Four Kalamazoo College students presented their research at the annual Michigan Japanese Heritage and Culture Conference. The conference was sponsored by Grand Valley State University’s Japanese Cultural Association, and attendees–some 50 students and teachers–shared their studies in Japanese culture, including Japanese relations within Michigan and contemporary issues affecting Japan and the United States. Several presenters were members of the Japanese community, including employees of government agencies, colleges and universities, and university organizations. The K presentations focused on food, fabric dyeing, cinema, and nontraditional romantic relationships. The four K students were classmates in Assistant Professor of Japanese Noriko Sugimori’s winter term class, “Intermediate Japanese II,” when most of their research was done. The students (and the titles of their research presentations) are (l-r): Anh Lam ’17 (“Mochi: Where Cultures Meet”), Jamie Heywood ’16 (“Shibori: Re-visitation, Reinvention, and Revival”), Penelope Owen ’16 (“Alternative Love”), and Edwin Salvatierra ’16 (“Kitano’s Gokudou: Reinventing the Yakuza Film Genre”). The three sophomores will study abroad in Japan during their entire junior year–Heywood and Owen in Kyoto, Salvatierra in Hikone.