Believe in yourself, keep taking on challenges, and set goals higher than others

  More than seventy years after the end of the war, our society, which our predecessors worked so hard to create, is now prosperous. However, how long will these prosperous times last? In society, loss of trust and confidence follows endlessly due to data fabrication and falsification, while the world has great expectations for our country. Chuo University's founding spirit is “Fostering the Ability to Apply Knowledge to Practice,” which means practice in society, as well as simple and sturdy. I have high expectations for young students like you as leaders of Japan, and I hope you will keep my life of 82 years in mind as a compass.
  Over-wealthy happiness is inferior to under-wealthy happiness. In other words, if you are too blessed with happiness, you will no longer be grateful or moved. Lack and dissatisfaction lead to envy and jealous of others, then everything leads to dissatisfaction, tormenting you. It is because you fall into satisfaction.
  My hometown is located on the Rebun Island in Hokkaido, the northernmost part of our country. When I was a boy, the population was around 13,000 people, and the industry of the island was fishing. I was the third son of the Amimoto (head of fishermen). We were poor, but we lived peacefully. After the war, however, when the fisheries policy was reformed, my family fell to just a mere fisherman. I had to go fishing with my father and brother for a living. Children of fishermen were unable to go to school to help their parents, and school was canceled because there were no children in the classroom. It was such a poor village. But I wanted to go to school. In my childish mind, I thought, “The village is poor because the mayor, the top of the village, is at fault. So I will become the mayor. I will build a school where children can feel safe and a good hospital.”
  As you are blessed, you have probably seen traffic lights since you were born. On the island, traffic lights were installed about nine years ago. I wondered why they were installed in a place where no one would pass by, but I heard that it was for study purposes so that people would have no trouble when they go to town. I had such questions about traffic lights because I was not wealthy. I was questioning about things taken for granted. In a way, maybe not being rich is happiness. 
  After making a big decision that “I want to make the village better. I will go to school to become the mayor of this village,” I hopped on a ferry without telling my parents, and moved to my sister’s marriage home with promising her to pay her back when I succeed in life. While working home for my sister, I earned 600 yen by delivering milk, as well as I attended high school, paying the tuition fees. One blizzard morning when I was delivering milk, a mother who was bringing up a baby and could not breastfeed was waiting for a bottle of milk with the door open. Later when I went to collect the money, she showed me the baby and said, “He has grown so much.” Then, I thought, “I am raising a baby. I am not just delivering a bottle of milk.” Work has responsibility, duty, and pride. I looked at my classmates and thought, “They come to school, living off their parents, but I come to school, raising a baby.” Before that, I was miserable, embarrassed, and thought, “Why only me!” But since then, I was no longer embarrassed to meet my classmates. 
  “Give everything and go on to your dreams. That’s the fight.” 
  These are the words my mother told me when I was little. There is a mountain of happiness. Reach out and grab the happiness. Once you grab it, don't let go. The effort and patience to keep grasping it. I always keep these words in mind to this day, and live in the moment to the fullest.