I first met Shibasaki Tomoka, the Akutagawa Prize-winning writer and our Japanese participant in the 2016 International Writing Program, in Tokyo a few months before she arrived. When we were deciding where in the metropolis to meet, I casually mentioned that I am a fan of retro Japanese coffee shops, and Tomoka replied that she is, too. Coffee culture has a long and proud history in Japan, and if you know where to look, you seldom have to go far to find coffee shops that play jazz or classical music, or that prepare rare, ancient beans using cloth filters or bubbling mad-scientist siphons or other systems not yet dreamed of (or perhaps long since forgotten) in Seattle or anywhere else in these United States. Like many scholars of Japanese culture, I pride myself on being a flâneur of Tokyo and urban Japan in general, with a detailed mental map of the landscape of its major cities, and in Tomoka, I found a kindred spirit. I thought I would propose a place, but Tomoka replied to my message with the name of an old coffee shop in Ueno that she likes. On the second floor of a building not far from the station, right there adjacent to the old black market on a street I have walked down maybe fifty times, is an elegant old coffee shop aglow with brass and steam. How could I have missed it?

News. Fake news. Disinformation. Fact-checking. Sourced news. Unverified sources. Social media incursions by foreign nations. Cleverly disguised mass propaganda that masquerades as a heartfelt message from a friend…….who knows what to believe anymore when even undeniably true facts are in dispute? This question was at the heart of the WorldCanvass discussion about “Journalism and a Free Press in the Age of Fake News.”

International Programs invites you to attend "Hawks Like Me," a study abroad information session.  This event will take place on Thursday, November 16, 2017, from 5:00-6:30 p.m. in the IMU Minnesota Room #347.

When I left campus, I decided I wanted to take a taxi back to my apartment. I asked my RA how to say the address and then I was off!

If you have heard Michael Buble’s Home, you will understand what this blog is about. These past couple weeks have been full of ups and downs. I am now just settling into a routine and trying to keep my living space clean. I go to campus every day except for Monday, which is when I do my laundry.

My roommate’s name is Tin Lin. She attends Boston College and majors in Applied Psychology and Human Development. I thought I would give you a different perspective on study abroad through someone else’s experience.

How the Russian Revolution has affected history, politics, and the arts — 100 years later.

The city of Valparaíso has gone duck-crazy. A week before the arrival of our enormous yellow visitor I read the newspaper headlines and laughed, “The Worlds Largest Duck to Arrive in October.” My host mom Emma and her longtime friend and roommate Raul chuckled at the idea of the duck around the dinner table as we ceremoniously enjoyed our post-dinner snack, “once.”

This month, I had the honor to attend a reception at the ambassador's residence, organized by the US-China Strong Foundation and Project Pengyou. The event was an opportunity to mingle with fellow students and educators who are living and studying abroad in China. Regarding Sino-Chinese relations, Ambassador Branstad has reiterated his commitment to his friendship with Chinese president Xi Jinping and the well-established connection between Iowa and Hebei.

One hundred years ago this October, the Red Army deposed Russia’s Provisional government and declared the world’s first socialist state. How did a revolution waged in the name of liberating workers and peasants from oppression and ending war produce one of the most oppressive regimes in modern history?