I see the basis of this school’s educational philosophy as being ‘autonomy and symbiosis.’ Autonomy in that each student is self- reliant. Symbiosis in that we can all rely upon each other.

It is now 22 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. People of that country had lived a very different style of life but from that point on started living their lives with the same goals as us. As I know you aware, this was followed as many other countries, including China, experienced terrifically powerful changes. As a result, the industries in which we once excelled have been transferred to those countries and this has had a tremendous effect upon our lives.

At the same time, in all developed countries, the IT revolution has brought changes to every aspect of our lives. Once many people were needed to do work which can now be carried out by one person on a computer. Work, which once required experience and skill, can now be mastered by a machine using information technology. This shows us that our society has entered a period of transformation.

Our society can probably be best explained by contemporary words and phrases like: NEET, fureeta, low-class society, society with unequal hopes, among others.

Our country is experiencing the most momentous changes since the dawn of its history, with the news, made public in 2007 that the population is falling. More changes are probably on their way.
The fall in the number of breadwinners, by which I mean the number of productive people, could probably be seen as a particularly big problem. With globalization or internationalization in our borderless world, the day is coming soon, or may even be here, when we live side by side as neighbors with people of different cultures and different tongues, learning together, working together.

How will we live in such a world? How can we flourish in and what can we expect from such a society? Nobody is able to see into the future. But then again, nobody thinks everything will always remain the same.

Our students will be performing on this world stage in 10 or 15 years’ time. They will be helpful to others, useful to society and confident that others appreciate them. I hope each and everyone can become such a person based on what they learned during their days spent at Hiroo Gakuen. It becomes possible to achieve something if you keep repeating that it is possible to achieve it. Make something your goal and you will be able to achieve it.

Through one’s will goals can be set, through one’s own power goals can be achieved. I believe the key is self-reliance: autonomy. When one believes this, one learns that even goals once thought too hard to reach, can be reached. I also want students to experience doing things for each other. Through after-school clubs and activities a bond of trust can be built. I feel that it is especially important that in their respective roles, students fulfill their responsibilities admirably and thus become useful members of society in the future.

I want students to know the importance of being able to coexist: symbiosis.

Finally, I’d like to introduce you to a quotation I often use at school.