VOICES

2022 ACE Winter Intensive Program 2022

College of Intercultural Communication, Intercultural Communication Dept., 3rd year
Yidi Liu

Working together with two students from the University of Seoul and Peking University, we explored the topic of “Disparity between generations in social media”. After a short introduction on social media, we examined various reasons the disparity between generations occurs and the possible problems which may arise in case this gap continues to grow. The other groups’ presentations referred to issues from the news media, social media, movies and TV dramas. They all were very interesting and made us think seriously about these matters. We learnt about the differences and the similarities between our countries in the attitude towards the issues of gender and equality of educational resources in Asia. Especially, during the discussions, it was made clear by the presentations and opinions of the other students that depending on each different position and point of view, the way of thinking differs, too.
It was a very interesting and stimulating experience for me. It was an opportunity to get in touch with different values which affected me in a positive way. It was necessary for us to think and act independently but at the same time to collaborate as a group. It was a valuable opportunity for me to reconsider myself and to think about how I should behave in various situations. I look forward to meeting everybody in person in the near future.

College of Business, International Business Dept., 3 year
Yuka Sato

Until the beginning of this conference I was worried if it would go well to make a shared presentation with students from different majors, universities and countries. At the College of Business, we are used to working in groups but I have never had much interaction with students from the other colleges. However, this time by uniting our communication skills and knowledge, we managed to make a kind of presentation I have never made before! We all participated actively and because we came from different backgrounds and majors, we learnt really a lot! I felt a strong desire to broaden my knowledge of other academic fields as well while taking my business courses. This is because management exists in various fields, and I thought that new business ideas would come to my mind with a broader range of knowledge and education. In fact, I came up with a new marketing method thanks to the lecture of one of the guest speakers.
Attending lectures from different fields of study and preparing for and listening to the presentations of the others, I was able to reestablish how much I love studying Business Administration. Also, during the discussions with students from other countries, universities and majors, I found many differences between Japan and Singapore, South Korea and China but at the same time I was surprised how much we have in common.
My group’s presentation was about "accents and dialects", "aging society" and the "gap between the rich and the poor".
It was a valuable experience I could not possibly have gained only at Rikkyo.

Global Liberal Arts Program 3rd year
Asako Kakihara

The special lecture at the beginning of the program was an analysis of social issues based on popular movies and dramas. Professor Kim's teaching methods were very engaging and the lecture was very interesting. I personally am fond of Korean dramas and it was very captivating to deeply immerse myself in different drama works. We dealt with the definitions and characteristics of fiction and non-fiction and the Professor’s explanations were very memorable and easy to understand. Our group made a presentation on the topic of “Educational Disparities in the East Asian Sphere”. The special lecture was very useful for us because our presentation was exactly on the topic of the social disparity seen through the medium of movies and dramas.
It is important to note what a valuable opportunity this intercultural exchange was especially in these times of pandemic! I was not able to spend much time with the students outside of my group but I enjoyed even the short time I could talk with them.
I especially liked the presentation time. Although we were working on the same topic about social disparity, all the presentations were different and I managed to learn many new things in one single day.
The 5 days I partook in this program were very brief but at the same time extremely fruitful for all of us.