Faculty of Liberal Arts approach — You can be indifferent, but you cannot remain uninvolved.

From Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa in the south, there isn't a single prefecture without a university. Despite having 47 options, why did you choose Miyagi Prefecture? And despite Miyagi Prefecture having multiple universities, why did you choose Tohoku Gakuin University? And despite Tohoku Gakuin University having multiple faculties, why did you choose Faculty of Liberal Arts?

From the very beginning, this has become like peeling an onion or enjoying a Matryoshka doll. However, you are probably familiar with the sayings, "Fate works in mysterious ways" and "Even a chance encounter is a karmic connection from a past life." The reason you are reading my clumsy greeting may be purely coincidental, but that doesn't mean I should complain to everyone saying, "This wasn't supposed to happen," as that would tarnish the reputation of Faculty of Liberal Arts student. We are all human, after all, and everyone has their own circumstances. It's common for things not to go as planned, and it is the mark of a cultured person to say, "If you say that, it's all over."

For example, after repeated calculations, we might get a result that would be strange if the Earth didn't rotate. But instead of saying, "That can't be right," we accept it with "So that's how it is." This spirit, attitude, and mindset is surely what has driven science forward. Of course, common sense is very important and should be valued, but on the other hand, unreasonable preconceptions and futile assumptions must be corrected and refreshed. Yesterday's common sense is today's absurdity, or yesterday's outrageous argument is today's correct argument—this is easy to understand if you think about issues like LGBTQ+ or SDGs. However, how to approach this, the right balance, and where to draw the line is quite difficult. And the very fact that you can ponder "Huh?" at this point is proof that you have taken the first step into the world of academia.

A typical example of "Huh?" might be when cause and effect don't connect, or when input and output don't correspond. With a vending machine, you put in 500 yen, press the button, and get what you want. No matter who puts in the 500 yen, the result is the same. If it were different, it would be a major problem. However, human life and society don't always work that way. If someone playfully pleads, "Don't press it, don't press it," then you have to press it hard—that's what communication is all about. A mismatch between meaning and intention is partly an inevitable part of social life, and since university is also a part of social life, it's not as simple as a vending machine. The fact that the world doesn't unfold according to the hopes and expectations of first-person pronouns like "I" or "we" should make sense if you consider the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Palestinian issue, etc.

To enjoy the sense of unease and possibility that arises from saying "Huh?", Faculty of Liberal Arts actively looks to the side and tries to walk in someone else's shoes. While struggling and adapting flexibly, it connects and overlaps people, cultures, information, and regions, takes a bird's-eye view and looks up at them, turns the unexpected into the expected, and personally confirms the diversity, multi-layered nature, and interdisciplinary nature of thought and methods.

Naturally, you will read quite a few books while you are a student. The answers may be written in the books, but as a university student, you should pay attention to what is not written and why it is not written. Don't just look for answers, but also formulate questions. I want you to build bridges between seemingly unrelated things, draw auxiliary lines, and let your imagination run wild.

Seeing only what you want to see (or not seeing), hearing only what you want to hear (or not hearing)—this attitude is apparently now called the echo chamber phenomenon. Indeed, it perfectly aligns with the method of avoiding and shying away from anything that makes you think, "Huh?" I'll repeat this again and again: you can be indifferent, but you can't remain uninvolved. Recognizing this is the first step in cultivating intellectual refinement, and that's where the pride of Faculty of Liberal Arts student lies.

For now, everyone has the same amount of time. Please make the most of every spare moment.