令和7年度　東京大学秋季入学式　祝辞（國部 毅 東京大学校友会 会長）

Congratulatory Address by The UTokyo Alumni Association President at the AY 2025 Autumn Semester Matriculation Ceremony

Thank you for the kind introduction.
My name is Takeshi Kunibe.

I speak on behalf of the UTokyo Alumni Association.
To everyone entering our university today and to your families, I offer my warmest congratulations.

I graduated from the Faculty of Economics in 1976.
I now serve as Special Advisor at Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group.

Since July last year, I have served as President of the UTokyo Alumni Association.
Our Alumni Association began in 2004 as a university-wide organization.
All graduates, current students, faculty, and staff are members.
That means everyone joining the university today is a member as well.

As President of the UTokyo Alumni Association, I welcome you all.

As you all know, we live in a time of rapid change.
Globalization has reversed direction.
Artificial intelligence and other technologies are advancing quickly.
We are experiencing several paradigm shifts at once.

You might worry how your time here as students can be meaningful in such a turbulent period.
Let’s think about this idea of “paradigm shift.”
The term was first used by Thomas Kuhn, an American historian of science, in his book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
He wrote that scientists working within an accepted paradigm or framework sometimes encounter anomalies, that is, things the framework cannot explain.

As such cases build up, new theories and methods emerge, and the paradigm changes.
Let’s look at this in another way.
When we come across something unfamiliar, we should not dismiss it as an exception.
We should examine it directly and accept it.

When you let go of fixed ideas and try different viewpoints, you make room for innovation—for new paradigms.
This is also true for your own personal growth.

Do not cling to your assumptions or reject what seems strange.
When you encounter anomalies, accept and examine them.
When you do so, you will experience a paradigm shift of your own.

In that way, you can continue to grow.
Of course, it is not easy to change the ideas and values that you are used to.
But when you welcome new environments, perspectives, and cultures—when you accept what at first seems strange to you—you will develop flexibility and an inclusive mind.

Those strengths will help you thrive after you graduate as well.
So during your student years, seek out new fields of study, new values, and different people.
Fortunately, you already come from many different backgrounds. So start by connecting with one another here.

The UTokyo Alumni Association will support you by hosting class-year gatherings and other events.
Please join us.

During your time at UTokyo, I hope each of you will gain the flexibility and inclusiveness to embrace diverse values and to become a leader who can guide the world in a better direction.

Let me close by wishing you all the best of health and a fulfilling student life.
Once again, congratulations.

KUNIBE Takeshi
President
The UTokyo Alumni Association
October 1, 2025