On June 17, 2016, the 10th NAIST Tea Time^*1 was held with approximately 60 students, faculty, and staff attending.

The event started with Robert King of the Division for Global Education introducing tapioca “bubble” tea. This Taiwanese-born drink (also known as “pearl tea” or “boba tea”) usually consists of tea or fruit juice with chewy tapioca balls and enjoyed with an oversized straw large enough for the “pearls” to pass through.

Following this, two NAIST students delivered PechaKucha 20x20 presentations*². Stevche Radevski (2nd year Master’s student, Graduate School of Information Science) first introduced his history-rich home country, Macedonia, through his presentation entitled “Me, Macedonia”. Then, Azian Azamimi binti Abdullah (2nd year doctoral student, Graduate School of Information Science) fascinated the audience with her presentation, “Multi-Racial Malaysia”, sharing her diverse cultural heritage.

The event was an excellent socializing opportunity for NAIST students, faculty, and staff with various cultural backgrounds, and everyone enjoyed the presentations and interaction over a cup of delicious bubble tea.

*1: NAIST Tea Time is a global campus event with the aim of strengthening NAIST community ties and fostering mutual understanding among the students, faculty, and staff with diverse backgrounds.
*2: PechaKucha 20x20 is a short, lively presentation (20 second/slide x 20 slides = 6 minutes and 40 seconds total).