On November 25, 2016, the Josai University Educational Corporation hosted the “Third Visegrad 4 + Japan Student Conference” in the International Conference Room on the fifth floor of the 3rd Building in its Tokyo Kioicho Campus.

Following Chancellor Noriko Mizuta’s opening speech, Deputy Head of the Mission, Mr. Milan Slanec gave a speech on behalf of the Embassy of the Czech Republic, which holds the chairmanship of the V4. From the Hungarian Embassy, Counselor Dr. Györgyi Juhász was present as well. In addition to our stuff members and students, nearly 100 members, including Dr. Ewa Kamińska, Head of Policy, Culture and Language Department of Japan, Institute of Middle and Far East, Faculty of International and Political Studies of Jagiellonian University, foreign students from partner institutions, members of Japanese business world and others participated in the conference.

As panelists for the conference, four students were invited from Masaryk University (Czech), University of Debrecen (Hungary), University of Łódź (Poland), and Comenius University in Bratislava (Slovakia), each of which is affiliated with Josai. Concurrently, to encourage aspiring students to attend and participate, simultaneous interpretation between English and Japanese was provided.

The topic, “The primacy of English as a world language：Implications for Japan and Visegrad Countries” was dealt with in the conference as the primary subject. This topic is understood as a common theme in different areas and countries amid the wide-ranging internationalization. On the day, the conference had three sessions plus lunch reception; the first two sessions discussed two themes, “The Power of English” and “Language and National Identity”; in the third session, seven students of JU and JIU made presentations from a variety of viewpoints.