Details of the Initiative

The students of the Kurosaki Seminar study linguistics with a focus on the Japanese language. They regularly holds an event called Nihongo Cafe (Japanese Cafe), in which they interact with international students in Japanese.

Anyone who is a student at Meiji University can participate in the Nihongo Cafe. Everyone, whether a beginner or an advanced Japanese speaker, native Japanese speakers of course, students from different nationalities, places of origin, languages, genders and so on gather here, respect and treat each other equally, so that they can talk with ease and with peace of mind. Especially for foreign students who have just come to Japan, it is not only a place to practice speaking Japanese, but also a valuable place to make friends with Japanese and students from other countries.

For seminar students, interacting with international students in Japanese is an opportunity to learn about diversity, fairness, and the significance of quality education beyond just linguistics. Taking an objective view of the familiar existence of the Japanese language and studying it from the perspective of being one of the many languages in the world will lead to engaging with various people and living in a fair manner. We need to think about and put into practice what it takes to make a better world. I hope to continue my seminar activities with such an attitude.

The Nihongo Cafe in the International Exchange Lounge at Surugadai Campus. Students from various nationalities gather at a table and talk in Japanese.
The Nihongo Cafe in Building No.1 (Administration Offices) of Izumi Campus. It is often held during lunch breaks, so before the COVID-19 pandemic, we sometimes brought a lunch box and ate together.
Surugadai Nihongo Cafe. Before the pandemic, drinks and snacks were served in the seminar. We have even received donations of wonderful sweets from Puratos Japan Co., Ltd. and Meiji Co., Ltd.
Even when we could not gather at the campus owing to the pandemic, students at Meiji University gathered online. Thanks to the international students who could not enter Japan but participated from their home countries despite the time difference, the seminar students learned a lot.
The fifth-class students of Kurosaki seminar in the 2021 academic year, we held an online Nihongo Cafe and a hybrid Nihongo Cafe in Izumi Campus, and in the 2022 academic year, we hosted a face-to-face Nihongo Cafe in Surugadai.