Spotlights

Hello, this is SIED.

On Thursday, December 5th, we held the "Let's make Shimenawa or Shimekazari!" event, which was attended by 8 international students and 3 local students, for a total of 11 participants.

During this event, participants decorated shimenawa (New Year's decorations) with flowers and mizuhiki (decorative cords) to create their own original designs.
At the beginning of the event, we had an icebreaker activity where participants shared how they usually spend the New Year.
Afterward, everyone selected their favorite decorations and enjoyed decorating the shimekazari while chatting with one another.
Some participants decorated their shimekazari simply with only mizuhiki, while others made their decorations colorful and elaborate by using various flowers.
In the end, everyone created their own unique shimenawa!

After the event, we received feedback from participants such as, "It was fun!" and "I wish there were more decorations like the tai (fish), tawara (rice bale), or folding fans."

SIED will continue to organize various international exchange events in the future.