Experience in Diversity Club－ Aoi Tamura, Sophomore

Are you interested in participating in some activities other than “study” during your study abroad?

Join one of AIU’s 40+ clubs and circles to pursue your passions, build friendships, and practice intercultural communication in several languages.

AIU Voices would like to introduce you to some of the club activities at AIU. Through these club activities, you may not only make great memories, but you may also meet friends for life!

Here’s a message from the head of AIU Diversity Club, Aoi Tamura.

This is an image used for the website of the online school festival. Gradation of colors represents diversity, fluidity, and continuity of sexuality and gender.

Diversity Club is a community that consists of people who want to support the LGBTQ+ community.

We learn about gender and sexuality, mainly through discussion. The topics that we discuss are not limited to LGBTQ+. The club members also talk about body positive, health, sex education, and many other things. Before the pandemic, we used to meet up once a week in a classroom. As AIU announced that they offer online classes, Diversity Club decided to have online meetings. Although the members have not met each other in person, we have been able to have meaningful discussions from April to now. The most significant event that we had so far this year was the online school festival, in which Diversity Club shared a web page to provide basic knowledge related to LGBTQ+ and introduced a movie, TV dramas, and comic books portraying the LGBTQ+ community.

The members are currently seeking other activities and projects to work on while having weekly discussions. Diversity club has been mainly focusing on creating an inclusive environment on campus; however, we are trying to find a way to be connected with people outside of the AIU community.

An image from the Body Positive exhibition in 2019. They look happy about being who they are.

Diversity Club welcomes those who belong to the LGBTQ+ community and allies, those who want to support the LGBTQ+ community. We also work to promote body positive by having an exhibition twice a year. Sexuality and gender are not something foreign, but indispensable and precious elements that form one’s identity. We hope our activities contribute to make an environment where people respect and appreciate diversity.