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AIU Voices
Student Voice: Discovering Akitaness
Keilen Palacios Castillo from the University of Toronto, Canada, is participating in our exchange program Spring 2026. In this article, she shares her experience so far at AIU.
(This was our first official house trip)
Hello, it has been a little over a month since I’ve joined AIU and I am happy to report that every day has been so much fun! I live in a Themed House®, the Akita Regional Weaving House. Thus we are 12 people sharing one housing unit and planning activities around our theme, which in this case is to discover the essence of Akita, in other words its Akitaness. At first I was worried about having to live with so many people, but as we have our own rooms and there are two kitchens, it doesn’t feel cramped and I love the small community we’ve built. I have also continued my daily life with our house theme as a motto, it has brought me to really enjoy my time in AIU. I have been meeting many students and locals (I would definitely recommend any exchange student to learn some basic Japanese before they arrive) and just spending my free time roaming around new places. I would also recommend people not to be afraid of going out alone, solo exploring and starting conversations with people, of course please be careful with personal information and areas where there could be bears.
I think a surprising thing about Akita that I have really enjoyed is the 山菜「さんさい」sansai (edible mountain vegtables). We have learnt to forge them and cook with them. In mid-May, we went to learn about cooking with different sansai. The person in charge of the workshop aimed to teach people about Akita and really connect the community. I think his way of life is really inspiring and I have found this self-initiative to be present in many kind locals so far.
So what is Akitaness? I don’t have a clear answer yet but I sure have been having fun trying to discover it. Maybe you can also discover your own answer.
