2020.08.05 Wed

On July 13, the International Centre hosted a Zoom-based wood mosaic workshop to provide a hands-on experience to international students studying at Gakushuin University. We held this event in lieu of the one-day bus tour we usually organize in May, which was cancelled this year to avoid the further spread of the novel coronavirus infection.

A total of seven foreign students and eight Japanese volunteer students participated remotely from different places either in the morning or afternoon session of the workshop. Under the guidance of the marquetry craftsmen in Hakone, each of the participants made a beautiful wood mosaic coaster in about 45 minutes, watching how the experts assemble the parts and asking questions online. Finally, they showed their works to each other on screen and paused for a photo (actually a screenshot).

Although the COVID-19 crisis has been preventing Gakushuin's international and Japanese students from interacting with each other in person, they had a great time in creating coasters together even if remotely.