A Day With the Ueyas
Posted May 29th, 2009 by President WhitlockWhat a pleasure today was. In my blog last fall, I reflected on the many good friends Joanne and I have made in Japan. Today was spent with two of the very best – Kiyomi and Noriko Ueya, whom we have known since he spent a year teaching at EKU in 1994-95. Ironically, we have come to know them better in our visits to Yamanashi Prefecture than we did when they were in Richmond.
Kiyomi greatly enjoyed his time at EKU and, quite frankly, I think he would like to return for another year after he retires from the University of Yamanashi later this year. It would be a wonderful benefit to our students and faculty for this distinguished scholar to return to our campus. If he has a serious interest, I would encourage his potential colleagues at EKU to consider him.
His students love him and he takes great pride in their accomplishments. That showed today in the wonderful relationship we saw displayed between him and one of his students, Taro, who accompanied us. Taro has been at EKU in the EELI program and if he gets his TOEFL score up a little, he would truly like to be an EKU student.
The Ueyas took their EKU visitors on a tour of some attractions around Mount Fuji. The glorious lady herself was hidden in the clouds, but that did not dampen our spirits or enjoyment. We first went to the Itchiku Kubota Art Museum. Kubota-san was a creator of beautiful tie-dyed kimonos done in the tsujigahana method, a 16th century technique he “rediscovered.” We could not take pictures of his remarkable work, but you might get a peek at www.itchiku-tsujigahana.co.jp. You would have to see it to believe it. His art has been the subject of several traveling shows in America, including at the Smithsonian.
We were able to get this shot of our traveling party after enjoying tea at the museum.
Our next stop was at the Iyashi no sato Nenba, a recreation of a Japanese thatched roof village near lake Saiko, one of five beautiful lakes that surround the base of Mt. Fuji. Joanne and I had been there before, but enjoyed this visit just as much as the first. Nariko Ueya was our gracious guide.
But the highlight of the day was a visit to the Ueyas’ mountain cabin near Lake Saito. There, on this drizzly afternoon, we enjoyed the company of one another and ate until we could eat no more of the wonderful tempura prepared by Noriko-san.
Here Beth, Joanne and Noriko enjoy a light moment at the Ueyas’ mountain hideaway.
Student and teacher – Taro and Ueya-sensei – displayed a relationship I have seen between students and faculty at EKU during my entire experience there. Note Kiyomi’s EKU jacket, a proud possession since 1994-95.
Tomorrow, we head to Hokuto City and KEEP (the Kiyosata Educational Experiment Project). There we will have a chance to visit with other good friends, notably Masashi Shirakura-shichou, Mayor of the City, Hiro Yoshida-san one of the senior staff at KEEP and the liaison between Hokuto City and Madison County for our sister region arrangement, and Laura Fragoso, a former Brian Kane Fellow at KEEP from California, of whom Joanne and I have become quite fond.
Day after tomorrow, we head to Daegu, South Korea, through Seoul, to visit with our partners at Daegu Haany University. There, I will have an opportunity to make my presentation on “Globalization and Stewardship of Place” to a group of DHU students. Joanne and I are very much looking forward to our first trip to Korea, despite the tensions in that part of the world. Dr. Dan Robinette, a retired EKU dean, who is teaching at DHU, will meet us at the airport Sunday. He tells us our Korean hosts are looking forward to the visit as much as we are. We cannot wait to see them.
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