Waseda WeeklyWaseda Weekly

Dear Shigenobu Okuma

It has already been 103 years since you passed away after leaving this academy to the world, and I have taken up my pen to ponder what you would have told the students if you were alive today in the world.

You always had a keen sense of the international situation and Japan's position. You advocated "harmony between Eastern and Western civilizations," sought peace, and was a leader in the intellectual circles who warned against excessive nationalism.

You were proud that at that time, only Japan could incorporate the advantages of Western civilization while also preserving Eastern civilization. This idea is sung in Alma Mater: "The great mission of the Greater East, where the cultures of the East and the West, past and present, swirl together as one."

Writing like this may sound like you're brimming with confidence, but you also strongly warned against nationalism. Seeing the devastation of World War I, you lamented the failure of Western civilization and preached that nationalism leads to self-destruction. To go too far and become overconfident in anything is to miss opportunities to make up for one's own shortcomings, which is never a good thing.

Witnessing the European arms race that led to the Great War, you sounded the alarm that it could destroy national finances. You pointed out the futility of each nation becoming exhausted in an effort to prevent the other from attacking the other, and advocated the creation of a system of peace in which disputes between nations could be resolved through international arbitration.

From 1922 to 2025. 103 years have passed, but we are still seeing a growing trend of viewing the West and non-West in a binary opposition of a "clash of civilizations" rather than a "harmony of civilizations." Nationalism is on the rise, leading to divisions in various countries, and wars raging in the name of self-defense, threatening peace.

You believed that living in harmony with others, learning humbly, incorporating strengths and compensating for weaknesses, and never ceasing to develop yourself -Enterprising Spirit- would lead to the independence of civilization, the independence of nations and societies, and the independence of individuals, and on the one hand you were involved in politics, and on the other you founded a school and taught the people who gathered there.

"We all look up to the same light of ideals" - It is precisely in these times when a storm seems to be approaching that we should aspire to the ideals of harmony and peace that you preached.

The first edition of "Harmony of Eastern and Western Civilizations" by Shigenobu Okuma (left) and a monument to the Waseda University Alma Mater next to the main gate Waseda Campus (right)

Vice Dean Student Affairs Division Waseda University
Director of the Student Diversity Center
Takeshi Akiba

1181st

<reference>
Waseda University, "Collection of Speeches and Talks by Shigenobu Okuma," Iwanami Shoten, 2016
Waseda University Alma Mater