On October 29, President Hirofumi Makino, Vice President for Global Engagement Strategy Atsufumi Yokoi, and Professor Masaharu Senoo, Dean of the Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in Health Systems, visited the University of Michigan.

The year 2020 will mark the 70th anniversary of opening of the University of Michigan’s Okayama Field Station, which was the only American center of Japanese studies established in Japan back then. 　Five months prior to this visit, on June 1, Dr. Kiyoteru Tsutsui, Director of the University of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies, and his companion visited Okayama University to discuss possible future interaction and collaboration between the two universities with President Makino and other university officials. The purpose of this visit in October was to discuss a variety of issues to further promote interaction and collaboration between the two universities. 

President Makino and two others visited various institutions of the University of Michigan, including the University of Michigan Health System (UMHS), which has a partnership agreement with Okayama University’s Medical School, the University of Michigan Medical Center and the University of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies, to discuss with officials at each institution how to promote interaction and collaboration for a better future for the two universities.