Sophia Magazine vol.5 / SUMMER 2017

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Campus NewsSophia Olympics and Paralympics Project LaunchedSophia School Corporation, including Sophia University, launched the Sophia Olympics and Paralympics Project in autumn of 2016. Inspired by the Jesuit principle of education “Men and Women for Others, with Others,” this project is aimed at deepening youths’ understanding of the Games and working toward a borderless, common society within Japan by making the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games a success.From Left: President Schwarz of Alxander von Hum-bolt Foundation, President Gauck of Germany, Pro-fessor Kawasaki/Photo by Kyoto UniversityProfessor Takeshi Kawasaki of the Department of German Studies was awarded the 2016 Philipp Franz von Siebold Prize by Joachim Gauck, the president of Germany at the time, at Kyoto University on November 17, 2016.The Siebold Prize, established in 1979, is awarded annually to a Jap-anese researcher who works to im-prove mutual understanding between the cultural and social communities of Germany and Japan.Kawasaki received the prize for his outstanding analysis of the mechanisms in German political parties that produce the ruling elite. President Gauck con-gratulated Professor Kawasaki for his long legacy of achievement and con-tribution. “I am honored that my ma-ny years of research and eld work in Germany were valued. I will continue to expand my study of both Political Sci-ence and German Studies to contrib-ute to the relationship between Japan and Germany,” Professor Kawasaki pledged.#06Professor Kawasaki Receives Siebold PrizeOn October 19, 2016, Sophia Uni-versity welcomed Sir Philip Craven for a special lecture. About two hundred people lled the International Confer-ence Room in anticipation of his talk. Focusing on the mission of the Para-lympics to “surprise, inspire and excite the world by excel-lent performances,” the guest speaker remarked that society is moved by how inspiration drives transformation. Furthermore, he expressed faith in the power of the Paralympics to make society more convivial and inclusive.Illustrating the remarkable pull of these events, he mentioned that although only 20,000 tickets were sold prior to the start of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, ticket sales skyrocketed to 2,500,000 with promotion by the local Cath-olic Church, Vatican, and Para-lympics-related organizations propel-ling enthusiasm around the region. Responding to a question about growing media coverage of recent Paralympics, Sir Craven identied so-cial media as a major contributing fac-tor, as the number of tweets regard-ing the London Paralympics exceeded even those regarding the correspond-ing Olympics. To an inquiry regarding the feasibility of unifying the Paralym-pics and Olympics, he responded that he believed in the importance of main-taining the distinctive respective iden-tities of the Paralympics and Olympics, although it was vitally important that both sets of games continue to have strong ties with each other. As for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, he expressed hope that many children and young people especially attend the Paralympics, to be inspired and in-uenced by the athletes’ positive atti-tudes. Of the 2020 Tokyo Games he was certain of great ultimate success tempered by the experience of over-coming early challenges.International Paralympic Committee President Visits #056