Intercultural Communication Center (ICC)Waseda University

About ICC

From the Director

A Stage and Spotlight for Everyone

Takeshi AKIBA
Director, Student Diversity Center

photo by ICC

“Sho Sho Shojoji, Shojoji no niwa wa…” (Japan)

“Sarasponda, sarasponda, sarasponda ret set set…” (Netherlands)

“O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain…” (USA)

Nearly 40 years ago I was in elementary school in the United States, where we were the only Japanese family in the school. One year, the school chorus took up songs from around the world for its annual concert.

Our teacher somehow found this song from Japan (Shojoji no Tanukibayashi, which goes by “The Hungry Raccoon” in English), perhaps because its comical rhythm easily catches our ears.

I was asked to “coach” the chorus, and vividly remember the moment when I taught it to fellow students, using a board with the lyrics.

At the concert the music teacher announced to the audience that “Takeshi taught this song to us.” When I leaned forward and waved my hands, the audience applauded. It was one of the defining moments of my childhood.

In return for teaching a Japanese song, I learned songs from around the world. Nearly four decades since, they still come to my mind easily. And I can imagine some of the students who shared the stage still singing “tsu tsu tsuki-yo da, minna dete koi, koi, koi” even to this day, somewhere in the world. Songs can travel around the world and persist in eternity.

This exchange has always been my basic idea of intercultural communication.

Waseda attracts students of diverse backgrounds from around the world. We can give further meaning to this and enrich our lives, if, like that chorus, we create a stage that shines a spotlight on our different cultures.

The Intercultural Communication Center is here to provide a stage and spotlight for our different backgrounds, maximizing the value of diversity as our common asset. We seek to be a place where we all remember the tunes of other cultures which we can carry forward for the rest of our lives.

We hope that you too will join us for this journey around the world and across cultures!

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