2026/5/19

On Wednesday, May 13, students of Professor Takashi Ushijima's seminar in the Department of Hispanic Studies, Faculty of Foreign Studies, Kyoto University of Foreign Studies (KUFS) joined as online participants in the Ecuador Research Forum held at Meiji University and co-hosted by the Embassy of Ecuador in Japan.

Students of Meiji University School of Commerce Professor Yasuhiro Tokoro's seminar joined alongside KUFS students, and during the roughly two-and-a-half hour session, participants enthusiastically shared their research findings and exchanged various ideas.
Four students serving as representatives for Mr. Ushijima's seminar presented, explaining in Spanish the important interrelationships between economics, environmental preservation, cultural identity and human capital as they pertain to the Ecuadorian coffee industry.
They also presented the results of an in-person interview with an Ecuadorian husband and wife operating a coffee shop in Fukuchiyama City, adding new insights to this multifaceted study.
Following these presentations, a representative from the Embassy of Ecuador in Japan expressed great admiration for students' analyses and proposed solutions regarding opposition between regional mining companies and local citizens over environmental destruction, explaining that this was an issue of the utmost importance to the Ecuadorian government and thanking the students for their helpful insights.

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