On January 7th, the International Student Affairs Section (ISAS) hosted a traditional Japanese New Year's calligraphy event for NAIST international and Japanese students. It was held with the aim of deepening the knowledge of Japanese culture among international students and to stimulate interactions among students across research field.

 We invited some staff from Nara Prefecture International Citizens Support Center as calligraphy instructors. They gave a demonstration showing the basics of calligraphy writing such as how to hold a calligraphy brush.

 After viewing the demonstration, the students broke into groups and began practicing different characters which included their names in Chinese characters, popular characters for "Kakizome", the New Year's Japanese calligraphy. Staff members from Nara Prefecture International Citizens Support Center and NAIST walked around to assist the students in learning to write and enjoy the calligraphy. There were many students who tried calligraphy writing for the first time. They concentrated on remembering stroke orders and writing points taught by staff and created beautiful works at the end of event. The students were given paper cards to write their masterpieces and then they stamped their finished works with handmade NAIST stamps.

 Finally, all participants took a group picture holding their masterpieces. The students discussed their experience and showed each other their work after the event.

 Around 40 people gathered for this event and both Japanese and international students had fun concentrating on their writing skills while enjoying each other's company. We hope this was a good start for the students' New Year!