Field Trip to Konan University's Second Campus

Last Friday my Japan Studies "Culture and Education" class took a field trip to Konan University's second and newest campus. The main Konan University campus is in the Okamoto area of Kobe, but this campus is in the Nishinomiya area, near Osaka. The campus itself is one building with nine floors. The campus was built within the past few years, and this is the first year that classes have been offered on the campus. The campus is also called "Cube Campus." It's an interesting name, because the architecture of the building is very modern, and much of the interior design seems to be cube-shaped or designed using modern-style architectural inspiration. This new campus is devoted specifically to business management, so the building is home to the "Hirao School of Managament," and students who wish to major in business management take classes here. Since this is the first year that the campus is in operation, the student body is very small, and I only saw about 100 or so students during my visit. However, the building is expected to hold about 800 students in three years.

During the field trip we had a "high tea," which to me was more like a casual party with food and drinks, and it was a chance for us to socialize with the Cube Campus students. My Japan Studies class teacher wanted some entertainment, so he asked me to bring my violin, and I performed a short solo as well as a duet with a fellow exchange student who plays guitar. My professor also gave me music that was selected by a professor at Cube Campus named Professor Ohta, who plays cello. Professor Ohta started playing cello six years ago, so he worked very hard on this duet, and it was his first performance ever. He is a physicist and very easy to talk with. We had a little rehearsal time together while the other students were touring the campus, and then we had a successful performance during the "high tea."