July 20th, 2024
Two graduates of the University will compete in the Paris Olympics, which start on 26th of July. Ms. Sumire Hata (Health and Sports Sciences 2019 graduate) in the women's long jump and Ms. Matsuri Arai (Health and Sports Sciences 2023 graduate) in the women's high dive. Ms. Hata won the Japan Athletics Championships in June for the fourth year in a row and will compete in her first Olympics.
Ms. Arai has won the Japan Championships swimming event for six consecutive years since 2017. This will be followed by an appearance at the Tokyo Olympics. In addition, Aiko Sugihara, who competed in two consecutive Olympics in Rio and Tokyo, is an alternate in the women's gymnastics.
Competition in high jump and gymnastics starts on 27th of July, and in athletics on 1st of August. There is an eight-hour difference in local time from Japan, so the finals in each event will take place between midnight and dawn.
July 16th, 2024
Calligraphy club member Mari Yokemoto (4th year, Japanese Language and Literature) was awarded the ‘Nishinomiya City Exhibition Young Artist Encouragement Prize’ at the 73rd Nishinomiya City Exhibition (hosted by Nishinomiya City and Nishinomiya City Cultural Promotion Foundation).
The prize-winning work is a modern poetry document with a singular textual expression. In particular, the generous letterforms, bright black lines and intricate drip stroke of the second line, ‘Dream of the Great Sea’, were well integrated to create an appealing work.
The winning work was exhibited at the Nishinomiya Municipal Civic Gallery from 29th of June ~ 6th of July 2024.
July 14th, 2024
The second Open Campus of the 2024 academic year was held on 14th of July at the Main Campus, Hama-Koshien Campus, with 1684 (preliminary figures) high school students, parents and others in attendance.
At the opening ceremony held in the Koe Memorial Auditorium, visitors applauded a stage performance by the Aerobic Dance Club. This was followed by the ‘Students of MWU look back on their university entrance examinations & MUKOJO life☆’, in which university students gave specific advice on studying for entrance examinations and talked about their lives as university students studying at Mukogawa Women’s University. The high school students listened intently while taking notes.
The Department of History and Culture held a workshop entitled ‘What is Doing History?' and a teacher with experience as an archivist gave a mock class on the aspects of knowing and learning history.
In the Department of English and Global Studies, students who studied abroad for four months in the US branch campus talked about the enriching learning experience at the school, explained the distinctive subject groups of the ‘English Culture’ and ‘Global Communication’ majors, and teachers offered individual consultations.
In the Department of Social Informatics, the differences between the majors of ‘Information Media’ and ‘Information Science’ were introduced in detail, including examples of employment opportunities, after which students introduced their seminars. Teachers also answered questions individually from high school students, parents and others.
At the Hama Koshien Campus, the School of Pharmacy held a hands-on work experience ‘Let's make aroma spray – enjoy the breadth of pharmacy with aroma’, where participants took turns in making their own aroma spray.
The upcoming schedule for the 2024 Open Campus is as follows.
9th of August (Friday)
10th of August (Saturday)
22nd of September (Sunday, public holiday)
22nd of March (Saturday), 2025
July 12th, 2024
Eight students from Bahçeşehir University (Turkey), who are studying at the University's School of Architecture for a short-term period, paid a courtesy visit to Nishinomiya City Hall on 11th of July and had a meeting with Mayor Toshiro Ishii.
The international students introduced themselves and their home regions within Turkey, and introduced the fascinating aspects of each region of Turkey, including architecture, nature, food, sports, etc. Mayor Ishii welcomed the students and explained the features of Nishinomiya City.
Mukogawa Women's University and Bahçeşehir University have concluded a general exchange agreement and have been conducting exchange studies since 2009.
July 9th, 2024
On July 7th, 18 third- and fourth-year students of the Community Planning Course of the Department of Human Environmental Sciences held the "Tsunagare Rogaining" (organized by the Rogaining Executive Committee of the Community Planning Course of the Department of Human Environmental Sciences at Mukogawa Women's University and supported by Nishinomiya City), in which only university students participated. Rogaining is a sport in which participants compete for points by visiting checkpoints set up in a certain area within a time limit. About 100 students from 22 universities and vocational schools in Hyogo, Kyoto, Osaka, and Nara, including students of MWU, participated in the event as staff and competitors.
Eighteen students enrolled in the "Field Design Exercise III" program handled everything from planning to fundraising, public relations, and management. From around May, the students went around the Koshien area, visiting 23 companies in Nishinomiya City to obtain sponsorships and asking for cooperation from stores at checkpoints. Publicity activities were conducted through flyers, posters, and use of social media, and students from other universities were widely encouraged to participate.
Starting from the Mukojo Station campus, 22 checkpoints were set up within a 2-kilometer radius of Koshien Stadium. The time limit was set at 3 hours. After the opening ceremony, participants were divided into teams of four or five, and with maps in hand, they set out for the city. At the checkpoints, participants were assigned various missions, such as dancing the chorus of the Miyakko Dance together, challenging the Nishinomiya quiz, and eating Koshien Karaage. Points are set from 10 to 300 depending on the difficulty of the mission. In addition, 10 points will be awarded for each "Miyatan," the character of Nishinomiya City, found in the city.
Kisa Yamate, a fourth-year student in the Department of Human Environmental Sciences, summed up the event by saying, "I am frankly happy that so many people participated. Some of the stores we went in for the first time, found Miyatan on manholes, and discovered the attractions of the city as we walked around.”
July 5th, 2024
Eight international students from Bahçeşehir University in Istanbul, Turkey, who came to Japan under the short-term international student acceptance programme 'ICSA in Japan', joined the students of the School of Architecture and joined their classes.
On 4th of July, four Turkish students worked on ikebana with first-year architecture students at the Koshien Kaikan. In a class designed to hone their sensitivity to the beauty of space, the students learnt about the three styles of Misei-ryu Sasaoka, and then used chrysanthemums and Abura-dodan-tsutsuji as materials, cutting branches and inserting flowers into a kenzan. They completed their works with a serious expression on their faces while watching the balance between the flowers and the branches. Ms. Dalan, who is studying architecture in Turkey, said: 'This was my first time doing ikebana. It was difficult to arrange the branches, but thanks to the support of my friends and the guidance of the teacher, it was an enjoyable experience".
In the urban design class, two international students came up with a townscape under the theme of 'Creating a townscape with a rich landscape in Tidal Ashiya'. During their stay, they will make drawings and models, compile their proposals and make presentations.
The 'ICSA in Japan' program has been running at the School of Architecture since 2009, but it is now held online. This year, for the first time in five years, it was held face-to-face. For approximately one month, international students take part in exercise-oriented classes in the studios of Mukogawa Women's University, which are blessed with one drafting desk for each student, and are divided into two departments: the Department of Architecture and the Department of Landscape Architecture. They also visit Kyoto and Hyogo to experience the quality of Japanese architecture and culture. The international students are enthusiastic about their classes, saying that they are able to study in a practical way here.
Meanwhile, Japanese master's course graduate students are learning about the conservation and restoration of cultural assets by visiting the restoration sites of Turkish palaces in the ICSA in Istanbul.