On February 10, 2015, the Josai University Educational Corporation hosted the “Second Visegrad 4 + Japan Student Conference” in the International Conference Room on the fifth floor of the 3rd Building of its Tokyo Kioicho Campus.

Following Chancellor Noriko Mizuta’s opening speech, H.E. Mr. Michal Kottman, Ambassador of Slovakia gave a speech. The guests from the other overseas government offices in Japan were H.E. Mr. Viorel Isticioaia-Budura, Ambassador of Delegation of the European Union to Japan, H.E. Mr. Tomas Dub, Ambassador of the Czech Republic, H.E. Mr. István Szerdahelyi, Ambassador of Hungary, H.E. Ms. Helena Drnovšek Zorko, Ambassador of Slovenia and Mr. Mirosław Błaszczak, Director, Polish Institute, Tokyo. Another one hundred people, including students of Josai, among them many foreign students of the V4 and other countries studying with us under academic exchange agreements, academic staff and participators from the business world, attended the event.

Six panelists were invited this time from the V4 countries’ universities affiliated with Josai; Masaryk University (Czech Republic), Eötvös Loránd University (Hungary), Warsaw School of Economics (Poland) and Comenius University in Bratislava (Slovakia). A theme common to any area or any country, “Cross-cultural Coexistence in an Era of Globalizations”, was proposed as the main theme, and was discussed in detail in three sessions:

Session 1：	“Economic implication of regional integration: Contrasting responses to increased contacts and exchanges”
Session 2：	“Individual and group in an era of cross-border migration”
Session 3：	“The challenge of globalization to national identity”

The International Visegrad Fund (IVF) headquartered in Bratislava, Slovakia, and jointly managed by the V4 countries provide grants to those who wish to promote academic exchanges and/or solve an environmental problem within and without the V4 countries. This year, as in 2014, Josai succeeded in receiving a grant. We remain as the only applicant from Japan to receive support from the IVF.

The students and graduate students who attended the conference learnt and discussed the current situation and issues of V4 counties as a typical, cross-cultural society. Through these activities, they have developed their ideas on the present situation and future prospects of Japan aiming to develop into a cross-cultural society.