神戸夙川学院大学

Special features of KSGU (3) Liberal Arts Education and Specialized Education

A deep understanding of a wide range of people and education!

Through the encounters of words, writings, and people, you will discover yourself.

Masaharu Goto, Professor

Non-fiction writer. Professor Goto writes about sports, medical care, and people. He won the 12th Kodansha Nonfiction Prize for "Tooi ringu" (Distant Ring) and the 26th Ohya Soichi Nonfiction Prize for "Ritan Matchi" (Re-match). The author of many other books such as "Sukauto," (Scout) and "Kiba - Enatsu Yutaka to sono jidai" (Fangs - Yutaka Enatsu and his era). There are many students who enjoy attending his classes.

"As there is a concern about what is seen as a declining Japanese language aptitude among Japanese youth, I try to create the opportunity for students to encounter printed writings and words."

"Students use pencils and manuscripts instead of personal computers in the Japanese comprehension class, which is a requisite course. This is very much an analog approach. Rather than typing on the keyboard and letting the computer form a sentence, students have to write down words, form sentences, and refer to the dictionary. This is the fastest way to cultivate writing ability. At the same time, I hope students can have time to reflect on themselves through this writing activity and be able to get their thoughts into shape, measure their ability to understand, and get to know more about themselves."

"One of the elective courses, "Travels in Literature," covers travel writings relate to tourism. In this class, students read books such as "Taiheiyo hitoribocchi," (Alone in the Pacific Ocean) by Kenichi Horie and "Shinya tokkyu" (Midnight Express Train) by Kotaro Sawaki in turn. I want students to be exposed to reading and discover the joy of reading in this class. Reading good literature is important to improve your writing. I hope students improve themselves through encountering travel literature and cultivate their sensitivity to the world around them.

"Another elective course, the "Integrated Culture Course," is very interesting and fun as it invites people with art and entertainment backgrounds to speak in class such as writers and journalists!"

"All classes are personalized because it is my wish to make classes a place for encouraging students to start something new, opening up a new world for students, and creating space for them to discover themselves. Every young person has unlimited possibilities. I believe this to be an eternal truth."

Learn about the barrier-free pathways of the heart and create a society of coexistence!

Kazuhiko Yoshijima, Professor

Former head researcher and member of the editorial board of the research institute of the Yomiuri Shimbun, Osaka Headquarters. He writes news articles, feature articles, and series about healthcare. He also investigates and makes reports suggesting ideas for the healthcare field. He has been pursuing various problems that beset medical care in Japan and investigating the enrichment of health care policies. He also plans and conducts many medical forums.

"I think our university is the first university where students can learn about tourism related to health care such as barrier-fee tourism or health tourism. It is obvious that health care tourism is becoming more important when we think about the issues such as the world-wide spread of SARS and bird flu, the increased needs of travelers who have disabilities or chronic illness, and the increase in travel of the elderly.
Moreover, the New Barrier-Free Law, which consolidated two previous laws to expand the range of the previous laws regarding accessibility of the public transportation system and buildings for the elderly and people with disabilities, came into effect inn December 2006. Thus, the legal system regarding the accessibility for people with disabilities is developing in Japan."

"It is, however, true that the idea of "barrier-free" has not taken root in society yet. In class, I will discuss about "barrier-free of the heart" with students through the theory of barrier-free tourism and the theory of tourism for the elderly. For example, students will research about signs for priority seats in public transportation, which have different designs for each transportation company, and discuss which design is effective and what we can do to create areas where people can share limited space."

"Students will discuss many different topics after interviewing the elderly and people with disabilities or experiencing how it is like to have a handicap by using special devices. Through these experiences, students will discuss about the diversity in our society, and moreover, students will cultivate their ability to coexist, empathize, imagine, and accommodate themselves, which leads to our university’s educational philosophy of "hospitality." "Barrier-free tourism" is the key to success in tourism."

Collaboration between tourism and medical science: Traveling promotes health!

Tatsuro Tomatsuri

After retiring from Kinki Nippon Tourist Co., LTD., Professor Tomatsuri has been teaching at many universities as a leader in the tourism field. He was a professor at the Department of Economics of Ritsumeikan University before he came to Kobe Shukugawa Gakuin University. He appears in mass media and has lectured on Health Tourism. He contributes to the development of Health Tourism, the need for which is growing today.

"Interest in health is growing world-wide, not only in the field of western medicine but also in the field of traditional medicines such as traditional Chinese medicine, Tibetan medicine, and Indian Ayurveda. Furthermore, many people have started to take alternative medicine such as supplemental health food or naturopathy such as art therapy, music therapy, forest therapy, and aroma therapy."

"Travel therapy is one of these alternative approaches for the health, and it helps to maintain people’s physical and psychological health through travel. This is what we learn in Health Tourism. Therapeutic approaches that change the environment, called Tenchi Therapy, has been practiced for long time in hot spring resorts or other resort facilities. Seventy percent of people in their prime today experience stress and an increasing number of people are suffering from lifestyle-related diseases. We can expect healing effects from Travel Therapy. Moreover, many baby-boomers answer that they want to travel when they are asked what they want to do after retiring. Given this situation, the demand for health tourism among seniors is expected to increase even more."

"On the other hand, conductors and specialists who can supervise people’s health or can provide first aid during the travel are very few in number. I would like to create classes with students which take these points into consideration."