On July 6th, the Division for Global Education (DGE) held its 13th “NAIST Tea Time”, in accordance with NAIST’s globalization efforts that are outlined in the "Top Global University Project" ^*1. This event was a huge success attended by approximately 70 students, faculty members and guests from the neighboring communities.

In the first half of this event, Le Quynh Giang (1st year doctoral student, GSBS) and Mai Chi Thanh (1st year master’s student, GSBS) introduced the delicious Vietnamese dessert “Chè Trái Cây”, which is also called “Chè hoa quá” depending on the region, made with diced fruits such as mangos, avocados, apples, watermelon, kiwi fruits, grapes, and strawberries. This fruity dessert is topped with yogurt, coconut milk and shaved coconut. “Chè” means sweet and there are a variety of desserts such as “Chè Khoai Lang” using sweet potatoes, “Chè Xoai” using mangos and tapioca, and” Chè Sen” using lotus seeds. After the international students’ presentation about Vietnamese sweets, everyone tried Chè Trái Cây and it brought up many discussions about summer and different cultures’ foods and activities. When the diverse cultures represented at NAIST gather together we often hear people discussing the seasons and their home countries’ foods and events.

After everyone enjoyed the dessert, Fumiya Nakamura (2nd year master’s student, GSMS) and Arnaud Jean Delmotte (1st year doctoral student, GSIS) gave PechaKucha^*2 presentations in English. Mr. Nakamura’s presentation “My Road to NAIST” was a description of his experiences and the path he took to NAIST. Mr. Delmotte then introduced “Parkour”, sometimes called freerunning or l'art du déplacement, which he practices in Japan. Parkour involves running, jumping and other body movements where people pursue their own physical boundaries to develop new abilities and sucessfully acheive new feats. All the people attending listened to the students’ interesting presentations and after the presentations there were a few questions for the presenters.
There were about 15 participants from the surrounding areas, and this event was an excellent opportunity for NAIST students, faculty and staff to interact together and with the community while enjoying learning about new cultures, trying new foods and strengthening ties.

*1: NAIST has been selected to lead the globalization of Japanese higher education as part of the "Top Global University Project (Type B)" funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). For a period of ten years, the ministry will support outstanding universities to reform institutional governance and collaborate with globally recognized top universities in order to strengthen international competitiveness.
*2: PechaKucha is a short, lively presentation format (20 seconds/slide x 20 slides=6 minutes and 40 seconds) that was invented in Tokyo in 2003 and is now popular all over the world. Here is a link to learn more about PechaKucha: http://www.pechakucha.org/

The Vietnamese dessert “Chè Trái Cây”	Participants enjoying the dessert
A PechaKucha style presentation made by Mr. Nakamura