2026/6/29

On Saturday, June 27, the awards ceremony for the Manneken Pis Costume Design Contest was held. Manneken Pis ("Little Pissing Man") refers to a well-known fountain sculpture in Brussels, Belgium, and has been widely copied around the world, including one on the KUFS campus.

The contest was co-hosted by the Faculty of Foreign Studies' Department of French Studies at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies (KUFS) and the French Research Association, with support from the Wallonie–Bruxelles International (WBI) of The Japan–Belgium Society (JBS). The 2026 academic year marks the 60th anniversary of the Department of French Studies' establishment and the 160th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and Belgium. The contest was held to commemorate both of these anniversaries, and seven students from KUFS made submissions.

After careful deliberations, judges awarded the grand prize to a design by Ellen Mayu Fukumoto, a third-year student in the Department of French Studies.
The French Research Association plans to use the winning design to create an actual costume for the statue located on campus, which will be unveiled and placed on the statue Saturday, October 31 for the Department's 60th anniversary celebration ceremony, and also displayed during the KUFS Festival in early November.

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