Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Historic Graduation Talk by Former Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama



On Saturday, May 23rd, a record 391 Maharishi University of Management graduates where honored to experience an amazing graduation talk by Dr. Yukio Hatoyama, the former Prime Minister of Japan.
  
Dr. Hatoyama is a member of a distinguished Japanese family, which has been compared with the Kennedy family in the US. His family has a long history of government service. His great-grandfather was the speaker of the House of Representatives in Japan’s legislature in the late 19th century. His grandfather was Prime Minister of Japan in the 1950's and helped secure membership in the United Nations for Japan. His father was Japan’s foreign minister. His younger brother served as Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications.

His family also has a long history in higher education. His great-grandfather, after stepping down from government service, became President of Waseda University, and his great grandmother co-founded Kyoritsu Women’s University. At the graduation, Dr. Hatoyama received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from MUM.

Dr. Hatoyama holds an undergraduate degree in engineering from the University of Tokyo and a PhD in industrial engineering from Stanford. He was a professor of engineering at Tokyo Institute of Technology and Senshu University.


His political career began in 1986, when he was elected to the House of Representatives. He was elected Prime Minister in 2009, and despite his relatively short time in office, he has a long list of achievements, including greater spending on education and student scholarships and free support services for people with disabilities. Under his leadership, Japanese relations with China became more cordial.




Please enjoy photos of the event here.