By Tomomi Abe
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The board of directors meeting was held at Sapporo University, and Tatsuya Hori, a former governor of Hokkaido, inherited the post as Chief Director from Yoshiro Ito on August 9, 2004. Three months have passed since Mr. Hori assumed the job as Chief Director and Youth Forum decided to interview Mr. Hori and ask him about his experiences and his aspirations to be the new SU chief director. He greeted us with a smile in his room. The interview took about one hour but he eagerly answered all questions.
Mr. Hori was born in Sakhalin in 1935. A few years later, his family came to Hokkaido and he spent his childhood in Engaru. He was admitted to Hokkaido University and majored in forestry. After he graduated, he started to work at the Hokkaido Prefectural Office. In 1995, he was inaugurated as the Governor of Hokkaido, where he served two four years terms. The most important work for him during his eight years was when Mt. Usu erupted in 2000. He also gave a description of it in his book, The Task of Hokkaido Governor (Jurosha, 2003). When he decided he wanted to be SU's chief director, he hoped these experiences could help in the area of education. Students at SU are able to learn about Mr. Hori's ideas regarding education by reading SU's publicity paper Satoporo, sent to students' homes during the summer vacation.
After the autumn semester started there was no formal event to introduce the new Chief Director, so the chance for students and Mr. Hori to meet each other was lost. During this interview, Mr. Hori lamented, "There are few occasions when I can meet and speak to SU students, which is a pity." These words showed his extraordinary resolution to talk to students as the new Chief Director. At the same time, there are many students who wish to speak to Mr. Hori.
Since the autumn semester started Mr. Hori has seen the lively atmosphere of SU's campus prompting him to say, "You students study in very nice circumstances. It's good for you to be able to derive many things from this university and get out into the world." He places a special emphasis on the motto of SU, and moreover, he hopes that students understand the true meaning of the motto which is, "Live a frontier spirit full of energy."
In addition, he talked about how the SU students should live. He said, "I want to encourage students to flourish at not only learning but also sports or culture and also to be able to react to various things." He wants to send people who are responsible into the world. He also stressed the importance of sending forth students who understand the needs of a changing world. In order to realize this, SU should continually reform (and not make sudden changes) always altering the consciousness while trying not to get into a rut. All people in SU such as students, office staff, and teachers should rebuild SU so that students can believe that studying or working at SU was a good dicision.
Youth Forum also asked Mr. Hori whether SU students have some problems which need to be addressed quickly. He answered, "SU students tend to alienate the GNN." The initials "GNN", a term he coined, stand for "Giri and Ninjo and NingenkankeiÓ"(debt and humanity and human relations). Mr. Hori explained, "ItŐs important to be able to manage the basic things as a person and to be trusted." At present day, this basic concept may be lacking. For example, if students meet him on campus, most do not realize that he is the Chief Director and may not acknowledge him. Do students really greet other professors this way? His remark is meaningful.
During our interview, in return, Mr. Hori told us that he had a desire to hear the student's opinions. This shows his sincerity about his willingness to listen to the students' voice. At the end of the interview Mr. Hori asked Youth Forum if another interview was possible again. Hearing this it was easy to see that he aspired to converse with students. Let us hope that Mr. Hori and the students will have numerous chances to talk without constraints in the future. Let us also hope students strive to achieve Mr. Hori's goals as the new Chief Director of SU.