About the University Message from the President

A photo of Hiroaki KAWABATA who is President, Aichi Prefectural University

Hiroaki KAWABATA

President, Aichi Prefectural University

Rooted in Aichi, We Open Our Hearts to the World

Greetings from Aichi Prefectural University!

Each day, the world brings us scenes of grief and anguish, suggesting an uncertain future. We wish to acknowledge this reality with you who are visiting this website, that we may determine where we went wrong and what we have lost. This, we believe, is a necessary step in making our way forward. To help us in this task, I would like to refer to the Preamble of the Constitution of Japan.

The second paragraph of the Preamble places special emphasis on the desire of the Japanese people for peace, grounded in trust of the "justice and peace-loving peoples of the world." This desire is elaborated as a commitment to membership in an "international society striving for … the banishment of tyranny and slavery, oppression and intolerance for all time from the earth." The paragraph concludes, "We recognize that all peoples of the world have the right to live in peace, free from fear and want." All peoples of the world: these are words we cherish. They are the cornerstone of the path that Aichi Prefectural University should follow in connecting education and research with the world.

Our university was established as Aichi Women's College in 1947, the same year that the Constitution of Japan came into effect. After undergoing several stages of organizational reform in response to the demands of the times, Aichi Prefectural University in its present form was born in 2009 as a comprehensive educational institution with five faculties and four graduate schools. The academic fields are Foreign Studies, Japanese Studies, Education & Welfare, Nursing & Health, Information Science & Technology. This range of disciplines has encouraged us to welcome students from more than 60 universities from around the world through academic exchange agreements. We are committed to strengthening our efforts in intercultural academic exchange.

The history of Aichi Prefecture has endowed it with distinctive industrial and cultural features. While the region played a major role in medieval and early modern Japan, it has also become one of the most industrialized prefectures, especially known for automobile production. Consequently, the prefecture has received a great number of people seeking a living, who bring with them many different cultures. We hope that our awareness of these local conditions will help to provide you a satisfying learning experience, in which you will be able to enjoy the many unknown faces of Japan.

Looking forward to welcoming you,

President's Profile

Name Hiroaki KAWABATA
Date of Birth November 1970
Degree Doctor of Laws (LL.D.)
Highest Education

Doctoral Course in Law and Political Science at the Graduate School of Law and Politics, Nagoya University

Field of Specialty Comparative Constitutional Law, Legal History
Main International Recognition (Overseas Lectures, Symposia, Etc.)

- Invited Lecture at The Senate of Spain, Symposium on Comparative Constitutional Monarchy: The Monarchy of Japan, The Monarchy of Spain, “The Imperial Institution of Japan”, (November, 2013)

- Report of the Symposium to the Crown Prince of Spain at The Royal Palace of Spain, (January, 2014)

- Invited Lecture at The University of Sao Paulo (Brazil), Symposium on NATSUME S?SEKI: Time, Society, Literature, “Law and Myth in the Meiji Era: The Constitutional Dimension” (October, 2016)

- Invited Lecture at The Royal Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation (Spain), Congress on Historical Military Legislation: Armies, Navies and Security Forces and Corps, “The Pendulum between Militarism and Pacifism in the Constitutional History of Japan” (June, 2017)

- Invited Lecture at the University of Zaragoza (Spain), The 6th International Congress Investigation Group JAP?N on Japan's Relations with Spain and Latin America: More than a Century of Friendship, Trade and Navigation, “Retrospect and Reflection on Spanish-Japanese Legal Contact: Beyond the Works of Jose Llompart, A Spanish Jurist Who Dedicated His Life to the Study of Comparative Law Between Spain and Japan (October, 2018)

- Invited Lecture at the 12th International Conference on Crossroads of Civilizations in Pursuit of A Paradigm of Plurality: Cultural and Social Plurality and Coexistence in Central Asia and Japan (online), organized by Toshkent State University of Oriental Studies (Uzbekistan), “Reconcilable or Irreconcilable? Uniformity and Plurality in Japanese Law and Society” (February, 2020)

- Speaker at National Chi Nan University (Taiwan), The 2023 Taiwan-Japan University Presidents’ Forum (July, 2023)

- Speaker at Universidad Politicnico National (Mexico), The 6th Mexico-Japan Rectors’ Summit 2024, “What Our Cross-Disciplinary Approach Can Contribute to Health: In Pursuit of Peace, Security, and Human Dignity”, Mexico City (September, 2024)

Main Publications

- 2013, The Presidentialism in A “Truly” Public Republic, Nihon Hyoronsha, Tokyo (monography)

- 2016, The Land of the Rising Sun and the Land of the Setting Sun: 400 Years of Contact between Japan and Spain, Bensei Shuppan, Tokyo (co-edition)

- 2019, Relations between the Iberian Peninsula and Japan: From the 16th Century to the Present, Edi??o Húmus, Ribeirao (Portugal), (co-edition)

- 2022, Constitution and its diverse Human Right [4th Edition], Houritsubunkasha, Kyoto (co-edition)

Item of Note
  • Speaker at Nagoya Regional Hearing by the Constitutional Commission, The House of Representatives of Japan (November, 2001)
  • Associate Member of Royal Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation, Spain (since 2018)
  • International Observer for the 2021 Presidential Election of the Republic of Uzbekistan(October, 2021)
  • International Observer for the 2023 Referendum on Amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan (April, 2023)
  • Book Review Committee Member, The Mainichi Shimbun (Newspapers)(since 2023)