Spring at the Hotani International Seminar House

May 21, 2012 (Mon.)

This spring was the first season in which international students were able to join the seminar house family in at the natural and beautiful Hotani Campus, and our international students have plenty of praise for it.

Real differences occur in the afternoon and evening after classes are finished at the Nakamiya Campus, when students either ride the public buses or the shuttle buses arranged by the university back to their tranquil homes in Hotani and find their friends, composed of not only international students but also Japanese students as well as Chinese students who are excellent in Japanese, with whom they can study or interact together.

“The students are more studious, which makes the dorm more quiet” and there is “less usage of English and more Japanese” within the Hotani International Seminar House.

This does not mean that Hotani is not, well, a fun place though, since on some occasions – particularly on birthdays and holidays – groups of students singing happy birthday in languages such as Japanese, English, German, Korean, Dutch, and other languages or parties held under blossoming sakura can be found.

The Hotani International Seminar House is at the same time an area of peace and nature as well as a space for international and intercultural interaction as well as exploration. The Hotani Campus itself also provides a number of pleasant surprises, such as a delicious bakery, a friendly community center, an enormous sports field, as well as cafeterias serving scrumptious dishes like the well-sized kagiage rice.

If you have not yet experienced Hotani, please make sure you hop on one of the free shuttle buses from Nakamiya Campus and come see for yourself what the praise is about.

Bill C. Hu
Center for International Education