October 25th, 2023

M.C.C. Foods and the Faculty of Social Informatics are running a food truck.

A food truck operated by the Faculty of Social Informatics' Akaoka and Hirai seminars in collaboration with MCC Foods (MCC) opened a stall in front of the Fir Tree Plaza on the Central Campus for three days from October 24th. Third-year students from both seminars took the lead in conducting an Instagram survey to gather information on what the Generation Z's wanted to eat. The "Loco Moco Bowl," an arrangement of prototype products such as butter rice and hamburger steak, is the main item on sale until the 26th.
 
MCC is a food manufacturer based in Kobe. The joint research with both seminars has continued since FY2021 with the theme of increasing awareness of the company and its products, and since FY2022, students have proposed a system to help Generation Z gain knowledge of the company and its products and how to utilize social media under the theme of "Promotion of Generation Z and the Company". After reflecting on the lack of attendance on the first day of the previous event, posters were put up on campus in advance and a call was made via the university's official app, resulting in a huge turnout from the first day.

Students were in charge of taking orders, handing out number slips, calling out for customers, and paying the bill. This was the first time for the students to sell products, and they displayed ready-made soups and curries at the store. Mahiro Omori, a third-year student in Hirai Seminar, said, "I hope people will take them home and spread the deliciousness to their families."

October 23rd, 2023

Two fourth-year architecture students were selected for a prize in a design competition.

Natsuki Takahata and Yuri Nakano, both 4th year students in the Department of Architecture, won the Grand Prix 2023 "Remote House - A House in Harmony with the Landscape" for their entry "Tsugihagi Houses - Letting Nature Flow through the House". The theme of this competition was to design a house for a young couple and their three children who have made the decision to live away from the city. The project sought to propose a house that would be in harmony with the local landscape, or a house that would make the landscape of the place more beautiful by being built there.

October 18th, 2023

The dance club participated in the Artistic Movement in Toyama 2023.

Mukogawa Women's University dance club participated in "Artistic Movement in Toyama 2023," a small dance competition held every September. Though no prizes were awarded, the team was able to gain a great experience.

 Nana Yokohata (2nd year of Health and Sports Science) said, "I often felt conflicted because of the difficulty of communicating what I wanted to express through dance and facing the challenge. I felt that I needed to learn more about dance and broaden my horizons by looking at the productions of other universities. Although the results were not as good as I had hoped, I would like to practice harder in the future."

October 16th, 2023

The 2023 Joint Animal Memorial Service was held.

The 2023 Joint Animal Memorial Service was held on October 13th. The joint animal memorial service is held every year by the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Faculty of Food and Nutritional Sciences, both of which conduct animal experiments, to express our gratitude for the precious lives of the experimental animals sacrificed in the course of education and research.
 
Until last year, the ceremony was held only for representatives in consideration of the pandemic, but this year, for the first time in four years, faculty, staff, and students involved in animal experiments gathered together to express their condolences to the animals involved in the experiments.

　President Kazuyoshi Seguchi began his address by saying, "I hope that you will understand the importance of animal experiments in pharmacology and nutrition, and that you will always be aware of the 3Rs in animal experiments as you pursue your research." This was followed by words of condolence from Dr. Kyoko Takahashi, Dean of the School of Food and Nutrition Sciences, and words of gratitude from a student representative.

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."