Catherine Cutcher, Reflections

11/6/2023: On this 50th Anniversary of the Chubu-OHIO University Partnership, I reflect on all my friends, colleagues, students, and community members who have benefited from our partnership.  While I have not yet traveled to Japan, I am so grateful for all of our friends from Chubu who have studied and worked at OU over the years, and for all OHIO students and colleagues who have studied and worked in Japan.  As a graduate student at OHIO, I benefited from interactions and support from Japanese students and friends in my graduate programs, including Aki Tanaka, Mito Takeuchi, Takatoshi Egami, Hiroko Godaiin, and Sumiko Miyafusa.  As a faculty member, I have taught several Chubu students over the years.  I have also advised many OHIO students who have studied Japanese language and culture at Chubu and OHIO.  These exchanges are facilitated through the OPIE program, the OHIO-Chubu exchange and study abroad programs, the Glidden Visiting Professorship, and the Miura Visiting Professor Program.  

The most enduring symbols of this partnership on our OHIO campus are the Yamada International House (where I work) and the 250 cherry trees that have been donated by Chubu and planted along the bike path on the Hocking River.  Here are a few tributes to the cherry trees I have posted over the years: 

3/28/2023: 

Sakura 

Fleeting beauty  

Ephemeral petals drift like snow 

Nothing lasts forever 

Catch it while you can 

Druids gather in my town 

Each spring in this sacred grove 

Of Yoshino cherry trees 

to picnic and propose 

Take family photos  

Play music 

And revel  

In the lessons of impermanence. 

Many thanks to our partners at Chubu University in Kasugai, Japan. 

4/7/2021:  Sakura is the Annual Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival at Ohio University. In Athens, we usually gather in the spring in a grove of cherry trees donated to OU by our sister Chubu University in Japan. I took these photos two years ago at the last Sakura Festival before COVID. Although we can’t gather now, I am delighted to say that our town continues to celebrate these trees by lighting them at night, taking photos, picnicking, walking, and biking on the path by the Hocking River. My heart is overjoyed to be surrounded by this community of tree-huggers and druids giving thanks for spring flowers and celebrating our Earth. 

3/30/2020: Ephemeral cherry blossoms. Every spring, 200 cherry trees bloom for a week along the Hocking River. They are gifts to Ohio University from Chubu University in Japan. 

Schools are now closed until May 1, by Governor DeWine’s orders today. The kids and I drove to Albany to pick up homework packet #2. We went to the Athens bike path afterwards to see the cherry blossoms. My children roller skated and rode a tricycle while I walked. It was a beautiful, windy, sunny day at the river. White flower petals floated and fluttered on the breeze like snowflakes. I smiled and chatted with a few colleagues and strangers along the path, trying to maintain six feet of separation. 

I talked to an Athens News photographer who walked with me for awhile. I said, “This is an unprecedented time when the entire world is dealing with the same problem at once. There will be more times like this coming, with climate change. I hope this leads to greater international cooperation. We must realize we are all in this together. We are one planet.” He smiled and said, “I like the way you are thinking about this.” 

Much love and gratitude to our friends from Chubu University.  We are so pleased to celebrate this important 50th anniversary with all of you.