ブックタイトルa-history-of-international-exchanges00

概要

a-history-of-international-exchanges00

- 55 -＜Reminiscence (13) ～Active senior members of SC～＞*Mr. Shingo SakamotoMr. Sakamoto was a professor emeritus who retired from MathematicsDepartment of Faculty of Education of MU in 1989. Even after his retirement,he commuted to Kibana campus once a week to attend Mr. Uda’s seminar. WhenMr. Nishida, who had been a director since the establishment of the SC, resignedin 1994, the secretariat asked Mr. Sakamoto to be an SC director and he accepted.Once a year in May, he came all the way to Kibana to attend the general meeting.He made his presence in the meeting by presenting some constructive ideas,which the SC sometimes find difficult to answer without hesitation. In theinformal gathering with the foreign students of Faculty of Education and Culture,he asked them many questions, such as ‘What are you studying?’, ‘What surprisedyou most in Japan’ and ‘Are the living expenses enough?’ As Mr. Sakamoto waslearning English at that time, he understood how difficult it is to learn a foreignlanguage. He was interested in the Japanese language learning by foreignstudents and asked, ‘For how many years have you been learning Japanese?’ and‘Which parts of Japanese language do you find difficult?’ He seemed to beenjoying communicating with the foreign young people, who were surprised whenthey heard that Mr. Sakamoto was older than 90. As he had trouble with hisleg, he resigned after he attended the general meeting in 2010. Three yearsafter that (in 2013), he passed away at the age of 99.*Ms. Hisako OshikawaMs. Oshikawa is an alumna from the Faculty of Education of MU and a directorof Mokusei-kai (the alumni association of Faculty of Education). She was an SCdirector for seventeen years from its establishment (1987) to 2004. Being acheerful and outspoken person, she made her presence felt in various ways. LikeMr. Sakamoto’s, her words carried weight, which gave the SC a forward-lookingapproach. She resigned in 2004 when she also resigned a director of Mokusei-kai.*Mr. Seiji KodamaMr. Kodama was also an alumni from the Faculty of Education of MU. He wasone of Mr. Sakamoto’s former students. He was a unique figure in the SC. Thoughhe was not a director, he never failed to attend the general meetings. The boardof directors was usually held over lunch before the general meeting. He used toarrive at the university at about noon and walked around the campus aloneduring the time of the board of directors and came back when the general meetingbegan. He rarely spoke out in the general meetings and sat silently. He wastypically an honest person always with a suit and a tie.＜from the right：Mr. Sakamoto, Ms. Oshikawa, Mr. Kodama (The 18th general meeting (May 22, 2003) ＞