as well and Believe it or not in the early 70s on Anzac day when I was going to see Anzac parade as a kind of a Memorial thing, but I was told again from senior students and postgraduate students that well if you're a Japanese Don't go to Anzac day parade because you may be abused or you may be thrown a stone or egg or something like that so I Heated the advice and then I didn't go unfortunately, but Later on when the situation became better, then I started taking part in Anzac day parade and so on Although I was relying on my parents stipend I try to do part-time jobs as much as possible to help my Accommodation fees and so on but of course the tuition fees as I said I mentioned Were free, so I didn't have to worry about it. That was a great help and I did a lot of tour guides for Japanese tourists who came to Canberra to have a look at Canberra and I'm going back to Sydney or Melbourne and so on and I got to know quite a few friends outside of the University in the touring industry and so on and by chance I met A person a gentleman called Graham Freudenberg who was an advisor political advisor to golf with them the Labour government Prime Minister so through him I was given a few opportunities to do Interpreting for golf with them at Parliament House and some other places and so on and I was amazed by golf with them's Remarkable a memory that the second time I met him after possibly Six months after my first job with him. He remembered my name and I was impressed and I Enjoyed my sport activities at the annual Believe it or not, and I'm not that tall, but I was a basketball player in Japan So naturally when I came out here, I joined a new basketball club, and I joined the Interversity teams and so on then Luckily in 1973 I was chosen as one of the combined universities team. So I was Awarded a blues award sporting award at the A&U in 1973 and I was chosen to Team called ACT team. There was no name. It was before NBL National Basketball League came into being So I joined the team and then enjoyed the basketball and I was recommended to Australian University at school for Rome 1975 but because you have to be an Australian citizen and I didn't have a citizenship So I had to turn it down Those are good memories of the 70s then when I finished my owner's year in 1975 and I was debating whether to go back to Japan or seek postgraduate studies or something else then Professor Antonio Alfonso of the head of the Department of Japanese at that time Approached me and asked me if I could be a tutor in Japanese in 76 And 76 as you may know Is the year that NARA treaty so-called NARA treaty, the Japan-Australian relations agreement or Basic Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between Australia and Japan So this was the year that Australia and Japan were coming closer Not only just economic terms, but also cultural and political and other spheres and So 76 I was offered a job and then I turn it down first because I had no experience whatsoever and I didn't do linguistics or I didn't do Teaching Japanese methodology and or anything like that. So I wasn't confident and I wasn't Interested perhaps but Professor Alfonso insisted that we need someone like you and I said Like myself what? Then he said the most important quality to be a teacher is to understand students mind students interests students Hobbies and other things So for example, what kind of songs they are interested now? What kind of movies they tend to go and see what kind of books they read what kind of topics they talk about amongst themselves and so on I think Professor Alfonso heard from some students of Japanese in those days that I was living in Geron Hall and then I was mixing with Australians. So I know kind of a culture students culture in those days and also I was sort of a hosting kind of Japanese speaking salon type of thing that Say every Tuesday night from 8 to 10, please come to my room and we can chat in Japanese Or if you have questions, you can come and ask me a kind of thing so professor Alfonso must have heard and then recommended that I start this teaching Japanese without knowing anything. So on the job training I started and I sort of managed to keep up but Soon after class only three four weeks after I started I realized that teaching Language is not just teaching language, but teaching culture well-thinking philosophy and All sorts of things that behind languages that you need to convey so through yourself and through the person Students learn something not just the simply grammar or pronunciation or sentence patterns of a certain language But also you teach enormous amount of other things Behind language and then I when I discovered that I thought oh, this is very interesting Then I may pursue this avenue for a while so I stayed on and then Started doing an evening called Japanese Evening with then Lecture of Japanese literature Roger Paul was who later became a playwright and also he was a Professor at the Tokyo University Institute Tokyo Institute of Industry Studies and so on and we started Japanese Evening with more than Japanese plays In the hope that students will learn both of live language Stations and live conversation and communication and so on about from textbooks and so on And then I initiated the so-called Japanese weekend Immersion intensive camp either in the mountains or in on campus Kailua campus and so on and because I was lucky because I learned this system of Immersion program through Russian weekend Russian was one of my majors in undergraduate studies and in Russian department. Then unfortunately it's folded now Did this Russian weekend and I thought it was a brilliant idea to spend a weekend together and Walking together in Russian and cooking together in Russian and cleaning up together in Russian and dreaming in Russian and so on So I thought okay. Well, we should adopt this to Japanese and then starting Japanese weekend, which now students Japan Club students are Carrying on so I'm very pleased this tradition, but When I was Teaching for four or five years, then I felt that I did not Deported anything in to my bank account, but I was withdrawing all the time so my bank account was getting less and less and I feel that my brains Getting less and less resources and so on so I decided to do a postgraduate studies Firstly within Australia, but unfortunately in those days nowadays they do but in those days There were no comparative education that I was interested in the area that I was interested in so I looked for some opportunities in the United States and I found a few and I applied and I got a few So I decided to go to state University of New York at Buffalo and The place that I didn't Study beforehand again just like I before I came to camera I didn't know anything about camera, but Buffalo. I had no idea and I didn't know The place was one of the coldest cities in the United States but if I talk about this my sojourn in United States, then that's getting too long. So I just cut it and Talk about when I came back from the United States In 1988 I finally came back to the ANU with the position vacant. So I applied and I got it and When I came back Professor Drew Gerstle who was an expert on puppet theater in your jewelry Started Kabuki at the ANU in the 80s and to this date when I Pressed him asking a few times that when did you actually start Kabuki at the ANU? He always answered no, I don't remember So I asked him No, didn't you make any programs or flyers or something that shows no you started Kabuki from when and he said I just checked them away and no records whatsoever So although the Kabuki club is boasting that it's 39th and 40th anniversary next year It's actually dubious It is certain that it started in the 80s, but I don't know exactly when In 1992 When the Ministry of Education and Science decided to let national universities start exchanging students from Overseas or international students So before then you national universities were not allowed to do an exchange because of tuition fee and all these things But 92 it opened up. So Drew Gerstle and myself thought oh, this is a good opportunity. So we started to Set up an exchange program with 12 universities to start with we didn't So test two or three universities, but instead between us Drew Gerstle and myself We had some close friends here and there in Japan So we decided to start this program with 12 universities from the beginning and which was a tremendous success and I Would say about 20 to 25 students every year in the 90s They went to Japan and less number of students came to a new from Japan, but there was a tremendous program Which is kind of dwindling and withering at the moment. So it's a shame But I hope that it will be revived soon And I was lucky again in that same year 1992 I was given the inaugural vice chancellor's award in excellence in language teaching so I Was given that Simply because that was the first year inaugural year and no one hardly knew about it and Hadly anyone was nominated and then luckily my students knew about it. So I was nominated and I'm golden so Ever since I haven't been given No, no, that's not true ever since I I have been nominated nominated almost every year But I turn it down because once I got it then that's it. I don't have to prove anything so I let everyone else to Those deserve colleagues deserving for colleagues should get that award and I started the language exchange amongst You guys say international students from Japan with our own students and then I started a career forum and so on and also when the ANU started secondary college meaning years 11 and 12 students come to the ANU and then do Courses with the ANU teachers are from our colleges but students can use all the facilities at the ANU and they are given a sort of pre-selection Admission and so on and it's still continuing since it started in 2007. It's still continuing and it's a very strong program, but it's sort of facing Financial problem at the moment and I hope it will continue for many years to come And also I started the second hand Japanese book sale back in 2011 2012 sorry after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami so that's been sort of quite popular a book sale every year or annual sort of book sale Since then the money goes to the Oshima Japan Society in ACT who which invites Chuu Gakusei and Koukosei high school and college students in Japan to Canberra for a brief respite in spending say couple of weeks in Canberra. So we contribute to that program for this old sale proceeds go to this program and Perhaps I should just mention a little bit about Kabuki. A lot of people ask me Is your academic expertise in this area Kabuki or other traditional sort of performing arts simply no. I had no experience whatsoever to study those traditional performing arts and No, I was an avid keen fan to go and see Kabuki every week in Japan and so on. No, I wasn't It's just a whim that I thought how a traditional or traditional performing art is Accepted in a different culture different environment and different people and I just wanted to See how far students can go and then they have gone very far Amazingly students took this Kabuki as a fun event and so within a Japan Students a new Japan club. There's an independent Kabuki club called Zack Kabuki and every year we perform two nights in September and Back in 1999 we visited Japan Four years after the great Henshin Awaji earthquake In the Kansai area we visited Nara and Kobe and performed To those who are affected to some extent. So this time This year in September last month we did a tour of Higashi, Japan East Japan the areas where they were heavily severely affected by earthquake and tsunami Because when we started talking about going to Japan this year at the beginning of this year in February beginning of first semester When we were discussing we were asking amongst ourselves. Where should we go then? Unanimously everyone said we'd like to go to Tohoku To talk to people there and then to show that we have not forgotten Those people and then we'd like to know their prospect and their hope and ideas and so on nowadays So we decided to go to Tohoku and then we toured around two weeks in September last month and performed in Akita Kesennuma and Ishinomaki and Akita was not affected by earthquake and tsunami heavily But there was there's a university in Akita with whom We have an exchange agreement. So we went there. So I just want to share this fun part very quickly with this slice sorry This was the Kabuki camera and Japan tour This is the camera airport before we depart And that's sort of a scene from Akita performance and Amazingly we did not bring our own Palanquin this Kaba Because it's too heavy to carry so we asked the Akita International University if there's any chance of Hiring Kaba from somewhere please do then the university went out of its way and approached Very old samurai family in Takunodate and Borrowed this Palanquin of 250 years old Authentic Palanquin and then we were amazed and we were old and then we didn't want to touch but So we did not put anyone inside just in case it's broken then we might have to cover 100 million dollars or something So we borrowed this and other things and there was a tremendous success and then this horse costume also we borrowed it from a professional professional Performing group called Warabiza in Akita So those of you who saw our performance in camera in September Totally different horse from this one So if this is a thoroughbred then our horse in camera was agriculture Dilapidated old horse this is just a shot after the rehearsal and This is back stage. Oh, sorry. This was the sort of after after performance party at the Akita International University and Then Akita station heading towards Kesennuma Then this is the house which was affected by the earthquake and tsunami and We were amazed that the owner of this house Used to be a part-time tutor in Japanese at the Australian National University in the 90s And I knew she went back to Tohoku area, but I didn't remember she was from Kesennuma The city that we visited and she where she was living three minutes walk from the Japanese accommodation hotel in Ryokan, so I was astounded to see her there and she was kindly showed her dilapidated affected house and there was Shot after the performance too and then during the tour we were Entertained by the Japanese drum and then also we practiced a little bit of drum as well Then we were on the Oyster farm oyster farming tour So people the young people are there trying to revive their famous oyster farms and so So we had a look at the first-hand Recovery stage and that's just a shot This student was very popular wherever he went There's always with young ladies And this is the hotel Japanese style ryokan we stayed but the apparently the tsunami came over that Where our balcony is and over the top and then only the third floor was remained so they Renovated and then reconstructed the first and second floors, but they were totally Destroyed and then that's a big sign in Ishinomaki Ganbarou Ishinomaki and then we had a chance to Mingle with Ishinomaki Sensehu Daigaku University students to exchange our views and talking about the Disaster and the disaster prevention and so on And then this was the after performance shot in Ishinomaki and the party and Then some of us went to see real authentic Kabuki in Kabuki's are in Tokyo So that's the sort of ticket. You know the very cheap ticket up on the top floor So you don't have to spend thousand dollars, but very cheap Then that's the in front of the Kabuki theater with myself and the Producer of this year Erin Makala and then of course there's a party afterwards and then Those who were students at the annual See the one on the right is Pat Komalobon Who is studying at the University of Tokyo now and a few other senpai who did Kabuki last year year before and so on came along And we had a wonderful time This is a bit out of order, but the Ishinomaki Information Center and that's again this popular character here and this was Dressing room in Ishinomaki as well and then this was After performance Those of you who came and see this year's Kabuki will for the first time we provided Some titles for all the lines and everything. So that was the afterwards. So those are just shots from this Kabuki Many people ask me why I do Direct Kabuki every year a few reasons, but the most one most the important one is that I'd like to as I said create tradition but not Real tradition in Japan but tradition here Kind of australianized Kabuki tradition here and with this fake history of 40 odd years of Kabuki It's gradually coming now Namely, it's not just a Kabuki style performance but we put in some pop music with modern dance and some jokes and some Funny actions and so on which are not allowed to do in Kabuki perhaps So we are kind of creating a new tradition here, which I would like students to carry on Secondly in Japan There's a very sort of strong bond amongst the club members to do everything together and They become very close and then they become to lifelong friends and so on but here In a good way in a good sense and bad sense that Australia doesn't have that sort of culture and I'd like students to Experience that sort of culture. So having joined in Kabuki club and doing rehearsals together And some other things together then they become very close and then they Bond it and then they not only talk about Kabuki, but they also talk about something else Future of Australia future of Japan and so on. So I think it's a good thing to keep this momentum and activity going so those are the There are many other reasons, but there are these are basic reasons that I keep doing this and the 40th anniversary of fake 40th anniversary of the Japanese evening is a big celebration next year and The former being of the College of Asia and the Pacific promised that it will be a wonderful 40th anniversary of Kabuki So I hope it will be materialized in 2017 But one of the ideas is that we have visited Japan to perform in Japan But we have not performed in other cities in Australia So we might do a tour in Australia Sydney Melbourne Brisbane and so on next year So those of you who are interested, please join us and have fun together Okay, time is suppressing so I Oops, sorry. I have to go back Sumimasen That's go back So that means a hint that I should finish here So I was going to talk about my current situation, but many of you are aware so I don't do alone but one thing I can say clearly is that I Don't know what I'll be doing next year So it's very annoying that I don't I can't so plan ahead But simply that I do not know what is going to happen to me next year If I can stay on that I'd like to stay on if I can't then I'm Starting to look at the job ad in the camera times or something like that, but future Just very briefly future I'd like to say to say two things that one Japan is known to be an aging society So many old generation older generation people and not many young people Australia is not the opposite but not bad as bad as Japan yet and Japan's is a kind of mono ethnic group society and Australia is a multi ethnic multi-lingual and multi-cultural society so we are in a Sort of position of complimenting each other and those of you who visit Japan Would know that the Japanese politeness and kindness and all these Most Australian tourists say they are impressed Japanese who come to Australia say that openness and diversified culture Language and everything else is amazing and they enjoy the atmosphere here So I may be very optimistic, but if young Australians and young Japanese get together and plan something together and in trying to solve as many issues as Possible in this area of the South Pacific and Asia for that matter perhaps Pacific Rim areas so that we can lead the whole world that So many different differences between the two countries Australia and Japan But we understand each other quite well, and we respect each other. We know the differences But we do things together then it's not one plus one is two But maybe one plus one is one point five or maybe three So I would like especially the students young people that Australians and Japanese Cooperate and then try to do things together and if we do together then some countries Which are kind of suspicious or dubious about our intentions if say for example Japan does something by itself and then try to help They some countries might feel that all of Japan's trying to do something behind or something But if Australia is doing that with Japan then they might think oh, okay Australia is supporting and then doing things then that's fine Likewise, if Australia does something by itself then by herself then some country might Politely reject but if Japan's In that and then together Australia and Japan trying to help those countries. They might listen So I do hope Young people in those two countries will unite together and they try to project some remarkable things together in the next Five ten years or beyond and I am sure that you will be able to do that and in a way again in Japan It's a kind of experimental stage of aging society if Japan can solve this aging problems, then that will Be beneficial for many countries many other countries which are sort of keeping up with Japan and also Australia it's multi cultural multi ethnic and multi Lingo societies and Which is different from say for example the United States the basic principle to me I was in the States for seven years. So I felt the United States policy is a kind of melting pot policy Anyone who comes to the United States. They are expected to become Americans But here in Australia the policy is salad bowl So in salad bowl you can recognize for his lettuce. He has carrot. He has cucumber. Oops Yes, this is a microphone He has something else But each has its own place and each is distinct But as a whole you can enjoy salad. So Australia is such a such a society and It is to me Doing an experiment That no other countries are Doing at the moment. So in that sense, I would say Australia is far ahead of other countries to experiment this Harmonious harmonious multi cultural multi ethnic and multi Lingo society so I hope Australian Australian young people and in Japanese young people you Hold a torch high and then if you can't do it then pass it on to the next generation and Next generation and so on and in the end perhaps from this area Pacific and Asia It will also in Japan can influence the whole world In our own way. Well, thank you very much This is coming Students are worried about Poor academic so they are worried about this. Good evening everyone. My name is Lisa Shaw I'm the president of the postgraduate research students Association Pasa here at the ANU and it's my great pleasure to Bring a conclusion to this evening's proceedings and to thank Akita sensei for his wonderful last lecture Talk I really enjoyed the the humor and the generosity of him sharing his experiences here in Australia and at ANU He's obviously a trailblazer in Being one of the first or the first Japanese student here at ANU And it's so interesting to hear about Australian history from his perspective the social changes and of course The era of free education, which I'm sure a lot of students here would love to see again Um, but also his contributions of course to Japanese here at ANU and with Kabuki in particular Pasa and Rusa are very proud to support the last lecture as it marks a really important end to the academic year and as a student representative I'm given the the fortune experience to have done a lot of work with students in the school of culture history and language CHL Where Akita sensei hails from within the ANU? This school the research and the teaching that Akita sensei undertakes Hippophys one of the most unique and wonderful aspects of ANU in my opinion, which is our connections and our interest in Asia in the Pacific So it's a great pleasure to hear about what research what activities are being done Within this space and have a greater understanding of how ANU contributes and supports academics and students to nurture their interest in connection with Australia's regional neighbours I should also mention I've Had the great benefit of being at ANU for my undergraduate years And so I have many friends that went through the Japanese program and were students of Akita sensei And so in preparing for tonight, of course, I went and spoke to them about their experiences and they had a lot of wonderful things to say And so it's uh, it is I think one of the things that stood out to me the most was um, they spoke about His care for students So not just in their academic pursuits and successes, but also in their their welfare So he has very holistic understanding of the student and their well-being Um, and I suppose I've personally benefited from it as well because I went to visit them in Japan They were so consumed with their love of Japanese culture and language that they went on to live there for some time And so my experience of Japanese culture was also wonderful and thanks in large part to Akita sensei and his teachings So on that note, I'd like to um conclude by reciting the O to the end the last lecture for 2016 And following this I welcome you all to join us for refreshments in the lawns just outside It seems a welcome journey that we look so gratefully to the end of this academic year But still take the effort to listen to one last lecture We have no obligation no monetary or assessment like intent to be here, but still We've filled this hole not afraid to learn and give We demonstrate respect for this institution of learning and the values that it brings Collegiality commitment pride responsibility freedom service Prepare to put those books on their dusty shelves and dismantle the study places those nooks and cranny like retreats Please stand with me now and thank Akita sensei as he exits this hole and thus ends the 2016 academic year