Halloween at JIU

About 130 students and faculty members of the Center for Language Education attended our Halloween party yesterday. 

Prime Minister Abe: 「ポーランド・アイルランドの夕べ」

It was an honor to attend a reception at Prime Minister Abe's official residence on Friday. He and Mrs. Akie Abe invited our Chancellor and students from Poland to participate in the 「ポーランド・アイルランドの夕べ」. Our students were asked to give a presentation and they did very well. The Vice-President of Poland, some ministers, and the Ambassadors from Poland and Ireland were present. I had just seen Ambassador John Neary and his wife Kathleen White on TV the week before, so it was even more pleasant to meet them in person. They were on the "gachiri" show and talked about the contact lenses imported from Ireland. We all had a very pleasant and memorable evening. I'm sorry I'm not allowed to upload any photos here.

Artichokes in Chiba?!?!

You cannot imagine how surprised I was when I saw this small purse at Chiba Mitsukoshi the other day. I asked the woman who actually works for the company that makes the purses if she had been able to sell this specific type to Japanese customers and she said she hadn't. I wasn't surprised when she told me most people ask her what "those things" are--pine cones?!? bulbs?!?! It's interesting though that despite the bad sales they still insist on the French countryside scenery. 

Grape Picking in Togane

About 30 of us went grape picking here in Togane today. It was fun and we thank the Suzukis for their kindness in welcoming us and letting us eat as much as we wanted. We also took lots of grapes home! 

Visiting the Taniguchis

We enjoyed the special sake that Naho's mother sent us.

Super food.

Koryu Day in Kamogawa on Sunday, October 13

Sandra from UCR at JIU

Happy Birthday!

Welcome Party for International Students

We had a welcome party for the international students in the Department of International Exchange Studies on Tuesday, October 8. We started with a few music performances in the Presentation Hall and then had some food after that. I hope everyone had a good time and I thank you those who helped with the preparations and cleaning up. 

Argel sang two Japanese songs.

Dean Tokoku taught the JIU song. 

Glory Rain performed representing the freshman class. 

Efficient--very efficient.

Josai University Celebrations on October 5

Josai Base College celebrated their 30th anniversary and Josai University's Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences celebrated their 40th anniversary on Saturday, October 5. Some of the JIU faculty members and students took part in the celebrations as well. The Ambassador of Bulgaria was presented with a certificate of appreciation for the Nadia roses that were given to Josai on the occasion of the opening of the Seiko Mizuta Rose Garden. 

Chancellor Mizuta

Polish students with Ambassador Vassilev.

Hungarian students performing at the reception.

Curry Party

We had a small curry rice party with some of the students in the Master's in Global Communications course on Friday, October 4. The students from the "Tohoku" University in China had not been to our Togane campus yet so we decided to invite them and have a casual meal together. 

Wow, Ryuta!

Ryuta made an unannounced visit to my office on October 2. It was a great surprise and I was so happy to see he is happy and working hard. I think he graduated from JIU four or five years ago. I was also pleased to see he hasn't forgotten his Spanish. We ended up going to a Korean restaurant in Oami that night. 

Karaoke--serious karaoke

I went to Shidax with Naho and Greg a while ago. It was Saturday night and for some unknown reason Greg only sang very sad songs--we complained!! Naho tried different styles including "enka," animation and pop songs. It was really fun to listen to them both!

Welcome back from Taiwan

Our graduate and undergraduate students who participated in the Communication Internship in Taiwan (teaching Japanese at two universities) returned more experienced and with lots of gifts!

Watermelon gum, "okarina" and pineapple cake.