CommonApp エッセイ ~University of Chicago~

私が出願したエッセイをただただ記録のために載せていくシリーズです。参考までに。
UChicagoは一番やばいエッセイでした。字数制限が無い。そしてテーマがぶっ飛びすぎて何を書けば良いのかに悩む。Oddballとか言われている類のエッセイに属するようです。"What advice would a wisdom tooth have?"とか何を聞きたいのか訳わからなくて頭を抱えた思い出が脳を横切ります。実際に書いたテーマは別のトピックですが。
ただ、UChicagoはairmailでキャンパスの風景を写したA3ポスターを届けてくれたこともあって一目惚れした大学でもあります。もう破き捨てました。
剽窃はありませんのでご安心を。

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2022 UChicago Supplemental Essay

“A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.” –Oscar Wilde. Othello and Iago. Dorothy and the Wicked Witch. Autobots and Decepticons. History and art are full of heroes and their enemies. Tell us about the relationship between you and your arch-nemesis (either real or imagined).

"You're fired."

My "nemesis" is Ms. Ishizuka, who was the advisor of the Eco Run Craft Club. Through quarreling with and opposing her, I have found new ventures and my own idea of how leaders should behave within a community. 

My fellows and I were kicked out of the Craft Club (a.k.a. Eco Run) by Ms. Ishizuka. For ethical reasons, we were uncomfortable with her willingness to misrepresent our work. Due to a related argument over the management of the club, she declared that she considered us dangerous elements, and she confiscated our beloved 50cc Super Cub Car, which we had built from scratch. I talked to other teachers, but the situation did not progress. I felt a fierce resentment at the absurdity of Ms. Ishizuka using her authority to interpret "disagreements" as "rebellion against teachers" and dissolve our activities.

Then, I took a deep breath. Is it best for me to hold this resentment all the time? No. Instead, I took advantage of the extra time I had to try different things. I entered a photo contest after being moved by Saul Leiter, a New Yorker photographer. I participated in the MUN Nationwide and Worldwide Tournaments based on my experience of reading a pile of economics and politics books. I also tried archery, which I had longed to do since junior high school. Thanks to these efforts, my interests, hobbies, and intellectual curiosity grew even broader and deeper. And at the same time, through my involvement in these relatively small club activities, I discovered a new way of being a leader. In other words, I aspire to be a "sympathetic" leader who motivates people not with a strong voice, but by enjoying what he or she wants to do wholeheartedly.

After joining the Photography Club, which was on the verge of being discontinued by its five members, I became the head of the club, entering photo contests and talking about the appeal of 1960s Early American photographers such as Eugene Smith, Vivian Maier, or Robert Frank in the school magazine. Now we have a large group of 20 members, and last year, we held an exhibition outside the school for the first time in the history of the photography club.

As part of the MUN/Debate Club, experiencing the National Convention, the World Convention, and University Model United Nations events, I found Model United Nations so interesting that I began to enthusiastically explain the policy-making process and negotiation techniques to my juniors and classmates, even drawing diagrams on the blackboard with chalk. One by one, more and more people joined the club, and the MUN/Debate Club, which even I had thought would be discontinued, became a respectable organization with members spanning three grades. Our juniors, who knew nothing about MUN until six months ago, were able to qualify and compete in the national tournament. Now, for the first time in two years, we are planning to hold a Model United Nations (aka KTMUN) hosted by our school.

I used to solicit my friends to join the Photography Club or MUN/Debate Club by saying, 'You have an artistic sense. You should join us!’ or ‘You look interested in politics and debate. Why don’t you come with us?' However, I was rejected by all of them. But when I enjoy taking pictures in Shibuya or debating as a delegate of Germany, they get interested in joining. You cannot force others to do what they don't want to do. But, if you not only take the initiative but also do it with a sense of fun from the bottom of your heart, gradually they will become interested and join in the activity. 
Our society encompasses a vast range of races, religions, and points of view. It is precisely because we live in such a world that we need more than just a leader who is authoritative. It is also vital to have a leader who respects the individuality of those around him or her, enjoys walking his or her path, and inspires others. This is my response and challenge to my “nemesis,” Ms. Ishizuka.  (677words)

How does the University of Chicago, as you know it now, satisfy your desire for a particular kind of learning, community, and future? Please address with some specificity your own wishes and how they relate to UChicago.

For me, Law and Photography are the most humanistic subjects that affirm people’s lives. With my colleagues at the University of Chicago, I want to create a new vision of human rights, democracy, and society. And the University of Chicago is the best place to combine the city and the arts, to study politics, economics, law, and literature together. 

The Law, Letters, and Society class is the only one I know among universities in the U.S. that is both classical and progressive in the way it crosses law and society. As someone who has spent every dinner for as long as I can remember with my father, a summary court judge, and my mother, a clerk to a Supreme Court justice, talking about detention procedures, the daily routine of Supreme Court Judges, and the "Handlungsunwert" of criminal sentencing, I found the program to be fascinating. Through classes such as Great Books of the Founding Fathers, United States Legal History, The American Constitution, and Free Speech and the First Amendment, I am excited to learn about the role of the judicial branch in politics, beginning with Marbury v. Madison, the history of the formation of Liberalist and Originalist factions in the judicial branch and their legal philosophies, all the way up to the Dobbs decision, to study the future role of the judiciary entity in the world, including in Japan and the U.S. 

Not only that, but I am also interested in the relationship between GAFA and free expression/markets. A recent family discussion topic is a request for disclosure of Twitter users' information to the courts. The problem is that the Japanese government has difficulty in triggering enforcement power over Twitter, which is a US company. I am excited to study how nations will respond to the current situation where opportunities for free expression are rapidly expanding due to the economic activities of a small number of multinational corporations. Courses like History of Information, Theories of Capitalism, and Neoliberalism and its Critics, provide an excellent opportunity to examine the history and future direction of the American concept of free expression and free markets. 

Furthermore, the professors at the University of Chicago are fascinating. I am looking forward to taking classes in Comparative Politics and Comparative Constitutional Law with Professor Tom Ginsburg, a member of the Comparative Constitutional Law Project. I plan to discuss with him over lunch how continental and Anglo-American law can be fused, and what features can be found in Japanese constitutional law. Under Professor Terence Renaud, I would also like to study the relationship between media and capitalism and how the media should behave in this era when anyone can post satirical cartoons on social networking sites without worrying about money, distinct from the 20th century.

In addition, I would like to participate and contribute to more in-depth discussions at UChicago's MUN, drawing on my experience simulating the negotiation of the revision of market-based mechanisms in Article 6 of the Paris Convention at a high school Model United Nations conference, and discussing intellectual property rights with Japanese college MUN students.

In Visual Art, I am excited by the idea of revealing the secrets of the diversity of the city and its people by further examining from artistic and historical perspectives how the city and its people influence each other to naturally form a culture.

Beauty lies in the transience of continuous change. After photographing the streets of Shibuya for the past three years, I have found it to be more diverse than any other part of Tokyo, and this diversity is what makes it so vibrant. For example, in contrast to Shinjuku and Tokyo Station, where only relatively young and middle-class people in suits can be found, the streets of Shibuya are filled with a wide variety of people, ranging from elderly couples with money to young people in street fashion, businessmen, construction workers, and so on. Shibuya is also a "scrap and build" town, where old organic buildings such as the Center Street Arcade, Crossing, and Shibuya Parco Department Store are gradually being replaced by sophisticated inorganic buildings such as Scramble Square and Miyashita Park, creating a chaotic mix of old and new. On the other hand, street snapshots of urban areas such as Chicago and New York express beauty in the permanence of buildings and objects that are built in an orderly and planned manner.

In the classes of Dr. Theaster Gates, who is interested in urban preservation, and Dr. Geof Oppenheimer, who focuses on the relationship between civic, social, and political issues and images, I will explore the relationship between cities and people as described above. I hope to develop my perspective and sensitivity to bring "the beauty of everyday life" to even more people living in the city.

In UChicago’s fascinating environment, I can experience firsthand the freedom, equality, and human rights of the United States, as well as the climate of the arts. This is why I want to play a role in American society and study its future in the microcosm that is the University of Chicago. (848words)