To all Joshibi students,

I have a message for all Joshibi students following the ones of April 10th and 30th.

The emergency declaration has been lifted. However, the news of COVID-19 anticipates the 2nd and 3rd waves and cautions us to avoid the “Three Cs.” : Closed spaces with poor ventilation, Crowded places with many people nearby, Close-contact setting such as close-range conversations. Daily trends in the number of cases in both Tokyo and Kanagawa show that we are not in a safe situation yet, and it is necessary to continue to take preventative measures against COVID-19.

Therefore, we will continue to prohibit entrance to our campuses for the time being, but at the same time, we are preparing for reopening the campuses for students, especially seniors and freshmen, to use them while consulting with faculty members of each department. At present, we are looking into an appropriate time and measures for reopening the campuses based on safety first as we receive guidance from medical institutions and public health centers and exchange information with other art universities in and out of Japan. We will keep you informed, so please wait for an announcement from the university.

Our new semester classes have started online from Monday, May 11th. Some students might be confused about taking classes from home and took some time to prepare for the internet environment. I think that it caused you a lot of trouble, but I am very pleased to hear that online classes are proceeding smoothly with everyone's efforts and high attendance rates. I also found that it is good to use online because each student can connect and communicate with teachers at the end of classes. A new relationship has appeared, which has never seen in face-to-face classes. Each department, concentration, and field have a different kind of classes, but all faculty members and staff strive to make the classes fruitful. As we can see in the spread of COVID-19 on a global scale, changes in the social environment are large and unpredictable things happen. Even in this difficult situation, I think we can have a new awareness and make discoveries in everyday life. It will also be a time to think about the possibilities of new art and design. I would like each of you to face yourself, look at the social situation, and use your creative thinking to find solutions to all problems.

A great artist, Setsuko Migishi, is one of the graduates from our Oil Painting concentration, Department of Fine Arts. She is known for having being awarded as a Person of Cultural Merits. In the year of the end of World War Ⅱ, she held a solo exhibition at the Nichido Gallery in Ginza, Tokyo, which was burnt-out ruins at the time. Needless to say, producing artworks under the harsh situation of wartime was the result of a lot of ingenuity and effort. Knowing the exhibition was held, many people realized that a peaceful era had come. She continued working vigorously until she died at the age of 94, and left many works which are stored in museums inside and outside Japan.

There are many anecdotes left by predecessors like this. We hope that you pursue and overtake the backs of the alumni at Joshibi University of Art and Design. Please learn well and absorb a lot of expertise and skills so that you can contribute to society with the power of art and design.

We hope that you will continue to take good care of your health and learn a lot from your daily classes.