Tuesday, July 10, 2007

GSO Lobbies for Improvement of IUJ's Gym

Dear Students,

We thank you very much for your support throughout this ongoing Gym Improvement project. Many did not think that the project would ever materialize into real improvements, at least not this decade.

Well with the help of a passionate Gym Improvement committee composed of Students, Staff & Faculty and support from students like you through all the speeches, petitions and surveys, we have finally succeeded in convincing administration of performing a total overhaul and rennovation of the 2nd floor training room of the Gymnasium. The improvements include:

- Brand new Hardwood floor
- New Mirrors
- Wall painting and patching of holes
- New Multi-purpose Mats (Aerobics, Martial Arts)
- Smith Machine
- Free-weights & Rack
- Adjustable Benches (2)
- 2-in-1 Leg Machine
- Cable/Pulley System
- 3-in-1 Apparatus
- Professional Punching Bag

Each of these facility improvements & new pieces of equipment have some important new rules associated with them. Because of this, GSO has created a set of Instructional Videos that EACH STUDENT MUST VIEW BEFORE USING THE NEW GYM.

To view the videos simply hover over the filmstrip to your right, OR, click on a clip to view a larger video. If you are having trouble viewing the videos through the blog you can visit the direct link to the videos.

We thank you very much for taking the time to view these videos, as well as for your respectful use of the new equipment. Treating the new equipment with care and abiding by the usage rules will ensure the gym may be used for many generations to come.

Lastly, we can all thank President Sugihara for believing in & supporting the project, as well as Facility Services for coming through in the end and doing a great job, completing the project on time and on budget.

Sincerely,

GSO-EC

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Congratulations Class of 2007

Congratulations to everyone in IUJ's Graduating Classes of 2006-2007.
We wish you all the best in the future, and hope you've enjoyed your stay here at IUJ. As you move on to greener pastures (sure, greener than the rice fields of Niigata could be tough, we know)... please don't forget to stay in touch through the Alumni Directory & Newsletters. You're also welcome to continue using this blog!

Lastly, GSO-EC will be launching a new website by the end of the summer which will act as a portal for any IM accounts (Skype, GoogleTalk, MSN, AIM, Yahoo!IM) any SNS profiles you may have (such as MySpace, Facebook, Mixi, Blogger, Orkut) or any media-sharing services (YouTube, JumpCut, DailyMotion, Flickr, KodakGallery, etc) or any other web services from your own country or elsewhere that you use and would like to share with the IUJ Alumni Community. We sincerely hope that you will use this service, and find it useful as well.

It's been a long road, and through it we've forged lasting memories, world records, friendships, loves, group & team bonds, business partnerships and international connections that would simply not be possible had each of us not chosen to study at the International University of Japan at this particular point in time. Let's stay in touch and build the IUJ network as a useful tool for our careers and lives.

To each of our happiness and future successes,

GSO-EC (2006-2007)
Because we're stronger together, than we could ever hope to be apart.

Monday, June 25, 2007

WANTED - Dead or Alive

This is RyUJ, requesting any information regarding my bicycle, which mysteriously disappeared along with several others within the last week. It does not appear to be on campus, which suggests that someone rode it to town, or elsewhere, and chose not to return on it.

Any information regarding who or where would be greatly appreciated.

And whilst we're at it, how about some suggestions as to who keeps stealing food and utensils from the kitchen? And who stole items from the storage room at the beginning of this academic year?

Come on people - names, wild accusations, anything... Is this is a witchhunt? Sure. Isn't everyone fed up of not being able to put things down, or in the refrigerator, without wondering if they will get stolen?

I encourage a full disclosure of all information regarding IUJ thieves - use the anonymous function to post information on this blog - lets fight them together!!!

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Thanks for the Olympics!!!

Hopefully everyone has recovered from the IUJ Olympics by now. We would like to take a moment to thank everyone who participated. It was long, it had ups & it had downs, we laughed & we cried, we played & we argued, we ate BBQ & we drank ocha… but in the end we hope everyone had a great time, and made some terrific memories in the process.

First and foremost, we would like to send our warmest thanks to President Sugihara on behalf of all Students for funding the Sunday afternoon Barbeque. His generosity allowed all us 150 tired and hungry Olympic participants to refuel ourselves for the upcoming difficult final weeks of exams & term projects. To everyone, if you see President Sugihara this week, be sure to thank him!

Next, we have a few other items to take care of in order to properly conclude the Olympics for this year. We have printed certificates for all of the winners in each individual event and group sport, which we would like to give out informally this weekend. We will also announce the overall winners.

Please come to CNP on Saturday at 9pm for an informal ceremony and some refreshments. Because we are focusing our budget on Campus Improvement and the Graduation Party, this one will have to be BYOB (as in Bring your own… Beer, Booze, or other Beverages). But we’ll also be handing out drinks and other prizes to the event winners, and to prove that everyone is a winner, we'll even hand some prizes out to some lucky participants who may not have won but who’s sportsmanship and/or leadership shone through in the Olympics.

It will also be a great chance to gather your team one last time for photos and some good times after all your hard work.

Hope to see you all there!!!

GSO-EC

P.S. We hope you will share any pictures you may have in the public folder under:
\\iuj-home\Public\IUJ Olympics 2007 FH

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Yamazaki hours improved!!! (for now)

Dear All,

The Y-shop IUJ will extend its business hours temporarily as follows for students'
benefit and convenience.

Weekdays from June 11 to June 22 --- 8:00am - 9:00pm
Weekends from June 16 to July 1 --- Noon - 5:00pm

Please come to the shop and use it!

Thank you,

Facilities & Property Service Center


We are pleased to announce that your comments and survey responses have been well received by administration. Yamazaki will open with extended hours more similar to the previous ones for a "temporary trial period". A sign that we may in fact see the Yamazaki situation improved in the near future!!!

Now be sure to take advantage of the (temporary) new opening hours, you should visit there and purchase those items you really needed to get on the weekends & evenings but could not because of Yamazaki's closure!

Thanks to all students for your patience and support,

GSO-EC

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

IUJ Bus

OK guys, it must be time to take some action over the situation of the IUJ Bus.

Last Monday, I arrived back from Tokamachi where I had stayed with a friend for the weekend, and discovered that the IUJ Bus was canceled due to it being 'IUJ Foundation Day', a holiday not even marked on the calendar as it is not national. It was a bright day so I was able to walk back, but more worrying were the people with me at the bus stop who lived in Urasa. They had a choice between a ¥1600 taxi or not going to class - needless to say they decided not to attend.

With our campus being so isolated and in the middle of nowhere, it is imperative that IUJ provides a convenient and frequent bus service. Currently, it stops at 6pm and dosnt run on Sundays, which is just shameful.

What if we want to buy something that we forgot on Sunday? Now, we can just walk to 7/11, but in the winter the 2 meters of snow will put a stop to that. What if we want to eat off campus, away from the "food" that is from Shokudo? Fancy a drink off campus, or a trip to the bowling alley (Muikamachi) or cinema (Nagaoka), then you have to pay for expensive taxis.

This is a problem that has to be dealt with. Our ¥1.9m per year tuition demands a better bus service!

Monday, May 21, 2007

IUJ Olympics: Basketball


Hey everyone,
IUJ Olympics is around the corner, so if you are interested in joining:

-Basketball 5x5 or 3x3 (depends on how many participants)
-3 Pts contest
Please, write your name and email as a comment.

If you have any questions, contact "talal143@iuj.ac.jp"

The rules will be given out after the deadline!

-Al

IUJ Olympics: Football


Dear Students,

I hope you enjoyed the warm-up tournament this past weekend!

This is to let you know that you can sign up here for the IUJ Olympics' Football (Soccer) Tournament. All you need to do is post a comment below including your name & email, and we'll take care of the rest.

"Come get a kick out of life!"
(on behalf of) IUJ Soccer Club

Sunday, May 20, 2007

IUJ Olympics: Tennis - Sugihara Cup

Dear IUJ students,

This is a special announcement about the Sugihara Cup which will be the final event to close out the IUJ Olympics.

1. The format will be Doubles (2 players to a side)
2. The first to win 4 sets will win the match
3. Standard Tennis rules of play & conduct apply (will be provided before the event)

Immediately following the Sugihara Cup, there will be a Closing Ceremony / BBQ.

If you would like to compete for the Sugihara Cup please sign up as a team with your names and emails. If you do not have a partner yet, don´t worry, you may submit your name to be placed with a partner.

IUJ Olympics: Ping-Pong


Hey folks,

If you wanna participate in the Ping-Pong Challenge event in the IUJ Olympics, please sign your name here by Thursday, May 31st as a comment:

For example:
Virat Singhal - virat@iuj.ac.jp

Once we have all the names for ping-pong we will send out a list to help you form your teams.

See you at the tables.

IUJ Olympics: Dodgeball

Howdy sportsfans,

We're proud to announce that due to popular demand, Dodgeball is back again with a special event for the IUJ Olympics!

Date: Saturday, June 9th
Time: TBA

If you want to play, please kindly list your name here, it will help GSO put together a list of people interested in playing Dodgeball, which should help you to form fair Olympic teams with a diverse set of talents.

Looking forward to seeing all your names!!!

DDDD-odgeball!

IUJ Olympics Badminton



Dear IUJers,
For those who are interested in playing badminton during the IUJ Olympics, please post here as a comment including your name and e-mail. For more queries, please e-mail directly to zadli@iuj.ac.jp.
The rules and format will be decided depending on the number of participants. Thank you.

IUJ Olympics: Volleyball


If you would like to play Volleyball please include your name & email here as a comment (click "Post a Comment").

For example:
Muhammad Jawad - jawad@iuj.ac.jp

You do not have to make a team to sign up here, just sign up individually so we know who wants to play in the tournament.

The rules for the event are as follows:

1. 6 players per team
2. 1 female per team
3. No more than 3 players from the same country

IUJ Olympics Athletics: Relay Race and Sprints



Hi all,

This message is to invite you to participate in the IUJ Olympics Athletics competitions, which will consist of the Relay Race and Sprints.

A brief introduction and regulations follow:

The IUJ Olympics Athletics events will be held from 10 to 11 AM on Sunday in front of the IUJ Main Entrance.

We will kick off with the sprints.

Sprints (Men and women):
1. The sprints will be held in front of the IUJ main entrance.
2. The distance is 60m.
3. Only one person per team is allowed to participate in each of the men and women sprints (if more people would like to participate in the sprint from your team, then please have an internal competition to choose your representative).
4. In case of more than 8 teams fielding participants, there will be two semifinal rounds and the best four in each one will run in a final round.

After the sprints are finished, the relay race will be held.

Relay Race:
1. The race will be amongst teams of four runners each.
2. The course will be in the inner path surrounding IUJ (around the Main Gate, in front of SD2 parking, between SD2 and SD3, between the tennis court and the gym, and around the Research Center and the MLIC.
3. One person will run the whole course (about 800m/0.5 miles), with 4 laps and 4 people running in total, passing a baton at the start/finish line.
4. One of the four participating has to be a female.
5. The female participant will start first with the three male runners following in order to be determined by the team.

Let's enjoy running together and let the fastest ones win!

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

IUJ Green Day!!!



Dear IUJ Campus Community!
We are very proud to present the IUJ Green Day that will be held this weekend!

The goal of this weekend is not just to raise awareness about the importance of looking after Mother Earth, but also to create an opportunity where students and the community can come together and beautify the campus for the 25th Anniversary Celebrations!

We'll kick off with a campus clean-up and flower planting from 10:00 on Saturday followed by a BBQ at 13:00 that clean-up volunteers can join for FREE! Sorry to all the others that won't be cleaning and planting, you have to pay 500yen!

Sunday at 20:00 in CNP/Snack Lounge we'll be showing Al Gore's, "An Inconvenient Truth" about the realities of global warming. This movie won an Oscar last year for best documentary and is a must-see!!

We hope to be seeing all of you participating in the Green Day event! It is open to anyone, so bring your family and friends from outside campus to join in the fun!

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

"Most Countries in a Sauna" - IUJ challenges a Guinness World Record


This is a final call for registration for the "Most Countries in a Sauna" Guinness Book of World Records challenge taking place next Monday, May 14th (morning).

At the moment we have 47 people signed up, which would be sufficient to break the record, but we were hoping for 50 (which would be VERY tough to beat). There are several students whose countries have not been represented. We'd like to remind you that participants will be fully clothed at all times, and will only need to be in the sauna together for a total of 5 minutes to officially set the record.

An updated list of all students currently signed up will be provided shortly.

GSO-EC

P.S. EXTRA Special Thanks are due to Jay (Shi Jie) Wong for his work in putting this all together. Excellent idea Jay!!!

SONG REQUESTS??? Use the GSO Party Playlist

In anticipation of the website updates that will be happening to the GSO Website by the end of this month, we have reorganized the GSO Party Playlist in the Public Folder and instituted a new policy for music at the parties.

From now on
no music will be played unless it is submitted to the party playlist first (or otherwise pre-approved by the GSO-EC)
.

This medium of song request submission is intended to address the student complaints about the music at some parties.


The steps for submitting your song are as follows:

1) Want a song played at an upcoming party!?!

2) Then go to:
\\iuj-home\Public\~~GSO WEEKLY PARTY PLAYLIST~~

3) Drop your song in the appropriate folder

4) Add it to the general Playlist.m3u file, or just leave it in the folder and at the appropriately themed party it will be placed on shuffle by GSO Members or AUTHORIZED DJ’s ONLY!!!!!!


(In the future the GSO Website will provide a form that simplifies the process even more)
Image of the GSO Party Playlist folder in the Public Folder

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Administration message: Simple logic check-up

Every student has recently received message from the administration. Let's try to read it through:

"We are pleased to announce on "Multi-cultural Exchange Forum," commemorative events for IUJ's 25th Anniversary... bla bla bla"
—Very nice, really it is a great event, right!?

"IUJ has formed a unique multi-cultural community where people from 50+ countries live together."
—Excellent, finally the fact is recognized! Probably it will be mostly about students!

"Part I: IUJ 25th Anniversary Open Seminar #1"
—Well, thats something to start with... what is the topic?

"All You Can Do Is All You Can Do"
—Sorry? Does that suppose to sound attractive? Psychology lesson? Ok, let's say I am interested despite the title. I'll come to hear... wait a second, what is that...

"This seminar will be conducted in Japanese. No interpretation is provided."
—SAY WHAT? I thought it is about integration and international understanding... you said 50+ nations... I thought... ok, fine, you go ahead I'll just wait here in the GYM for you to come and eat some food, which I will spend my time cooking... that's fine, maybe then we will have something to interact about...

Where the hell is logic?

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

keep SD3 clean

Whats up with the red liquid (juice?) spilled all over the floor in front of the 1st floor elevator? And why is the liquid splattered all over the walls as well?!

I understand there isn't a communal mop, or other cleaning supplies...so all the more reason not to throw juice on the walls. c'mon, we all have to live in this place, so let's try to keep it clean. The housekeepers/cleaners are not your personal servants. They're here to help keep the place reasonably clean.

This goes for the kitchen too. Why not put your garbage in the garbage can?! What's so hard about that? why do some people feel the need to leave onion scraps all over the table and floor?

again, we're all sharing this place, so act responsibly.

Monday, April 23, 2007

Yamazaki Survey!!!

Dear Students,

GSO-EC is well aware that since the decision to shorten the hours of operation for Yamazaki, many students have become unhappy with several aspects of our beloved campus store.

We are now working with Yamazaki Management & IUJ Administration to try to work out an agreement that satisfies both the needs of the students, and the needs for Yamazaki to operate at a sustainable profit margin.

While we strongly believe that our interests are interchangeable (we want better hours, they want better business), this is where we need the help of YOU the students.

GSO members will be circulating a survey this week with some general usage & opinion questions about Yamazaki. We will also leave a space for your suggestions.

Please help us to improve Student Life at IUJ by taking a moment of your time to fill in the brief (1pg. 2-sided) questionnaire.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation,

GSO-EC

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

New GSO-EC Policy: Less time at the parties, less work with Lost&Found e-mail forwarding...

... what's next?

I mean it is not a problem if you are trying to spend less time serving the purposes you were elected for, or in other words be more "efficient", which in my opinion deteriorates the quality. But then we should probably expect from you the increase in the number of activities you are going to offer, shouldn't we?

I hope you have some explanation for it. Would be nice to see some new events in this beautiful time of the year. Tell us your plan!?

P.S. The Lost&Found e-mails existed for the matter of letting people, who found the thing, know that someone is actually looking for it and they can not keep as a souvenir.

Monday, April 16, 2007

Dodgeball Mini-Tournament @ IUJ


When:
Satudary, April 21st (9:00pm-10:30pm)
Where: Main Gym
Who: Open to everyone, please submit a team of 6
(at least 1 female per team)

Why: For fun!!!!!


It's open to everyone, but please send your team name and members to Bryan by Friday, April 20th so we can get an idea on the number of participants.


--------------------------------------------------------------------


RULES OF THE GAME
(comical clip from the movie "Dodgeball" which will be shown at Movie Night this Friday)

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Martial Arts Night - THIS FRIDAY (Apr.13th)


What: Martial Arts Showcase
When: 6:30pm-8:00pm (Friday, April 13th)
Where: Main Gym


What: Martial Arts Movie Night
When: 8:00pm-4am (Friday, April 13th)
Where: CNP


Thursday, March 22, 2007

PAY for the COLD WATER!

Congratulations! Soon we are going to pay for the cold water, i guess. Since last month, some of us are already paying for it. Ask MSA residents. I guess administration has started the experiment called "Would they notice?". Apparently we did not.

Anyway, get ready to pay more soon.

Monday, March 19, 2007

Hey Hey Hey! Songs coming this Friday...:D

Hi all!

Thanks to Bryannnnn and Taka san who trieddddd very hard on the GSO website(althought sometimes late) to get it done...so if you cannot listen the song this Friday, you can kill them....by buying some dinner for them, so they can work more and more,,,,:P........

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

St. Patrick's Day & Exchange-Student Farewell Party

WHAT: St.Patrick's Day (Exchange Student Farewell)
WHERE: Murphy's Pub (CNP)
WHEN: Saturday, March 17th (10:00pm)
WHY:
This party will be a combination of:

-St.Patrick’s Day Celebrations
-Irish Night (Country-Themed Party for Ireland, although I’m only 1/2 Irish and we have no Irish exchange its good fun, hah…)
-GSIM Council’s Farewell Party for Exchange Students (I’ve already spoken to Shinko and Sarah about this)
-Karaoke Club’s first On-Campus Karaoke Night @ CNP (Starting at midnight)
-End of the Term (Last Class Bash) for Winter Term 2007

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

To set the record straight...

Dear concerned students,

We would like to assure you that we are working to take immediate action on the Yamazaki issue. However, where it is a financial matter, it is also a very sensitive subject at IUJ. In this case, for the best results, we must be sure to prepare a professional plan and proposed solution, rather than simply complaining to administration.

Also, everyone could use to be a little more informed so we will share with you what little we know about the situation thus far. Yamazaki has been experiencing decremental sales for at least the past quarter at IUJ. Management has decided that the weekend and evenings is the time in which sales are lowest. IUJ already subsidizes Yamazaki's costs of operation, and continues to do so; however Yamazaki management is claiming that subsidy is no longer sufficient for their successful operation.

To address this issue, over the last two weeks of classes for the Winter '07 term, we will collect information and input from students. We will do this:
-in person
-through this Blog
-through a survey administered from March 21st through to the first day of classes in the Spring term (Monday, April 9th)

We ask for both your patience and cooperation on this issue. We also URGE you to stand up and be heard. Please share your ideas, comments, constructive criticisms and suggestions in this information collection process.


Together, we can ensure student life at IUJ is preserved and/or improved rather than compromised.

GSO-EC

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Yamazaki CLOSED on WEEKENDS ?!!

This is completely ridiculous. Why don't they change the manager, instead of closing the shop. How can they have higher profit, if they are buying the drinks more expensive than I can buy in JUSCO??? The problem is not the working time, but very poor management.

Another sign that this school is dying... very sad.

Monday, February 19, 2007

GSO-EC Minutes

I have been attempting to read the minutes from location

Iuj-home>Organization>GSO>Our Minutes of Meeting

I cannot access the Minutes. When the document is about to load in Microsoft Word, a message appears telling me that I do not have user access.

Can we sort this problem out, please?

Thanks in advance.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Movie Night tonight!

There will be a movie night tonight in Café No Problem, details are below:

School of Rock
Start time: 10:30pm
Location: CNP
IMDB Movie info

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Results of Meeting with the President

Hi again everyone,

It is my great pleasure to announce that the meeting was a huge success. President Sugihara is on-board 100% and has promised full support for a Gym Improvement project, to the tune of 2-3 million yen (I don't even know the word for million in Japanese... so that's good).

He did advise that it may take time, and might have to be a phased project with several installments over the next 2 years. At the same time, he authorized immediately for Professor Sugai to spend his class-raised funds on the gym, so we will go ahead and place an order in the coming weeks for 450,000円 worth of new equipment.

Included in the inventory are rubber mats, racks, free weights, Squat cage, Barbells & Plates with proper safety clips. These immediate upgrades will make the exercise area a whole lot safer, and certainly a more enjoyable place to exercise.

Included in the future plan are rennovations for the aerobics and dance area (possibly moving it to its own brand new room), overall improvements for the gym complex (including Main gym), a possible day-care area, and others.

(Sorry, for this time around we're only talking about the weight room & aerobics area on the 2nd floor of the gym... but GSO should be getting a few new things for the Main area too, and the heating issue has been taken care of).

Thanks to all students for the ongoing support,

GSO-EC

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

GYM HEATING

It is great that we are on the way to get our beloved Gym fixed and renovated, but what about the HEATING on the first floor. Do we have to make a petition for that as well?

No "thanks" this time...

Monday, February 5, 2007

Gym Improvement Project

Hey everybody,

I've been working very hard on this project and I just want to thank everyone who has contributed their ideas, suggestions or offered their support. In total over 50% of the student body signed the Gym Improvement petition, and we got alot of feedback through the Survey.

Now, I will be meeting with President Sugihara this Wednesday (February 7th, 2007). What I need is for students to start posting their comments or opinions about the Gym publicly here on the Blog so that we can reach a common consensus on how to best spend funds and go about improving things. Don't worry, your comments on this thing are not monitored by the Administration, so go nuts!

Let's get vocal about this, it's not going to fix itself!!!

Bryan Copeland

Friday, January 26, 2007

Thanks for the balls...

I would like to say thanks to administration for taking down the sport balls from the GYM's ceilings. We were missing them a lot. It took them some time, but now its done.

Maybe it would be possible to switch on the HEATING in the GYM during the sports clubs activities? I think GSO-EC should have the full schedule for the week. It is really cold inside!

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

IUJ Blog... By the students, for the students!

Dear students,

On behalf of the Graduate Students' Organization Executive Committee (GSO-EC), this web log (Blog) will be used for raising issues regarding campus life here at IUJ. Please use this blog as a medium for expressing any complaints, comments or concerns about any relevant aspect of your life within the IUJ campus and community.

Instructions on how to register for the blog and how to comment anonymously.

Rules & Regulations of posting on the blog.

We hope that you will find this service useful, and would like to assure you that your posts will be read and seriously discussed within the GSO at our weekly meetings. From these discussions, those items deemed most critical will be presented to the Administration in an effort to bolster the life, spirit and enjoyment of each and every IUJ student!

Sincerely,

GSO-EC