Seijiro Tsutsui (Faculty of Physical Education) writes about what motivates him to learn English continuously:

"Since I was an undergraduate student, I liked to read English although some friends did not like it. Even if studying English for an entrance examination, I felt it was like solving a quiz. Basically I do not have any English allergy like some friends of mine.
Ten years ago I had a sabbatical in Canada for ten months. That was my first trip abroad. I could read almost all the sentences, but I could not hear spoken English at all. Therefore although I wanted to communicate with my supervisor very often I could not do it successfully. Then I felt that I needed to learn English much more, especially hearing. Even now when I go to international conferences, I can not communicate my ideas well although I think my idea is better than other's ideas.
When I look at researchers in my research area, Japanese researchers have better ideas and originality, but don't always present successfully at international conferences. Then researchers in other countries think Japanese researchers don't have good ideas. Therefore I want Japanese researchers to continue to promote their ideas to the world. That is my hope which motivates me to learn English continuously."