Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Togane High at JIU

Students from Togane High School were at JIU for three days for an intensive English program (July 23, 24 & 27). On their last day here they met some JIU students from Slovakia, Colombia, China, USA, Canada, Australia and Nepal. 

Former students departing Japan

Some of my former students are departing Japan to either teach or go to graduate school abroad. We toasted to their success the other day. 



Asia Summer Program: Closing Ceremony

The Closing Ceremony of the Asia Summer Program 2015 was held here on the Togane Campus yesterday. Most of us had the impression students made good friends and that they are looking forward to participating in the program next time. In 2016 it will be held at Bangkok University. 
Representatives getting ready to receive certificates. 

Next host: Bangkok University





Last farewells before boarding the bus to Narita. 



Pot-luck lunch with Extension students

The Extension students cooked great food for us all on July 24. It´s so interesting to see the presentation and tastes of everyone. We are so lucky to be able to enjoy each other´s food the end of each semester. I prepared an artichoke salad with lots of local yellow and red tomatoes, cucumber--simple and refreshing. 






Matsuo High at JIU

Matsuo High School students spent the day at JIU on July 21. They are preparing for their studies abroad. They listened to presentations by our international students and also gave presentations on the Japanese social welfare system.
Violin by Rut at the reception.



Saturday, July 18, 2015

Saying good-bye to the UCR group


Tetsuro Shigematsu at JIU

We were pleased to welcome Tetsuro Shigematsu to the Togane Campus. He performed for the students taking part in the Asia Summer Program 2015. Even though we had not initially planned this, he graciously accepted to come to Togane for a performance in the Mizuta Hall. He is Japanese Canadian and his performance which started with his daughter´s question, ´Why is it that you never cry, daddy?´ was exactly what we talked about in Brazil when we were kids. I´m not sure if everyone in the audience was able to follow the depth of this subject, but I certainly hope they took this performance as an excellent class on cross-culture understanding. 


Performance at the Mizuta Hall. 

Q&A
Surprise! Practing Kendo one more time.







Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Happy Birthday, Misa



Asia Summer Program

Rakugo 
We were honoured to welcome Shinoharu Takekawa to the Asia Summer Program on Monday. He performed and also conducted a workshop (photos below). It was great!





Asia Summer Program

Opening Ceremony