On 23 December 2024, the International Education and Student Mobility Division (IESMD) hosted an international exchange event, 'New Year's Games', during the lunch hour.
Aimed at fostering connections between exchange and other students from partner universities -- including those from Ukraine -- and regular Kyoto University students, the program featured traditional Japanese New Year's activities that facilitate participant interaction. The occasion also represented an opportunity for international students to experience a facet of Japanese culture and for KyotoU students to explain the country's traditions in English.
As the event began, a KyotoU student serving as a Peer Tutor at IESMD described in English key aspects of the Japanese year-end and New Year's holidays, including the following customs: ringing bells at Buddhist temples and eating soba noodles on New Year's Eve, paying the New Year's first visit to a shrine, having osechi meals, and exchanging greeting cards during the first days of January. The talk also covered the season's traditional decorations, such as kagami mochi (stacked rice cakes), shimenawa (straw rope decorations), and kadomatsu (pine and bamboo arrangements), and pastimes such as kite flying, hanetsuki (battledore and shuttlecock game), and koma top spinning. Additionally, the tutor commented on these traditions' significance as expressions of New Year wishes. Participants were then divided into four groups and took turns playing four games, facilitated by the other Peer Tutors in attendance. These games were fukuwarai (blindfolded face puzzle), karuta (card matching game), kendama (cup-and-ball game), and Daruma otoshi (stacking and striking game).
The approximately 40 international and Japanese students taking part in the event thus shared in the New Year's fun ahead of time.




