On May 11, 2021, the online kick-off Zoom meeting was held co-organized by the Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI and JSPS.
A kick-off meeting has usually been arranged at SOKENDAI’s Hayama campus, but it was held online in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The FY2021 kick-off meeting was organized for FY2020 and FY2021 Fellows. Total 47 people from the U.S. and Canada, and total 128 from Europe were attended (Fellows, staff from SOKENDAI Secretariat, JSPS Overseas Offices, nominating authorities and host researchers).

The plenary session was started by the video messages from Drs. Iye Yasuhiro, Executive Director of JSPS and Hasegawa Mariko, President of SOKENDAI. Then, former Fellows gave presentations on their research and tips of life in Japan, and run a Q&A sessions. After that, a staff explained the outlines of online Japanese lesson and homestay program to the Fellows. Lastly, another Q&A session took place. Many of the attended Fellows asked about their visa, border measures related to COVID-19 and so forth.
After the plenary session, a breakout session was held by the U.S., France, Germany and Sweden’s nominating authorities for the Fellows of their nominations that became a great opportunity to build rapport with peers.
Additionally, the website offered by SOKENDAI for Fellows is now used for not only an information exchange but also for communications.