ご家族をはじめ、皆さんを支えてこられた関係者の皆様にも、心よりお祝いを申し上げます。社会基盤学専攻で積み重ねてきた学びと努力に、教員の一人として深い敬意を表します。
近年、東京大学の入学者の出身校には偏りがあり、首都圏の中高一貫校出身者が多い、と言われています。しかし私は宮崎南部の出身で、家族・親戚で大学に行った人はおらず、裕福な家庭でもありませんでした。塾に通ったことはなく、新聞配達をしていました。
一方、私の研究対象である発展途上国では、経済格差が大きく、機会が一部の人に限られている国が少なくありません。地方や農村に生まれたというだけで、高等教育は現実的な選択肢になりえないことが多いです。
日本では、風水害や地震・津波という厳しい自然条件の中で、河川・海岸整備や耐震化などの公共投資により、社会基盤が積み上げられてきました。現代の日本では、その膨大で高度な施設に守られていることは、かえって気づきにくいかもしれません。
皆さんが専攻を選んだとき、「社会」「基盤」「公共」という言葉に、強い関心や手応えを感じていたはずです。どんな業界にいても、最終的に社会に残るのは、「それが誰の役に立ち、誰の負担になったのか」という結果です。
しかし、教育・治安・医療・インフラといった面で、世界的に見て非常に恵まれた環境の中で育ってきたことも忘れないでください。もし皆さんが、途上国の農村で生まれていたなら、その能力を十分に発揮することなく、人生を終えていたでしょう。努力が大切であることと、機会が偏在していることは、両方が真実です。
だからこそ、皆さんがこれから得る影響力には、使い道があります。そのために、重要な意思決定の前に、心の中で問いを一つ追加してください。「この決定は、弱い立場の人を置き去りにしないか。」
To all our graduates, congratulations on your graduation from the graduate school today. I would also like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to your families and everyone else who has supported you throughout your journey. As a member of the faculty, I express my deepest respect for the knowledge and hard work you have accumulated in the Department of Civil Engineering.
Civil Engineering deals not only with infrastructure such as roads, rivers, and cities, but also with the safety and fairness of people’s lives.
Please allow me to share a brief personal story.
In recent years, it has been said that there is a skew in the high schools of origin for students admitted to the University of Tokyo, with many coming from integrated junior and senior high schools in the Tokyo metropolitan area.
However, I am from southern Miyazaki; no one in my family or among my relatives attended university, and my family was not wealthy. I never attended a cram school; instead, I delivered newspapers.
Yet here I am today, working as a professor at the University of Tokyo.
While hard work certainly played a role, I am deeply grateful to the structure of Japanese society and education, which has preserved the possibility that one’s future is not entirely determined by one’s background.
I am truly grateful to the Japanese social and educational systems for this.
On the other hand, in the developing countries that are the subject of my research, there are many nations where economic disparities are vast and opportunities are limited to only a select few. Simply being born in a rural area or the countryside often makes higher education an unrealistic option.
Furthermore, when natural disasters such as typhoon and flood damage strike, the vicious cycle of poverty can accelerate. I want to help alleviate this vicious cycle, even if only slightly, and am conducting research on how flood protection policies in developing countries can contribute to reducing poverty and social inequality.
In Japan, despite harsh natural conditions such as typhoons and flood damage, earthquakes, and tsunamis, civil infrastructures has been built up through public investment in river and coastal protection and earthquake-proofing. In modern Japan, it may be difficult to realize just how much we are protected by these vast and sophisticated facilities.
However, it is precisely because of this “normality” that you are able to concentrate on your studies, companies are able to conduct economic activities, and society is able to function day to day.
Our job is to fulfill the responsibility of passing this “normality” on to the next generation.
You will all go on to pursue careers in a variety of fields. In recent years, an increasing number of you have chosen paths not directly linked to Civil Engineering, such as financial institutions and general consulting firms.
I view this as a positive development.
This is because having graduates of Civil Engineering spread out to the diverse places where societal decisions are made holds great value for society.
However, for this “spread” to truly be meaningful, it is important that you do not let go of what you have gained in this Department.
When you chose this department, you must have felt a strong interest in and connection to the words “civil engineering” “society” and “public.” No matter what industry you enter, what ultimately remains in society is the result: “Who did it benefit, and who did it burden?”
I’d like to add just one thing.
Your efforts are genuine.
However, please do not forget that you have grown up in an environment that is, by global standards, extremely privileged in terms of education, public safety, healthcare, and infrastructure. If you had been born in a rural area of a developing country, you would likely have ended your life without ever fully realizing your potential. It is true that effort is important, and it is also true that opportunities are unevenly distributed.
That is precisely why the influence you will gain from now on has a purpose. To that end, before making any important decisions, please ask yourself one additional question: “Will this decision leave those in vulnerable positions behind?”
It is not easy to consider the circumstances of those in a different position from your own. However, if you mobilize all your knowledge and critical thinking, you should be able to imagine it.
Finally, I ask that you use your high aspirations and abilities not only for your own sake, but for the sake of society and the future.
It is my sincere hope that your future achievements will help shape a better public sphere for Japan and the world, and I offer these words as my congratulations.
Congratulations on this special day.
