The Heidelberg University Office Kyoto celebrated its 10th anniversary with music, alumni reflections, and research panels.
On November 1, 2025, the Heidelberg University Office Kyoto (HUOK) celebrated its 10th anniversary with a matinée that beautifully combined music, reflection, and academic exchange. Held at Kyoto University’s Nitori Hall, the event brought together alumni, researchers, and students to honor a decade of transnational collaboration between Japan and Germany.
From the opening fanfare performed by the Heidelberg University Orchestra at the Old Auditorium in Heidelberg, to the closing hybrid rendition of Ode to Joy, music provided a warm and evocative frame for the afternoon. The musicians around pianist Sunahara Satoru filled the room with melodies that echoed the long-standing cultural ties between the two universities.
Following welcoming remarks by Heidelberg University’s Rector Frauke Melchior, Consul General Melanie Saxinger, and Kyoto University’s Executive Vice-President Sawaragi Tetsuo, HUOK Director Sabine Schenk reflected on ten years of fostering academic exchange, institutional cooperation, and friendship. Alumni such as Kuno Jotaro (Dōshisha University), Miwa Aki (Nagoya Institute of Technology), and Yamamoto Akihisa (Tokyo Metropolitan University) shared vivid stories of how their time at Heidelberg shaped their research paths and professional lives.
Two interdisciplinary panels demonstrated the breadth of collaboration HUOK has supported: from historical and cultural reflection to biomedical innovation. The discussion Learning from the Past for the Present and Future featured Fujii Takashi, Takuma Melber, and Sandra Barteit, moderated by Asato Wako from our Transcultural Studies division, while The Potential of Biomedical Sciences in Japanese-German Cooperation gathered Axel Karpenstein, Tanaka Motomu, and Hayashi Tomohiro in dialogue, moderated by Hase Saiki from the German Research Foundation.
A particularly inspiring highlight came from the students and doctoral candidates of our Joint Degree Master Program in Transcultural Studies, including Miyashita Ayane, Qingzhe (Denny) Chen, and Nathaly Paola González Rodríguez. Their testimonials illustrated how the spirit of transcultural learning continues to thrive, building new bridges between Heidelberg and Kyoto.
The matinée concluded with a reception directly at the building of the office. The celebration continued the following day, November 2, 2025, with the joint event “Leibniz Lecture meets Heidelberg Lecture”, co-organized by the HUOK and the DFG Office Japan. This special lecture, combining two distinguished series, marked the anniversary by welcoming Prof. Wolfram Pernice, experimental physicist at the Kirchhoff Institute for Physics at Heidelberg University and recipient of the DFG’s Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, to deliver a lecture on “Photonics for Artificial Intelligence and Neuromorphic Computing.”
Throughout the event, one message resonated strongly: gratitude. Participants expressed heartfelt thanks to Sabine Schenk and the HUOK team for their tireless commitment to connecting people, institutions, and ideas across borders. The anniversary event was more than a celebration: it was a reaffirmation of the living, evolving partnership between Heidelberg and Kyoto, harmoniously underscored by the universal language of music.