We present our new board of 14 members for the year 2024-25. Some new and some old.
Praeses – Sander Willaert
Hello!
I am Sander, currently 23 years old in my sixth and final year of studying. I’ve had a bit of a weird trajectory. I started with Japanese as a bachelor, then went on to political sciences for my Master’s and am currently doing a ManaMa in Multilingual Business Communication 🙂
I am one of the lucky few in the Covid generation who was actually able to go to Japan and I still feel guilty to my fellow classmates who were unable to that year.
Starting the second semester I’ll be doing an internship so I’ll be a big working boy, though I’m still struggling with application as it’s scary
“I’m gonna miss Joe Biden so fucking much man”
Vice-Praeses – Tom Patoor
Hello! My name is Tom and I am vice-president this year. If you have any suggestions, questions or even complaints about our association, feel free to contact me! You’ll find me at nearly every event because I like all of our events 🙂
“I’m trans- I’m trans-“
*People start clapping*
“I’m transfering all your money. WAIT!”
Penning – Amber Defoor
Hello there! I am Amber, current treasurer of Tomo no kai! I am currently 20 years old and come from a small town in West-Flanders. I study Japanology mostly out of interest for Japan’s beautiful culture and food. In my free time I love playing games like Skyrim and Cyberpunk 2077. Of course I also enjoy watching movies and series, both English and Japanese. Next to fantasy, metal must be my second hyper-fixation. If I were to recommend you a movie, a series and a band, I would say: “Check out Lord of the Rings, Death Note and Sleeptoken!”
“Nobody tosses a dwarf”
Webmaster – Jona De Neve
My name is Jona, and I am 21 years old.
I am one of the imposters in Tnok as I do not study Japanology. I have graduated from the course “applied IT” and study electronics this year.
In my free time I practise Judo, play the Fügelhorn, play games, play d&d, read manga, and watch movies and shows. If you’d like to play sometimes you can always ask me on Discord. And for those who are interested in what manga or anime I’ve seen you can check my MAL account called P1kus3ru.
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Secretary – Sjouke Van Der Pulst
Hi everyone! My name is Sjouke and I’m currently 19 years old. I’ll be the secretary of Tomo No Kai this year!
Right now I’m in my second year of studying Japanology. At first I didn’t know what to choose for my studies, as I had originally taken the entrance exams for jazz music at KASK but had not passed the practical exam. But so far I have not regretted choosing Japanology instead of trying again for KASK the following year.
In my free time I play the piano and the saxophone and love listening to music. For Japanese artists I’d recommend Fujii Kaze, Sumika and Spitz. I also enjoy reading books, watching movies and TV-shows, drawing, playing games – such as Splatoon, Legend of Zelda and Stardew Valley – and watching figure skating.
“I can be a functioning human being on one hour of sleep”
PR-Intern – Kayla Stevens
Hello hello, my name is Kayla, and I’m 21 years old. Last year you knew me as Kayla Feest but this year I will be your Pr-Intern. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions or anything, I am your go-to person. This year is my third year studying Japanology, but actually my fourth at UGent. I’m hoping to get my bachelor’s degree after this year.
In the second semester, you might not see me much as I will be studying at Nagasaki University for five months. I like to game, paint, cook, and go out with friends, but I also like to stay in with a good movie and a tub of ice cream. I have learnt through the years that you just got to live your life, don’t plan to much in advance, and what will be shall be there in time!
“C’est la vie”
Scriptor – Axel Steux
Hello everyone! My name is Axel Steux. I’m a 20-year-old French speaker, and I’m the NEW scriptor of Tomo no Kai. Even though I studied Japanese for one year, I am now studying Linguistics and Literature (French, English) at UGent. I will also be one of the people organizing the Tomo no Quiz this year, and you don’t want to miss that… Got it memorized?
“Ben geen psychopaat, ik heb het gewoon graag”
Party 1 – Ana Guspy
This is your party girl Ana, therefore your party praeses for this year together with Leone. The reason why I wanted to stay in the praesidium this year was purely because I wanted to take up the challenge of being the party praeses for a nother yaer and further delve into the experinces that come with it. Also, I just always enjoyed TnoK events in general, so it seemed like the next logical step for me. Some things you should know about me are that I’m a very social and friendly, but straight forward person (I promise I don’t bite if I don’t have to). As for my hobbies, I am a freestyle dancer and in general just love everything arts and crafts and everything that keeps me in a creative setting. I am also a book lover, favourite genre being fantasy (romance), or anything that is as far as possible from our reality. We were also asked to talk about our goals in life, but tbh at the moment my goal is just to enjoy whatever comes at me and go with the flow of it all.
“Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always.”
Party 2 – Leone Van Hacken
My name is Leone I am 21 years old and I study Japanology, in my free time I love going to a cafe with my friends, I also love going dancing. I work in a cafe called Trefpunt and I have the best colleagues :). For me my friends are the most importent thing to me.
“Ma ge kent mij, wie weet kom ik daar nog toe”
Cultuur – Axl Vanobbergen
Yo, my name’s Axl Vanobbergen, I’m 20 years old and currently in my 4th year of studying Japanology with the hopes of getting my bachelor’s degree this year. For my studies I’m also going to study at Kanazawa University in the second semester, so if I’m not at the events past somewhere in march, that’s why. I like playing games, watching anime and all that stuff. I also like playing volleyball and drawing from time to time. My favorite games are Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 and my favorite anime is Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. My favorite animal is an owl and I like the consistency of jelly, which is why I love aloe vera drinks and mogu mogu.
“Im John asf right now”
Sport – David De Mulder
Hey there! I’m David and I’m the Sport Praeses of the Tomo No Kai! I’m quite obsessed with sport as I currently play and watch different sports. I do football and mini football competitively , volleyball, badminton, little bit of kendo and fitness. I watch football and f1 passionately. So you can always come and talk to me about it.
In my free time I love watching anime and reading manga. My favourite anime’s are Attack on Titan, Gintama and Haikyuu. Favourite manga’s: Tokyo Ghoul, Oyasumi punpun and Grand Blue. If you want to check out the other anime I’ve watched, here my Mal account. https://myanimelist.net/profile/Ginato
“Ik heb geen Cola maar wel Dreft.”
Study – Katrien Vlaeminck
Hi, my name is Katrien, and I’m in the first year of the Master in Japanese. This year I am once again the study praeses. So if you have any study related questions, you can always ask them to me. In my free time, I like playing games, reading books, and watching ice hockey. I’m a huge Splatoon and Legend of Zelda fan.
“I want to achieve the same level of twinkness as Link.”
PR-Extern – Eduardo Wayenberg
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Design – Mira Hebberecht
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Godfather and Headmaster of East-Asian Language and Culture studies with major in Japanese (Japanology) – Professor Andreas Niehaus