On November 6, the Ritsumeikan Trust held a ceremony to pray for safe and successful construction of the tentatively named Yasuhiro Wakebayashi International Exchange Center on Ritsumeikan University’s Osaka Ibaraki Campus (OIC). The new center is scheduled to open in September 2019 in line with the establishment of the College of Global Liberal Arts in April 2019.

Chairman of the Board of Trustees Tomomi Morishima, Chancellor of the Ritsumeikan Trust Mikio Yoshida, and other Trust officials were in attendance along with the donor Yasuhiro Wakebayashi, Chairman of Nihon M&A Center Inc. and 'Kanhin' (Special Guest of Ritsumeikan - tentative title), as well as representatives from Yamashita Sekkei Inc. and Takenaka Corporation, the designer and builder, respectively.

On behalf of the Ritsumeikan Trust, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees Tomomi Morishima performed the ritual groundbreaking and offered up the traditional tamagushi (decorated tree branch) to pray for the safety of the construction.

The new center will feature a mixed international dormitory that will house both domestic and international students, most of whom will be enrolled in the new College of Global Liberal Arts. Ritsumeikan anticipates the center will embody OIC's academic concept of “Gateway to Asia” by promoting a wide array of exchange among dormitory residents as well as developing ties with the local community by making facilities available to the general public.

Overview of the Yasuhiro Wakebayashi International Exchange Center (tentative name):