On July 1, 2015, the Josai University Educational Corporation (Noriko Mizuta, Chancellor) announced the opening of the Mikio Mizuta Memorial Hall Exhibition Room on Josai University’s Sakado campus, located in Saitama prefecture. As part of Josai’s 50th anniversary and to document the path of university founder Mikio Mizuta and the philosophy and ideals that he shared, Josai has scheduled the construction of the Mikio Mizuta Memorial Hall to serve as a cornerstone of our university’s development. During its period of construction, Josai has installed a temporary exhibit in the Student Hall portion of the auditorium.

Nearly 600 people participated in the opening ceremony outside the auditorium, including Ambassador of Bulgaria to Japan, Mr. and Mrs. Georgi Vassilev; Sakado mayor Kiyoshi Ishikawa; and member of the prefectural assembly, Kiyotaka Ishibashi, in addition to members of the Josai University and Josai International University (Togane, Chiba) local community, as well as faculty and students. Chancellor Mizuta, who provided opening remarks, expressed her gratitude by saying, “I am so pleased that such a great number of people have come to see the exhibition organized in our founder’s honor.”
　 Chancellor Mizuta continued by touching on the accomplishments of Josai’s founder. “The construction of the Memorial Hall was planned in the interest of sharing the history of Josai University with current students, faculty, and alumni. Our founder embodied the spirit of the Meiji era through his belief in education and his shouldering of the responsibility to cultivate human resources that could contribute to society, the nation, and global society, a mission he devoted himself to until his death.” She added that, “Though this is a temporary exhibit, I hope that all of you will visit the Sakado campus again, not just today.”

Chancellor Mizuta, Ambassador Vassilev, Mayor Ishikawa, Prefectural Assembly Member Ishibashi, and student representatives participated in the ribbon cutting ceremony before proceeding to the exhibit. The exhibition room is roughly 160 square meters and divided into three sections―“Archtypal Scenes of Mikio Mizuta,” “Recovery from Ruins,” and “The Founding of Josai University.” The exhibit itself features panel displays with around 130 pieces of memorabilia from Mikio Mizuta’s life, including the order of the first class of the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun and various medals of honor from other countries, a silver cup, name badge, and desk from his office, as well as a Go board, inkstone, and full uniform. The visual media area narrates the founder’s life from his upbringing to his many career accomplishments and allows viewers to visually witness Josai University’s history and evolution. This exhibit, including the display of the founder’s personal effects was made possible by the cooperation of the Kamogawa Folk Archive, which is in charge of the storage and presentation of these materials.

Following the exhibit, Ambassador Vassilev and his spouse joined Chancellor Mizuta in a tour of the Seiko Mizuta Memorial Rose Garden, which was opened in October 2013 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Josai Base College. The 20 Bulgarian rose plants that were donated by Ambassador Vassilev at the garden’s opening have now bloomed to their full proportions and the couple posed for a commemorative photo with Chancellor Mizuta before the ring of lush red flowers.

At the reception that followed in the media area of the Faculty of Business Administration building, many distinguished visitors―including Ambassador Vassilev, Prefectural Assembly Member Ishibashi, Togane Vice-Mayor Koichi Furukawa, Kamogawa Vice-Mayor Masao Shoji, Moroyama Council Vice-Chairman Hideki Sato, and Josai Almuni Association President Fumio Suzuki ―gave congratulatory talks upon the exhibit’s opening.