Kaito Kawano's Final Report
Final Report to Rotary International
Kaito Kawano
Introduction
The 24th of August in 2011 was my very first evening in Utrecht. Although I was exhausted after the uncomfortable flight from Japan, I decided to take a walk in the city center. I will never forget the first sight that caught my eye once I got off the bus. The sidewalk by the canal was illuminated with various styles of restaurant and bar. Dom Tower, the oldest and highest church in the Netherlands, majestically stood like a guardian in the middle of the city. Imagining myself living and learning here, I could not be more excited, and instantly fell in love with Utrecht. People often say that “time flies.” Now I feel that I fully understand this concept, after one year passed like a roller coaster ride. Looking at the academic side of my stay, it was a rocky path with many intellectual challenges, but it certainly made my stay incredibly fulfilling. Learning to live in a country different to my own and working together with people from different backgrounds provided me with important life skills and insights. This experience has broadened my horizons and strengthened my resolve to pursue my career goals in the international sphere. This report is intended as an overview of my experience in the Netherlands as an ambassadorial scholar. The content of this report will be broken up to four sections: academic experiences, extra curricular activities, my relationship with rotary club Bunnik and my future career plans.
Academic Experiences
As an ambassadorial scholar, I was enrolled in the LL.M. in International Law of Human Rights and Criminal Justice at Utrecht University, Netherlands. My programme consisted of a quite small but nicely diverse group that included students from all over the world, - the USA, Australia, Germany, Indonesia, Netherlands, Spain, Chile and Columbia. In addition, most of them had experience in professional legal fields in their homelands. Being able to have an intellectual conversation with my fellow students significantly inspired me, and I truly believe that multicultural dialogues sometimes teach far more valuable lessons than those I can acquire in the lecture room.
Regarding academic courses, I took the wide variety of courses offered under the international law of human rights track: “International and European Human Rights Law”, “International Criminal Law and Procedure”, “Economic Social and Cultural Rights”, “European Human Rights Case Law”, and “Liberty and Fair Trial”. These courses provided me with a new perspective on legal questions that have fascinated me during my studies, allowing me to make fully informed comparisons between the Japanese and European approaches to complex issues. Alongside these courses, it is important to highlight my experience in the clinical program, which granted me an opportunity to perform in-depth research and draft memoranda regarding an on-going case before the International Criminal Court in Den Haag together with colleagues from Spain and the Netherlands. Although this is the toughest challenge that I have ever faced in academia, it has taught me how to better cooperate with my peers and how to function in an accurate and precise manner when working on complicated assignments.
Throughout this masters programme, I have been satisfied with my academic performance. I was able to keep a high standard of grades in each module I took, marking average 8.0 score (equivalent with GPA 4.0 in the educational system of the United States) including my masters dissertation. Through finishing this LL.M. degree with a high grade, I gained great confidence and became mentally prepared for stepping into the next chapter of my life – real working experience.
Extracurricular Activities
Although the LL.M. programme was extremely demanding, I think that I balanced my study well with other activities. First of all, I participated in a Dutch volleyball club team in Utrecht. This team was initially for Dutch students, but after negotiation, I managed to be a part of this team for one academic year. I strongly believe that sport is the best way to make local friends no matter which country you relocate to. I practiced twice per week and played one match on Saturdays. With such stressful, demanding courses, having time to play volleyball with great friends was very refreshing, and that consequently helped to motivate my studies.
In addition, thanks to its geography, Europe offers a lot of wonderful destinations for short trips. During my overseas study, I had opportunities to visit friends in Austria, Germany and England, with whom I have kept in touch since my previous overseas study experience in Sweden. Moreover, it was a great pleasure to welcome my mother and sister to Utrecht. We traveled to some major cities in the Netherlands, and took the train to visit Brugge in Belgium. Traveling to beautiful cities in Europe and sharing these moments with my friends and family remain as enduring memories in my heart.
Relationship with Club Bunnik
At the outset, I would never have imagined that I could establish a strong relationship with Rotary Club Bunnik, and I would love to give my deepest thanks to the Rotarians in Bunnik. At the weekly meeting every Wednesday, they warmly welcomed and entertained me with witty conversations. Despite a couple of absences due to my workload, I visited nearly every Wednesday during my stay. In addition, I fulfilled my duty as an ambassadorial scholar by making ten presentations to other clubs. Share stories and feedback regarding some social issues in Japan with other Rotary clubs was very interesting.
Weekly meetings are not the only occasions when I enjoyed spending time with Rotary Club Bunnik. In January, I was invited to a Jazz and Blues Festival which Rotary Club Bunnik organizes annually to raise funds for charitable activities. It was an amazing experience to listen to Animal’s “House of the Rising Sun”, which is one of my all the time favorite songs. Moreover, on the 11th of March, I attended the one-year anniversary ceremony for the tragic earthquake in Japan. Knowing that there are a number of people who are located far from Japan trying to support the nation, I felt honored to be present at the ceremony and became more determined to fulfill my duties as an ambassadorial scholar.
In Club Bunnik, each individual has been very sincere to me throughout my stay in Utrecht. They listened carefully to my concerns for my future, and gave me honest advice. They treated me extremely nicely with wonderful dinners, even when my mother and sister were visiting. Fortunately, I was also able to visit the beautiful island Texel, which is located in the northern part of the Netherlands, and stay with the family of a Rotarian.
My Future Career
Since September, I have been engaged in an internship with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR) Japan Representation. My duties involve: assisting with UNHCR events, symposia and outreach; assisting in liaison and coordination with the Japanese government, UN agencies, and NGOs; researching the situation in the countries of origin of asylum-seekers; research on state practice (jurisprudence and asylum system in other countries); and assisting protection staff in translation of documents, including legal and policy documents. As any U.N. related internship is unpaid, I have two other part-time jobs alongside my internship in order to finance myself. Of course, it is stressful to juggle three jobs at the same time, but I firmly believe that this experience will eventually bring a positive influence to my future career.
From April, I will start working for Mitsui Sumitomo Banking Corporation (SMBC), quite possibly in the investment banking department. SMBC is a leading international project and structure finance bank with over 300 projects in Asia, Australia, Europe, Middle East, Africa, North American and South America. These projects include many infrastructure businesses that demand precise assessment from international legal point of view. I strongly believe that involvement with infrastructure operations from the banking business will consequently bring, though indirectly, a positive influence upon people’s lives – that is my way of contributing to society.
As a Final Remark
From the bottom of my heart, I would like to thank every single person who truly made my year absolutely remarkable. But particularly, my deepest thanks go to Rotary Club Bunnik. I could not have asked for any better place as a host club. Moving on to the next chapter of my life I would never have been able to feel prepared if I had not had this opportunity to study in Utrecht with the Rotary ambassadorial scholarship. I will always cherish everything that I experienced at Rotary Club Bunnik. I have to keep reminding myself that farewells are neither forever nor the end. They are simply words to say that we will miss you dearly and that we will remember you fondly. Although I may be separated by time and distance from Utrecht, nothing will diminish the important relationship and precious memories, and they will always play an important role in my life. I promise that I will visit Rotary Club Bunnik some time in the near future. To conclude, I am extremely honored and thankful to the Rotary International for giving me this wonderful opportunity.
November 2012