Continuing from last semester, Tohoku University's IPLANET organization held "Global Cafés," events at which IPLA exchange students serve as instructors and teach each other languages, almost every weekday in the fall semester of 2022. In all, about 50 were held, with a maximum of 40 participants each. A total of around 800 people participated. As in the past, this semester's Global Cafés focused on four countries/regions (Germany, France, Spain, and China) as well as Japan, while students from around the world also held Global Cafés in an omnibus format! There were as many as 6 countries/regions per Global Café, and about 30 international students participated as lecturers.
The international students who served as lecturers were provided an opportunity to reevaluate their own cultural identities, and the other participants were also able to learn about various cultures. Participants commented that they had a very fulfilling time, being able to experience different cultures through practicing conversation in each language and actually dancing the dances of each country together.
In the fall semester of 2022, IPLANET held two monthly events, one in October and the other in November. The October event was held under the theme of "Sendai Treasure Hunt" to help the new international students get to know Sendai better. Sixty-six international students and 30 Japanese participants competed for points in groups by following a map to visit different spots. In November's event, a quiz was held using childhood photos collected in advance. About 40 people participated in this event. One participant commented, "It was fun to see everyone's cute pictures from when they were little. Monthly events are always a great opportunity for international and Japanese students to interact with each other, transcending cultural and language barriers." Monthly events will be held more frequently in the future.
IPLANET will continue to provide opportunities for international exchange in the coming semester.
For more information on IPLANET's upcoming events, please visit the official Instagram account.
https://www.instagram.com/iplanet_tohoku/
(Reported by IPLANET leaders Yoshiaki Nishimura and Ryuto Maruyama)