Sophia Magazine vol.2 / WINTER 2015

20/32

lenging problems such as helping opposing factions in coun-tries reach a settlement, she visits the countries in question repeatedly, often staying for several months. The job requires the ability to negotiate tenaciously.“Maintaining peace in the international community is at the core of the UN. When I visit countries, sometimes nations react by saying, “Why are you enforcing Western ideas?” My answer is simple—these are not Western or Eastern ideas. We base our action on the principles of the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. All countries that have become members of the United Nations have subscribed to these principles. I am proud to work for the principles of the UN Charter and find my job highly rewarding. Moreover, there are a large number of people in the world who trust us and consider us indispensable to world peace, which is the biggest encouragement,” she said with a gentle smile.Among the teaching staff in those days was the young and upcoming Professor Kuniko Inoguchi (currently a member of the House of Councilors), who had just returned from the U.S. Impressed by Professor Inoguchi’s lectures in Introduction to International Legal Studies, Ms. Yamashita joined Professor Inoguchi’s seminar in her junior year. Under a strict academic environment where everything was conducted in English, Ya-mashita acquired a command of the language. She also stud-ied under Sophia professors Sadako Ogata, who went on to head UNHCR, and Yuichi Takano, an authority on interna-tional law.“Though they were all very demanding, I appreciated their extremely high-quality lectures. One more thing that influ-enced me was the Model United Nations that I came across when I was a junior. This was an intercollege circle established by Toshiya Hoshino (currently Professor, Osaka University) who was also one of Professor Ogata’s students. Today, it has developed into the Japan Model United Nations with the Yot-suya branch located in Sophia University. As a matter of fact, many of my colleagues in the circle are currently working as Japanese diplomats at the UN or hold important positions in the UN,” she said.After graduating from Sophia University she went on to study at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in the United States in order to improve her English and broaden her knowledge further. After a stint as an intern at the UN, she successfully passed the UN National Competitive Recruit-ment Examination while she was still a student. She began working for the UN shortly after graduation, unusual for UN staff. “As a Japanese UN staff member, I feel the high expecta-tions and confidence placed on the role of Japan in the in-ternational community on a daily basis. Japan was able to achieve restoration at an astonishingly fast pace, build a sta-ble society, and take the global initiative on the economic and technological fronts. Among others, I think the expectations of Asian nations are significan,” she said. Yamashita is frequently mistaken for a Westerner. When she reveals that she is Japanese, she often receives a favorable reac-tion: “No wonder you’re different,” she has been told.“I suppose what they really mean is that they see empathy in Japanese people. I expect the international community to call for even more active contributions from Japan,” she added.Currently, she lives with her husband, a doctor, and her 14-year-old son in New York. She flies all over the world and lives separately from her husband from time to time, but she says that the UN is a workplace that is friendly to women. “Child rearing is challenging of course, but I am blessed with a good work environment as well as my family’s under-standing and support, which is the reason why I have been able to continue working to this day. The UN has also set the goal of improving the status of women and I encourage as many women as possible to consider the UN as a viable career option.”Born to a Japanese diplomat father and a Finnish mother, she grew up in Japan, Germany, and India. Due to her father’s work and her family background, she naturally came to real-ize that she wanted to hold an international job. “However, rather than being a diplomat who works for the interests of a single country, I came to the conclusion that the UN might be a better fit for me, where I could contribute to the international community,” she explained. When she was in her first year of high school, she returned to Japan alone from India, where her parents remained, in-tending to enter Sophia University. Why Sophia? “Because my identity is Japanese and I wanted to study in Japan. I found that Sophia was the closest gateway to the UN. It was good timing, in part because the Department of Inter-national Legal Studies had just been established and there was no other university which so clearly outlined its mission to educate and prepare its students to contribute to the world. My experiences at Sophia had a huge impact on my life,” she noted. Her Studies and Experiences at the University Provide the Foundation of Her StrengthThe World has High Expectations of JapanAbove: Ofcial visit to MILF Chairman Al-Hajj Murad Ebra-him, Mindanao Philippines 2013Right: Inside Korea’s Demilita-rized Zone with Deputy Secre-tary-General Jan Eliasson, 201320Sophia People