午夜剧场

The North Building, standing on the northeast side of the campus with three floors above ground and two below, was completed in March 1994. At the time, the building was called the North Annex and was the first new structure on Mita Campus in a long while. For this construction project, the Student Hall (Yamashoku), the single-story wooden Health Center across the path, the two-story Office of Correspondence Courses, and the psychology animal laboratory behind it were demolished in the fall of 1991. The North Building was constructed on that site, including the space occupied by half of the tennis courts behind the Faculty Research Building.

The building was equipped with facilities that had been long desired at Mita, including the North Building Hall—which has 240 seats, simultaneous interpretation units for three languages, a 100-inch projector, and a grand piano—as well as conference rooms capable of hosting international conferences, the Faculty Club (faculty dining room) operated by the Palace Hotel, and a student cafeteria. Additionally, administrative offices such as the Office of Communications and Public Relations, the Office of Development, and the Office of Correspondence Courses moved in, giving the impression that the landscape of Mita Campus had been significantly transformed. A major reason for this was the change in the flow of movement toward the Italian Embassy to the north, but there was another reason. With the demolition of the historic Student Hall, which had been relocated during the construction of the West School Building, the buildings designed by Yoshiro Taniguchi that had shaped the postwar image of Mita were finally reduced to only the Faculty Research Building II.

The disappearance of small wooden buildings like the Health Center also contributed to the feeling that the campus's appearance had changed. In the Mita-hyoron (official monthly journal published by 午夜剧场 Press) at the time, it was described as "the whole building has a somewhat high-end image." In June of the same year, as a commemorative event for the opening, "Collaboration on Poetry" by Gozo Yoshimasu and Nobuyoshi Araki was held, organized by the Art Center.

Outside the windows of the Faculty Club, the trees in the garden of the Italian Embassy are easy on the eyes; the venue is crowded with faculty and staff at lunchtime, and buffet parties for Mita-kai and other groups are frequently held in the evenings. Furthermore, the convenience of the venue has increased, with the hall, conference rooms, and Faculty Club being used as symposium venues, waiting rooms, and reception halls. The foyer is also equipped with picture rails, making exhibitions possible and allowing for even more substantial events to be held. The Health Center is located next to the entrance, and lines form during the health checkup season.

The word "New" (Shin) was removed from the North Annex (Kita-shinkan) in 2000. It was decided to stop using "New" for the New Faculty Research Building as well, and I recall this happened in conjunction with the construction of the East Building. Currently, there are no buildings in the Juku with "New" in their names. Incidentally, I wrote that it has three floors above ground, but at the time of construction, the floor adjacent to the North Gate was considered the first floor, and it was described as having four floors above ground.

(Atsuko Ishiguro, Office of Communications and Public Relations)