News & Announcements

The biggest winter event, IUJ SKI DAY was held at Municipal Hakkai Sanroku Ski Resort on February 25th by the Graduate Student Organization Executive Committee (GSO-EC).  There were 140 participants of IUJ students, their families, friends, faculty, staff and IUJ Alumni, enjoyed skiing and snowboarding together under the blue sky.

As usual, many students from Asia and Africa have no experience of skiing and snowboarding, so intermediate and expert skiers and snowboarders instruct those beginners in the morning.  At lunch time, everyone enjoyed rice balls and vegetable soup.  In the afternoon, it was free time.   Some beginners could take a lift to go up the hill and slide down by themselves in the afternoon, even though they couldn’t walk well on the snow in the morning.  They spent a whole day having fun on the snow.

Thank you very much for all who support the event.  This year, the GSO-EC could receive subsidization to support this event from the Ikeda Sports and Cultural Foundation.  Special thanks to all staff members of Hakkai Sanroku Ski school, lift and rental shops.

Message from Ms. Mariam January from South Africa, Graduate School of International Management:
I woke up this morning and could not move a muscle.  The only thing that did not hurt was the smile on my face.  I had an amazing time.  It was really a fantastic day.  A big big thank you to everybody who worked so hard to make it a success.  The ski and snowboarding instructors were great.  I saw them take people patiently down the slopes so many timed.  With loads of encouragement from friends I am proud to say that I managed to go down without falling on one of the times I went down the slope.  I had to give myself a ‘self-five’.  I think next year’s ski-day should come with a health warning that skiing and snowboarding is addictive!