A sophomore at Soka University, Hideyuki Mihara joins this year's conference as a member of table 3 "Freedom of Speech and Its Restriction in Today's World". Let's get to know more about him through this short interview.
"If this Freedom of Speech was restricted by the government, we are forced not to spread our thoughts and negative opinions towards the government might be forbidden. I believe that Freedom of Speech is one of the significant factors which support democracy and this should be guaranteed. "
Q１. Please tell us what are the reasons/motivations that made you apply for ISC65?
Hello! I’m Hideyuki Mihara, the sophomore in Soka University and majoring in International Liberal Arts. I studied in Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines from this January to May and took classes like psychology, education, development and so on. My hobbies are listening to music and climbing up mountains. The reason why I decided to participate in this international students conference is because I was fascinated by that we can discuss topics not only with Japanese students but also with international students and we can also have opportunities to claim our opinions to the society. I also think that I can improve my English ability, because the conference will be conducted in English. Through discussions, I’d like to make this conference wonderful and make a lot of memories.
Q２.What do you think about your table’s topic?
My table topic is “Freedom of Speech and its Restrictions in Today's World”. As you can know from the word, the Freedom of Speech is one of the rights that allow us to spread our ideas and thoughts to others. Thanks to this right is guaranteed, we can freely use SNS like Twitter, Facebook, and so on. If this Freedom of Speech was restricted by the government, we are forced not to spread our thoughts and negative opinions towards the government might be forbidden. I believe that Freedom of Speech is one of the significant factors which support democracy and this should be guaranteed. However, so-called hate speech is becoming problems and it is difficult to distinguish freedom of speech and hate speech.
Q3. Can you tell us a little bit about your hometown?
I’m from Gunma, which is rich in nature. Even Japanese, some of them don’t know where Gunma is:( It is located in the middle of the Japanese main island and it takes one hour and half to go there from Tokyo. I’m often asked that “ Do we need passports to go to Gunma?”. You do not need it. Unless you are in Japan, you can go there without your passport. Gunma has a lot of hot springs (Onsenin Japanese) just like Ikaho-Onsen, Shima-Onsen, Kusatsu-Onsen and so on. It is also surrounded by three mountains, which is called “Joumou Sanzan”. When I was in high school, I belonged to mountaineering club and climbed up mountains in Gunma. Gunma also has Mizusawa-Udon, which in one of the top three udon in Japan. This udon is very chewy and delicious. Moreover, Gunma is famous for its souce-katsu, yakimanju, and so on. There is also one of the Häagen-Dazs factories there. Please come to Gunma and enjoy a lot of delicious foods and beautiful nature.
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