J. F. Oberlin University’s spring entrance ceremony took place on April 3 at Tokyo International Forum, in Yurakucho, Tokyo. With over 2,400 entering freshmen and hundreds of family members looking on, Shoko Ishihara, a first-year student in the College of Health and Welfare, took the stage to deliver the traditional pledge that they would do their best during their university careers.

President Takayasu Mitani welcomed the new Obiriners and talked about founder Yasuzo Shimizu’s ideal of “Gakujijijin”: using what you learn for the benefit of others and of society as a whole. He urged them to “learn to see what can’t be seen” and said, “When you graduate, I want you to feel not only that J. F. Oberlin University improved you but also that you helped improve the university.”