The Central Luzon State University (CLSU), through its International Affairs Office, welcomed Riaki Tanaka Program Officer of Leadership Development from the Tokyo-based READ Japan Project for a series of campus engagements last August 19, 2025.
Mr. Tanaka’s visit primarily aimed to document the “Dokusho: Explore Japan, One Page at a Time” program, which aims to promote CLSU’s collection of 157 donated books from the Read Japan Project.
Dokusho is a five-week reading program initiated by Dr. Emil F. Ubaldo, Chief of the Mobility and Intercultural Exchange Unit, in collaboration with the CLSU Society for the Advancement of Japanese Arts and Culture, in April of this year, to encourage students to explore the collection of books, which are all written in English.
The official visit was arranged following high praise from Ms. Mukaigawa Yurie, a researcher/adviser at the Embassy of Japan in the Philippines who first learned of the Dokusho initiative during a visit last April. Ms. Mukaigawa shared the program's success with the READ Japan Secretariat, prompting Mr. Tanaka's request for a visit.
During his visit, Mr. Tanaka led a special Dokusho session for a select group of undergraduate students which featured Sayaka Murata’s acclaimed novel, Convenience Store Woman. Mr. Tanaka spoke highly of the students' active participation during the session which lasted for more than an hour.
He also conducted interviews with the program’s lead, Dr. Ubaldo and student participants to gain deeper insight into the interest of the campus community about Japan.
Beyond the reading session, Mr. Tanaka received a brief campus tour that included visiting the CLSU Japan Friendship Garden and the Freshwater Aquaculture Center, an R&D facility supported by the government of Japan in 1983.
Dr. Ubaldo also provided a briefing on CLSU’s ongoing cooperation with Japan, highlighting student and faculty exchange programs with Japanese universities.
Currently, the book collection is available for in-room reading at the Hannah W. Tibbs Writers Studio at the International Affairs Office.
CLSU is among the universities and institutions around the world that received the book donation from the READ Japan Project.
