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YOKOTA Takayuki Seminar in the School of Information and Communication conducts research on international politics, comparative politics, international situations, and cross-cultural understanding. One of the seminar’s themes is the comparative analysis of political systems in various countries around the world. From September 16 to 19, 2024, they conducted overseas training in Hong Kong in order to compare and consider the political systems of Asian countries. In addition to the seminar teachers, two fourth-year students and five third-year students participated in this training and had an exciting hands-on experience in Hong Kong during mid-autumn.

The main purpose of this training was for the students to conduct their own research from the viewpoint of comparative politics on the current situation of Hong Kong, which is guaranteed a high degree of autonomy under the one country, two systems concept. Is the Hong Kong they learned about through news and books in Japan the same as the Hong Kong they actually experience? With this question in mind, the students conducted their own research around Hong Kong. Prior to this training, they had studied Hong Kong from the perspective of political system theory. Because of this, they were able to experience that the reality of the Hong Kong that they actually saw and heard was not necessarily the same as the knowledge they acquired in the prior study.

Another purpose of this training was to consider multicultural coexistence in Hong Kong, and as a case study, we visited Kowloon Mosque, which is located close to the Tsim Sha Tsui Station on the Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway (MTR). At this mosque, the largest in Hong Kong, they were briefed by the manager of the mosque on its origins and the reality of multicultural coexistence. In addition, they visited several sites, including the Special Administrative Region Government Building on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong Park, which served as the military headquarters office and commander’s residence during the British colonial period, and St. John’s Church. In addition, free time that was provided for each student according to their research theme made them proceed with their own research.


Walking the streets of Hong Kong lined with skyscrapers and enjoying shopping and dining using Hong Kong dollars, they were able to experience a part of the momentum of the Hong Kong economy, which surpasses that of Japan in terms of GDP per capita. For the students, prices and the urban development of Hong Kong, which is different from Japan, seemed very interesting. In this way, it can be said that the best part of overseas training is learning about the local area through your own perception. Sweating in the high temperatures and humidity, which were even worse than in Tokyo, and wandering around under the harsh sunlight were also valuable experiences that could only be had in the local area.