Political Science

1) My The reasons for undertaking graduate study at the University of Arks
My desire to become a graduate student of the MPP program in University of Arks is based on my strong aspiration to further improve my policy planning skills beyond my previous achievements. While in the program, I also hope to forge diverse personal connections with the excellent professors and students at University of Arks as well as figureheads in Washington, D.C. Upon completion of the program, I will apply my acquired knowledge to international public policy planning. I firmly believe that the education I receive will enable me to contribute to the prosperity of the world economy.

Professionally, I aim to advance sound economic growth by improving business environments for private enterprises on a global scale. With this goal in mind, I have already achieved a great deal as a government officer in Japan in just six years.

The first of these achievements was my contribution to improving the quality of foreign aid to developing countries. I wrote draft policy proposals based on my in-depth analysis that suggested that foreign aid should be focused more on projects that will promote private investment, such as fields where natural resources, e.g. oils and metals, are abundant. My proposals were authorized on the ministerial level. While my activities were highly evaluated, I know that my proposals would have been all the more sophisticated if I had possessed more knowledge and methods about related affairs including international economics and politics.

Additionally, I took a leadership role in creating policies to secure nuclear fuel for nuclear power generation and implementing it to help private companies forge business relationships with foreign companies. I have realized various kinds of private investments related to nuclear fuel from Japan to foreign countries. However, in my pursuit of the task, I often faced the conflict between energy security through promoting nuclear business and the nonproliferation regime. I know I would have been able to suggest a better strategic policy and take sophisticated measures if I had been educated and had a deeper understanding about the international security policies from the viewpoint of United States in particular, which has strong influence on the world non-proliferation regime.

Another personal achievement of mine was devising negotiation strategies for the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Peru, which pushed the negotiation forward to smooth business transactions between the two countries. I planned strategies considering long-term interests for Japanese industries, and, based on these strategies, I coordinated interests of select Japanese industrial groups with Perus requests for reducing tariffs. In the negotiation, my strategy often contributed to pushing the negotiation forward. My experience as a strategic negotiator of the FTA sparked my interest in the economic and theoretical sides of the international rule on cross-border business, as well as in negotiation strategies.

Through my work with the Japanese government, I have gained invaluable practical experiences that contribute to making international business more efficient. I am certain that I owe those achievements to my motivation, experience, and skill accumulated through my engineering education, but I do not think that my achievements reflect my full potential. I believe that I could be a much more proficient policy planner if I had opportunities to add breadth and depth to my knowledge base while acquiring the needed managerial skills to be effective in international public policy from a global perspective.

Based on those experiences in addition to my strong desire to strengthen my public policy background, there are three major reasons I am interested in the program. First, I am eager to gain expert knowledge that is research-based and can be applied across all situations, thus improving the quality of my policy planning. The fields I want to further explore in the program, based on my experience and goals, are mainly economic policy and international policy. This program provides fundamental knowledge courses that will be central to these policy areas as well as diverse courses dealing with more specific areas. By learning both the big picture and the details on diverse fields, I will be able to strengthen my foundation and improve my ability to make unique and high value added policy, bringing me ever closer to achieving my goals.

Second, I want to obtain skills and methods that are helpful in systematic policy making. This is in addition to fundamental skills such as excellent writing and effective discussions in each course. Specifically, I want to improve managerial and negotiation skills so I can be prepared for my higher responsibility in the future and thereby fulfill my desire for making efficient policy planning. I know that the program at the University of Arks offers rich courses that will no doubt help me improve upon these skills.

Finally, I think that that the campus near Washington, D.C, the capitol of the United States, so rich in substance and history, is very exciting. I want to broaden my perspective and consider Japanese international policy including Japan s responsibilities as a member of the international community. I know it will be easy to achieve this through the excellent, diverse professors and students at the University of Arks as well as working people in Washington D.C. I will strengthen my personal connections with the people and community through various ways, such as student activities and being involved with other aspiring public policy students.

In the course of my career, I foresee two major changes. First, my responsibility will increase as the government will require greater skill and knowledge for more sophisticated policy planning and implementation. Second, my field of work will be expanded. I want to work in international organizations, for example the WTO and the OECD, to deal with challenges require coordination from multiple countries, unmanageable by just one country alone. The Japanese government sends officers to these organizations, and I aspire to be one of them.

My vision for the future will apply what I will have learned in the program at the University of Arks to my forthcoming career, making me more successful in overcoming complicated challenges, working diverse fields, and accomplishing everything on a higher level in my ministry. Additionally, in the long term, the international personal connections I build will not only confer specific benefit (e.g. valuable information), but also strengthen my motivations. As a result of all of this, I will undoubtedly contribute to boosting the economic growth and enhancing peoples wealth by improving business environments on a global scale through facilitating private business. This is my ultimate goal and aspiration, and I believe that becoming a student in the MPP program at the University of Arks is the way to achieve my dream.

2) My life experiences that I feel have prepared me to pursue the graduate degree at the University of Arks, a large diverse institution
In order to achieve my goal of promoting sound economic growth by improving business environments on a global scale, I must gain a deeper understanding of the issues surrounding the international and economic challenges and expand my potential through the graduate education program at the University of Arks. My strong desire to become a part of this program and achieve my dream is based significantly upon my previous life experiences.

I was born in a town in which innovative research facilities were at the forefront of technology and high-tech plants brought jobs and wealth. Also, the towns elementary and junior high schools emphasized science education, and so we were given many opportunities to visit these fascinating facilities. As I was immersed in the environment from early childhood, I had been interested in the cutting-edge and competitive technologies that contributed to bringing wealth to people, so it seemed like a natural choice to become an engineer who would develop new competitive technologies. Therefore, I chose courses mainly focused on science in high school, and continued into the engineering department at a university in Japan.

When I was a graduate student, I came to a crossroads in my life. During my job search, I fundamentally reconsidered my goals and how I should reach them. I did not want to change my goal of enhancing competitive technological development and promoting economic growth to bring wealth, but I considered diverse methods in which to achieve the goal without the limitations of becoming an engineer. As a result of my deliberate consideration, I decided to become government officer at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Japanese government. This way, I thought that I would be able to achieve my goal by contributing to improving the business environment, economic stability and existence of properly established rules.

Id be lying if I said I didnt have any anxiety about my decision, because public administration seemed like a completely foreign field compared to the familiar field electronic engineering. However, I soon came to feel that it was the right choice for me. My drive, determination and endurance developed in the course of overcoming failures of experiments in my engineering education enabled me to get through the hard challenges I faced working in the Japanese government. It often ended up that those challenges required me to grasp new knowledge, but I overcame the obstacles each time without hesitation to studying new fields. My dedication and hard work not only led to success in policy planning, but also expanded the field of my interest. In addition, I have been able to apply what I learned in my study of engineering-objectivity and fairness, logical thinking, and the ability to solve complex problems in an orderly manner-to public policy planning, which has most certainly contributed to the quality of work I produce.

I believe that my experience thus far has given me a strong base that strengthens my knowledge and field of interest, enabling me to pioneer my field of engineering and public administration toward diversity and resulting in success in public policy. Therefore, I also expect my graduate education not only to enhance my core field of public policy but also to introduce me to new fields of study, methods and perspectives toward diversity, which will certainly bring more success to me. The University of Arks offers educational opportunities in many areas of academics that will broaden my knowledge and perception in addition to rich courses of my core field.

Finally, I will be able to interact with people who have large, diverse backgrounds, which will also broaden my perspective. At the same time, I am certain that my own unique diverse background and experiences, namely my engineering educational background and role as government officer, will contribute to bringing unique perspectives to the community at University of Arks and further prospering its academic activities.