AKIYAMA Sho | Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University

The reason why I participated in AGR was that I found it attractive to be able to form a research team with the members I preferred and to conduct research on themes based on interests. Although I am a student from the college of International Management, I have always been interested in the field of tourism that is in the College of Asia Pacific Studies. Therefore, by dealing with the theme of “cashless payment in tourist spots” with friends who are studying tourism, we were able to conduct a cross-sectoral survey on the subject of both economy and tourism. I feel that I have acquired the skills to set my own research themes and to put the steps in practice for conducting research while backtracing my steps as necessary for my team.
Though I thought that Swedish cashless payment app was a payment method before I went there, I discovered that it was actually popular as means of money transfer between individuals. From that experience I’ve learned that it is important to verify the hypothesis by going to the site on my own.
Next year, I am going to study abroad at an Austrian university that is located in the famous tourism spot, so I would like to learn more about the relationship between payment methods and consumer behavior while making the best use of the knowledge that I’ve gained through AGR.