On September 26 (Sat), an orientation event "retreat" was held for students who entered ICU from this September. Around a hundred graduate and undergraduate students who graduated high school overseas, or international schools, and exchange students from other universities, joined this event and attended lectures, learning events held by professors, experienced Japanese culture, and visited temples nearby and cultural buildings.

At the first lecture, the theme was " My Cross-cultural Experience Abroad: Cultural Adjustment and Culture Shock-How I deal with Them". Dean of College of Liberal Arts, Tatsuhiko Itoh served as the facilitator, and Professor Richard Wilson (Major: Arts and Cultural Heritage and Japan Studies) and Senior Associate Professor Heather Montgomery (Major: Economics and Global Studies ) talked about their own experience about what culture shock they had when first arriving in Japan.

The next project was divided in 8 sections: "Writing your name in Japanese Calligraphy", "Listen, See, Eat, and feel Japanese ~world of Onomatopoeia~", "Translation through Society, Culture, and Media", "Experience with Codes", "ICU Stock League" "World of Natural Science", "Talk with Philosophers, and Theologians" and "Let's talk about life and studies of Graduate Students". The students chose and joined the sections they were interested in and were able to experience what it is like to learn at ICU, and broadened their perspectives.

Later, the students were separated into groups by instruction from the student organization to experience either Japanese calligraphy, Japanese flower arrangements, modern Japanese martial arts, or Japanese dancing. Others joined groups to visit temples and cultural building near schools. The purpose of this exercise was for the students to experience and grasp Japanese culture.

Students who joined this "retreat" mentioned "I was relieved to hear that I wasn't the only one who is experiencing culture shock.", "It was a valuable opportunity for me to experience Japanese culture", "The temple was so beautiful I forgot how tired I was.", "It was my first time writing my name in Japanese characters, so it was a valuable experience.", "This event made me want to learn more about Japanese culture." Through these comments we can see the many students had a fulfilling time during this event.

*New student retreat

The retreat first started in the early 1960s, soon after ICU was built, and around the mid 1970s, it became an event for new students. This even is meant for students to build their identities as ICU students through understanding the university's philosophy and liberal arts. The retreat held this September was planned and managed by the student organization that is made up of students who just entered ICU in April.