October 15th, 2023

The 68th Mukogawa Women's University Cultural Festival was held open to the public for the first time in four years and was successfully completed.

The Mukogawa Women's University Cultural Festival began on the eve of the festival on the 13th and continued until the 15th. Due to the pandemic, the festival had been canceled or held with restrictions until last year, but this year, for the first time in four years, it was held open to the public with no admission restrictions.

 The final day of the festival got off to a fine start, with many visitors arriving early in the morning to tour the exhibits and booths.

The School of Music's musical "Beauty and the Beast" was a passionate performance with acting, singing, and live music. In the Koe Memorial Auditorium, the dance and aerobic dance clubs gave lively performances, and the Noh and brass band clubs also showed the results of their daily practice.

At the "802 FUNKY PARTY in Mukogawa Women's University Festival," a collaborative event with radio station FM802 held at the fountain plaza, DJ Takuto Okutsu appeared and entertained students and families in the audience with a DJ show connecting popular songs on FM802.

At the end of the festival, Yuka Shimizu, chairperson of the festival executive committee, gave a closing speech, saying, "This year, we did not set any admission limit and the event was quite large in scale, which gave us a lot of pleasure, but we were also very anxious. Despite this, we are very happy that so many people came to the festival. I would like to thank not only the festival committee but also all those who participated. Next year's 69th Cultural Festival will be bigger and even more enjoyable than this year's. We hope to see you all again.”

October 14th, 2023

The 68th Mukogawa Women's University Cultural Festival marked the return of food booths for the first time in four years. The traditional fashion show was also lively, with no admission restrictions.



The Mukogawa Women's University Cultural Festival, held without restrictions for the first time in four years, was crowded with people on the 14th following the eve of the festival on the 13th, with the main program held until the 15th.

 The festival opened at 9:30 a.m. with performances by the baton twirling and cheerleading clubs and the calligraphy club at the Koe Memorial Auditorium. Yuka Shimizu, chairperson of the festival committee, said, "A total of 85 members of the festival committee have been preparing for the festival for about a year. Please enjoy the festival to the fullest." In the auditorium, the koto music club, chorus club, and broadcasting club presented the results of their daily pursuits one after another. Outside, students' voices echoed cheerfully as they called out to visitors to their booths selling handmade accessories and other goods.

In the classrooms, students enthusiastically explained to the visitors the pieces of work and research they had been working on in their seminars and clubs. The seminar of the Department of Social Informatics was popular for its visitor-participatory exhibit, in which students created design drawings using image-generating AI to make costumes and used AI to synthesize photo spots to commemorate visitors. The Department of Japanese Language and Literature held a sit-down discussion between three students and author and an active university student Koreko Hibino. The students discussed with Ms. Hibino words such as "beauty" in her masterpiece "From Beautiful to Beautiful" and her novels, and exchanged ideas that resonated with the sensibilities of their generation.

The alumni organization "Meisho-kai," in addition to exhibiting the works of alumni, held workshops on kimono dressing and flower arrangement. On a special stage set up in Fir Tree Square, bands from both inside and outside the university gave outdoor live performances, which were greeted with loud applause by the gathered crowd.

The climax of the 14th was the festival's famous fashion show held in the Koe Memorial Auditorium. This year's theme was "Full. Ten teams of about 150 first to third-year students from the university's Faculty of Life and Environment and the Junior College's Department of Fashion and Living Design participated in the event. Each team handmade their own clothes according to a concept they had decided on, and spent about six months creating the show's structure, background images, and even the music.

The theme of the show, "Full," was based on the idea that this year, after the pandemic, we have finally returned to a state where there are no restrictions, and we can fully express our individual ideas of "cool" and "cute" in all its glory. Yuka Yanagawa, the organizer of the show, gave a speech at the end of the show, saying, "It would mean a lot to us if you could feel the joy of making clothes and the influence that clothes have on us through the show."

October 13th, 2023

The 68th Mukogawa Women's University Cultural Festival began on October 13 and will be open to the public for the first time in four years, running until the 15th.

The 68th Mukogawa Women's University Cultural Festival (organized by the Student Committee) began on October 13th. The festival will be held until October 15th under the slogan "Shining Flowers - Flowers of Rich Individuality."

Due to the pandemic, the festival had been canceled or held with restrictions until the past year, but this year, for the first time in four years, it will be open to the public without any admission restrictions.

 On the 13th, a guest talk show by actor Nobuyuki Suzuki, a member of the EXILE theater group, was held in the auditorium on the eve of the festival, and on the 14th, the opening ceremony was held at 9:30 a.m. On the 14th and 15th, the central campus will be the venue for performances by club activities and volunteers, exhibitions on campus, bake sales and kitchen cars, planned events, and outdoor live performances. The main attractions include performances by club activities and volunteers, on-campus exhibitions, bake sales, kitchen carts, special events, and outdoor live performances.

The highlight of the event will be the food booth, which will return for the first time in four years. Specialties such as oden "Ganmo-chan" by the Department of Food Sciences and Nutrition, meat buns "Mantou" by the Department of Dietery Life and Food Sciences of the Junior College will make a comeback. A total of seven food booths are scheduled to open.

October 10th, 2023

Yuko Niwa won a silver medal in the women's taekwondo kata at the 19th Asian Games.

Yuko Niwa, a first-year student of the University's Tae Kwon Do Club (Graduate School of Health and Sport Sciences), won a silver medal in the women's Tae Kwon Do event at the 19th Asian Games held in Hangzhou, China, from September 23rd to October 8th. The women's taekwondo kata was the first Japanese team to make the podium in the event, which was adopted from the last Asian Games held in Jakarta (2018).

 Niwa said, "At the University Games (Olympic Games for university students) in July, I was not satisfied with the results and was extremely frustrated. Following that result, I turned my mind firmly toward the Asian Games this time, and through hard practice, I was able to achieve good results. I am very grateful to my parents and teachers for their support and guidance. The season is still underway, so I will stay strong and continue to do my best."

October 6th, 2023

Professor Joseph Lenti of Eastern Washington University (EWU) gave a public lecture.

The Kusaka-Fosseen Distinguished Professorship Exchange program (*1), which was suspended from FY2020 due to the pandemic, has resumed after four years, and Professor Joseph Lenti of Eastern Washington University (EWU) (*2) gave a public lecture on October 6th in the university's Multimedia Hall.
 
The lecture was entitled "Informal Cities of the World: Historical Antecedents and Contemporary Challenges." He introduced historical background and case studies of slums and the living conditions of the poor in Mexico, Costa Rica, the U.S., and other countries, and also explained the current situation and analysis of poverty-stricken areas and homelessness in Japan.

At the end of the lecture, Professor Lenti said, "I am honored to have been able to lecture at Mukogawa Women's University, which has a wonderful environment, and to have so many people listen to my lecture."

 A student from the Department of Health and Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences in the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences who attended the lecture said, "The lecture was all in English, so it was difficult for me to understand some parts of it. I thought that slums were a foreign phenomenon, but it was interesting to learn that there is a similar phenomenon in the Kansai region. I was impressed by the examples of slum areas overseas where cleanup activities were conducted, streets were cleaned, and public safety was improved," said one student.

 *1... The Kusaka-Fosseen Distinguished Professorship Exchange program is a program established in 1995 through the Kusaka-Fossine International Exchange Professorship Fund, under which the two universities send one faculty member each year to give lectures and conduct joint research.

 *2...Eastern Washington University (EWU) is a state university located in Cheyney, Washington.

October 3rd, 2023

Swimming team participated in the 99th Japan Student Swimming Championships.

The University's swimming team participated in the 99th Japan Student Swimming Championships (All-Japan Intercollegiate Swimming Championships, hosted by the Japan Swimming Federation) held in Koto-ku, Tokyo.

Four swimmers in the individual events and all in the relay events advanced to the B finals (8-16th place finals). Ms. Juri Katayama (freshman, Health and Sports Science) advanced to the A final (1-8th place finals) in the 50m freestyle and finished in 8th place. The captain of the team, Ms. Hinano Kimoto (4th year, Health and Sports Science), advanced to the B final in the 200m Butterfly.