by Paul Boyer (JTW Student)
Although it is somewhat painful for me, as an American, to admit, exceptional intelligence is not nearly always necessary to rise to the upper echelons of modern American government. This tragedy became most obvious to me last year when I heard Bill Archer, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, speak at Rice UniversityB!"B which I attend back in the United States. Mr. Archer is a Rice alumnus, and agreed to speak to current students at one of the dorms during dinner. He was, to put it lightly, unimpressive. His response to a question about Medicare was nothing more than watered down bashing of President Clinton's first term health care reform proposal. His response to a question about taxes was a strange story about a man and wife working on a farm and living in a log cabin. All of his answers were unclear, uninteresting, and extremely long. I had begun to wonder how the man had managed to even graduate from the university I attended (and found academically daunting), much less get elected to Congress.So when Thomas Foley, current U.S. ambassador to Japan, came to speak at Kyudai last month, I was pretty skeptical. In many countries, the United States included, ambassadorships are sometimes given away almost as gifts to former politicians. Though I knew Foley had completed a long and distinguished career in the House of Representatives, even serving as House Speaker, and I realized that the Japan-U.S. relationship is far too important for the Japan ambassadorship to be given out carelessly, I was still afraid. I hoped I was not getting up early in the morning and putting on a tie (I hadn't worn one since October) just to listen to a guy who was no more intelligent or interesting than the average person you meet on the street.
I was, however, pleasantly surprised. After showed up late from a prior engagement, Mr. Foley apologized, sat down, and told us about himself and his job before having us ask him questions. In the conference room where we met, Foley looked very much like a politician not practicing politics. His suit was neat and unwrinkled and his hair was perfectly combed, though he slumped back in his chair and crossed his legs. His speech was engaging and articulate, but at the same time he spoke with a kind of familiar slowness. Of course, he praised the University, the JTW program, and us JTW students in the manner that a veteran politician such as Foley has probably praised thousands of hosts before. He spoke about what a fine university we were attending, what a good opportunity and worthwhile project the program was, and how we students were to be commended for being adventurous and expanding our horizons through study abroad.
He kept the less substantial part of the conference very brief though. After introducing himself, he opened up for questions from students. We asked him about problems with articulating American interests to the Japanese and understanding Japanese interests. We also asked about the recent commercial airline treaty negotiations between the two countries and reforms in Japan's economic and bureaucratic structure. His answers were perhaps a little longer than they needed to be, but interesting nonetheless. He was careful to give responses that pleased both the Americans and Japanese in the room, but were still substantive (that is, he spoke like a good ambassador should speak). Unlike BillArcher, Tom Foley obviously knew what he was talking about.
I had wanted to ask him about the nuclear tests which India had conducted just two days before, but alas, Ambassador to Japan is not a cushy job after all- he had another appointment. He only ended up staying for about twenty minutes, but it was still a nice meeting. I was actually a little disappointed he couldn't stay longer. I wasn't even upset that I'd had to wear a tie.
Photo:JTW students shake hands with U.S.Ambassador to Japan Thomas Foley
5月13日（水），アメリカ合衆国のトーマス・フォーリー駐日大使が本学を訪 問されました。その際，杉岡総長との会見に先立ち，本学短期留学コース(JTW) 生との懇談が行われました。以上は，JTW生であるポール・ボイヤー(Paul Boyer) 君による会見記です。ポール君はアメリカ合衆国のライス大学からの留学生， JTW(Japan in Today's World)は，学部学生を対象に英語で日本の各分野につい ての講義を行う１年間の短期留学プログラムです。現在，米国，ヨーロッパ，韓 国からの24名が本学留学生センターに在籍し，頭と肌で日本を学んでいます。