Sixty-five new Reconnaissance Japan (R. J.) students received their official welcome to the university at a party on Friday, April 5, in Sakura Café. The students represent more than a dozen different countries, and they join fifty-five R. J. students who have been studying at J. F. Oberlin University since the beginning of last semester.

Also attending the party were “Global Supporters” and “buddies”—J. F. Oberlin students who are helping the R. J. students get used to their new surroundings—as well as members of some students’ host families, faculty members, and staff from the International Students’ Support Center.

The party capped a busy week for the new arrivals. Besides campus tours, Japanese placement tests, and visits to City Hall to register their residency, they even had an emergency drill. They were shown a video about the 2011 Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster, taught how to make emergency calls, and told how to protect themselves. The students also learned how to use fire extinguishers and experienced an earthquake simulator. Ms. Leslie Napper from Towson University in the U. S. A. said, “I experienced a simulated earthquake for the first time, and now I think I’ll feel more prepared for an emergency.”