On 10 March 2026, Hiroko Sugiki from the Japan Foundation's Tokyo headquarters visited the Centre for Multilingual Academic Communication, Movi, and also met with the university's rector Jari Ojala.
The Japan Foundation (https://www.jpf.go.jp/e/) is the world's largest and most significant organization promoting Japanese culture and language as well as international cooperation, with offices around the world. Representative of the foundation, Hiroko Sugiki, visited the University of Jyväskylä as her only destination in Finland. The Japan Foundation organizes the globally respected Japanese Language Proficiency Test (https://www.jlpt.jp/e/index.cgi), which has been organized by the Embassy of Japan in Finland once a year. There are plans to transfer the proficiency test in Finland to the University of Jyväskylä, Movi.
During her visit, Hiroko Sugiki became acquainted with Movi's activities.
She also discussed cooperation opportunities with Rector Jari Ojala and was impressed by the University of Jyväskylä's extensive cooperation with Japan and its plans for the future. She was also impressed by the events Movi has organized in Japan over the years. Movi also received special thanks for the diversity of Japanese language and culture teaching and the quality of teaching.
During her visit, Hiroko Sugiki was able to observe Movi's Japanese language teaching in the Japanese Language and Society 4 (Japanin kieli ja yhteiskunta 4 ) and Japanese Characters and Reading 1 (Japanin kielen kirjoitusmerkit ja lukeminen 1) courses. She was inspired by Movi's pedagogical approach and student-centred teaching. In addition to the activity of Japanese language students, she met Campus Dog Patsy. She found the volunteer-based Campus Dog activities and the students' participation in the planning and implementation of events in Japan unique.
Movi has been collaborating with the Japan Foundation for a long time, and has been particularly active since 2011, when Movi's Japanese teacher Pauliina Takala completed supplementary Japanese teacher studies at the Urawa Teacher Training Centre. Movi has also received a grant from the Foundation for the production of learning materials. Movi's Japanese courses use the electronic Irodori learning material produced by the Japan Foundation.
The visit strengthened the cooperation between the University of Jyväskylä and the Japan Foundation and raised new opportunities and targets for cooperation.
