Los Angeles on December 15

I had the pleasure of meeting with faculty members from the California State University, Long Beach on Thursday, December 15 in Torrance. It was nice seeing them again and I think it was actually the first time we were all together. We hope to be able to exchange more students from 2012.

Leeward Community College at JIU

Steve Jacques from the University of Hawaii, Leeward Community College visited us on Wednesday. I was very glad he was able to come the day of my "Ryugaku Planning" course so that he could meet my students and directly talk about the English language program at his institution. Kaoru, our senior student who was there for a semester two years ago, also answered some of the questions students had. Steve had lunch with Chad and Joseph who transferred from that institution to JIU this year. This was a very short visit, but Steve is planning to come back in April and stay longer.

Camosun College at JIU

Geoff Wilmshurst, Director of Camosun International, arrived at JIU on Tuesday. He was appointed director only six weeks ago and we actually met in Victoria his first day of work. We have been sister schools for a long time and we are looking forward to more cooperation and more programs in the future. On Tuesday Naho, Hanako and Kazumi took him on a campus tour. We enjoyed some Japanese steak for dinner and on Wednesday he came to my "Ryugaku Planning" course. It was a short visit, but I'm glad our students had the opportunity to meet him and learn more about Camosun College.

Professor Orbaugh

I had the chance to meet Professor Orbaugh from the University of British Columbia for the first time and coincidentally it was her birthday on Monday. We bought her a cake.

Mostow-sensei

I was finally able to invite Mostow-sensei to dinner at Ichiriki tonight. He is here from the University of British Columbia, Canada, to teach two intensive courses--one in undergraduate and one in graduate school. We enjoyed our sushi and on the way out with saw this "semi" coming out of its shell.

Ateneo de Manila at JIU

Nagai-sensei from the Ateneo de Manila University visited us on Tuesday.

Norway day

It was a pleasure having faculty members from the University of Oslo visit us on Thursday. We are looking forward to receiving more Norwegian students on our campus from September.

Coincidentally Moet's family visited us at JIU the same day. She is going to Norway as an exchange student from August and she was able to meet the Japanese teachers--lucky!

University of Tennessee

We had a guest from the University of Tennessee in Togane on Tuesday.

California State University, Long Beach

Three faculty members from the CSU, Long Beach visited JIU today. It was a short visit but it was great to have the opportunity to show them the campus and have them meet students. They can have a better idea of the environment where their students would be if they choose to come to Togane.

Messages from sister institutions

After the President's speech I had the opportunity to show everyone the banner we received from the California State University, Long Beach and the card and photos from Ateneo de Manila University. All messages were so moving and we appreciate the words of encouragement from the USA and the Philippines.

Japan Foundation students at JIU

Students from our sister institutions the University of Oslo and Tozai University visited JIU today. They are being sponsored by the Japan Foundation and are studying Japanese in Osaka for about one month. They are going to be in Togane for three days and will be staying with host families.

Szent István University at JIU

It was a big pleasure to receive Dr. Lászlo Villányi, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, Dr. Lászlo Guth and Dr. Laszlo Vasa and their spouses in Togane today. Coincidentally they all have the same first name! We first met when I was in Hungary in November, 2009 and after that they came to Togane once. This was their second visit in one year and that's a sign that our sister university relationship has become a strong one. We had dinner together and at that time Dr. Villányi mentioned that in the future he would like to receive Kobe beef as a souvenir from Japan. I had to tell him that what he was eating tonight was Japanese beef but not Kobe beef.... He was polite and said it was good anyway (photo). They are great people and great professionals and our students are lucky to have the opportunity to learn from them and on their campus in Godollo. Twelve of our students will be departing Japan in February and will be taking part in a special course with a focus on environmental issues at Szent István University. (I don't usually wear a cap to dinner--this white cap was a gift from the Dean.)

Dongseo University

We had the honor of receiving a delegation from our sister institution Dongseo University in Togane today. The delegation included the Dean of Graduate School (photo). We are looking forward to establishing more programs with them, and I personally hope more students will take advantage of the exchange program we have and will go to Pusan.

Professor John Tsuchida at JIU

Professor John Tsuchida from California State University, Long Beach visited our Togane campus for the first time today. We would like to establish a sister-university relationship with his campus and hopefully exchange students from next year. His visit was very short, but we hope that he was able to have a good impression of our students and faculty members.

Ko-sensei in my Extension class

Ko-sensei came to my class today and talked about Takao and about some common difficulties when learning Japanese. It seems that people who travel to Taiwan tend to visit Taipei, but we hope that more people will choose to go to Takao as well.

Professor Huang at JIU

Professor Jau-hsien Huang from the National Kaohsiung University of Hospitality and Tourism is visiting us. He went to Kamogawa yesterday and then came to Togane in the afternoon today and met with the students who took part in the teaching internship at his University in September. Everyone is grateful to his warm hospitality and to the great program they had in Taiwan. I was there myself last May when I was invited to give a talk.

Camosun College

We had dinner tonight with Dawn Sutherland from our sister institution Camosun College located in Victoria, Canada. It was good seeing her again.