The 2010 Daiwa Scholars' graduation ceremony (15 March 2012)

I was in Tokyo last week for the graduation ceremony for our 2010 Daiwa Scholars. This scholarship programme, which sends young British people to Japan for 19 months each, puts them through a year of intensive Japanese language training, followed by a one-month homestay with a Japanese family, and a six-month work placement with an organisation relevant to their intended future careers.

The highlight of the graduation ceremony is that each scholar gives a speech in Japanese – no mean feat after just a year of language study. But the scholarships are extraordinarily competitive, and the scholars are among the brightest young people the UK has to offer. This year the scholars seemed to have colluded so that nobody would show the others up by giving their speech without referring to a script – which I’ve seen happen in previous years. But the speeches were witty, moving, and of uniformly high quality. They gave a strong sense of what a life-changing experience it is to spend a year and a half in Japan.

The six scholars naturally become very close to each other as they go through this experience, and some were close to tears as they thanked each other for all the support and friendship. Several are staying on in Japan, but others are returning to the UK. No doubt all will be successful in some field or other, and many of them will work directly in areas related to Japan. But all of them are likely to retain an affection for Japan for the rest of their lives.