Comments from students in fiscal 2021

This time I had the chance to participate in the 22nd Basic Course. In this course, I learned a wide range of basic matters in details including their backgrounds and legal frameworks from instructors with abundant knowledge and experience. I also deepened my understanding of the lectures through discussions with other students from the Ground, Maritime and Air SDFs, the Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Justice, which enhanced our mutual understanding beyond the boundary of the forces. It was just about one week long but really rich in contents, and allowed me to prepare myself for a future deployment.
　Even after I retuned to my duty, when I have questions about something, I get clues for solution from the instructors and colleagues with whom I could build relationships, and I feel really grateful that I could participate in this course.

I had never participated in activities related to peacekeeping operations, but as I was appointed to international disaster relief personnel, I became interested in such duties, which made me volunteer to participate in this course.
　Through this course, I learned that current activities related to peacekeeping operations are the result of anguish in the history, and how these important activities are contributing to peacebuilding of the world. It also systematically deepened my knowledge and awareness on response to contingencies, which was a useful and interesting experience I could never have had in my daily work.
　Moreover, another great significance of this course was that it was an opportunity for mutual understanding through sharing knowledge and experience with students from other services and ministries/agencies, leading to expand my horizons.
　I hope to remain prepared for any mission as an SDF member while pushing forward with my work as an aircraft maintenance officer, making the most of what I gained from this course.

I participated in the 22nd Basic Course and gained a wide range of knowledge about basics of international peace cooperation. Peacekeeping operations seemed really interesting to me, learning that there are more and more important areas in them ranging from ceasefire monitoring to establishment of rule of law, protection of human rights, assistance to reintegration and protection of civilians.
　As the Ministry of Justice where I work is trying to promote “judicial diplomacy” which aims to establish such universal values as rule of law and respect for fundamental human rights in the international community, this course gave me an opportunity to consider relationship between peacekeeping operations and judicial diplomacy, and what kind of cooperation would be available to MOJ. Also, I could further promote mutual understanding by learning about various viewpoints from other students’ experience and the lectures based on expertise nurtured in each field.
　I will make use of the knowledge gained from this course and apply it to my work.

I participated in the 21^st Basic Course and gained roughly two results.
　One is to deepen my knowledge through active opinion exchange in group studies which I worked on until late at night with students not only from ground, air and maritime self-defense forces but from such organizations as the cabinet office.
　The other one is to learn practical lessons about international peace cooperation activities from well-experienced instructors who have wide ranging knowledge and experience.
　I hope to apply the knowledge gained through this training to my work, while being fully aware of the fact that the world is interrelated and of the importance to tackle global challenges as a member of the international community.

I learned truly various knowledge from well-experienced instructors and guest lecturers during this course. Above all, it was really meaningful for me to be able to systematically learn about laws related to international peace cooperation activities including how they are interpreted and applied from the pre-deployment phase to the actual deployment. Also, this course was attended not only by Ground, Air and Maritime SDF personnel but also by those from such organizations as the Cabinet Office, so through discussions with them in group studies I could build a diverse network, which was another great achievement.
　I hope to make good use of the expertise gained in this excellent course in my work as well as contribute to raising the standard of knowledge by sharing it within my unit.

I participated in the 21^st Basic Course and am deeply grateful that I could learn about past and present efforts and challenges in relation to UN peacekeeping operations from instructors and guest lecturers who have abundant experiences.
　For me, used to look at UN peacekeeping operations only from the military perspective, this course became an opportunity to learn about international efforts for WPS (Women, Peace and Security), their influence on operations, and characteristics of civil-military coordination from the viewpoint of the civilian sector, allowing me to develop international sense and realize challenges, which would have been difficult in my daily work.
　Now I want to widely introduce training courses offered by the JPC, especially this Basic Course and spread the knowledge and what I felt about this course.

It was really useful for me as a civilian to be able to listen to instructors from the SDF and guest lecturers talk about their valuable experiences in the field throughout this course. Particularly, I keenly felt that on-site activities for dispatching SDF personnel to UN peacekeeping operations entail difficulties that cannot be understood simply by reading laws and policy documents. Also, I directly felt the importance of members of Ground, Air and Maritime SDFs and civilians who have different organizational cultures to understand each other’s position and to broaden our horizons while sharing ideas. It was a really illuminating opportunity where I fully realized that even within the country we have to respect the diversity of each other’s organizational cultures in order for Japan to demonstrate leadership in the field of peacebuilding.

I’m truly thankful that I was able to attend the 20th Basic Course in spite of the pandemic. In this course, through lectures of the Cabinet Office personnel, dispatched servicemembers and instructors with much knowledge and experience, I learned the structure of the United Nations, history and changes of its operations, domestic and international legal frameworks, and the process of troop deployment, which have deepened my insight. Especially the group study was a great experience where I studied and had discussions until after working hours not only with ground self-defense force personnel but with those from air and maritime SDFs.
　I’ve never been dispatched to a mission nor will I be for the time being, but I will improve myself and my education at the school, based on this experience.

Having the opportunity to attend the 20th Basic Course, I felt that it was very significant that the course was held after trial and error in the coronavirus pandemic because I realized during the course how much emphasis is put on training and education of peacekeepers in each country and that international peace cooperation activities have to keep going under any circumstances. Also, it was very inspiring to have the opportunity to study to together with the UNSOC (special) students, which was the first case ever for the JPC.
　I hope to make use of this experience when I’m dispatched to Japan Disaster Relief Team and others.

I had the chance to attend the FY2020 UNSOC (special) at the end of the fiscal year, the busy time of the year thanks to understanding and cooperation of my bosses and colleagues.
　It was really fortunate for me to be able to attend the high-quality course under thorough anti-infection measures despite a state of emergency having been issued for Tokyo due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infections.
　I heard there had been a lot of difficulties because of the current situation such as not being able to invite foreign instructors and having to compress the curriculum due to the shortened period. But it turned out to be excellent training full of ingenuity, where I could enhance my capabilities in many ways such as learning historical changes of peacekeeping operations and related organizations, and gaining knowledge and skills required for officers at HQ.
　I will continue to work hard while using what I learned in this training to grow.