On January 26, 2016, President Kim Hyun-Hwan of Korean Cultural Center visited our campus to discuss the future orientation of Japan-Korea cultural exchange.

Citing his own experience as an international student in Japan during which he felt the importance of cross-cultural exchange, President Kim said in the discussion that his center intends to further promote Japan-Korea exchange to have more of both citizens see the importance of understanding respective cultures. “In addition to cultural diplomacy that our center has mainly engaged in, we need to focus more on cultural exchange, especially that by young people”.

In response, Professor Mitamura, who is the adviser to the university president in charge of international exchange and overseas students, stated that our university is willing to broadly promote exchange in our academic areas of fine arts, music and film and new media.

After the discussion, President Kim toured the departments of oil painting and Japanese painting, and the Sogakudo Concert Hall. At the oil painting department, President Kim witnessed the students trying diverse means of expression to express themselves, without limiting themselves to a fixed expressional framework. At the Japanese painting department, he was informed that the students spend more than a year to precisely produce a copy of a classical painting.

At the end of the tour, President Kim and the party visited the University Museum to see the 64th Graduation Works Exhibitions. The works exhibited there by Korean students studying at our university were perceived as a confirmation of an actual outcome of mutual exchange between the two countries.