This marks the third annual “Culture Festival Tour.” It is a tour that invites international students to the Hirano Campus Culture Festival to participate in the festival’s programs. This year, eight first-year students served as tour guides, dividing the international students into three groups to introduce them to the festival.

For these international students—who are elementary, junior and senior high school teachers in their home countries—participating in a “Culture Festival” planned and organized by high school students themselves is their first opportunity to experience this aspect of Japanese school culture. The international students who participated this year were from Burkina Faso, India, and Malaysia, and they found the “Culture Festival”—an event not found in their home countries’ schools—to be fascinating. During the tour, they visited classrooms and laboratories throughout the school premises, listened to explanations in English from the student tour guides, bought handmade items at different booths set up by each class, participated in games, and enjoyed buying sweets and other treats as they moved around the buildings. After the tour, the international students shared their impressions and asked questions such as, “I think an event like this, created through student cooperation, will be a cherished memory of student life,” “When do the students start preparing for this?” and “Do all students have to participate?” Once again this year, students and international students came together to enjoy a wonderful time!