December 27th, 2022
Winter Solstice Tour held at Koshien Hall.
The Winter Solstice Tour was held on December 22 at Koshien Hall on the Kamikoshien campus. The West Hall of the Koshien Kaikan was a banquet hall where many guests gathered during the Koshien Hotel era. In front of this entrance, there is a water bowl called "Sensui." The water bowl is decorated with the Uchide-no-Kozuchi (a hammer and hammer of success) that was the logo of the former Koshien Hotel, and is a sight to see and a sound to hear.
Arata Endo, the designer of the former Koshien Hotel, added another device to this space. He had the upper part of the building opened at 10:40 a.m. on the winter solstice to allow sunlight to illuminate the Uchide-no-Mozuchi, a small mallet carved in the center of the fountain's Nikka-ishi stone. Koshien Hall used to hold an annual winter solstice tour to enjoy this production, but the event was cancelled due to the pandemic, and this was the first time in three years that it was held.
Since the event is weather-dependent, there were concerns until just before the event whether the sun would peek through, but by 10:30 a.m., it did. When the Uchide-no-Kozuchi was illuminated at 10:40 a.m., the crowd cheered and pointed their smartphones and cameras at it.
December 21st, 2022
Christmas party with the international exchange students.
A Christmas party was held by the International Center and the Club IEO staff to celebrate the occasion with the foreign exchange students and the students of Mukogawa Women’s University. Since April, we have accommodated three students from Korea, followed by two students from Taiwan, one from England and another from Korea this past year. The 7 international exchange students have had a warm welcome party in September and have now enjoyed celebrating winter festivities with the students at Mukogawa Women’s University.
The hour long event included activities such as pass the parcel and secret Santa. Prior to the activities, the students gathered in a circle to chat and get to know one and another. The students in charge, Club IEO students coordinated and prepared in advance and did a great job running the show. Among the students who joined for the first time, the language partners of the exchange students were seen among the crowd.
The students were able to interact and share their experiences of Christmas holidays in their countries and learn how the holidays are spent in other cultures. One international student commented, “Back home in England, we celebrate Christmas and it’s time for presents and time with loved ones. It’s interesting to see the dissimilarities of customs here and I’m looking forward to having fried chicken to celebrate Christmas Japanese style.”
Ms. Morisawa, one of the club IEO members commented, “I was pleased to see everyone having fun. It was a good experience for us to take lead in a momentous event like this. I hope that through this event, new friendships were formed and it was a time everyone will cherish.”
December 16, 2022
A press conference was held to announce the appointment of Aiko Sugihara as the gymnastics team's new coach.
Aiko Sugihara, a second-year student of the Junior College Health and Sports Sciences Major and a member of the gymnastics team, will become a coach (junior athlete development) at Mukogawa Women's University from April 2023.
Ms. Sugihara competed in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics and the Tokyo Olympics, contributing to Japan's women's team. Post All-Japan Event Championships in June of this year, she announced that she would "call it quits" on her competitive career. She has been promoting gymnastics and coaching younger students as a student coach. In deciding on a career path after graduation, her hopes to "nurture athletes who can aim for the Olympics. At Mukogawa Women's University, which promotes cooperation between junior high school, high school, and university, she will serve as a coach to strengthen gymnastics competitions, mainly for the junior generation.
December 15th,2022
The first in-person Christmas tree lighting ceremony in three years was held at the Main Campus.
The annual Christmas tree light up was held at 6:00 p.m. on December 15 at the Fir Tree Plaza on the main campus. Members of the Alumni Association General Affairs Committee were in charge of the lighting ceremony, from planning to decorating the tree and running the event on the day of the lighting. Now in its 21st year, it has become a popular annual event during the New Year's holidays. This year, for the first time in three years, the event was also resumed in person, both online and in person.
Decembe 10th, 2022
A discussion was held between two alumni who are active as grounds men.
This dialogue was planned by the Public Relations Office to commemorate the 50th issue of the PR magazine "Riviere" in the next issue. The interlocutor was Ms. Ishidaki, an alumni of Health and Sports Sciences major, and another alumni, Ms. Nagamura participated online.
Groundskeepers have always been a male-dominated profession, so there is a lot of media attention on the advancement of women in this field, and both of them have often been featured on TV and in newspapers. Ms. Nagamura was hired this year as the first female grounds man for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp. Ms. Ishizaki, on the other hand, is Hanshin Engei's first female grounds man. She joined the company last year, and this summer, in her second year, she was involved in the grounds maintenance at Hanshin Koshien Stadium, a job she had longed for.
Although the two had not known each other since their school days, their easygoing nature as both were graduates of Mukogawa Women's University made their conversation lively. As for why they wanted to become groundskeepers, Mr. Ishizaki said, "I wanted to help and support to those who play sports, and when I found out that grounds maintenance was a job, I decided to become a grounds man I really wanted to have a job that involved being with the Hiroshima Carp baseball team.
December 6th, 2022
Workshop on Invisible Diversity Held at Mukogawa Women's University.
The Takahashi Seminar (Professor Chieko Takahashi) of the School of Business Administration at Mukogawa Women's University and the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly Japan K.K. (Headquarters: Kobe, Japan; hereinafter "Eli Lilly Japan") held a workshop to learn about "invisible diversity" to promote understanding of health issues that are difficult to see.
Eli Lilly Japan is committed to contributing to the realization of a society in which everyone can live comfortably by understanding pains and disorders that are difficult for those around them to see, such as migraine, menstrual pain, and back pain, and as part of this commitment, the Invisible Diversity PROJECT was launched in 2020.
The workshop was held on November 29 at Mukogawa Women's University's main campus and attended by 19 members of the Takahashi Seminar. Eli Lilly Japan introduced the "Invisible Diversity PROJECT" and gave a lecture on "Invisible Diversity" using migraine headaches, one of the most common diseases, as an example.
Students who participated in the program shared their impressions, saying, "I felt that it is important to create an atmosphere in which it is easy to say things and to build a relationship with the person, even if you cannot guess everything," and "I felt that it is important to ask the person "what is wrong" when he or she seems to be having a hard time, or to ask what he or she wants to do.