A Japanese student at Minnesota State University will attend Barack Obama’s inauguration as part of group of national honor society students from around the country.
Takehito Kamata, a 31-year-old graduate student studying public administration, leaves today to join his fellow inauguration attendees from the University Presidential Inaugural Conference.
Kamata applied for the program in May. He was eligible because he was a member of Golden Key International, a national honor society. Eight months after joining, Golden Key informed all members of an opportunity to attend the inauguration.
Kamata applied and hoped for an Obama win. He was accepted and is now looking forward to being present when history is made when Obama takes the oath of office.
He started his education in Japan at the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities’ Akita campus. As the student body president, he was a key player in delaying the closure of the campus for about a year.
He then transferred to MSU where he earned bachelor of science degrees in political science and international relations. He’ll finish his master’s degree in public administration in May.
Kamata said he’s interested in hearing Obama’s plans for dealing with Japan. Among the key issues, he said, are Japan’s opposition to the use of Japanese troops in the war effort. He said Japan’s citizens have objected, and so far no Japanese lives have been lost. But he wants to know exactly what the new president’s plans are for the war in Iraq and what role Japan “self defense” military, as Kamata called it, might play.
He’s also very interested in how Obama plans to deal with North Korea, and what plans the U.S. has for cooperating with Japan, China and North Korea.
Kamata will also get a chance to rub elbows with former Secretary of State Colin Powell — “He was a very important in U.S. foreign policy” — and former Vice President Al Gore.
Meeting other students is also on his itinerary.
“I want to share with other students,” he said. “And share my vision of the future with students who have similar dreams.”
The program isn’t cheap. Kamata said tuition runs about $3,000, which covers hotels, food, transportation and other accommodations.
Kamata says he’s going out to Washington ready to learn.
“This is not a time to have fun,” he said. “It’s time to talk to world leaders, to challenge them, and be trained.”
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