September 26, 2025
2025 Autumn Graduation Ceremony, President Address
We wish all the graduates the best of luck in their future endeavors.
Dear graduates of SOKENDAI,
Congratulations on being awarded your degrees today and on completing your studies at SOKENDAI.
I deeply admire the tremendous effort you have made, and I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to the faculty members who have guided you, as well as to your families who have supported you along the way.
During your time in the graduate program at SOKENDAI, you have acquired specialized knowledge and skills, developed your ability to take on unknown challenges and pursue their solutions. Earning your degree and leaving SOKENDAI today signifies that you are now ready—and indeed expected—to stand on your own as independent researchers and doctoral professionals.
Fully aware that you no longer need words of advice, I would still like to share one short message with you:
Please take a moment to recall your first days at SOKENDAI. Each of you came here with your own unique motivations and backgrounds. Yet I believe you all had one thing in common: a strong sense of curiosity — the desire to learn something new and to explore new ideas and unknown worlds.
As your research progressed, your curiosity probably became more focused and deeper. But maybe, as you specialized, your interest in other areas became smaller, and your perspective a little narrower. That’s a normal part of becoming an expert.
Today, you stand at an important milestone ― the completion of your degree and the beginning of a new path of your own choosing. This moment is also a crossroads. And the path you now embark on will not be a single, straight road.
If you stay open to the world around you, and keep your curiosity alive, you will start to see new paths and chances appear all around you. These diverging paths may take you to destinations you cannot even imagine today, like a network of roads spreading out in the distance.
So please, carry with you the spirit of “Stay awake! Stay curious!” and move forward with confidence into the world beyond SOKENDAI.
Once again, congratulations. I’m excited to see all the great things you will do in the future.
September 26, 2025
Takashi Nagata, President
The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI