グループ６の二年生の２０２３学園祭

By Emilia, Karolina, Isabella, and Kai

Face Painting

２０２３の学園祭で私たちのグループは「フェイスペイントする」を決めました。準備のために、フェイスペイントとブラシを買いました。色々なフェイスペイントのデザインがありました。すべてのデザインは日本のテーマがありました。例えば、アニメから作中人物とか、和食がありました。たくさんの人は屋台に来て、デザインを選んで、フェイスペイントをもらいました。描くの少し難しかったですが、とても楽しかったです。２０２３の学園祭がずいぶん面白かったです。

For the 2023 Gakuensai, our group decided to do themed “face painting”. To prepare we bought resources such as paints and brushed and printed many designs that people could choose from. All of the designs were chosen to fit Japan and Japanese culture. For example, there were anime characters (like Calcifer from Howl’s Moving Castle), Japanese food, cherry blossoms, and bunnies (the Chinese zodiac for 2023). We set up the paints and design options at our stall, then when Gakuensai started many students came to our table and chose the image they wanted us to paint for them. Instead of “face painting” we did hand painting. It was quite difficult, but we had fun trying to paint different things. Our group members took turns to paint. If it wasn’t the members turn to paint, they went to explore all the other wonderful Gakuensai stalls. Our 2023 Gakuensai was very enjoyable!

Helping Younger Students

今年の学園祭に、後輩に色々な準備を手伝うことは二年生達の役の一つです。私達はインタビューとか、店の準備とかを手伝いました。

インタビューにとって、私達は去年の体験を使って、インタビューの諸注意を伝えたり、質問を書いたり、インタビューの時、筆記をしたりしました。店の準備にとって、一緒に考えをブレーンストーミングしたり、テーブルやポスターの材料のことを整えたり、店のポスターの翻訳を手伝ったりしました

At this year’s gakuensai, helping younger students with preparatio ns was one of the duties of the second-year students. We helped with things like the interview and stall preparations.

For the interview, we used our experiences from last year and offered interview tips to the first years, helped write questions, and took notes during the interview. For the stall preparation, we brainstormed ideas together, helping the first-year students come up with a plan for their stall. During the gakuensai, we set up a table for the stall and arranged materials for the poster, such as pens and paper, and helped translate it.

Japanese Festivals

Gakuensai in Japan

日本の学園祭は、クラブやソサエティが新しいメンバーを獲得するために、自分たちの活動を宣伝する機会です。さまざまな出店があり、会員が食べ物やお菓子、パンフレットなどを販売したり、配ったりして、人々に受け取ってもらうのです。また、デモンストレーションを行う店もあります。コビッドのために学園祭を体験しなかった人も、日本の習慣・伝統食だけでなく、韓国料理の屋台やインド料理の屋台など、さまざまな国の屋台を体験できることを知りました。学園祭は日本の大学の伝統ですが、実際の出店や配布物はとても国際的です。

Japanese gakuensai is a chance for clubs and societies to advertise what they do to gain new members. There are many different stalls, where the members sell or give out food, sweets and pamphlets for people to take. Some stalls also do demonstrations for people to watch. Furthermore, even though the people we interviewed did not experience gakuensai because of Covid, we learnt that they could experience both Japanese customs/traditional food, but also a wide variety of international stalls, such as a Korean food stall and an Indian food stall. Overall, whilst gakuensai is a Japanese university tradition, the actual stalls and things given out can be very international as well.

Cat Festival

日本人学生にインタビューした時、私たちは他の日本の祭りについて学びました。その一つが「神楽坂化け猫まつり」です。神楽坂化け猫まつりは、毎年十月に東京で開催される最も人気のあるハロウィーンパレードの一つです。祭りは化け猫を祝います。化け猫は妖怪の一種です。彼らは精霊猫です。どこでもかわいいハロウィーンのお土産を購入したり、愛らしいハロウィーンのデザートを食べたり、仮装パレードに参加したりできます。年齢、性別、国籍を問わず、どなたでもご参加いただけます。

When we interviewed Japanese students, we were taught about other festivals held in Japan. One festival, in particular, is called the ‘Kagurazaka Bakeneko Festival’. The Kagurazaka Bakeneko Festival is one of the most popular Halloween parades in Japan, and it is held in Tokyo every October. Usually, it is held two weeks before Halloween. The festival celebrates a type of cat called the Bakeneko. Bakeneko are a type of youkai; they are spirit cats. ‘Bake’ stands for the ‘spirit’, or legitimately translated as a ‘monster’. ‘Neko’ stands for a ‘cat’. At the festival, you can buy cute Halloween souvenirs, such as cat masks, eat adorable Halloween desserts, and participate in costume parades everywhere (as seen in the photo above). Anyone can participate in the Kagurazaka Bakeneko Festival regardless of age, gender, or nationality.