On April 8, an exchange event, "Meiji Meet-Up" was held for exchange students and privately financed international students, coming to Japan for the 2025 academic year.
As many as 300 international students registered in advance, and the spacious venue on the second floor of the Academy Common building at the SURUGADAI Campus was filled with enthusiastic participants.
The event was a great opportunity to deepen exchange relationships among students through various games. A lively time was enjoyed by all as the venue filled with laughter and students excitedly exchanged contact information.
The event was made even more exciting by the presence of 50 students representing seven on-campus organizations and groups: Campus Mate, MuBO (both are student exchange groups approved by the International Student Center), Supporters from Political Science and Economics, the Student Committee of the School of Global Japanese Studies, the Japanese Language Cafe (The Noriko Kurosaki Seminar, School of Commerce), the Chinese Students Association and the Korean Students Association. The event was emceed by two supporters from Political Science and Economics, Ms. Hisui Tagami (4th year) and Ms. Sumomo Tounan (3rd year). “It was a lot of fun for me, as the MC, to see international students from various countries, from Asia to Europe, enjoying themselves in a friendly atmosphere!” said Ms. Tagami. Ms. Tounan added, “I was nervous and anxious, but I am glad we were able to pull it off. I hope that this will be the start of many more exchanges!”.
The “Welcome Party for New International Students” hosted by the International Students Center followed the exchange event. This party was emceed in English by Aki Hirata (2nd year, Faculty of commerce) and Asumi Takei (2nd year, Faculty of commerce) from Campus Mate. The party started with a welcome speech by Professor Taro ISHIGURO, Deputy Director of the International Student Center. Then, Mr. Seguy Thomas Guillaume Killian (Graduate School of Letters, Arts and Sciences), a Japanese Education Ministry (Monbukagakusho) Scholarship student from France, made a speech as a representative of the new students, and sent a strong supportive message to the new students who will share their study abroad life with him. Afterwards, Professor Hideki ETO, Director of the International Student Center, gave a toast, which was followed by a time of pleasant conversation, during which participants introduced themselves to each other and shared stories about their home countries, deepening their friendship.
In the latter half of the event, a powerful performance was given by the Meiji University Athletic Association Cheer Leading Squad. The students were so excited by the introduction of famous Japanese landmarks and the singing of the school song, that the entire venue was filled with a sense of harmony that transcended barriers of language nationality.
All of us involved sincerely hope that through this event our new international students were able to meet many new friends and made a wonderful first start in their future student life at Meiji University.
