NEWS

In January 2023, the APU student column, “A Window to the World from APU,” which has been serialized irregularly in the Oita Godo Newspaper, has reached one year since it began serialization at the end of January 2022. This series, based on a comprehensive cooperation agreement with Oita Godo Newspaper, appears in the newspaper’s morning edition.

The columns’ writers are domestic members of student group SPA (Student PR Assistant), who also write blogs for the APU homepage. These domestic students present topics after hearing the stories of their international classmates. By creating articles on a range of familiar topics, including food, traditional clothing, school, sports, etc., explored through the students’ interesting exchanges, the column seeks to heighten general readers’ interest in international students and world cultures. Moreover, the student writers receive professional feedback from the Oita Godo Newspaper’s editorial department to improve their writing ability as well as allow them to experience the process of writing to publication.

The 11th column, an introduction of traditional food at Indonesian weddings, was written by Mizuho Ueno (College of Asia Pacific Studies 2nd year). While holding the printed copy, she said, “There are many international students, so I struggled to pick episodes that would surprise readers. This time the topic was on a rare food item. I couldn’t find a photo, so I chose to illustrate it instead.”

In this 1 year, students produced 11 pieces. The column can also be found on the student blog here.