My name is Emir Ulan, and I am from Bishkek, the Kyrgyz Republic. I am one of the fellows of the Central Asia and Japan Human Resource Development Project 2025 sponsored by The Nippon Foundation.
In 2023, I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the Department of International and Comparative Politics at the American University of Central Asia (AUCA), along with a Minor degree in Psychology.
Since 2020, I have been deeply interested in Japanese culture, which inspired me to start learning the Japanese language and join the AUCA Japanese Club. Through this experience, I learned a lot about the Land of the Rising Sun, its people, and its traditions, while also becoming the leader of the club a year later. In 2021, I was nominated for a student exchange program and was supposed to spend one semester at Yokohama National University; however, the program had to be canceled due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite this setback, I remained determined to pursue my education in Japan. Therefore, no one was surprised by my decision to apply for the SPJES scholarship program sponsored by The Nippon Foundation. In addition to my interest in Japan itself, I intend to continue developing my career in the field of political science, which makes the master’s Program in International Public Policy an ideal fit for my academic and professional goals.
While working in international organizations, I collaborated with representatives from government, non-governmental, and business sectors, where I became familiar with the concept of “peacebuilding.” At its core lies the idea of peaceful coexistence, where shared understanding of problems leads to collective solutions. I strongly believe in these ideals, yet I recognize that I still lack the knowledge and practical experience necessary to promote them effectively. Therefore, I sincerely hope that studying at the University of Tsukuba will help me achieve my goal – to become a specialist in my field and contribute to building a sustainable and peaceful world.
