A one-day excursion took place on Sunday, June 6 for international students to get to know each other, experience traditional Japanese culture, and learn about the history of Japan.

The group of thirty-nine students first visited the Tanuki-mura Pottery Center in Shigaraki, an ancient center for pottery-making. They were able to see Tebineri pottery-making, and to create their own artwork with the advice of a specialist. They next visited Hikone Castle and learned about its historical background. The weather was ideal to appreciate the beautiful scenery of Lake Biwa from the top of the castle's Nishinomaru Sanju Turret. The last visit for this trip was to Nagahama city, where the students enjoyed walking around the area on the northeastern shore of Lake Biwa.

Through this excursion, they deepened their knowledge of Japanese culture and history, and also developed good relationships with each other. The outing was valuable and successful, as seen from comments by the students that they were impressed with Japanese traditional culture.