{"id":88888,"date":"2026-07-16T10:09:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T01:09:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/?p=88888"},"modified":"2026-07-17T10:06:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T01:06:27","slug":"belgium-day-at-waseda-exchanges-between-the-ambassador-and-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/news\/88888","title":{"rendered":"Belgium Day at\u00a0Waseda: Exchanges Between the Ambassador and Students\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

2026<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>marked 160 years of friendship between Belgium and Japan<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0a union that started long ago in 1886 and has grown and flourished to this day.<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

This cooperation extends beyond the economic agreements or trade but also includes exchanges of education and research,\u00a0arts\u00a0and\u00a0culture\u00a0and many more. A prime example of educational exchange between the two countries was Belgium Day, which Waseda was honored to host on June 4,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>2026<\/span>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>His Excellency, Mr. Antoine Evrard,\u00a0<\/span>Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium to Japan,<\/span>\u00a0gave a lecture and interacted directly with\u00a0Waseda\u00a0students.\u00a0This was a valuable opportunity for students to hear a unique perspective from the\u00a0<\/span>Ambassador<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

About the Event:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

The lecture included an overview of Belgium\u2019s contemporary political structure and its key economic and environment challenges, as well as comparisons between Japan and Belgium\u2019s economics goals.\u00a0He used\u00a0presentation slides to support his\u00a0points and later, welcomed questions from the students.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

His Excellency, Mr. Antoine Evrard,\u00a0Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium to Japan<\/p><\/div>\n

Questions from students ranged widely, from the use of AI in the Belgian labor market, to potential reforms of the electoral system and some even centered around the concept of the Belgian identity itself.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Professor Airo Hino<\/p><\/div>\n

Then,\u00a0<\/span>Professor Airo Hino<\/span><\/a>\u00a0of the\u00a0<\/span>School of Political Science and Economics<\/span><\/a>\u00a0shared some key takeaways from the session.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, the session ended with a brief presentation to inform students\u00a0on\u00a0potential\u00a0study abroad\u00a0opportunities<\/span>.<\/span> Mr. Eduard Van Kleunen, Deputy Head of Mission & Minister Counsellor shared insightful details about various programs and universities available to exchange students, as well as local culture and life in Belgium. I was personally interested in KU Leuven and found out that Waseda concluded an office exchange agreement with this renowned institution in 2024. This is just one of the many examples of academic exchange between Japan and Belgium.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Contemporary Political Structure:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

One of the most interesting takeaways I had from this lecture was Belgium\u2019s complex coalition process. As a country with a proportional voting\u00a0system\u00a0the government is\u00a0comprised\u00a0of several political parties. The government is then formed through a complex coalition process. This means that the formation of a government often takes months to ensure that each requirement of each party (and thus each\u00a0voter),\u00a0is\u00a0accommodated\u00a0and adjusted for.\u00a0The most recent formation of the government took<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>about eight\u00a0months, which may seem extremely long to other countries, but was in fact shorter than expected as Mr. Everard informed us.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Professor Masahiko Genma<\/p><\/div>\n

The main reason behind this long, drawn-out process is that this proportional system favors smaller parties over majoritarian ones.\u00a0According to the Ambassador, the focus on inclusive politics\u00a0is prioritized<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>due to the large French and Dutch speaking communities.\u00a0\u00a0Both communities are highly autonomous and thus have well established\u00a0municipalities\u00a0which means that the desires of voters can vary\u00a0greatly throughout\u00a0the country. Thus, there is a high fragmentation of political parties which\u00a0represent\u00a0an even higher range of policies. In fact, Belgium stands out amongst its neighbors in the EU for this exact reason.\u00a0This is the unique Belgian identity that the Ambassador shared with us:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>the dedication to better reflect the\u00a0linguistically and regionally diverse\u00a0communities within the country<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Comparisons between Japan and Belgium:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Mr. Everard\u2019s presentation also included several points of comparison between Belgium and Japan with regards to economic challenges. Both countries have relatively\u00a0high amounts\u00a0of debt and public spending and thus aim to practice fiscal discipline. Additionally, both countries also struggle with lower labor market participation. While in Japan this is partly due to the shrinking birth rate, in\u00a0Belgium one problem lies in lower incentive for older demographics to\u00a0continue working due to early retirement pathways<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I find it interesting to note that Belgium is one of the few countries in the world to have both a constitutional<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>monarchy\u00a0and a parliamentary democracy. While Japan is also a constitutional monarchy, the role of the\u00a0Emperor\u00a0is more so as a figurehead while executive power is held by the Prime Minister and Cabinet. This differs\u00a0greatly from\u00a0Belgium where the King, through having a limited range of responsibilities, takes a proactive role in the formation of the government such as selecting the\u00a0<\/span>formateur<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>(politician who heads the coalition process).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Belgium Day, and the many\u00a0similar\u00a0events that have been hosted throughout Japan<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0such as the Belgium pavilion at the Expo 2025 Osaka, widens the range of exchanges between the two countries, fostering the spirit of collaboration for many more years to come.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Today<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0Japan and Belgium have more to gain from their cooperation with each other especially through student research exchanges in this increasingly globalized world. As an international student at\u00a0Waseda\u00a0University, I look forward to exposing myself more to the rich culture of Belgium and delving into its deep history with Japan.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Belgium waffles given to attendees after the event<\/p><\/div>\n

Written by Student Contributor BASAIAWMOIT\u00a0Riiaki<\/span>\u00a0Iyer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2026\u00a0marked 160 years of friendship between Belgium and Japan,\u00a0a union that started long ago in 1886 and has g […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":88890,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,117],"tags":[263,370,167,366,378,175],"class_list":["post-88888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-topic","tag-campus_scenes-en","tag-contributor-en","tag-culture-en","tag-guest-en","tag-the-president-en","tag-students-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88888"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88949,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88888\/revisions\/88949"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}