グループ8の一年生の2023の学園祭

Participating in Gakuen-sai was an incredible experience for me. Prior to the

event, I learned from a Waseda University exchange student that big universities
in Japan invite renowned singers to perform at their Gakuen-sai. Another
Japanese student also shared with me that during the event, students would
showcase their talents through performances and there would be a variety of food and traditional trinket stalls. On the day of Gakuen-sai, I was amazed by the diverse range of activities available. From quizzes about Japanese culture, to body-painting, homemade sweet food, and card games, there were so many options to choose from. The Japanese culture quiz, in particular, caught my attention. Despite the fact that I got zero answer correct, it was an engaging and interactive experience. I was able to learn a lot about Japanese culture from the revealing of the answers.
Moreover, Gakuen-sai allowed me to meet and interact with many new people
from different backgrounds. I was able to make new friends with students from
Japan and other countries, which helped me to broaden my perspectives and
learn about different cultures. The atmosphere at Gakuen-sai was lively and
vibrant, with people laughing, enjoying themselves, and having fun. It was a truly
inclusive and welcoming environment.

For Gakuen-sai my group did a Setsubun themed stall. It originally took a while for my group to decide on a theme for our stall but after a lot of thinking we thought that Setsubun would be fun for everyone, plus it would likely be familiar to those attending Gakuen-sai since the actual Setsubun festival had just occurred.I drew traditional Oni as well as Oni from anime and manga on paper so people could, rather than throw soy beans, throw candy at the demons to chase them away. At the end of Gakuen-sai I also let people keep the drawings as a souvenir to remember Gakuen-sai. My group also had customisable Oni masks with different sized horns which meant people could make their Oni special. Another fun thing my group did was set up a VR headset which allowed others to explore Japan and Japanese culture through virtual reality or even play games on it if they didn’t enjoy our Setsubun activities. Despite this though, it took a while for people to come up to our stall, maybe because the stalls around us had lots of delicious food that piqued their interests. But once the did come to our stall, they had the opportunity to relive the thrill of Setsubun through the excitement of the Gakuen-sai. As people came to our stall one by one, crowds started to for around those using the VR. We had a screen where people could observe what was being seen on the headset which made it more popular. The members of my group took turns watching over the stall so each of us would get a chance to see the other Gakuensai-sai stalls and activities which allowed it to be a really fun experience and I got to interact with more of my peers and introduce others to two aspects of Japanese culture – Gakuen-sai and Setsubun.

Gakuen-sai was a memorable and enriching experience that allowed
me to immerse myself in Japanese culture and make new friends from diverse
backgrounds. I am grateful for the opportunity to have participated in such a
wonderful event, and it has left a lasting impression on me. I would highly
recommend anyone to attend Gakuen-sai if they have the chance.

学園祭に参加することは、私にとって素晴らしい経験でした。学園祭前に、早稲
田大学の留学生から、日本の大学では有名な歌手を学園祭で招待することがある
と聞きました。また、日本人の学生からは、学生がパフォーマンスを披露し、
様々な食べ物や伝統的なお守りを販売する屋台があると教えてもらいました。
学園祭当日は、日本文化のクイズやボディーペインティング、手作りのお菓子、
トランプゲームなど、多岐にわたるアクティビティに驚かされました。特に、日
本文化クイズには興味を持ちました。答えが全く分からなかったにもかかわら
ず、魅力的で参加型の体験でした。回答が公開されることで、日本文化について
多くのことを学ぶことができました。

また、学園祭を通じて、異なるバックグラウンドを持つ多くの人々と出会い、交
流することができました。日本や他の国の学生と新しい友達を作り、視野を広
げ、異なる文化について学ぶことができました。学園祭の雰囲気は、明るく活気
があり、人々が楽しみ、笑っている光景がありました。参加者全員が歓迎され、
共感できる環境でした。

学園祭で、グループのテームは節分でした。紙にアニメや漫画の鬼を絵いたので、学園祭を覚えるために、皆さんにお土産に絵を家に持ち帰らせました。グループに、ホーンのサイズをカスタマイズできる鬼マスクがありました。私が楽しいVRヘッドセットを持ってきて、人々がVRで日本と日本文化を体験する機会がありました、そうしてテームが好きじゃなかった人わはVRでゲームをするのができました。グループのメンバーは交代で屋台を見ていたので、それぞれが乗りを体験することができました。日本文化を皆さんに見せた。

学園祭は、私にとって忘れられない、充実した経験でした。日本文化に浸り、異
なるバックグラウンドを持つ新しい友達を作ることができ、感謝しています。学
園祭をお勧めし、機会があれば参加することを強くお勧めします。