2025/5/13

On Friday, April 25 and Saturday, April 26, as part of LOHAS Festa Expo Spring 2025 held at Expo '70 Commemorative Park in Suita City, Osaka Prefecture, the Kawakami Seminar from the Department of Global Tourism, Faculty of Global Engagement, Kyoto University of Foreign Studies (KUFS) hosted a booth that provided information to numerous visitors on the seminar's activities in the Mio area of Mihama-cho, Wakayama Prefecture.

The theme of the booth was "Umineko Candy” (umineko means black-tailed gull in Japanese). These candies were created by seminar participants in collaboration with members of the Mio community, a part of Mihama-cho, Wakayama that sent numerous immigrants to Canada during the pre–World War II period. The Kawakami Seminar worked in cooperation with the organization Uminekoya, which has hosted "Ocean School" since 2020 as a program in the field of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These workshops include activities such as beachcombing amid the abundant natural environment of Mio and sea-glass ballpoint pen crafting.

At this latest LOHAS Festa event, booth members sold Umineru starch syrup and Umineko Glass black-tailed-gull-themed candies, which were made by a former seminar member as part of a 2023 project to develop new signature products for the town of Mihama-cho. In addition, the booth offered hands-on art crafting activities using sea glass from the shores of Mio, conducted together with members of Uminekoya visiting from Wakayama Prefecture.

Through sales of “Umineko Candy” and the provision of opportunities to make personalized sea-glass artwork, booth operators conveyed to visitors the richness of Mihama-cho's seashore and marine environments as well as its local culture and the warmth inherent in the people of Mio.

One student who helped run the booth commented, "I was happy that so many people took interest in our ‘Umineko Candy’ and sea glass art, and glad for the opportunity to convey the charms of Mihama-cho personally. With the sea glass art in particular, many children took interest and tried their hand at making it, which encouraged us to devise new and effective ways to explain things to them."

The Department of Global Tourism, Faculty of Global Engagement Kawakami Seminar plans to continue utilizing regional resources in activities that provide greater opportunities for practical learning by KUFS students.

Back