The Fountain

By Michel Kurihara An APU student, Shiina Adachi, and his best friend travelled Tottori Sakyuu in west part of Japan in August. It took them about three hours to get to Tottori Sakyuu from his hometown by car. They took turns driving and did not use any highway and slept in their car to save money. They love trip so they had planned to go somewhere before they enter university.  After they arrived, they walked around there all day including night. He felt it was much too hot in the day but even though it was summer, it was cool in the night.  They swam at a beach close to Tottori Sakyuu. They also ate fresh seafood rice bowl. On the way back to his home, he stopped two places in Hyogo Prefecture, one of the Kansai district. One is Takeda Castle called "Tenkuu no Shiro" in Asago City. He mistook the entrance for the exit so he did not pay ¥500 as the entrance fee. The other is "Pokapoka no Yu" which is a hot spring. He paid ¥700 to enter the hot spring.  

By Shiina Adachi APU students made Fre epaper, introducing Kitahama shopping streets around Beppu Station, for Beppu Week, October 23 to 27. During Beppu Week, where performances and events were held to introduce Beppu to students, Mon Amour stocked the free advertisement paper at the Co-op. They also planned to hand out Freepaper during Tenku Festival on campus and Ishigaki Festival at Beppu University, which many people would see. The seven APU students named the organization Mon Amour, French for "my love" . They started to make Freepaper, wishing life in Beppu will be memorable and meaningful for students. "Students come from many countries and regions, but they do not know about Beppu well, feeling anxiety about location, too. We hope students will like Beppu more during the 4 years because not only Onsen, but there are actually a lot of unique restaurants and shops in Beppu," the leader, Takigawa Hanae, said. To spread this action, Mon Amo...

by Kinya Uchida An APU student, Ayaka Okamoto, went to Thailand, Vietnam and Hong Kong last  summer to meet a friend who quit APU to enroll in university in Thailand. This trip gave them some kind of hard. In this trip, she mainly moved by train or taxi, so it took them 23 hours to move from Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, to Fuei. Moreover, she said, "Moving during the trip was hard for us, but I also troubled about running out of the battery of my phone." In addition, the communication with local people is a problem. "I quarreled with Thai people when I took a taxi " she told. Although she got much trouble during trip, she also could make many memories. In this trip, they mainly went sightseeing. First, they went to Wat Pho, traditional Thai temple. This temple is famous for the very big statue of nirvana, and many tourists visit every year. Then, Ayaka went to night market and enjoyed local food in Thai.  The picture of statue of nirvana After T...

By Michel Kurihara Thirty-two freshmen were published as semi-finalists on Oct. 19 on the website of  Fresh Campus Contest. This contest for freshmen all over Japan started back in August and will end in November. To be brief, this contest is held to choose the cool Fresh man, the No.1 Freshman in Japan.  Initially, there were about a thousand freshmen, but as finalists, only 10 freshmen will be chosen on Nov. 2. Candidates will be evaluated in three ways--through online voting, online channels created by semi-finalists and official judging by examiners. As a final, an award ceremony will be held at Age Stock 2017 in Tokyo Dome City Hall on Nov. 18-19. This event is one of the biggest concerts in Japan. As guest, some famous artists in Japan such as DISH//, BiSH, Nogisaka 46 and Ku-so Iinkai will participate.   This contest has some well known sponsors such as Model Press magazine, Musee alopecic clinic and many others. In addition to this, t...

By Shina Adachi First-year-APU student, Michel Kurihara, went to North Carolina, to visit his grandfather's friend and went to Detroit to see his APU classmate during the summer vacation. Michel met his grandfather’s friend’s family and spent much time with them, such as going to the beach, the amusement park, and so on. He also played a game called “Apples to Apples”, which he used to play at SALC in APU, with them. Michel watched the parade, celebrating 25th anniversary of the city. There were many people and carriages as well. Michel also visited his APU classmate, Taiki Ohira, and his family in Detroit, Michigan for 4 days. He played ping-pong a lot with Taiki, since most of the days were rainy. He enjoyed eating a big steak with Taiki’s family. "Taiki's family was really kind, and I had a great time there," Michel said. Michel wanted to improve his English skill instead of spending the whole summer in Japan. He could hardly understand what A...

by Makiko Akita Study Abroad Fair is for students who interested in APU Study Abroad (Exchange Program). The fair was carried out on Oct. 11, in the Student Hall above the cafeteria. Exchange students studying at APU from partner schools as well as APU students who have come back from exchange programs recently explained their exchange universities and experience to people. Therefore, the fair is recommended for students who would like to study abroad in the future, but have not yet decided where to go, know more about the partner universities. At this time, there were 53 universities' booths, and there were some booths such as Career Office and Academic Office, so students could ask them to study abroad system or consult with them about job hunting plan during the exchange. A student from Oxford Brookes University in the U.K. explained an atmosphere around the University and how long it takes to London by bus. If students have any questions more, pres...