2026/3/6

On Thursday, March 5, a delegation from Canada, including Senator Stan Kutcher of the Senate of Canada, and Member of Parliament (MP) Terry Sheehan of the House of Commons of Canada, made a courtesy visit to Chair of the Board of Governors Toshiro Kita, and Vice Chair Takuya Morita at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies (KUFS).

Mr. Kita began by welcoming the visiting dignitaries: "Based on our founding philosophy, we hope to further our exchanges with Canada in the coming years." In his own opening remarks, Mr. Kutcher stated, "I've been looking forward to seeing the students' presentations." Mr. Sheehan, who serves as Co-Chair for the Canada–Japan Inter–Parliamentary Group in addition to his role as MP, introduced some of the activities being undertaken by the organization. "Regardless of the current political party in power, we spend our days trying to help people in any way possible,” said Mr. Sheehan. All present enjoyed pleasant discussions together.

Thereafter, they moved to the sixth floor of Building No. 4, where Professor Sachiko Kawakami (Department of Global Tourism, Faculty of Global Engagement) gave a presentation covering her research project on emigrants to Canada from the Mio area of Mihama-cho, Wakayama Prefecture. As part of the presentation, she gave an introduction to the town of Mihama-cho and provided an outline of the Mio Ramen Project. Next, three Faculty of Global Engagement students participating in the Mio Ramen Project went over the project history and details of their activities, introducing events held thus far through video. The presentation was carried out entirely in English.

These were followed by an open discussion session, with the three student presenters answering questions from exchange students from Canada as well as Japanese students who had previously studied there or plan to soon. The visiting government officials from Canada also contributed a number of remarks. Mr. Kutcher encouraged each student to make a one-minute mini-speech, saying, "I really like your focus on food. Please tell me what 'food' means to each of you." Although appearing somewhat nervous, the students tried their best to convey their thoughts and opinions in English while having a lot of fun. It was the perfect opportunity to put the results of their daily study efforts to the test.

In addition, Consul David Perdue of the Consulate of Canada to Japan, in Nagoya, who has deep-reaching ties with KUFS, also attended and engaged in friendly exchanges with the students.

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