The institute provided materials and resources for the new special lecture course, “Ikeda Research in China”, which has been offered as an interdisciplinary course from April 6 this year.

Today, a number of universities in China have established research institutions to study the founder’s philosophy. In this class coordinated by Vice President Tanaka Ryohei, it is offered in interdisciplinary courses under the “Global Citizenship Education Category,” and weekly classes will be held by researchers from different universities in China, discussing Ikeda’s philosophy. The classes will be held live and researchers will give presentations and lectures while in China. This is the first time since the opening of the university for classes to be conducted in this format.

The institute has provided related materials, and one of the staff from the IRISE office introduced trends of the increasing number of research institutions in China. In the first class, Assistant Professor Yang Weifang of Tianjin University, who is currently on a research trip at Soka University, delivered a speech about her research.

In her speech, she concluded, “Japan-China Friendship and world peace. This is the long-cherished wish of ex-Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai and Daisaku Ikeda. This is also the wish of the people of Japan and China. As a youth, we are the protagonists of today’s world, and we will surely fulfill this wish.”