The Yamamoto International Student Dormitory for Japanese and international students has been completed, and on April 15, approximately 50 students, school faculty and staff attended an opening ceremony.
Beginning in 2011, part of the faculty housing was used for exchange student housing. With this construction, all 24 units in the building have been renovated and the building has been converted into international student housing, where foreign exchange students and Japanese students will live. Japanese students will serve as Resident Assistants, living in the same housing with exchange students and supporting them in their daily lives.
At the opening ceremony, Yasuhiko Mukai, Vice President of Global Education and Research addressed the attendees, the ceremonial tape was cut by people involved with the new building, and a performance was given by a brass quintet made up of Associate Professor Osamu Kumashiro, from Music and Fine Arts in the Department of Educational Collaboration, and students. Next, Educational Psychology Sciences major, Hu Haotian, spoke as representative of the exchange students. “I look forward to sharing and helping each other in daily life and studies.”
The head of the dormitory, Narumi Yasuhara, a student enrolled in teacher training as a Music Education major, said, “As a resident assistant, I will do my best for the international students so they can live happily and in comfort and at the same time we can all enjoy socializing together.”
After the ceremony, attendees viewed the renovated rooms and the common room built for social interaction among students and local residents. The event concluded with a mochi-tsuki rice pounding experience, with children and exchange students taking turns to pound the rice with a mallet.
Vice President Mukai shared his hopes for the new building, saying, “I hope that this Yamamoto Dormitory will serve as a focal point for international exchange and as part of our school’s continuing globalization.”