When I came to Japan for one year as exchange student I was enrolled in the Dokkyô Daigaku (Dokkyô University) in Sôka and spend the better part of my days on campus in the first half year for my studies. Though, to be honest, there wasn’t a whole lot of studying going on and it took us about half a day to figure out how often we could skip class and still get full credit ^^”

But even skipping class was for the greater good so to speak, because in that time we met new people and got involved in all kinds of activities on and around campus as well as about town. It was a lot of fun and because we were in the intermediate japanese course we didn’t really have to study a lot to pass the tests with good grades. I have so many wonderful meories from this time that I think we made the right decision to emphasize the humand side of university.

When I came back here I made a trip over Sôka station along the road we took so often to our dorm, in that days the Shimizu Mansion, which still stands but is now renamed “Edelblume Sôka”.

A lot has changed but there are a lot of familiar sights as well. I even have fond memories of the vending machines which made me reminiscent of all the times we went from one machine to the next and bought a hot drink at each and every one because it was so frickin’ cold.

The Campus hasn’t changed that much though there are new buildings and some were renovated. If your are a visitor in Sôk during the cherry blossom season you really should make a stop at university to walk through the ally of cherry blossom trees alongside the sports ground. So beautiful!