On July 22nd, three faculty staff and about twenty students of Korea University, Waseda's partner and one of the leading universities in South Korea, visited us despite the difficult diplomatic situation between Japan and South Korea. This visit, which took place a world away from the influence of diplomatic matters, shows the close and mature relationship between the two. Although the situation between the two countries is sometimes aggravated because of differences in historical recognition, the joint community set up by the ordinary citizens remains unaffected.

Korea University is presently on its way to establishing a group of students working on making a social contribution. The purpose of the visit was to learn the organization model of WAVOC (The Hirayama Ikuo Volunteer Center, Waseda University). In the morning, the faculty members of WAVOC explained their activities, and in the afternoon the students who are actually in charge of the volunteer activities followed suit. The presentation by the students was done by the Japan-Korea Future Project (Nikkori PJ). As a member of Nikkori PJ, I worked as a total coordinator of the students' presentation.

Nikkori PJ is an organization working for the establishment of a strong relationship between the Japanese and the Koreans through communication and understanding. In the workshop we introduced four projects of Nikkori PJ, such as learning about landmines and working on farming in the northernmost village of South Korea, which is a workshop with Korea University of Japan, and playing movies focused on Koreans in Japan. After the presentations we received a lot of questions from the students of Korea University, which showed their strong interest in the system and the members of WAVOC. In typical Waseda style, the event didn't end as originally planned: after a proposal from the leader of Korea University, we had a “communication party” near the university. There the students from both universities communicated with each other without any constraint, and had a relaxing and meaningful time.

I have a strong belief that communication between Japan and Korea should not be transient. I also believe that this visit will be the start towards my dream that Waseda and Korea will be able to work together in the near future. I am looking forward to creating a better and more active relationship between the people of both countries.