The ica Girls’ Festival was held at Kansai International Center on March 5th. There were around 90 Japanese and 40 foreigners who participated. It was a spectacular display of pageantry as kimono dressed participants enjoyed drinking tea and playing traditional Japanese games.

• This is the fourth year of children’s songs from childcare groups. The children are quite grown up now. They also worked hard at managing the?cat’s cradle and origami booth.
• For paper sumo wrestling this year, opposing players competed with paper wrestlers that they had painted.
• Hosts?Natalie (Panama) and Han (Vietnam) said “We were happy that we were able to moderate. It turned out to be Japanese practice.”
• Participants took enjoyment in yesteryear’s pastimes with activities such as origami, doll making, Go, Shogi, paper balloons, Beigoma, Mizuhiki, Kendama, and Daruma.

People’s impressions…

Although I was busy getting people dressed, it was fun. It was nice talking with people from different countries. (Fujimoto / Japan)

Beigoma (top spinning) was pretty difficult but I was able to do it well.
(Yuto Amino/ 6 years old / Japan)

Plate spinning was fun. It was my first time but I was happy to be able to spin plates successfully. (Reilon Katsuta / China)

Making paper dolls was fun. (Kachobun / China)

I did origami and watercolor painting. It was fun to wear a kimono. (Salam / Liberia)

It was fun to be able to wear a kimono. It wasn’t as hot as I thought it would be. Japanese wedding kimonos are very heavy. (Tier / Indonesia)

My mother and father taught me how to do origami in my country so I had done origami before. It was my first time making a crane.?It was fun watching sumo wrestling. I enjoyed the plate spinning as well. I was taught how to do it so I got pretty good at it. I also love tea. In addition, I also love matcha and Japanese sweets. Japanese culture is quite interesting. (Lucy / Armenia)

(In cooperation with Soroptimist International Osaka – Rinku, 3rd Place, and Art Mizuhiki Musubi Association)

Sunday, February 5
Peace Bowling, ?Rinku Town Seacle

The International Exchange Bowling Event, held on Sunday, February 5, was a new sports event for ica. There were 69 participants including 36 foreigners. Teams of four, made up of Japanese and foreigners, took to the lanes and vied for first place. There were people who bowled for the first time and those that had back to back?strikes. They cheered each other on each time they stepped into the approach.

 

Words from the participants

I can’t believe our team won! It was great to be able to make friends with fellow Taiwanese.
(Irene / Taiwan)

I enjoyed bowling with a lot of foreigners. I was able to talk with a person I had happened to meet a week ago at ica. I think it’s good that ica has these kinds of events.
(Lee / Korea)

It was my first time bowling. The bowling ball was heavier than I had thought.
(Junnatu / Bangladesh)

There is bowling in Nepal, but I’d had never tried it. This is my second time bowling since being in Japan. Bowling with the same group of people, we were able to have a fun time and get along.
(Dipak / Nepal)

There are two kinds of bowling alleys in Aleppo, Syria. One kind of alley has a big cafe, and it’s a bit expensive. However, friends can have cake?or coffee and bowl. You can go bowling after work or study. For junior high school students, it’s open until 10 pm, but for adults it’s open until around midnight. Everyone can have fun because if you’re too tired you don’t have to bowl. You can simply have a cup of coffee. The alleys without cafes, we use for school events, etc.
(Nagam / Syria)

With people of the world, let’s make a toast!
There were 138 people from 48 different countries who attended this year’s Gayagaya event, making it the most attended event in ica history. Many families and people of various ages and nationalities enjoyed singing, dancing, games and chatting. (Social Welfare Center)

• The Mongolian games were fun because I was able to talk with foreigners for the first time. (I)
• It was fun. I enjoyed the music and dancing. Both Japanese and Jamaicans were warm and friendly. (D / Jamaica)
• There were more countries that came here than I had thought. They really understood whole point of ica. (M)
• As the moderator, I was very nervous; but it was fun. I wore a hat and danced to Pico Taro. But of course, suddenly it became difficult. (L / China)

A gathering of people from around the world!

The eighth international event was held indoors. Twenty-seven foreigners appeared on stage and were welcomed with warm applause. The event had a friendly atmosphere. In addition, there various booths including a booth?that displayed?photos of past ica activities.