Isma'il Mustafa, one of our 2^nd year LLB MSP scholars, was selected to represent the UK in the 2015 ‘Ship for World Youth programme’ sponsored by the Japanese government. In this programme more than 200 international students come together to foster mutual understanding, cultural exchange, friendship and cooperation in order to promote youth leadership and cultivate international understanding.

I went to Japan on the Ship for World Youth programme. This programme's aim is to collect youth that are proactive in their communities and bring them together to share in ideas, passion and build a network so that not only can we one day work together on large, global issues, but also local issues can be approached with perspectives from around the world. I was a representative of the UK, a great honour. The wonderful rest UK delegation and I arrived in Tokyo, we went on a short homestay in Miyazaki, we travelled back to Tokyo and stayed in a youth centre, we then boarded the Nippon Maru and travelled to Okinawa and Rikuzentakata.

The reason why I decided to go to Japan was because I thought the opportunity to explore other cultures and meet new people was exciting. I went there to learn and develop myself. Those 23 days was a lifetime, and I have many brothers and sisters around the world who I cherish dearly. I re-learnt to love life, to breathe easy and live life one moment to the next, to care for others and to be myself. I have now decided that after graduation I will attempt to teach English in Japan, eventually return to teach in England for a while, bringing back whatever good practices I could learn from Japan, and then eventually move on to truly establish the social contribution that now is my reason for waking up in the morning. My thanks to the Japanese government for this wonderful initiative."