Hello. I’m Meguru Ito, the chairperson of the Platinum Festival Executive Committee. I would like to write about the Platinum Festival (Hakkinsai School Festival) held on Sunday, February 22nd, 2026. The content of the festival has also been featured before in Topics, so please take a look there as well.

This year, we welcomed a record high 114 visitors. We had a wonderfully diverse group of attendees, including the families of current students, local elementary and junior high school students, and alumni. It was encouraging to see the recognition of the Platinum Festival steadily growing. I hope to continue developing the event into something even more appealing so that more people can enjoy it in the coming years.

One of the biggest highlights this year was the large number of new projects introduced compared with previous years. For the first time, we held a baked sweet potato sale using Kosen Beni Haruka, as well as a game corner where visitors could try out student made games. Both projects were very well received, based on visitor surveys and student feedback, and they generated a lot of excitement. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the students who worked hard to plan these activities, and to the faculty members who supported them.
In addition, the festival’s traditional main attraction, the on-campus robot contest and the piano performances, where students showcased the results of their practice, were also very successful. On the other hand, it was unfortunate that there were no band performance this year. I hope they will return next year.

Due to the end-of-term examinations being pushed back by one week this year, the preparation period between the exams and the festival was shorter than usual. February’s extracurricular period was also packed with other activities besides the festival, and the students worked on preparations despite being extremely busy. This experience made me realize the importance of establishing a more efficient preparation process going forward.

There were also some last-minute issues, such as members of the executive committee falling ill right before the event, which kept us busy up until the start. However, we were able to bring the festival to a successful close. I hope the students on the committee will carry both the successes and the lessons learned from this experience into their student life next year.

Meguru Ito