EDITORIAL: Japan's role in Asia unity

Asia is now facing a raft of common challenges, including pollution spreading across borders, increasing difficulty in securing energy and food, the rapid aging of the population and disputes over maritime interests and territories.

Seen from the broad regional perspective, it is clear that all these problems are challenges that need to be dealt with through unified efforts by Asian nations.

Europe is another area that has been wrestling with a similar situation.

Until the mid-20th century, countries in Europe had been constantly feuding and warring with each other.

Faced with the gloomy prospect of declining from stagnation, Europe has been trying to avoid that fate by removing the walls of national borders for regional integration.

Twenty-seven European countries have promoted economic integration under the banner of the European Union and, through the efforts, built a community of nations bound by a pledge not to wage war with each other.

Now, in the face of the euro crisis, these countries are working hard to find a regional remedy instead of tackling the challenge independently.

A one-hour train ride from Brussels, the capital of Belgium where the EU is headquartered, brought me to Bruges, a historic city where I visited the College of Europe.

Some 400 young people from all over Europe study at the postgraduate institute.

The university has produced many senior EU officials. And its graduates, who often have a large network of contacts within the EU, are sometimes called collectively as the "Bruges mafia."

The institute was founded in 1949, shortly after the end of World War II. At that time, there was none of the legal or political frameworks for European integration.

European leaders in those days, including Winston Churchill, the former British prime minister who advocated the creation of a "United States of Europe," apparently thought building a school to develop human resources would be a good first step toward regional integration.

Cultivating a sense of identity

Classes at the institute are taught in English and French. Many different languages are heard at places like school cafeterias and dormitories. On weekends, parties are organized to introduce students to the foods and cultures of countries in the region.

One year of living in a dorm helps students from various countries to develop a sense of identity as a European, separate from their national identity.

Edouard Dirrig, a 28-year-old graduate of the school, is now an employee at the European Parliament. In addition to English and French, the languages of his parents, Dirrig also uses German and Italian, which he learned at the university, in his work of coordinating the interests of countries over a variety of issues.

Dirrig says he finds it rewarding to work for the entire Europe instead of just serving national interests.

Behind the fact that many European students are multilingual speakers is an effective pan-European exchange program.

Since the late 1980s, 2.2 million students have taken part in the Erasmus Program (European Region Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students), an EU-funded student exchange program designed to promote studying abroad within Europe through a credit transfer system and a scholarship program.

Asia is different from Europe in many ways, such as historical backgrounds and political circumstances. Yet economic interdependence among countries in Asia is as high as that among European nations.

English as common language in Asia

Various forms of regional cooperation have been established. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and three East Asian powers--Japan, China and South Korea--are cooperating with each other for such purposes as financial system stability, disaster prevention and food security.

Significant changes are also taking place in the area of education.

Signs of a new future for Asia taking shape are visible at places like the campus building No. 11 of Waseda University in Tokyo.

Various foreign languages can be heard around the building, which is located close to the famous bronze statue of founder Shigenobu Okuma (1838-1922).

More than a third of the 3,100 students at the university's School of International Liberal Studies, housed by the building, are foreign nationals, with more than 60 percent from South Korea or China.

All classes are taught in English. Many of the foreign students become trilingual, speaking English, Japanese and their native language. Japanese students are required to spend at least one year studying abroad.

The university's Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies, located nearby, aims to develop human resources needed for regional integration in Asia as one of its goals. Classes here, too, are basically conducted in English.

Many of the more than 300 students at the graduate school are from other parts of Asia.

It is not surprising that some classes are taught totally in English at a growing number of Japanese universities, including Akita International University in Akita Prefecture, Hosei University in Tokyo and Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Oita Prefecture.

The wave of globalization is turning English into the common language in Asia.

About 140,000 foreign students are studying in Japan, and 90 percent of them are from other Asian nations. Classes taught in English have great significance as they help attract more foreign students to Japan. It is also important to increase the number of Japanese students studying abroad.

But only increasing the number of foreign students is not enough for Japan's education system to meet the demands of the times.

The rise of emerging countries like China, India and Brazil is changing the power structure of the international community.

What the education system is expected to do now is to make greater efforts to help students acquire broader knowledge that is not limited to what concerns their own nations and develop the ability to think in ways that help build constructive relations between nations.

Education of today needs to free itself from the old thinking focused on developing inward-looking people within the national framework.

The first thing to do is to create the Asian version of the Erasmus Program to increase the number of Asian students studying in other parts of the region.

Promoting exchanges among schools

The "Campus Asia" plan, which has been considered since 2009 as a means to promote exchanges among universities in Japan, China and South Korea, is a good starting point. Details of the plan should be fleshed out swiftly.

Education reform is also imperative. Japanese students often fail to hold their own in debate against their Chinese and South Korean counterparts.

More efforts should be made to help Japanese students acquire the ability to deepen their thoughts and persuade others in addition to English language skills.

At the beginning of each school year in autumn, a political leader in Europe is invited to deliver a speech at the College of Europe. Last year, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told students at the school about the reunification of Germany brought about by the end of the Cold War.

Freedom came suddenly, Merkel said in her speech. The reunification of Germany is unthinkable without integration of Europe, she argued, telling the students that they are the people who can take the best advantage of the opportunities offered by Europe.

There is still a divided nation in Asia. There is also deep-seated mutual distrust among some Asian nations.

The challenge facing the region is how to overcome this difficult situation and find a path toward harmonious and prosperous coexistence.

How Asia will tackle this regional challenge will go a long way toward determining the fate of not just individual countries but of all the nations and people in the region.

It is vital to develop international-minded people who can push Asia toward a brighter future.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Jan. 11