Conversation Table UTokyo D&I Actions and Messages
― UTokyo D&I Campaign 2022 ―
The University of Tokyo has launched a campaign aimed at promoting diversity and inclusion on campus, and making the university a place where people from diverse backgrounds can thrive. The initiative, called UTokyo D&I Campaign 2022, started in March 2022. Here, we introduce plans and actions related to D&I initiatives from members of the UTokyo community, including deans and directors of various UTokyo organizations.
Actions and Messages
Conversation Table
Maki MOMMA, Associate Professor, Office for International Cooperation & Exchange, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences
The Office for International Cooperation & Exchange hosts a conversation table regularly to encourage interaction between international students and Japanese students. Pre-COVID, international students, Japanese students, faculty, staff and anyone who wanted to participate would bring lunch to our office and gather once a week to engage in a casual conversation either in English or Japanese. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, we could not share a meal anymore, so we switched to holding it online. We are now enjoying a relaxed virtual conversation for an hour during lunchtime every week. The language used at the conversation table depends on the participants on a particular day. Nowadays, with social distancing required, international students can feel very lonely and isolated. Our conversation table gives them a chance to communicate with others and make friends.
