Ken visited from Arizona today

Lunch at the faculty restaurant

In front of the Global Village

Congratulating Mayu

Mayu will be moving to Europe soon and we said good bye and congratulated her on Wednesday--her last seminar class.

 

My godson growing really fast

He still doesn't cry when I hold him and I hope he never will.

Domino

I'm always surprised at the number of people--especially here in Japan--that never played domino in their childhood. We had a chance to share the fun of the game with some people on Sunday. 

Happy coincidences

The other day I ended up having dinner with both Hitomi and Yuka, but we hadn't really planned it. It was all a nice coincidence and it was great seeing them both. The day after that,  two other graduates showed up in my office and they also know each other as they graduated the same year. I only have a photo of Yuka--sorry!

UCR at JIU

Professor Shigematsu brought 21 students from UCR to the Togane campus on Thursday for a day of Japanese experiences. We started the day making Chiba-style makizushi--and had them for lunch. After that they visited our tea ceremony room and enjoyed some tea. Before joining the kendo practice hour, they also took part in a short "furoshiki" workshop. It was a very brief visit but I think everyone tried to get the most out of it. 

They made cherries and roses--so beautiful and so tasty!

Learning to wrap a bottle. 

(Black) dinner at Solivo

Guess what Yuiko had for dinner? 

Happy Birthday, Mr. Fujiwara

Happy Birthday, Fujiwara-san. We were fortunate to be able to celebrate your birthday with this homemade pizza and sweets from Okinawa. 

Sazae-san in class

One of the students went to Kyoto for his daughter's wedding and brought this souvenir to class on Friday. For those who don't know, Sazae-san was my Japanese language teachers 25 years ago. 

JEAP/Exchange Orientation for Parents

On July 2 we had an orientation session for the parents of the students going abroad on long-term programs from August. There were more than 120 participants. Students who have already studied abroad answered questions by students and parents. I hope everyone will take advantage of their programs and will return to Japan more mature, more experienced and in good health next year.