Clement Nyirenda

I would like to thank the Japanese Government and the Japanese nation as a whole for granting me the Monbukagakusho Scholarship which enabled me to come to Japan for my PhD studies at Tokyo Institute of Technology. Of course, I had to beat other applicants to it but that competition would not have been there had it not been for the generosity of the Japanese people. They have been offering these scholarships since 1954. To date, some 65,000 students from approximately 160 countries and regions around the world have studied in Japan under this scholarship program. This is a huge contribution to the world.Kudos to the Japanese people. In my case, I am excited because this opportunity has granted me an opportunity to work with world class researchers in my field.It has also given me access to world class research facilities and I would like to assure the Japanese government and my people at home (Malawi) that I will work hard and make sure that I get ground breaking results in my research work.

I also look forward to enhancing friendship ties between Japan and Africa by participating in Afro-Japanese activities and by acting as an unofficial source of information on Africa and related issues. Now that I can speak the Japanese language to a certain extent, it will become easy for me to accomplish this task.