People [Special Version] :
Success on the Foreign Service Examination
--Working as a ‘sacrificial stone’
Mr. Katsuhiko Oku

Born in Hyogo prefecture in 1958. Graduate of Itami High School. Entered the school of Political Science and Economics and joined the rugby team in 1977. Entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after graduation. In 1982, studied at the University of Oxford. Became the first Japanese player to belong to Oxford University's rugby team. Worked at Japanese embassies abroad, among them those in Iran and the U.S. In 2003, began working on the reconstruction of Iraq as the Counsellor of the Japanese Embassy in the UK. On November 29 in the same year, he was shot and killed while in transit through the suburbs of Tikrit. He became famous for his "Letters from Iraq", which he continued writing until just before his death, and which express his sense of mission and his enthusiasm for the reconstruction of Iraq. And he will be remembered for “ULTIMATE CRUSH”, now the traditional slogan of the Waseda rugby team, which he created with Coach Kiyomiya.

The article below is reprinted from the Waseda Weekly of November 20, 1980 (No. 380).

To be honest, I was very lucky. I didn't suffer too much preparing for the exam. I started studying seriously in the summer of my junior year, but I only spent about two months studying all day. I had been planning on taking the exam, so I quite the rugby team after two years. Although I had quit to prepare for the exam, afterwards I played in a rugby club for a year.

I prepared for the test in a group of about three people I had gotten together. The interview was the hardest part--I suspect that on the written exam, scores were probably very close. I'm really thankful for the help I got from my friends and my seminar professor, Tatsuo Sato. On the legal parts of the exam, I got advice from people like Professor Hiroshi Tokioka. It's thanks to everybody around me that I was able to get through the examination.

If you ask why I wanted to become a diplomat--well, it might sound a little cocky, but you know, almost everywhere else you go to work, there are lots of Waseda graduates. You might call it the frontier spirit--I wanted to go someplace new, even if I had to be a "sacrificial stone". I'm confident of my strength and endurance, so I'd like to do work that a lot of people might avoid. It might sound like I'm placing a lot of importance on rugby, but my first choice would be to work in England.

I would like to advise those who want to be a diplomat to create an environment which will help you pass the exam. I was given this advice, too, but if you belong to a club, you should quit and devote yourself to study for a year or so. You should also think about whether you do best studying on your own or with other people, and if you think it will help, get together a study group.

People say that the exam is only a means to an end, but I think that's OK. Even if it's just a test, you have to do a lot on your own. At college, you have to create your own opportunities for learning. I think setting goals and working to achieve them is a good way to create memories of your college days.