There is no university professor as happy as I am.
Happy New Year!
I look forward to your continued support this year.
Until just now, I was watching the "75th NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen" Kohaku is, after all,
that's it. Huh? No, I mean JO1 (laughs). My former student, the lyricist
Daiki Inuzuka, provides songs for JO1. Maybe it's a B-side on a single.
JO1 didn't sing Inuzuka-kun's song at Kohaku, but I still find myself wanting to cheer for them.
Inuzuka-kun was a student I taught in a first-year basic seminar.
Every week during class, his hair color would change—purple, gold, silver, pink... He was an extremely unique student.
In that same class was Taishi Sasayama, who is becoming a famous reporter for the Asahi Shimbun; looking back, that class was full of big talents (laughs).
Naoyuki Hayashi of the Asahi Shimbun, who I appeared with on BS Fuji Prime News last year, was actually Sasayama-kun's boss (laughs). In the dressing room, we had a great time talking about Sasayama-kun's student days and his many heroic tales at Asahi.
It's not that I taught Inuzuka-kun or Sasayama-kun anything in particular.
I just made sure not to get in the way of their freedom and individuality.
I hope they feel that it was a good thing I was their teacher during their first year of university, yes (laughs).
Even so, I don't think there is a university professor as happy as I am.
My former students are truly a diverse group. Scholars, bureaucrats, politicians, journalists... They are truly active in various worlds.
It's not about whether they succeed in their careers. It's not about having a glamorous job. What makes me happy is that no matter what society they are in, they have become people who are relied upon when it matters most.
Because when the chips are down, it's not necessarily the people who climb the career ladder who are the most reliable.
There are plenty of people who climb the ladder but are still considered untrustworthy. Rather than that, I sent them out into society telling them to become people who can be relied upon when those around them are truly struggling.
Whether or not you climb the ladder depends on luck and various other factors. But anyone can become a reliable person if they work hard. And I believe all my former students have worked hard.
What makes me happiest is that through the success of my former students in various fields, I am able to share in lives that I could never have lived myself.
It is equivalent to me walking through the lives of hundreds of people, and I think that is truly a wonderful thing.
I truly feel like a lucky person, and I think I will do my best with a fresh mindset again this year.
That is what I thought while watching JO1's performance on Kohaku (laughs).