2019年度卒業式告辞

Congratulations to the 2,552 graduates of Tohoku Gakuin University, and to the 49 students completing Graduate Schools, including two doctoral degree recipients. I can only imagine the joy of the parents who have eagerly awaited this day. As president, I offer my heartfelt congratulations.

Due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection, we are unable to hold a graduation ceremony where undergraduate students, Graduate Schools students, and their guardians can gather together. Each student will receive their degree certificate at a designated time and place. This is only the second time that we have been unable to hold a graduation ceremony for reasons other than war, the first being in 2011, the year of the Great East Japan Earthquake. During the Great East Japan Earthquake, we were unable to hold a graduation ceremony and send our students out into society due to aftershocks and power outages. We have regretted that experience, and with the hope of being able to hold a ceremony this time, we delayed making a decision until the very last minute, but once again we have been forced to make a difficult decision.

We are currently facing a threat to life comparable to that of a major earthquake. Despite the scientific advancements of the 21st century, humanity is facing a crisis. For about half a century, from the end of World War II to the collapse of the Cold War system, under the hegemony of the United States, the world experienced an "exceptional period of stability" and development, despite the outbreak of the Korean War and the Vietnam War, thanks to democracy and economic liberalism. In particular, as you all know, defeated Japan was able to achieve great economic development based on its manufacturing industry. However, the 30 years since the collapse of the Cold War system have clearly been an "era of great change and crisis."

This change is that, with the collapse of the Cold War system and the information revolution powered by computers, globalization has progressed, allowing people, goods, and money to move freely across national borders. While the gap between the haves and have-nots has widened, the world has become increasingly "globally integrated." In other words, while nation-states continue to engage in economic competition, the world is gradually forming a single community that shares a common destiny. In particular, the wave of the information revolution has been rapid and universal, and China, a latecomer, has risen to prominence based on its information industry, threatening to replace the hegemony of the United States.

Alongside this shift towards "global integration," two crises are unfolding. One crisis is global warming and climate change caused by greenhouse gases. The other is the global outbreak and pandemic of the novel coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China.

Since the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, humanity has succeeded in dramatically increasing productivity through industrialization using steam engines, and has enjoyed a rich and convenient consumer lifestyle. However, humanity has foolishly forgotten that positive products that enrich our consumer lifestyle are accompanied by negative products, namely waste heat and waste materials. Waste heat has been released into space through the circulation of water and atmosphere mediated by the Earth's ecosystem. However, since the latter half of the 1980s, 30 years ago, CO2 emissions caused by human economic activities have finally exceeded the CO2 absorption capacity of the Earth's ecosystem, and rising global temperatures have begun to cause climate change. The Paris Agreement and the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) set a common global target temperature of "1.5 degrees Celsius global warming," but the temperature rise has already exceeded approximately 1 degree Celsius, and it is predicted that it will rise to approximately 3 degrees Celsius by the end of the 21st century. Last year's Typhoon Hagibis (Typhoon 19) gained strength due to rising sea surface temperatures, causing river flooding in the Abukuma River and Yoshida River, resulting in loss of life and extensive damage in the Tohoku region.

Regarding pandemics, the World Health Organization (WHO) stated in 1980, when it declared the eradication of smallpox, the disease that had afflicted humanity the most, that "infectious diseases will eventually be controlled through advances in medicine." However, since then, AIDS has spread across the globe, and influenza viruses have also emerged as "new" strains, seemingly outmaneuvering vaccine development. My specialty is Western economic history, and the plague, also known as the Black Death, has had a significant impact on people's lives and economic development. Recent research on the plague has highlighted the causal relationship between climate and ecosystems. The 14th-century plague epidemic wiped out one-third of Europe's population, and it has been pointed out that the climate at the time was experiencing a cold period, and that the clearing of forests due to the agricultural revolution had caused foxes and wolves, natural predators of rats that transmit the plague bacterium, to lose their habitats, which was a contributing factor to the epidemic. Real-world crises always arise from a complex interplay of diverse factors. Pandemics seem to erupt from a subtle overlap of socioeconomic changes, climate change, and ecological changes.

To all graduates and Graduate Schools students: The era in which you will live is by no means an "exceptional period of stability," but rather an "era of great change and crisis" as seen over the past 30 years. However, a crisis is also an opportunity to create a new era. Having experienced the Great East Japan Earthquake, and having been encouraged by the sight of people overcoming the crisis caused by the earthquake, you have diligently pursued your studies and cultivated friendships, and I am confident that you have the strength to overcome the changes and crises that humanity faces. As you enter society, I hope you will put into practice the fruits of your learning at Tohoku Gakuin University, and never forget your desire to learn and your spirit of inquiry, as you overcome this "era of great change and crisis." Tohoku Gakuin's school motto is LIFE LIGHT LOVE. Precisely because this is an "era of great change and crisis," I hope that you will cherish LIFE life and individual dignity, forge a new era through the achievements of LIGHT academics and science, and serve your community and the world with LOVE neighborly love.

Finally, I would like to share with you a verse from the Bible: "For I consider our present sufferings to be insignificant compared to the glory that will be revealed to us in the future" (Romans 8:18).

March 23, 2020

Haruki Onishi, President of Tohoku Gakuin University