We Are Tomodachi Autumn / Winter 2017

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28The city of Beppu in Oita Prefecture is where one will find the international university Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU). APU was established by the Ritsumeikan Trust, an educational institution with more than 100 years of history and tradition, through cooperation with Oita Prefecture and the city of Beppu. APU has accepted students from 147 countries and regions throughout the world since it first opened its doors in 2000. APU’s two colleges are the College of Asia Pacific Studies, in which students study such subjects as international relations, environment and development, and tourism, and the College of International Management, in which students study business management and other such fields. APU has a student enrollment of about 6,000, with half the student body international and the other half Japanese.Jean-Baptiste Gourdin, a student from France, said, “Before I came to Japan, the only image I had was of advanced major cities, typified by Tokyo. But by living in Oita I’ve also had the opportunity to come into contact with the warmth of the culture found in Japan’s local areas.” He paints APU as a “university at which students become able to transcend the frameworks of nations and cultures to interact with each other as individuals, while learning together.”During their first year, international students live together in a dormitory with Japanese students who opt to live there. Jana Pelzom, a student from Bhutan and a resident assistant responsible for assisting lowerclassmen and women in the dormitory, talks about the significance of living in a dormitory with people from a multitude of other countries, saying, “We live together with friends from the same age group and build close human relations even with people having completely different cultures, customs, and values.”The Government of Japan is actively promoting the acceptance of international students and is developing various programs, aiming to have 300,000 international students at Japanese institutes of higher education by 2020. The African Business Education Initiative for Youth (the ABE Initiative), which provides African youth with educational opportunities in Japan, is one of these programs. Wanyama Eugene, a native of Kenya who graduated from APU’s College of Asia Pacific Studies in 2005 and now works as a staff member at the university, evaluates this initiative saying, “The effects of the ABE On his own initiative, Jean-Baptiste Gourdin tried his hand at designing official school goods for APU. He submitted a number of designs to the university for consideration, and they were accepted. He observed, “APU has a school tradition of freedom and supports students’ individuality.”Living and Learning Globally in Oita