From the 9th to the 18th of December, the Director of TKU’s Graduate Institute of Asian Studies, Dr. Samuel Ching-shan Hu, lead a group of 11 masters and PhD students on an academic and cultural tour of Japan. The students – who came from various leading Taiwanese universities, including two from TKU – were all members of the Interchange Association, Japan.

The trip involved visits to Hokkaido and Waseda Universities, at which students exchanged ideas and interacted with local students. While visiting the universities, the students presented related research papers and took part in several informal discussions. Dr. Hu observed that, coincidentally, the two universities visited were both Tamkang’s sister schools. He said the visit helped to bolster relations between Tamkang and the two Japanese universities.

Aside from academic exchange, the Taiwanese students also took part in a host of cultural activities. They saw a sumo wrestling training session, learned about traditional Japanese tea ceremonies, and visited numerous well-known Japanese scholars. They even met and conversed with Japanese chancellors from a range of political parties at the National Diet building in Tokyo.

Zhang Yu-xin, a first year graduate student from the TKU Graduate Institute of Asian Studies, said that the trip made her realize that she needs to improve her level of Japanese. In future, she hopes to go to one of TKU’s Japanese sister schools for a year of student exchange.