TOMODACHI Alumni Highlight: Miki Kadota, from TOMODACHI Next Generation Summit 2025
Miki Kadota is an alumnus of the 2015 Building the TOMODACHI Generation Program. Through her stay in Washington DC and learning about the vibrancy of the civil society in the United States, she developed a great interest in protecting and supporting citizens’ communicational activities, which lead to her current research on freedom of assembly and assembly law. After receiving her PhD in Law, she is currently working as a Program-Specific Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Law/ Hakubi Center, Kyoto University. While she has participated in many international research projects, she is particularly active in a research group that aims to address contemporary issues in democracy by studying the current state of assembly law in Japan, the United States, and European countries, aiming to contribute to the society through her academic activities and ambitions she gained through the program.
In 2015, I was in Washington D.C., to participate in the Building the TOMODACHI Generation Program. This program gave me a life-long devotion and my self-confidence as “Derukui”. In Japanese, the “Derukui” is often associated with negative messages, since it means “The nail that sticks out gets hammered down.” But for me, becoming Derukui, sharing your passion brings a great network with others who support you and work with you.
What made me “Derukui” was the vibrancy of “civil society” I witnessed in Washington D.C. One day, we saw the image of a crowd demonstrating for the civil rights movement in front of the Lincoln Memorial. On the other day, we learned from a mentor how civil society is fundamental to the United States. This Program is a part of this great history. As history proves, such movements sometimes face strong oppression. In spite of these challenges, people have raised their own “voices” and tried to move history forward.
However, the freedom to connect with others is currently in a critical situation. Demonstrations have been excluded from public spaces. Public debates are now under strong control. This is not a local phenomenon, but is a global one. Because I truly believed in the power of the public debate, I have started a joint research group with scholars from the United States, Central Europe to give a global impact.
Launching this project was a true hardship for me. Under the seniority system in academia, I hardly had the opportunities to take the initiatives to turn my idea into a project. This is especially true for a young female researcher. However, after I continued to talk to people at international events, I finally met the people I can work with. They are my Derukui Network. Some of them would risk their academic and social lives under the very illiberal government, but my passion resonated with their professional and personal values. Even though we are educated in different countries, we compare our jurisdictions, look for similar problems and find solutions for the crisis of public debate. Now we are working together on specific issues including the ban on assemblies by sexual minorities or harassment by the government. We are organizing symposiums in many countries, including in Japan, coming in March, 2026.
Finally, ten years ago, the TOMODACHI Program taught me the importance of trust in passion of your own. Also, this program has always been a symbol of people’s courage to trust others. Your youth, gender, nationalities, cultural backgrounds really don’t matter. Let us share our voices and join the Derukui Network.
This article was transformed from her speech script by Nina Takanami on September 6, 2025. Nina is currently an intern with the TOMODACHI Alumni leadership program.
