NEWS

Anatolii Yonathan Ast studied East Asian Studies at University of Virginia and spent one summer at ICU’s Summer Courses in Japanese program. Anatolii now lives in NYC where he is focusing his studies on classical Japanese, translates Japanese to English for Japan Today and tutors Japanese language students via Skype. In this interview he tells us more about his passion for the Japanese language and what ICU means to him.

Yuki Nakao is an ICU student spending her junior year studying abroad at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also one of four students to receive the JICUF’s Study Abroad Scholarship, which was inaugurated this year.

ICU President Junko Hibiya was recently quoted in an article by Devin Stewart in Foreign Affairs, a publication of the Council on Foreign Relations. President Hibiya was interviewed late last year by Stewart, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, as part of his research into the changing role of women within Japanese society.

US Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy visited ICU on Tuesday, January 27 to meet with ICU students and to plant a dogwood tree as part of the “Friendship Blossoms: Dogwood Tree Initiative,” which was initiated in 2012 during a visit by then Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to President Obama.

The 34th Joint ICU-Sophia International Symposium was held on the ICU campus on December 20. This annual event, co-sponsored by ICU and Sophia University, brings together an international group of noted scholars to discuss specific interdisciplinary themes related to peace and conflict resolution. This year’s symposium was titled “Beyond Nationalism? Peacebuilding and Religion in Asia.”

ICU graduate Ariana King (June ’14) spent four years at ICU and was very involved on campus, both in the classroom and in the Global House dormitory. SInce then, she has maintained an active connection to both ICU and the Japan ICU Foundation.

Since it’s founding, ICU has been committed to fostering peace and reconciliation. Indeed, the “Plan for a New Regular University,” the document that first envisioned the establishment of ICU, begins by stating that the new university’s primary objective will be, “To contribute to the establishment of the peaceful nation and of the progress of the world culture through education based on the spirit of Christianity.” This dual commitment to peace and international concerns continues to guide ICU and the work of the Japan ICU Foundation.

Ms. Kazuko Ishihara Love, ICU graduate and Chapter Leader of the ICU Alumni Association of Hawaii, shared her reflections with the Japan ICU Foundation on what ICU has meant to her through the years.

The grand tunnel of sakura trees lining MacLean Avenue has become a symbol of ICU’s beautiful campus. After 60 years, some of the trees noticeably show signs of deteriorating vitality. In order to maintain and pass this symbol of ICU on to the next generation, the “Sakura Replanting Project” has been launched and ICU has created the “Sakura Fund” to support and promote this project.

In support of ICU, The Japan ICU Foundation (JICUF) traveled to Chicago in late October to attend both a regional College Fair and an ICU Alumni Chapter gathering.