Happy Birthday, Kobayashi-san!

Can you tell what his favorite character is?

We celebrated his birthday with a small cake yesterday. 

Farewell party for the Spelman and Morehouse College Students

Time flies! On Friday we said good bye to the Spelman College and Morehouse College students who were here for four weeks. They took part in our Intensive Japanese Language and Culture Program. We hope to see everyone again in the future!

Yanagida-san is getting married

Yanagida-san is getting married next month! I'm very happy for her and also happy that she'll be living in Chiba. I hope to be able to see her even after she moves to Noda. She is holding a photo of her fiancé but it's hard for you to see. He's good looking and seems to be really kind. Congratulations!

Dinner with my freshman and sophomore advisees

We finally went to Yutaka all together on June 11. I wanted to do this a while ago, but because of my trips abroad, it was difficult. Not everyone was able to go, but 38 showed up!

Very spicy!

Kuroda-kun and his high school English teacher.

Trying to get the correct answers.

Bowling

We went bowling last Saturday, but the boys didn't do very well. We had a good time though and my scores were a bit better this time. 

Special Friday Dinner

I think this is the first time I have dinner with Kimiye and the funny thing is that if I remember correctly every single time we had lunch together, we ate steak. Tonight we had steak again! She will be leaving Japan after delivering her baby in July. We'll miss her, but we're glad she'll be returning in a few months.

Embraer for the first time!!

I flew on an Embraer for the first time on my way from Helsinki to Warsaw and then again on the way back. I realized that Finnair has quite a large number of aircrafts manufactured in Brazil. The company is actually not far from where I was born and is one of the companies we are proud of. 

University of Lodz

Warm welcome by the Rector and his faculty members and staff. We arrived in Lodz around 1 PM and were able to meet some of the students who are applying to go to JIU.  Rector Dr. Nykiel invited us to a lovely dinner after our meetings. 

Beautiful Warsaw

We went to the Japanese Embassy in the morning and then travelled to Lodz after that. We had lunch in Warsaw and enjoyed the beautiful places you can see below. 

Lots of school trips.

Dinner with former Ambassador to Japan

It was a pleasure having dinner with the former Ambassador and her husband on Monday. The last time we met was in Tokyo also for a meal a bit before they left Japan. It was nice to see them in Warsaw. I certainly hope they will both come teach at JIU in the near future.

The entrance of the restaurant.

Afternoon at the Polish-Japanese Institute of Information Technology

This is our first sister school in Poland. Last year some of their students spent a month in Kamogawa.

With Rector Nowacki who spend the New Year holidays in Copacabana!

With Dr. Ida Jokins, International Relations. 

With Toho-sensei who is married to Maria. 

University of Warsaw

We are now official partners of the University of Warsaw which was founded in 1816. The whole city of Warsaw was destroyed during the war but not the buildings of the university. They are beautiful. 

The place where we met with the Vice-Rector. 

Vice-Rector Nowak.

Lunch with the Vice-Rector: delicious celery soup and pasta.

With the students applying to study in Japan.

Greetings from Warsaw

I arrived in Poland via Helsinki last night. This is the view from my hotel window.

At 3:30 AM.

At 5:30 PM.

Dinner with three JIU graduates on Friday

We didn't plan this dinner ahead of time, but it was great to get together and see how well all three ladies are doing. Miyuki is back and is in our graduate school, Yukie continues teaching and Kaoru is getting more and more responsibilities at ANA. 

Great Yakiniku in Oami.

A little bit of shopping and farewell (Taiwan)

At the Dream Mall with future JIU students.

Saying good-bye to two Presidents at 6:30 AM! What an honor!