{"id":43403,"date":"2026-07-28T15:11:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T06:11:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/?p=43403"},"modified":"2026-07-31T13:11:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T04:11:14","slug":"%e5%8f%82%e5%8a%a0%e8%80%85%e3%83%ac%e3%83%9d%e3%83%bc%e3%83%88-26-2-2-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/news-en\/2026\/07\/28\/43403\/","title":{"rendered":"Magic at the Murakami Library ICC Book Night Participant Report"},"content":{"rendered":"
Xin Yan Wang<\/h6>\n

My experience with the ICC Book Night was one of great\u00a0surprise, in both exploring the Murakami Library and the friends that I made in a single night. Personally, I do not do well in party\u00a0situations\u00a0and I am quite anxious when meeting new people, so I was actually quite nervous when I arrived! But as soon as I stepped in, all the staff were understanding and they warmly welcomed me. Throughout the tour, the first impressions I received from the Murakami Library was this: calm, casual, but thoughtful. This theme became prevalent in the design of the interior. From the ceiling to each nook and cranny, the clean organization, jazz music, wood decor, and off-white walls, care has been meticulously put into the entire library. It felt classy, but not the uncomfortably\u00a0regal\u00a0kind, but rather a cozy lobby. It feels nice to be here. I can say this since I am currently writing in\u00a0the lounge of the\u00a0library!\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After the tour, we were separated into groups and I was lucky to be placed with a diverse cast of bookworms: a masters (MPhil) student with a lot of life experience, a quiet but charming international student, and a young-at-heart lecturer who is also from Vancouver, Canada! Together we made for a knowledgeable and fun group that got along well\u00a0and,\u00a0most importantly (sarcasm), we won first place in the book hunt activity! I admit I spent more time eating snacks because I skipped lunch, but before I finished my second\u00a0cookie\u00a0they already knew which book to find. Impressive!\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0<\/span>actual\u00a0<\/span><\/i>main takeaway of this memorable night was not this\u00a0victory\u00a0but it was the connections we were able to make. I was able to learn a lot about practical aspects of life via the experience of my teammates, such as current events, job-seeking, politics, technology, and workplace relations. Even though I have always learned of these things through news,\u00a0media,and\u00a0books, the spoken\u00a0word\u00a0of those who directly work and experience these topics are still irreplaceable. The raw verbal transmission of knowledge proves to be the most effective way to learn \u2014 as well as the most memorable and personal.\u00a0This makes the lessons we learn from each other all the more enjoyable and unforgettable.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And this, I believe, is the magic of the library. Sure, you have all the knowledge surrounding you, waiting to be opened. But so are the people around\u00a0you.\u00a0Their life experiences and knowledge are just one\u00a0good conversation\u00a0away from being gleaned; what you gain is more than just information, but also a friend! For some people, this is more accessible than a book. But for others, it is\u00a0the\u00a0book that is more accessible. Luckily, the library has both!\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Murakami Library is the sort of environment that encourages all types of learning,\u00a0verbal\u00a0and literary. And so, I\u00a0<\/span>highly\u00a0<\/span><\/i>encourage\u00a0you to make use of this wonderful facility.\u00a0Go make\u00a0some friends, enjoy the music, and read!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Photo by author<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Xin Yan Wang My experience with the ICC Book Night was one of great\u00a0surprise, in both exploring the Murakami L […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":43392,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[116],"class_list":["post-43403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en","tag-event-report-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43403"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43429,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43403\/revisions\/43429"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}