Saki Tsurumoto, center, receives a commemorative gift for writing the 100,000th Vow of Ambition, in front of Professor Clark’s statue in Sapporo.
1:00 JST, April 19, 2024
SAPPORO – Dr. William Clark, the first deputy director of the Sapporo Agricultural College (now Hokkaido University) is famous for saying, “Guys, be ambitious.” The quote is so enduring that the “vows of ambition” written by guests visiting his statue reached 100,000 on Tuesday.
The statue was installed 48 years ago at the city’s Sapporo Hitsujigaoka Observation Deck on April 16, 1976. Visitors can write their name, age, hometown and future goals on a gold-colored sheet with the Vow of Ambition, sold for ¥100 and place it in the mailbox installed on the base of the bronze statue.
Saki Tsurumoto, 29, a company employee from Fukuoka who was visiting her husband, submitted the 100,000th sheet of paper. It said: “I will become a person who can lead the team [at work].”
According to the Sapporo Tourist Association, which runs the card game, no details are available on how the writing of a vow of ambition began. However, it is known that around 200 local sixth formers and others placed sheets in the letterbox on the day it was installed.
Some time later, students preparing for their entrance exams at Hokkaido University began writing their vows, hoping to pass the exams.
Chusei Mannami of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters and Kosei Yoshida, who later joined the Orix Buffaloes, also wrote vows. They vowed to succeed in 2018 after it was decided they would join the team.
The sheets of paper are collected and stored daily, and the total number collected over the past 48 years amounts to 300 volumes.
“I hope people will come to the observatory to ‘reunite’ with their sworn ambitions,” said Keisuke Saito, assistant manager of the observatory.
