Mr. Takamitsu (高光义博), a seventy-year-old Japanese teacher, who had taught in the School of Foreign Language Studies for years, paid a special visit to bid farewell to the graduates he once taught. In 2009, he made the promise, “When you graduate, I will come back to send you off.” On June 8th, he returned to NIT, keeping his promise, which greatly surprised 59 graduates majoring in Japanese.
After his arrival, he participated in a series of graduation activities. On June 9th, he attended the “Japanese Education and Research Forum” held by the School of Foreign Language Studies. He gave valuable Japanese reference materials to NIT. He took part in the thesis defense, giving the students his insightful comments. Many students still remember he spared no effort to help them when they needed reference materials for their thesis. On June 10th, he attended the farewell party. Together with his students, he sang a Japanese song Spring in the Northern Land quite emotionally, which contained his yearning for the past at NIT and his best wishes for his students. After that, he chatted with his students about study, academic research, future career and current affairs.
In his brief speech at the party,

he said that during two years teaching here he established profound friendship with his students and coworkers, which he cherished very much. He was also grateful for the support and help given to him by the staff and students at NIT. Though he had returned to Japan, he still kept in close touch with his students regularly. He was glad to see that most of his students made great strides with the Japanese language.
It was reported that he won the “Ningbo Camellias Commemorative Prize” ，a reward which is granted especially to foreign experts and friends by the municipal government of Ningbo，for his excellent work and devotion to teaching.
The gardenias are blooming in early summer, whose fragrance is spreading around the campus, which signifies the friendship between Mr. Takamitsu and NIT, China and Japan.