英米　２年
Political issues are sometimes devalued among Japanese young people. They can be dull, too conceptual, and abstract. Personally, I believe we all should realize the importance of understanding political and economic things, however, I was not sure how to talk about it nor learn it by myself. So, your presentation impressed me a lot. I found you tried to make us feel at ease with politics. Besides that, I noticed you always said “Thank you for your question” after answering them. Even if it’s a short session, I could see how kind you are. Thank you so much for your wonderful speech.

英米　２年
I’ve understood the U.S. election system for the first time and I was surprised that if a candidate gets high pint states, he can win the election even if he has less public approval than the other candidate.

if I was an American, I would like to vote for the Democrats. I think the government has to care about poor people or minorities. It is very sad if someone dies from a disease which could have been cured if he had enough money. So the government has to do the job of looking after the people.

英米　１年
I learned about the election system in the USA today. There are two big parties, and they compete in terms of their political ideas. I’m very interested in the differences between their major mascots. They suggest the image of the two parties, it was fun for me, Stephen couldn’t answer some political questions because of his job, so if he quits his current job, I would like to ask about his opinion and I want to discuss about American society with him..

フランス　２年
I would like support Democrats if I were American because their manifestos are good for all of us. For example, “stricter gun control”, “abolish the death penalty” and “nationalized health care” make a society that is easy and liberal, I think. But why do many people support the Republicans? I think it is because the Republicans recommend personal responsibility. I think that rich and egotistical people support the Republicans because their manifestos are “lower taxes” and “bank regulation”. If I were a rich person, I would support the Republicans, too, may be… It is really a difficult problem. Your position changes your thoughts.

フランス　１年
I didn’t know much about American election system, but I now know some main parts of it. I was surprised to know that Democrats and Republicans have their own mascots, a done and an elephant. Japan doesn’t have that kind of thing. It was interning to find out the differences between the Japanese and American election systems.

I’m not that interested in Japanese elections, but in America, candidates talk about interesting things such as same sex marriage, and this kind of topic attracts the younger people and makes them more fascinated by elections. I would like to know more about Japanese elections and contribute to them.

中国　２年
I have two points that I am interested in. The first is about the speaker’s attitude as a diplomat. When I heard the question about his political opinion, I thought it was tough because I thought I know he could not answer. I’m very interested in working as a diplomat, so I thought the way he answered was smart, which made me think such work is full of responsibility. Secondary, the question asking about why people in rural areas support Republican candidates even though they have less infrastructures was interesting. I also agree with the speaker. My family is from countryside in Gifu. People there rarely meet new people. Therefore, they are afraid of various changes in daily life.

国際関係　１年
I have been really curious about the U.S. Presidential Election for a long time, so today’s talk was extremely interesting. I’ve often wondered why people in the U.S. have lot of interest in their government while people in Japan don’t. Firm today’s talk, I now understand why that is so. It is true that the U.S. candidates tend to focus on “taboo subjects” such as LGBT, racism etc. while Japan tend to focus on “economic issues”. Also, the U.S. has presidential debates that use simple words, hence, people are able to understand the debates easily. Japan has a problem of attracting its youth to be interested in politics, so maybe Japan can use these ideas too.

国際関係　１年
I would like to write about two points. First, I was interested in the video about studying abroad. I strongly agree with Mr. Kovacsics that “If you are in the situation that you have to speak, you speak”. I studied abroad when I was in high school, and I was in such a situation for a year. Of course my language skill improved but my communication skill also improved. Experiencing a new world changed me a lot.

Second, I could learn a lot about the U.S. Presidential Election. Nowadays, I’m really interested in the election because two candidates are even on Japanese TV almost every day, so I liked the lecture a lot. Thank you very much.

交換留学生　３年
Before today, I only knew that there would be an election to choose the president in the U.S. and the right to vote is provided to people who’re over 18. That’s it. But today, the most interesting information for me is that there are two parties, that the Democrats’ color is blue, the Republicans’ color is red. And their views of politics are very different.

I also have a question about how the U.S. government or Democrats can put stricter gun control into practice. I do think it’s good that everyone has the freedom and right to protect themselves. But guns are also dangerous, aren’t they? There’re also many horrific accidents that have occurred because of guns.

看護　１年
I’m so glad that I got a chance to listen to this speech. I’m not so interested in elections or politics. However, after I listened to this speech, I thought I should be more interested in politics. In my opinion, Japanese politicians always talk about something uninteresting which most teenagers must not be concerned about. So teenagers tend not to be interested in politics, but in the U.S., politicians tend to talk about something familiar to young people. I think that’s good for young people because we need to know about the issues as we grow up. People around my age should be aiming to make our country better. Politicians should make us curious about the issues by talking about something interesting to everyone.